She had this day a special plan with regard to the arranging of
the Closed Room. She wanted all the things in it--the doll--the
chairs--the toys--the little table and its service to be placed
in certain positions. She told Judith what to do. Various toys
were put here or there--the little table was set with certain
dishes in a particular part of the room. A book was left lying
upon the sofa cushion, the large doll was put into a chair near
the sofa, with a smaller doll in its arms, on the small writing
desk a letter, which Judith found in a drawer--a half-written
letter--was laid, the pen was left in the ink. It was a strange
game to play, but somehow Judith felt it was very pretty. When it
was all done--and there were many curious things to do--the
Closed Room looked quite different from the cold, dim, orderly
place the door had first opened upon. Then it had looked as if
everything had been swept up and set away and covered and done
with forever--as if the life in it had ended and would never
begin again. Now it looked as if some child who had lived in it
and loved and played with each of its belongings, had just
stepped out from her play--to some other room quite near--quite
near. The big doll in its chair seemed waiting--even listening to
her voice as it came from the room she had run into.
The child with the burnished hair stood and looked at it with her
delicious smile.
"That is how it looked," she said. "They came and hid and covered
everything--as if I had gone--as if I was Nowhere. I want her to
know I come here. I couldn't do it myself. You could do it for
me. Go and bring some roses."
The little garden was a wonder of strange beauty with its masses
of flowers. Judith brought some roses from the bush her playmate
pointed out. She put them into a light bowl which was like a
bubble of thin, clear glass and stood on the desk near the
letter.
"If they would look like that," the little girl said, "she would
see. But no one sees them like that--when the Life goes away with
me."
After that the game was finished and they went out on the roof
garden and stood and looked up into the blue above their heads.
How blue--how blue--how clear--how near and real! And how far and
unreal the streets and sounds below. The two children stood and
looked up and laughed at the sweetness of it.
Then Judith felt a little tired.
"I will go and lie down on the sofa," she said.
"Yes," the little girl answered. "It's time for you to go to
sleep."
They went into the Closed Room and Judith lay down. As she did
so, she saw that the door was standing open and remembered that
her mother was coming up to see her and her playmate.
The little girl sat down by her. She put out her pretty fine hand
and touched Judith for the first time. She laid her little
pointed fingers on her forehead and Judith fell asleep.
It seemed only a few minutes before she wakened again. The little
girl was standing by her.
"Come," she said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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