“Thank you, dear. Now, speaking of home, may I offer you a cup of tea? I’m finished here for now, and my cottage is a short walk. If you have the time, I’d love to have you.”
Elsa accepted the invitation, adding that she ought to be back at her task by a quarter past four. Sharing a pot of tea with Tatiana would be a lovely way to spend her break. With the estate so nearly abandoned now, no wonder the woman was eager for company.
Tatiana must have noticed Elsa’s limp along the way, but she didn’t say so. The woman had her own stiffness in her knees to contend with, which made their pace relaxed by mutual, unspoken consent.
When they reached the cottage, the level of disrepair brought a twist to Elsa’s gut. The structure must have been charming once, but the front porch sagged, the steps were cracked, and the door didn’t close properly, leaving a gap for the wind and rain to reach through. Shingles were missing from the sway-backed roof. In a corner of one window, a rag had been stuffed between the pane and its frame.
“Danielle, we have company,” Tatiana said. “I have invited Elsa to share a cup of tea. Say hello to our guest.”
“Hello.” From where she sat on the porch, the girl glanced up, then back down to the buttons she was arranging on a tray.
“It’s good to see you again, Danielle.”
“It’s such a fine day, why don’t we take our tea outside?” Tatiana asked. “I’ll just be a few moments, dear.”
Elsa agreed and sat in a rocker on the porch, watching Danielle. Rows of buttons lined the tray, all of them grouped by color. Then the child tipped one end of the tray so they all slid into a jumble. With impressive speed, Danielle then began ordering the buttons again. This time by size, from largest to smallest. She had a knack for classification. A passion for it, too, it seemed.
“You’re being watched,” Elsa said quietly, “and not just by me.Corvus brachyrhynchos.” An American crow had landed on the porch railing a few feet away, his shining black eyes fixed on Danielle.
“His name is George. He gave me this one.” She held up a silver button, then put it back into its place.
Elsa blinked. “He brought you the button?”
“He brings me many things. He’s my friend. I feed him peanuts and corn and seeds, and he brings me presents. Once he brought me a little bone that must have belonged to a mouse. I didn’t keep that one. But he brings me many things.”
“Really! How fascinating! Corvids are very smart. I’ve heard about crows bringing gifts to people before, but I haven’t seen it happen myself. What else has George brought you?”
Danielle started over again with the buttons. As she described the trinkets George had brought her, another pattern emerged on the tray, according to material: wood, shell, and metal. While her hands were busy, she said far more to Elsa than she had on their first meeting. If she liked talking about birds, Elsa was delighted to comply.
“Have you heard about bowerbirds?” she asked the child.
“Bowerbirds?” Danielle held Elsa’s gaze for the first time since they’d met. A light spray of freckles dusted her nose.
“Satin bowerbirds in the rainforests of Australia.Ptilonorhynchus violaceus.” Elsa said the Latin again, slower this time, then waited while Danielle repeated it. “For some reason we still don’t understand, they love the color blue and decorate their bowers with it. A bower isn’t a nest, but rather a place for courtship and mating. They build their structures with twigs, then add whatever blue things they can find to it.”
“Flowers can be blue. Berries can be blue, too.”
“That’s right. Some have even used berry juice to paint their twigs blue. Can you guess what else they use?”
“Feathers can be blue.”
Elsa confirmed it was true. “Plus bits of glass, beads, indigo-dyed fabric—anything blue, they want to have it.”
Danielle’s smile changed her entire countenance, rounding her cheeks and sparking her eyes. It was the purest, least self-conscious smile Elsa had ever seen. “Miss Birdie has a blue room.”
“I’m sure she does. She has a room for every color of the rainbow, doesn’t she?”
“Only Miss Birdie doesn’t decorate with flowers or berries,” Danielle added. “Mostly feathers. And wallpaper. And paint, if you count the ceiling.”
Elsa tilted her head. “You’ve been inside?” It struck her as curious that the gardener’s daughter should have visited the mansion, but then, Birdie seemed to have a special fondness for both Tatiana and Danielle.
Instead of answering the question, Danielle shifted her gaze to George as he flapped away. “Is thePtilonorhynchus violaceusrelated to theCorvus brachyrhynchos?”
“Closely,” Elsa confirmed.
“Here we are!” Tatiana pushed open the door with her hip and backed out of the cottage, a tray full of tea service in her hands.“There’s a table in the shade over there.” She nodded toward a multitrunk ash tree.
Elsa rose and offered to take the tray from her hostess.
