Lottie was the third girl in the group. She was very young. She did not understand why Sara changed. Lottie heard that strange things happened to Sara. Sara looked different now. She wore an old black dress. She did not have lessons with the other girls. Now, she only came to the schoolroom to teach. The little children whispered about her. They knew Sara did not live in her beautiful room anymore. Lottie was sad because Sara did not talk very much now.
"Are you very poor now, Sara?" Lottie asked one morning. "Are you a beggar?" Lottie took Sara’s hand. Her eyes were full of tears. "I do not want you to be a beggar."
Sara did not want Lottie to cry. "Beggars have no homes," Sara said. "I have a place to live."
"Where do you live?" Lottie asked. "A new girl sleeps in your old room."
"I live in another room," Sara said.
"Is it a nice room?" Lottie asked. "I want to see it."
"You must not talk," Sara said. "Miss Minchin is looking at us. She will be angry with me."
Sara knew the rules. If the children talked, Miss Minchin blamed her. If the children were bad, Miss Minchin shouted at her.
But Lottie was a determined little girl. She wanted to find Sara’s room. She listened to the older girls. One afternoon, she walked up many stairs. She went to the very top of the house. She reached the attic. She opened a door. She saw Sara standing on an old table. Sara was looking out of a high window.
"Sara!" Lottie cried. She was very shocked. The attic was bare and ugly. It was very far away from the other rooms.
Sara turned around. She was also shocked. She ran to Lottie. "Do not cry!" Sara said. "Miss Minchin will scold me if you make a noise. It is not a bad room, Lottie."
Lottie looked around the room. She wanted to cry, but she stayed quiet. She loved Sara very much. "Why is it a nice room, Sara?" Lottie whispered.
Sara hugged Lottie. "You can see many things from here," Sara said. "You cannot see these things downstairs."
"What things?" Lottie asked.
"You can see the chimneys," Sara said. "You can see the smoke go into the sky. You can see sparrows hopping on the roof. The birds talk to each other like people. You can see other attic windows. You can wonder who lives there. It feels like another world."
"Oh, let me see!" Lottie cried.
Sara lifted Lottie up. They stood on the old table together. They looked out of the flat window in the roof. The world looked very different. They saw the red tiles of the roofs. The sparrows were not afraid. Two birds sat on a chimney and fought. The attic window of the house next door was closed. That house was empty.
"I want someone to live there," Sara said. "If a little girl lived there, we could talk through the windows."
Lottie loved the view. The sky was very near. They could not hear Miss Minchin. They could not hear the schoolroom. They only heard the birds.
"Oh, Sara!" Lottie said. "I like this attic! It is better than downstairs."
"Look at that sparrow," Sara whispered. "I want to give him some food."
"I have some bread!" Lottie said. She took some bread out of her pocket.
They threw some crumbs to the bird. The sparrow flew away at first. He was surprised. Then Sara made a soft sound like a bird. The sparrow looked at the crumbs.
"Will he come back?" Lottie whispered.
"Yes," Sara whispered. "He is thinking. He is coming now!"
The sparrow hopped to the crumbs. He looked at the girls. He was a little afraid. Then he took a big piece of bread and flew to the chimney.
"Now he knows we are friends," Sara said. "He will come back."
The sparrow did come back. He brought a friend and his family. They all ate the bread. Lottie was very happy. She forgot that the attic was ugly. Sara showed Lottie other nice things in the room.
"It is like a nest in a tree," Sara said. "The ceiling is low and funny. In the morning, I can see the sky from my bed. When the sun shines, the clouds are pink. When it rains, the water hits the window. It sounds like music. At night, I count the stars."
Sara walked around the room. She held Lottie’s hand. She used her imagination. "Imagine a blue rug on the floor," Sara said. "Imagine a soft sofa and many books. We can have a fire in that small grate. We can have a lamp and a table for tea. It can be a beautiful room."
Lottie believed Sara. "Oh, Sara!" Lottie cried. "I want to live here!"
Later, Lottie went downstairs. Sara was alone again. She looked at her room. The magic was gone. The bed was hard. The walls were old and cracked. The floor was cold. She felt very lonely.
"It is a lonely place," Sara said. "It is the loneliest place in the world."
Suddenly, Sara heard a sound. She looked at the floor. A large rat sat there. He was looking for Lottie’s crumbs. He looked like a small, gray man. Sara was not afraid. She watched him with her bright eyes.
"It is hard to be a rat," Sara thought. "Nobody likes rats. People scream when they see a rat. I do not want people to scream when they see me."
The rat was hungry. He had a family in the wall. His children were hungry too. He wanted the crumbs, but he was afraid of the girl.
"Come here," Sara said. "I will not hurt you. In the Bastille, prisoners were friends with rats. I will be your friend."
The rat understood. He knew he was safe. He was a nice rat. He did not want to hurt anyone. He walked to the crumbs and started to eat. He looked at Sara. He looked like he was saying "thank you."
One piece of bread was very large. The rat took it quickly. He ran to a hole in the wall and disappeared.
"He wanted that for his children," Sara said. "I can be his friend."
One week later, Ermengarde came to the attic. She knocked on the door. Sara did not open it immediately. Ermengarde heard Sara laughing.
"Go home now, Melchisedec!" Sara said. "Go home to your wife!"
Sara opened the door. Ermengarde was very afraid. "Who are you talking to?" Ermengarde asked.
"Do not be afraid," Sara said. "Promise you will not scream."
Ermengarde looked around the room. She saw nobody. She thought there was a ghost. "Is it a ghost?" she asked.
"No," Sara laughed. "It is my rat."
Ermengarde jumped onto the bed. She hid her feet. "A rat!" she cried. "A rat!"
"He is a good rat," Sara said. "I am teaching him not to be afraid. He knows me now."
Ermengarde watched Sara. Sara knelt on the floor near the hole. She made a low whistling sound. Soon, the rat looked out of the hole. Sara gave him some crumbs. The rat ate some of them and carried the rest back to his family.
"You see?" Sara said. "He is very polite. He takes the bread to his children. I can hear them squeak with joy."
Ermengarde started to laugh. "Oh, Sara!" she said. "You are strange, but you are very nice."
"I know I am strange," Sara said. "My father always laughed at me. He liked my stories. I must make up stories. If I do not make up stories, I cannot live in this place."
"When you talk," Ermengarde said, "the stories feel real. You talk about the rat like he is a person."
"He is a person," Sara said. "He gets hungry and afraid like us. He has a family. That is why I gave him a name."
Suddenly, they heard a sound. Someone knocked on the wall two times.
"What is that?" Ermengarde asked.
"It is the prisoner in the next room," Sara said.
"Is it Becky?" Ermengarde asked.
"Yes," Sara said. "Two knocks mean, 'Are you there?'"
Sara knocked on the wall three times. "That means, 'Yes, I am here. Everything is okay.'"
Then, four knocks came from the other side.
"That means, 'Good night, friend,'" Sara explained.
Ermengarde was very happy. "Oh, Sara!" she whispered. "It is like a story!"
"Everything is a story," Sara said. "You are a story. I am a story. Miss Minchin is a story."
They talked for a long time. Then Ermengarde went quietly downstairs to her own bed.