"His great-grandmother was sitting by the fire mending one of the old patchwork quilts. Tolly had long been familiar with the quilts, some of which were used as curtains in the living room, hanging from ceiling to floor in bulgy folds against the stone walls. Spread across her knees and rucked up round her on the floor, they were both more intimate and more intriguing. The colors and patterns were so lively in the firelight that Tolly at once sat down to enjoy them." (p. 9)
" 'Don't look for Linnet. This is a hundred and fifty years after she lived. Little girls were dressed just like their mothers only smaller, in long tight dresses.'
'I don't know what girls have,' said Tolly impatiently. 'I'll do it by magic.'
'Detectives don't use magic.'
'Water diviners do. I'll spread my hands out and wave them over the patchwork and when a finger tickles, that's it.'
Tolly fixed his face into a long-lipped solemnity that he thought suitable for water diviners, and with closed eyes he passed his fingers slowly and hesitantly over the quilt.
'What's her name?' he asked without stopping the play of his hands.
'Susan.'
'Susan, Susan, Susan, this is Tolly calling. Susan, where are you? Over to you, Susan.'
His finger came down on a patch and he opened his eyes. His great-grandmother bent down to look.
'Quite right! Not her clothes, but you've hit on her bed curtains.' "
(p. 12)
"When Tolly got into bed and drew his own patchwork quilt up to his chin, he noticed that a great many pieces were of the same materials that he had seen downstairs across his great-grandmother's knees.
'There are bits of those people everywhere,' he thought." (p. 15)
From Treasure of Green Knowe, Lucy M. Boston.
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