Free Through Glass Eyes by Margaret Muir Page B

girl had woken and was watching her work. ‘Would you mind helping me?’ she asked.
    Sitting up, the girl nodded and held out her hands. Lucy kneeled down beside her and placed the doll into her lap. ‘There,’ she said, carefully slipping the blouse and school dress over its head. Then she slid the sash around the doll’s waist and tied a neat bow at the back. Picking up the lengths of cotton around the doll’s wrists, she gathered them in tightly and fastened them off.
    James stopped at the bottom of the steps. ‘I see you have a helper.’
    ‘Indeed,’ said Lucy. ‘We will be finished in a moment.’
    The girl watched intently as Lucy ran a line of stitches around the hem. When that was done, the school tunic was complete.
    ‘Now I will make some breakfast,’ Lucy said.
    Crouching down beside the girl, James took hold of the doll’s right hand. ‘And what is your name?’ he said, addressing the wistful smile on the porcelain face.
    The girl replied in a whisper, ‘Constance.’ 
    Glancing across to his mother, James winked. ‘I’m pleased to meet you, Constance,’ he said, shaking the doll’s hand graciously. Then he turned his eyes to the little girl. ‘And what is your name?’
    ‘Alice,’ she whispered.
    ‘Hello, Alice. My name is James.’
    ‘James,’ she repeated.
    Lucy smiled, as she laid the breakfast cloth on the table. ‘I didn’t know you had a way with children.’ 
    ‘And I didn’t know you still had that old doll. I remember it vaguely from Loftholme Street. I seem to recollect you were fond of it.’
    ‘Yes! And you and Sam Swales were going to use it for Guy Fawkes.’
    ‘Was I really going to do that?’ James asked.
    Still stirring the porridge, Lucy smiled at her son.
    ‘After breakfast I’ll ride down to the police station. Sergeant Wilkey may have some news.’
    ‘Good news, I hope.’
    Alice wasn’t listening, she was brushing the tufts of brown hair bristling from the doll’s crown.
    ‘When I come back, I will find something to fix that,’ James said.
    The girl looked up at him expectantly, her large brown eyes following his every move. When he donned his coat and hat, she slid off the sofa. ‘Can I come with you, James?’ she begged, her tone faintly anxious.
    ‘No, you must stay here and look after Constance,’ he said. ‘I won’t be long.’
     
    ‘Sergeant Wilkey said there have been no reports of missing persons. But he thought, because the accident happened on the moors’ road, it’s possible the pair were not from around these parts.’
    Lucy sighed. ‘So what will happen to Alice?’
    ‘The sergeant asked if she could stay with us a little longer. He said we might get a visit from the Welfare Board, but it’s just routine and you’re not to worry.’ James looked at his mother. ‘Are you all right?’
    ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Just a little tired. I suppose I am missing Edward. I wish he was here now.’
    ‘Cheer up. Let me show you what I have,’ he said, pulling a small animal skin from his pocket. ‘It’s from a kid goat,’ he said.
    Lucy turned it over in her hands. The skin had been tanned and was soft and pliable, one surface was roughened like suede, the other covered in tight black curls.
    ‘I’ll cut a piece to fit the doll’s crown,’ James said, ‘then I’ll glue it on and it will give the doll a fine head of hair.’
    When Alice woke the following morning the doll, she had named Constance, was lying beside her. The sight of its new curly wig sent her dashing outside to find James to show him. But James had left for school already.
    Though Lucy spent the whole day talking with Alice and playing games, the girl was not content until James returned home. After dinner that evening, Lucy watched from the garden, as James led one of the horses around the meadow with Alice mounted on its back. She was sitting astride the big mare, a hunk of mane grasped in one hand and Constance gripped securely in the other.
     
    It was