But, caught by the astounding magic of the singing
bird, Aunt Emily had turned, and in doing so the hand behind her back
became visible for the first time since their meeting. The children
saw it simultaneously. They nudged each other, but they said no word.
The same moment, having failed to discover the bird, Aunt Emily turned
back again. She looked caught, they thought. But, also she looked as
if she had found something herself. The secret joy she tried to hide
from them by swallowing it, rose to her wrinkled cheeks and shone in
both her eyes, then overflowed and rippled down towards her trembling
mouth. The lips were trembling. She smiled, but so softly, sweetly,
that ten years dropped from her like a dissolving shadow. And the hand
she had so long kept hidden behind her back stole forth slowly into
view.
"How did you guess that I was looking for anything?" she inquired
plaintively in an excited yet tremulous tone. "I thought no one knew
it." She seemed genuinely surprised, yet unbelievably happy too. A
great sigh of relief escaped her.
"We're all the same," one of them informed her; "so you are too!
Everybody's looking.
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