Gerda was nine years old when she first learned that she was the descendent of swans.... At almost six-thirty, Gerda still hadn't come down from the attic. Kitty decided it was time, therefore, for her to go up. For a long time she'd had a half-unconscious prayer that God would let her live a selfish life, not a life in which she had to be courageous in order to be good. She wasn't strong enough for that. She wanted everything to be easier. This...