32 THE SPIRIT OF SECRET VALLEY 



mals that seem very hard to believe. I think 

 what he said about white crows has had some- 

 thing to do with Tommy's strange look since he 

 came back from the valley. 



On Sunday, after church, I asked him if that 

 was not so, and then it all came out. He told 

 Grandmother and me the whole story as we were 

 walking home through the garden. 



He did go up to Secret Valley to find out if 

 Philip's story was true, and looked into every 

 bird's nest he saw that was built high enough for 

 a crow's. But they were all as black as ink. 

 Then he sat for a long time watching to see if 

 any white crows were flying about, and again 

 every one he saw was black. It was beginning 

 to grow cool, and the sun had almost given up 

 peering like tiny gold spots through the trees 

 when Tommy looked up and saw, just In the 

 middle of the wet ground, and standing on the 

 trunk of a dead tree, not a white crow, but a girl. 



She held her head up high, and reminded 

 Tommy of the girls he had read about. Her 

 hair was straight, and her hands hung down by 

 her sides. She didn't appear ,to notice that a 

 plant called Baneberry stood up beside her. 



Tommy thought this very queer, for the plant 

 had bloomed earlier than those In our woods. 

 Perhaps it was better suited with the rich soil of 

 Secret Valley. Its bunch of soft white flowers, 

 which appear to be all fluff, for their little petals 



