Every day she went to the door of the Closed Room and, finding it
closed, at a touch of her hand upon the panel it swung softly
open. There she waited--sometimes for a longer sometimes for a
shorter time--and the child with the coppery hair came to her.
The world below was gone as soon as she entered the room, and
through the hours they played together joyously as happy children
play. But in their playing it was always Judith who touched the
toys--who held the doll---who set the little table for their
feast. Once as she went down-stairs she remembered that when she
had that day made a wreath of roses from the roof and had gone to
put it on her playmate's head, she had drawn back with deepened
dimple and, holding up her hand, had said, laughing: "No. Do not
touch me."
But there was no mystery in it after all. Judith knew she should
presently understand.
She was so happy that her happiness lived in her face in a sort
of delicate brilliance. Jane Foster observed the change in her
with exceeding comfort, her view being that spacious quarters,
fresh air, and sounder sleep had done great things for her.
"Them big eyes of hers ain't like no other child's eyes I've ever
seen," she said to her husband with cheerful self-gratulation.
"An' her skin's that fine an' thin an' fair you can jest see
through it. She always looks to me as if she was made out of
different stuff from me an' you, Jem. I've always said it."
"She's going to make a corking handsome girl," responded Jem with
a chuckle.
They had been in the house two months, when one afternoon, as she
was slicing potatoes for supper, Jane looked round to see the
child standing at the kitchen doorway, looking with a puzzled
expression at some wilted flowers she held in her hand. Jane's
impression was that she had been coming into the room and had
stopped suddenly to look at what she held.
"What've you got there, Judy?" she asked.
"They're flowers," said Judith, her eyes still more puzzled.
"Where'd you get 'em from? I didn't know you'd been out. I
thought you was up-stairs."
"I was," said Judith quite simply. "In the Closed Room."
Jane Foster's knife dropped into her pan with a splash.
"Well," she gasped.
Judith looked at her with quiet eyes.
"The Closed Room!" Jane cried out. "What are you saying? You
couldn't get in?"
"Yes, I can."
Jane was conscious of experiencing a shock. She said afterwards
that suddenly something gave her the creeps.
"You couldn't open the door," she persisted. "I tried it again
yesterday as I passed by--turned the handle and gave it a regular
shove and it wouldn't give an inch."
"Yes," the child answered; "I heard you. We were inside then."
A few days later, when Jane weepingly related the incident to
awe-stricken and sympathizing friends, she described as
graphically as her limited vocabulary would allow her to do so,
the look in Judith's face as she came nearer to her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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