Free Searching for Shona by Margaret J. Anderson Page B

it was going to be more difficult than ever to persuade Anna that the Miss Campbells were her friends and that they were no longer angry about the dress.
    Marjorie didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t drag Anna home against her will. She would have to tell the Miss Campbells where Anna was hiding and get them to come and persuade her that everything was all right. But then she thought of having to go back through the dark house and venture out again into the night alone. She couldn’t do that either. She could only make the journey home if Anna were with her.
    “Please come, Anna,” she begged.
    But Anna reached over and pulled up the quilt and snuggled back down under it. Marjorie, not quite knowing what to do, climbed onto the couch and lay down beside Anna, planning to talk to her, but she couldn’t think of the right words to say. Anna was cozily warm and the little playroom had a strangely soothing quality. Marjorie decided to wait a little longer before she renewed her arguments. They didn’t have to leave right away—just so long as they were home before the Miss Campbells awoke.
    From where she was lying she could see that Anna had been playing with the toys in the cupboard. The little desk was now set with tiny china dolls’ dishes, and a bear, a worn pink rabbit, and a jointed wooden Dutch doll were propped up in the wobbly pram.
    Was this house really in some way connected with Shona’s past, Marjorie wondered. Could these have been Shona’s toys when she was a very little girl, before she went to live in the orphanage? But then Marjorie decided that the toys were too old-fashioned. They must have belonged to some other little girl long ago.
    Anna had fallen asleep, and Marjorie listened to her gentle breathing. Gradually she, too, fell into an uneasy sleep full of disturbed dreams. She was wandering through the rooms of Clairmont House looking for someone, but she wasn’t quite sure who that person was. Sometimes she thought it must be Anna, but sometimes it seemed that she was searching for a child she’d never seen.
    The rooms in the house in her dream were richly furnished, and the carpet on the stairs was so thick it was like walking in soft sand. She wanted to go faster because the child she was following had disappeared.
    Now she was in one of the big front rooms, elegantly furnished with ornate couches and velvet chairs and a huge grand piano. Sunshine streamed through an open French door. Marjorie thought the child she was looking for must have gone outside and she ran across the room, but just as she reached the door, it slammed shut, and she awoke with a start.
    She found, to her dismay, that the sun was shining though the turret windows. It was broad daylight. The Miss Campbells would be awake and would have found that she, too, was missing. She shook Anna.
    “I’m hungry,” Anna said, opening her eyes and looking up at Marjorie. “I want my breakfast.”
    Marjorie guessed that now it was going to be easier to persuade Anna to go home. Anna always liked her meals.
    “The Miss Campbells will have breakfast ready,’ Marjorie said.
    “But what will they say?” Anna asked.
    “They’ll be glad to see you,” Marjorie promised. “They’re not angry anymore.”
    “I wish I hadn’t burned the dress,” Anna whimpered. “I only wanted to help.”
    “I know you did,” said Marjorie. “We’ll go home and tell them that. But we must go, or they’ll think I’ve run away, too.”
    “Are they really going to send us away?” Anna asked.
    “I’m sure they won’t,” Marjorie reassured her. “I think they like having us stay with them. They were worried, not angry, when they found you were gone.”
    “I need to find Elizabeth first,” Anna said. “And my suitcase.”
    “Maybe we should tidy up a bit,” Marjorie suggested. She began to pick up the scattered toys and put them away in the cupboard. As she did so, a book slipped from one of the shelves and fell open on the floor.