VIIIThree years passed in the valley. Three summers of wilting heat, three winters of snow. Finn ranged farther and farther from home, up beyond the mountain slopes where the avalanche had caught them. Down past Three Tree Hill and the farm. His mother and father, watching him set out alone each time, sighed and held each other but said nothing.
He spent more and more of his time at the Switch House, helping Mrs. Megrim. When the old woman was ill, he ran the junction on his own. He no longer attended her lessons as she claimed she had taught him everything she knew. He grew to love the dark seclusion of the little room. No one else was allowed inside. The quietness of it wrapped around him like a warm blanket. He loved the patient gaze of the telescopes and the smooth paper of the ledger
