Chapter 22

Summary

• The Aberdeens' cottage provides a comforting warmth as Hazel and her companions, Harry, Flora, and Kelty, enter.
• Bridie, Harry's mother, welcomes them home and offers tea and shortbread. Kelty reveals she is unhappy with her billeting situation with Mrs. Marchman, whom she describes as mean and negligent.
• Kelty asks to stay with the Aberdeens but is initially told there is not enough space. She explains her difficult situation, which moves Bridie to offer temporary hospitality.
• Bridie's financial independence is clarified by Harry, who insists they did not take in evacuees for money, after which Kelty apologizes for any unintended offense.
• The group shares a cozy moment in the kitchen, enjoying tea and biscuits. Hazel contemplates their attachment to Binsey, and Bridie speaks of magic in their town.
• The peace is interrupted by a series of loud knocks on the door. Mrs. Marchman, Kelty's billet guardian, accuses Bridie of abducting Kelty and demands her return.
• Bridie calmly asks the children to leave the room and addresses Mrs. Marchman's accusations with the assistance of a policeman named Constable Aiden Davies.
• In the ensuing altercation, Bridie refuses to send Kelty back due to Mrs. Marchman's mistreatment, but authoritative procedures are against them. Ultimately, Constable Davies announces that Kelty must go back with Mrs. Marchman.
• The next morning, Hazel reflects on Kelty's departure and receives Harry's sketch of a cow, providing a moment of quiet contemplation.
• Later, Hazel and Flora become engrossed in their imaginations in the woods but are brought back to reality by Kelty, who has been sent to find them as they had worried Bridie and Harry by being late for dinner.
• Kelty expresses her desire to stay longer with the Aberdeens after they return to the cottage. Harry questions where the sisters had been, and Hazel vaguely references their story, suggesting a private world of imagination they share.
• There is a tense moment between Hazel and Harry, where he alludes to past loss and the disappearance of his father, marking a somber ending to the chapter.