'Come with me,' said Areti.
Emily rose and followed her into a tiny room at the back of the house. It seemed rather bare at first, possibly once a storeroom. A small wooden table and rush-bottomed chair were the only furniture. The table was covered with a dark velvet cloth. The windows had their shutters half drawn so that the light in the room was cool and shadowy. Thin slanting rays of sunlight penetrated the gloom, became caught in the unreflective blackness of the velvet cloth and were swallowed up into darkness.
The walls too were bare apart from a small wooden wall cupboard near the door. Areti opened this cupboard and brought forth a large globe of crystal. Emily looked at it entranced. She had always wanted to see a crystal ball. If only Areti would let her look in it!
Areti s
