There was a soft nicker; then the little hut gave a jerk and began moving.

“I feel like a highwayman in a wagon,” Lucy said through hiccups. “Like we are stealing something and escaping into some dangerous and unknown—hic!—wilderness!”

“Heavens, Lucy.” Charlotte took the bottle. “Are you foxed already?”

“Yes! Aren’t you?”

I was. I felt loose-limbed and relaxed. In the back of my mind, I knew that wasn’t good. Keeping up pretense required constant awareness. Constant filtering of what I wanted to say and what I could say. But I let myself enjoy the lightness in my heart. I loved my friends. I was safe with them. And, for just a little while, I wanted to feel free. “It would be something if there truly were highwaymen nearby, wouldn’t it?” I said. “Don’t you wish we could have a real adventure?”

“Adventures are for novels, Em.” Charlotte handed me the bottle. “Here, finish it. The world has gone aswirl.”

We lurched to a stop as I finished the punch.

Maude knocked on the door. “Ready for you, misses!” she piped.

Stumbling and laughing, we helped each other shed our hats, gowns, petticoats, and finally our stays. By the time we stood in our shifts, not an inch of the floor could be seen.

I clambered over the mountains of fabric to the door. My earlier trepidation about swimming had made a dramatic reversal. Now I felt breathless. Desperate to do it.

“Emmie, wait. Your father’s watch,” Lucy said as I grabbed the handle.

Captain Jansen’s broken pocket watch sat around my neck, where it had been for years. The Holdridges had assumed it was a memento of Miss Coates’s beloved father. I’d never corrected them. “Thank you, Lucy.” I pulled it over my head and tossed it into the basket.

Then I opened the door.

A small platform stretched out before me. Steps descended from the end and disappeared into pewter water that rippled all the way to the New Jersey shore. A canvas awning extended above me like a kind of mobcap, providing shade.

Maude stood below me in water above her waist, her swimming gown billowing around her. “Come, miss.” She held one hand out. “Nothing to fear. I won’t let you go.”

Heat spread over me. Sudden. Blazing.

I sank into my legs and leapt clear over Maude’s head.

As I sliced into the cool river, a feeling like a shout exploded through my body. I kicked hard, pulling my arms through the water, cutting through it like a knife. I had strength to burn, strength that was furious and neglected. With my breath wearing out, I stretched out my legs and arms as far as they’d go.

The water was murkier and colder than I wanted it to be. There were no swells, no bright fish darting past. There was no white, white sand beneath me. And yet I was home.