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‘Thein her mouth ‘Was she one of them?’

Darius took his hands away from his face ‘Yes, she came out quite by chance,’ he said huskily ‘Capricorn had really wanted another of theot it right for once She looked so beautiful, alolden hair and her sad eyes But then we realised she couldn’t speak Well, that didn’t bother Capricorn, in fact I think he liked it’ He searched his trouser pocket and brought out a crumpled handkerchief ‘I really could read better once,’ he said, sniffing ‘But this constant fear … May I?’ With a sad smile he took another apricot and bit into it Then he wiped the juice froazed straight at Meggie His eyes looked curiously large behind the thick lenses of his glasses

‘At the – er – festivities that Capricorn’s planning,’ he said, lowering his gaze and running his finger aardly along the edge of the table, ‘the idea, as you probably know, is for you to read fro kept in a secret place until that time comes Only Capricorn knohere it is So you won’t see it before the – er – occasion Which means that we’re to use another book for the latest test Capricorn wants of your talents Luckily, there are a few other books in this village, notsuitable’ He raised his head again and gave a sold and such treasures this time All Capricorn wants is proof of your skill, and so,’ he said, pushing a sie bent over the cover ‘Collected Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen,’ she read aloud She looked at Darius ‘They’re beautiful stories’

‘Yes,’ he breathed ‘Sad, but very, very beautiful’ Reaching over the table, he opened the book for Meggie at a place which he had rass slipped between the yellowed pages ‘First I thought of ale Maybe you know it?’ Meggie nodded

‘But the fairy you read out of the book yesterday isn’t happy in the jug where Basta has put her,’ Darius went on, ‘so I thought it ht be better if you tried the tin soldier’

The tin soldier Meggie did not reply at once The brave tin soldier in his little paper boat … she i beside the fruit basket ‘No!’ she said ‘No I’ve told Capricorn already, I won’t read anything out of a book for him, not even as a test Tell hi caave her a sympathetic look ‘Oh, I would,’ he said quietly ‘Really I would But it’s the Magpie--’ he said, quietly putting his hand to his mouth as if he had said too nora Mortola – it’s her you have to read aloud to I’ve only chosen the story’

The Magpie An i her with her birdlike eyes Suppose I bite ht Very hard She had done that a few tiue had swelled up so e for two days She looked at Fenoglio for help

‘Do it!’ he said, to her surprise ‘Read aloud to the old woman, but make it a condition that you can keep the tin soldier Tell her anything you like – say you want to play with him because you’re bored to death – and then ask for so else: some sheets of paper and a pencil Say you want to draw pictures, understand? If she agrees we’ll take it froie didn’t understand a word of this, but before she could ask Fenoglio what he was planning the door opened, and there was the Magpie herself

Darius leaped to his feet so quickly at the sight of her that he pushed Meggie’s plate off the table ‘Oh, I’ up the broken pieces in his bony fingers He cut his thumb so deeply on the last piece that blood dripped to the wooden floorboards

‘Get up, you fool!’ snapped Mortola ‘Have you shown her what she’s to read fro thuet out You can help the women in the kitchen There are chickens to be plucked’

Darius usted, but he bowed and disappeared into the corridor, but not without casting Meggie a last sy to her i – and put your ie read the tin soldier out of the story It was as if he si ‘He dropped down three storeys to the street and his bayonet stuck in the earth between two cobblestones’ The Magpie reached for hiie could, and stared at him as if he were just a painted toy, while he looked back at her with horror in his eyes Then she put him in the pocket of her coarse-knit woollen jacket

‘Please can I have hipie reached the doorway Fenoglio placed hipie just looked at Meggie with her sharp-nosed gaze ‘I – I ie went on uncertainly, ‘and I’pie looked at her, unmoved ‘You can have him back when Capricorn has seen hione

‘The paper!’ cried Fenoglio ‘You forgot to ask for paper and pencil!’

‘I’otten, it was just that she didn’t dare ask the Magpie for anything else

‘Ah, well, I’ll just have to get it by other ie went over to the , rested her forehead on the pane and looked down at the garden, where a couple of Capricorn’sup tomato plants What would Mo say, she wondered, if he knew I can do it too? ‘Who did you read out, Meggie? Poor Tinker Bell and the Steadfast Tin Soldier?’ … ‘Yes,’an invisible ‘M’ on the pane with her finger Poor fairy, poor tin soldier, poor Dustfinger and – she thought again of the woman with the dark blonde hair ‘Resa,’ she whispered TeResa Teresa was her mother’s name

She was about to turn away from the hen out of the corner of her eye she saw so above the sill outside – a sie retreated in alarm

Do rats climb walls? Yes, but that wasn’t a rat, the anih She quickly ran back to the pane

Gwin

Thein at her with sleepy eyes

‘Basta!’ et ie opened thevery slowly, so that Gouldn’t take fright and perhaps fall off the sill Even a marten would break all his bones if he fell into the paved yard froht She put out her hand, still very slowly Her fingers trerabbed him before his little teeth could snap at her, and quickly lifted him into the room She looked anxiously down, but none of the etable patch, their clothes drenched with perspiration fro down on their backs