Excerpt:

It was the girl from the toy booth.  Hugo was about to yell to her, but she put a finger to her lips and motioned for him to wait there.  The curtains closed again.
            Hugo shivered in the cold, and in a few minutes the girl appeared from behind the building and ran over to him.
            “Who are you?” she asked.
            “Your grandfather stole my notebook.  I have to get it back before he burns it.”
            “Papa Georges isn’t my grandfather,” said the girl.
“And he isn’t a thief. You are.”
            “No I’m not!”
            “I saw you.”
            “How could you have seen me? The old man sent you away before  I came to the booth.”
            “So you were spying on me, too.  Well, then we’re even.”
            Hugo looked at the girl curiously. “Let me inside.”
            “I can’t do that.  You have to leave.”
            “I won’t go until I have my notebook.”  Hugo picked up another stone to throw at the window, but the girl grabbed his hand and wrestled the stone from his fingers.  She was a little bigger than he was.  “Are you crazy?” she whispered.  “I can’t get caught out here with you.  Why do you need your notebook back so badly?”
            “I can’t tell you”
            Hugo tried to pick up another stone, but the girl pushed him to the ground and held him there.  “Listen to me, I can’t let you into the building, but I promise I’ll make sure he doesn’t burn your notebook.  Go back to the toy booth tomorrow and ask him for your notebook again.”
            Hugo looked up into the girl’s big dark eyes and realized that he didn’t have a choice.  She let him stand up, and he ran off into the snowy night.