She relocates to Wethersfield, Connecticut to live with her Aunt Rachel, Uncle Matthew, and her two cousins, Judith and Mercy, in their Puritan community.

As the small rowboat returns to the ship, a young girl named Prudence accidentally drops her doll in the water and begs her harsh mother, Goodwife Cruff, to get it back for her.

On the slow trip upriver, Kit befriends John Holbrook, another passenger coming to Wethersfield to study with the Reverend Gershom Bulkeley.

Originally, her cousin Judith had hoped to marry William, but she focuses on John Holbrook, a divinity student studying with Bulkeley.

Kit's life improves when she and Mercy begin teaching some young children of Wethersfield, who are preparing for traditional school.

Everything proceeds well until one day, bored with the normal lessons, Kit decides the children will reenact a passage from the Bible: the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Kit also begins secretly teaching Prudence to read and write; Goodwife Cruff claims the child is a half-wit and "stupid" and refuses to allow her to attend the dame school.

Kit rushes to warn Hannah, and the two women escape to the river just as the Dolphin appears from the early morning mist.

She refuses, explaining that Mercy is gravely ill, though Nat believes Kit fears losing her engagement to William Ashby.

"[5] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1956 to 1965, librarian Carolyn Horovitz wrote of The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Rifles for Watie and The Bronze Bow: "All have value, all are told skilfully.