Chapter 3

Then the bell over the door rang, and a tall man came in out of the snow. He had a plain dark coat and a plain dark face and gray eyes that looked very tired. He took off his hat, and he looked around the little shop as if he had never been in one before.Mrs. Pratt went pink to the ears. "My lord! What a happy surprise. Cordelia, curtsy. My lord, this is my daughter."The Earl bowed. He said, "Good morning." Then he turned to the counter where Lucy stood with a hatbox in her arms. "I need a warm hat," he said. "For an old lady. She was my nurse when I was young. She feels the cold now, and she is too proud to buy herself anything."Lucy put down the hatbox. "Then not this one," she said. "This is pretty, but the wind goes straight through it. You want wool inside and flaps that come down over the ears. She will say it looks silly. She will wear it every day."The Earl looked at her for the first time. Really looked. "You sound very sure.""I know about the cold, my lord."She found the right hat. She wrapped it in paper and tied it with string. Her fingers were red and a little rough, and there was a tiny tail of blue thread caught on her cuff. She did not notice it, but the Earl did.He paid. At the door, he stopped and turned back to the whole shop. "May I ask something? I hear that this town has a Blue Star."Mrs. Pratt's head came up like a bird's."Someone who leaves warm things for the children at St. Anne's," the Earl said. "In secret, with a little blue star sewn inside. Do any of you know who she is?"Lucy's hands went still on the counter."Oh, everyone talks of her, my lord," said Mrs. Pratt. "But no one knows. She is very private, whoever she is.""I would like to find her," said the Earl. "I would like to thank her."And he went out into the snow.

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