“He said he had to stop on the way up to see a friend,” Brad explained. “He left his thanks to you for giving him a lift.” Then to Kitty’s amazement Brad added in a low tone through almost closed teeth, “Good riddance, if you ask me!”
That night at supper Kitty gave her father an account of her unusual afternoon, the main point of which was to tell him she wanted to begin Canteen training.
“I’m proud of you, Kitty, that you wouldn’t give up till you found some way you could serve under the circumstances,” said her father.
“Of course. There’s nothing to prevent it.”
“We’ll have to pay Jane extra to stay with Billy the nights I’m on duty. Can we afford that?”
“Certainly, my dear. I’ve been thinking we might fix up that room behind the kitchen so Jane can be here all the time.”
“That’s a swell idea, Dad. I’d think she’d be glad to have a place rent free. Last week she had to borrow money to pay her rent.”
They talked over further details of the new arrangement for their combination nurse and cook. But even while they discussed their domestic problems Kitty’s mind kept going back to the meeting between Lieutenant Cary and Ensign Dawson.
Finally she blurted out, “Dad, did you ever know Willard Dawson, Hazel’s brother?”
He glanced at her sharply. “No, he left before I came. I was sent to take his place.”
“Then he worked a while with Lieutenant Cary?”
“Of course. Cary has been here six months. But why do you ask?”
Then Kitty attempted to give him an account of the meeting on the launch, and the animosity she felt existed between the two strangers.
Her father tried to brush her suspicions aside. “You mustn’t get the habit of attributing motives to every little thing people do, Kitty. Often people are merely tired or preoccupied, and their coolness has no significance at all.”
But Kitty was not satisfied with this explanation. She felt that her father knew much more about the mysterious Willard Dawson than he had revealed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the next day, though Kitty had many obligations and numerous things on her mind, her thoughts continually returned to the peculiar circumstances of her boat ride from town. There was something very mysterious about the whole business. She felt certain her father had evaded telling her all he might have. Was the new nurse involved in some mystery?