Rebekah returned it. “He’s my brother.”
She took the doctor’s proffered arm and rose. Together, they walked to the door. “Thank you again.”
“What was your name, child, so I can tell your father?”
“Rebekah. Rebekah Stoll.”
The doctor nodded. “I see. Well Miss Stoll, I saw Katie leave with Nellie Bly, the forthright little spitfire that is bound for New York City. Rumor has it, she’s going to attempt to circumnavigate the globe in less than eighty days.”
“Cir...come—”
The doc hid a smile. “To go around the world, child. The entire world. And the headlines say she’s leaving soon.”
Rebekah reached for the door handle. “I must hurry. Thank you again.”
She could feel the doc’s eyes on her as she rushed to the rig Joseph had waiting.
“Hurry, Rebekah,” the doctor called. “Remember, New York City. Nellie Bly. Hurry.”
Peter’s large hand pulled her into the wagon bed, snagging her dress in his haste. The wildness lit his eyes again as Joseph let go with a mighty “giddap.”
“What’d he say, Rebekah?” Peter demanded. “What’d he say about New York City?”
Rebekah smoothed at the snag in her dress. “Katie’s headed there with a woman named Nellie Bly, who is some kind of record breaker.” The strange English term felt odd as it rolled off her tongue. “Nelly’s aim is to go around the world in eighty days and she leaves soon.”
Chapter Five
Montgomery, Indiana
Katie looked around as though seeing the world through new eyes. “But I thought the café at the train depot was closed?”
Nellie narrowed her eyes into a sly wink. “My newspaper arranged for it to be open for me. See, I’m headed to New York City under the cover of darkness so as to be left alone by the masses.”
Katie followed her into the back entrance of the dark café. As if by magic, the twinkling of lit candles brought a soft glow to their tiny back room. The café was indeed filled with servers, all grins and ready to be of service to the mysterious Nellie Bly.
“Wow, I can’t even imagine why...” Katie’s jaw muscles were much too loose to form a coherent word or audible letter.
“Why Katie, because I’m going to be the first woman to travel around the globe.”
“The globe?”
“Yes. And I’m going to do it in less than eighty days!”
A raucous cheer followed by a round of clapping filled the room. Servers hooted and hollered, clapped and whistled. Katie’s heart pounded and she was powerless to stem the grin that spread across her face like a wildfire spread across the prairie. It was almost as though the people were clapping for her too. The feeling was indescribable in Amish terms, but in the world of the English, it could be called addicting.
***
“The train will be arriving shortly, Miss Bly.” A waiter carrying a silver-domed dish stood timidly beside their table, as though he stood in the company of royalty. “You and your entourage will be the only passengers, just as the newspaper requested. You have just enough time to enjoy your roast duck.”
Nellie nodded, unaffected by the reverence displayed in her presence. “Perfect, thank you, sir. Katie, won’t you share this duck with me? There is always so much food and I never eat it all.”
Katie removed her napkin from her plate as Nellie sliced the aromatic duck in half. For the first time since leaving Gasthof, her stomach growled. She licked her lips. “It’s very kind of you to share your dinner with me.”
“But of course. You’re my guest.” Sitting back, Nellie swiped her napkin off the table and let it fall across her lap in one swift, clean motion. “Now, push your plate over here.”
Katie did as she was told, all the while studying the dark-haired young woman who had proven to be so kind. Questions swirled in her mind, bumping into each other and trying to tumble through her lips. Her mother’s voice, warning against nosiness, did little to stop their swirling. She sucked in her bottom lip and tried to stem her tongue as Nellie slid the steaming duck onto her empty dish. But as it usually did, Katie’s curiosity won out.
“Nellie, when you introduced yourself earlier, you said you were Nellie Bly, the woman who spent ten days in a madhouse.” Katie leaned forward. “What is a madhouse?”
Nellie froze, her arched eyebrows high on her blemish-free forehead. After only a moment’s hesitation, a slow smile spread across her face and she sat her silverware down. “In the English world, Katie, sometimes people send others into places called asylums because they are sick.”
Katie’s eyes widened. “I thought the English sent their sick to places called doctors?”
Nellie stabbed a bite of duck with her fork. “Suppose it depends on the type of sickness. And how much family they have to take care of them and see that they’re treated well.”
Katie did as she saw Nellie do. The duck was juicy when she took the first bite, and the greens that the waiter scooped from a cut-glass bowl looked inviting from the side of her plate. “What do you mean, type?”
“Well,” Nellie continued, “a woman having a baby or a man needing surgery might go to a hospital. While someone who thinks differently, is insane, or has no family or money might go to a madhouse.” Nellie looked thoughtful. “Well, at least that’s how it is supposed to work.”
“You don’t look insane, or without family or money.”
“You’re right, Katie. It was a delicate and difficult mission.” Nellie took another bite and waved for the waiter. “Would you like to hear about it?”
Katie took another bite as the waiter appeared with his silver-domed dish and took away Nellie’s plate, only half empty.
In the distance, the train’s whistle called into the falling night with an empty echo that sent shivers down Katie’s spine.
Is this what happens before an adventure?
