4ccd8c655fe61694735ada9eb600d06c by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

dreamily, and the chair responded, with a stronger buzz, as if the smallest electric current were running through it and into her.
    Then the chair began to sway.
    A little alarmed, Copper opened her eyes. Nothing was moving, and yet beneath her the chair seemed to bend and sway as if she were high in the branches of a tree, being lulled to sleep by the wind.
    She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
    Copper had no idea how long she slept in the special chair, but she woke with a start, aware that something had disturbed her.
    She looked around. What was it?
    The curtains in the alcove were moving. Someone was there! That mysterious snooper again!
    She got up very slowly, tiptoed across the room and flung back the curtain.
    Nothing. No one. But behind the curtain was a small door, and she was sure that on the other side of the door she could hear the sound of footsteps, hurrying away.
    Then Oriole came in with Silver and a tray with a pot of tea, and she didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything.
    "I brought Ralick for you," said Oriole. "You left him in the kitchen."
    "Thanks. I take him everywhere usually, but somehow it's not the same here, is it? I mean, this isn't normal."
    Copper sat down again, carefully avoiding the sleeping chair.
    "Don't you like that chair?" asked Oriole, smiling.
    "It sent me to sleep," Copper told her.
    "It was made with palm tree wood and still sways in the wind. Here, come and sit in this oak chair. It's a good solid chair and won't play any tricks on you. Your father made it."
    "He made things, like Greenwood?"
    "Yes. Look, I'm sure you want to see this," said Oriole, pointing to a picture on the wall. "It's a painting of Greenwood and Cedar when they were little."
    "But they're identical!" cried Copper. "Identical twins! So I've sort of seen my father already, haven't I? Weird. Did you ever know Cedar?"
    "No. Robin and I came up here to help only a couple of years ago."
    "I wonder if Cedar ever wrote to Greenwood. Where would you go after such a thing? I wonder if he ever thinks of me. Or Amber."
    "I wonder," said Oriole absentmindedly as she poured the tea.
    Copper didn't sit down for long. She jumped up and began looking round the room at the carved mirrors and carved mantelpiece, cupboards and shelves.
    "I love all this stuff," she told Oriole. "I've never tried carving wood, only stone, but I think I should start soon. Aunt Ruby was so good at sculpting things—you've no idea. But I was hopeless. Now I know why. I love knowing why. You see, my life is like a bit of knitting in a way, a bit of knitting that was started but not finished. No, I know, started and then done wrong, dropped stitches and things, and then left. I've got to get myself finished somehow."
    Silver padded into the room and came to stand beside her, rubbing against her legs, and together they stared out the window at the fading light.
    "Draw the curtains, Copper," said Oriole. "It keeps in the warmth and it's gloomy out there."
    Copper tugged and pulled at the long, heavy curtains. "They're jammed." She yanked them hard. Something small and shining dropped down beside her.
    It was a tiny gold charm, just like the ones on her secret charm bracelet.
    Silver growled quietly.
    "What is it?" called Oriole.
    "It's a little gold tree charm," said Copper, taking it over to show her. "But it's not lovely, not like the ones I've got... I mean, seen." Her heart raced, realizing she'd nearly told about her bracelet. Aunt Ruby had said to keep it secret and she must. "There's nothing charming about this charm—look."
    It was a tiny fir tree, beautifully made with every pine needle clear, but the tree was bent over, cut almost in half by a long ax thrust into its side.
    The message was plain.
    "Now, how on earth did that thing get up there?" said Oriole. "D'you think someone threw it there? It's certainly not very nice."
    "It's horrid. Who made it?" whispered Copper in a quivering voice. Because surely, she thought, surely