place in time, for fear of doing my muscles an
injury."

That afternoon Mary noticed that something
new had happened in Colin's room. She had noticed
it the day before but had said nothing because
she thought the change might have been made by
chance. She said nothing today but she sat and
looked fixedly at the picture over the mantel. She
could look at it because the curtain had been drawn
aside. That was the change she noticed.

"I know what you want me to tell you," said
Colin, after she had stared a few minutes. "I
always know when you want me to tell you something.
You are wondering why the curtain is
drawn back. I am going to keep it like that."

"Why?" asked Mary.

"Because it doesn't make me angry any more
to see her laughing. I wakened when it was
bright moonlight two nights ago and felt as if the
Magic was filling the room and making everything
so splendid that I couldn't lie still. I got
up and looked out of the window. The room was
quite light and there was a patch of moonlight on
the curtain and somehow that made me go and
pull the cord. She looked right down at me as
if she were laughing because she was glad I was
standing there. It made me like to look at her.
I want to see her laughing like that all the time. I

[[337]]

p336 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p337w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p338

v?