The Mystery of the Tiger's Eye by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page B

just doesn’t like it here. I can’t understand why he’d rather go live with strangers than with family.”
    Violet wondered if Edward had mentioned this to Dorsey. She had a feeling Dorsey’s great-uncle didn’t talk to him very much about personal things. Maybe it was because he was so used to living by himself.
    Benny was staring out the window. The moon was full and round over the bay. Suddenly a huge black cloud blotted out the moonlight.
    â€œWhat is that?” he asked, awestruck.
    Edward stared, too. “Those are birds!” he exclaimed. “That has to be the biggest migration I’ve ever seen! Out on the deck, everybody!”
    Throwing on coats, scarves, and sweaters, everyone hurried through the French doors. Edward adjusted the telescope, but the enormous flock of birds was plainly visible even without the telescope. Their squawks, tweets, and twitterings could be heard over the wind.
    â€œHow many birds are there?” Henry asked Edward.
    â€œCould be a million,” Edward answered. “They’re still flying over. It’ll take twenty minutes at least for them to pass. Dorsey should see this.”
    â€œI’ll go get him,” Violet offered.
    She rushed back inside and upstairs to the third floor. Dorsey’s door was closed, as always. She rapped on it.
    â€œDorsey?” she called. “Your great-uncle wants you.”
    The door swung inward. The room was empty.
    Violet raced back downstairs and out on the deck.
    â€œHe’s not in his room,” she reported to Edward. “I don’t know where he is.”
    â€œHe can’t be far,” said Grandfather. “He’s probably in another part of the house.”
    Everyone went back inside.
    â€œLet’s split up to find him,” Edward suggested. “You kids look upstairs. We’ll search down here.”
    As the Alden kids dashed up the marble staircase, Benny asked, “Do you think Dorsey ran away?”
    â€œI don’t know,” said Jessie. “He didn’t act very happy at dinner.”
    First they checked the rooms on the second floor — Edward’s sitting room, Melanie’s workroom, Edward’s bedroom, and the library. No Dorsey.
    Next they looked in all the bedrooms on the third floor. Dorsey hadn’t returned to his room and he wasn’t in any of the others.
    â€œNow where?” asked Violet.
    Jessie had a thought. “The attic!”
    They raced down the hall and thumped up the wooden stairs to the fourth floor. Henry yanked the light string. The dim light cast looming shadows on the humpbacked trunks and dressmaker dummies.
    Jessie opened the door to one of the storage rooms. She saw boxes and furniture but nothing else. She was about to close the door when she heard a sneeze.
    â€œDorsey?” she asked hesitantly.
    A voice spoke from behind a stack of boxes. “What?”
    The kids hurried over. Dorsey was sitting on the floor, looking through a carton. Houdini the rabbit hopped among books and papers.
    â€œWe’ve been hunting all over for you,” Henry said. “Your great-uncle is worried.”
    â€œI’ve been trying to find Houdini’s secret,” Dorsey replied. “The magician, not the bunny.”
    Violet noticed a book and photograph among the papers. “That’s the book that was taken from our room! And the photograph I found.”
    â€œThey were in this box,” Dorsey explained. “I saw Melanie carry the box up here before dinner. I wondered what was in it, so I came up to find out.”
    â€œMelanie took the book?” Benny said. “Why? It belongs in Mr. Singleton’s library.”
    Dorsey shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought maybe I’d find out more about the cabinet that Houdini sent to this house. I didn’t, though.”
    Violet had been studying the photograph of Harry Houdini. Now she remembered what it was about the