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Scattered Leaves (Early Spring 2)

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Great-aunt Frances paused there and turned to

me.

"This is it," she said. I wondered if she had seen

the cat go in.

I stepped up beside her and looked into what

was to be my room. My heart bobbed like a vo-yo in

my chest. There was a very large bed with a heavylooking, dark oak headboard and footboard, but the

bed obviously had been made hastily. The bedsheet hung too far on one side, and the pillows were stuffed too tightly into their cases, making them look bumpy and too rounded. There was a dull, cream-colored comforter with thread hanging from its edges. It appeared to have been tossed over the bed at the last moment. Grandmother Emma would have fired Nancy if she had made a bed like this. I thought, And our minder, Miss Harper? She would have had a heart

attack and Ian wouldn't have had to poison her. Curtains dangled limply around the two large

windows, one to the right and the other to the left of

the headboard. There were no shades to stop the

morning sunlight, and the grime around the corners of

the casings, the moldings and around the shelves on

the wall to the left announced that the room was in

desperate need of housekeeping. There were cobwebs,

too, in every corner of the ceiling. Whereas Ian would

call Grandmother Emma's house a museum of

antiques, he would surely call this house a museum of

dust. No one had been sent to greet us at the door, but

didn't Great-aunt Frances at least have a housekeeper? Again. I looked at Felix. Now he looked like he

would break into tears leaving me here. He was

paused just behind me, shaking his head gently. I

looked around the room again, at least pleased to see the small desk and chair even though they were both quite scratched. The desk was a little like the one I had back at the mansion. I'd sit there and do my homework. To the right of it was a large dresser that didn't match the bed. It was a much lighter shade of

wood and a different style. It, too, had scratches, "Here's the closet," Great-aunt Frances cried

and opened the closet door to reveal clothes on

hangers tightly stuffed against each other, squeezed in

to fit. "Oh, dear." she said, realizing there was no

space for my clothes. "I forgot to take my things out.

This was once my room," she said, smiling. "But

maybe some of those things would fit you. I tell you



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