A Little Princess: The Attic

It was Sara Crewe's eleventh birthday, and Miss Minchin's school was full of flowers and presents.Sara's father, Captain Crewe, was rich, and the whole school treated Sara like a little princess.In the middle of the party, a serious man came to see Miss Minchin; he was her lawyer.

He brought very bad news.Captain Crewe had put all his money into a friend's diamond mine in India.The friend had run away, and the mine turned out to be worth nothing.

Captain Crewe lost everything he had.Then he caught a fever, and, far away in India, he died.Sara was now an orphan, and there was no money left for her at all.

Miss Minchin was not sad; she was angry about the cost of the party and years of Sara's fine clothes.She sent for Sara and told her, in a hard voice, that her father was dead and the money was gone.She took away the birthday presents and the pretty dress.

From now on, she said, Sara would work for her food and her bed.Sara would run errands, teach the little children, and help in the kitchen.She would sleep in a cold attic room next to Becky, the tired little servant girl.

Sara was too shocked to cry; she said almost nothing and went slowly up the stairs.But alone in the bare attic, she made a quiet promise to herself: whatever happened, inside she would still be a princess.