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Chapter 10 The Secret Door · The Wind Boy

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  Chapter ten of The Wind Boy by Ethel Cook Eliot. This Libriox recording is
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  in the public domain. Chapter ten, The Secret Door. That night,
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  the family in the little brown house finished their supper before it was time to
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  light the lamps. The world was just turning violet and the sky dimming.
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  We are through early to night. Detra said, I shall have a long
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  evening for the wind Boy. I am going to break him all up and
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  begin quite over, for I shall never be satisfied with him as he is.
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  The children were sorry that their mother was going to destroy the statuette.
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  It was so almost like the wind Boy. They knew that they had become
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  more attached to it than anything their mother had ever made before. But if
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  I do him better, Dettra said, you will be glad. Then be
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  sure you keep him the wind Boy, though Kay begged, he is like
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  that, you know, only more so. Detra laughed at that, but
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  in her heart she knew that Kay was right. Yes, I will keep
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  him the same boy, she promised, only I will make him truer.
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  Then she ran upstairs to bring down the statuette. The children were still at
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  the table, although they had finished their supper. Outdoors is getting into purple.
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  Now, Genteen said, it's like the wind boy's eyes. Let's go
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  out and see if he is in the cherry tree. Yet Nan had told
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  them that he watched for the masker there at twilight. All right, let's
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  but at that minute came the scratching and rustling at the window that their children
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  remembered. Quickly they turned their faces. Yes, there in the open window
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  showed the mask The horrid pointed ears, the horrid grin froze their hearts as
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  always before when they had seen them. They stood staring. Would it jump
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  over the sill and rush towards them in the room. It looked as though
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  it might. It was staring straight back at them. Then suddenly Nan opened
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  the door from the kitchen. She was coming in to clear the table.
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  The masker saw the opening door and dropped down out of sight. They heard
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  its feet racing away right across Kay's own garden plots. Kay forgot his terror
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  at that, He sprang up and was away out of the door. After
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  the masker. Gentians stood behind only the briefest instant screwing up her carriage,
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  and then she too dashed away. Nan, looking after them, smiled,
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  for she had no fear that harm would come to them. Kay reached the
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  door just in time to glimpse the blue cloak of the Masker whisking away through
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  the hole in the Lilac hedge. Mother, of course, did not want
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  the children to go into the artist's garden, but Kay very well knew that
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  this would make a difference. She would be only too proud of him should
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  he catch the masker and capture the mask no matter where he went to do
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  it. Seen from behind, and while it was running away like this,
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  the masker was not terrifying at all. Far from it. It was just
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  a slim little figure, no taller than Kay himself, in a blue cape
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  to its heels. Gentian was through the hole in the hedge almost as soon
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  as Cay, and by the time he had reached the sloping, long green
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  terrace running right up to the artist's front door, she was quite up to
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  him. But the fleeing masker was far ahead, already on the broad gravel
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  drive, running for dear life. Well, it must turn around when it
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  reached the house and go in some other direction, then they would have it.
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  They took hold of hands and ran on, but the Masker did not
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  turn back when it reached the house. No, it dashed on and around
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  a corner and was lost to the children's eyes. To their delight, now
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  they heard the whir of wings and saw the wind boy a little way above
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  them, flying fast through the purple twilight. Oh, splendid, he'll catch
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  it, surely, the children thought, and followed on. But the wind
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  boy did not catch the masker that evening, nor did the children. For
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  a strange thing happened. The wind boy had followed around the corner and overtaken
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  the fleeing masker. He had no thought of failure now and glided to the
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  ground, reaching a hand to seize the mask Then suddenly the masker turned about,
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  just escaping his hand, pushed behind a syringa bush that grew against the
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  house, threw open a little low door in the wall, and was gone.
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  The wind boy stopped stockstill amazed. Well, he knew that he could
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  never open a door down here in this land. His were a wind boy's
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  hands, strong and useful enough in his own clear land, but quite helpless
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  with anything so heavy as this door. When Gentian and Kay came running up,
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  his face was clouded. Indeed, where did it go? Kay?
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  Cried in a door behind that syringer bush. The wind boy said, with
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  deep disgust, right into the house. Yes, right into the house,
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  of course, else I'd have got the mask at last. I've never came
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  so near it before. Kay was troubled. It'll frighten Rose Marie. Then
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  he cried, Oh, she'll be terribly frightened. Then he turned and ran.
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  The wind Boy and Genteean had no idea what he meant to do,
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  but they followed to see. Kay was set on doing a very brave thing.
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  He ran around the great house and up the wide, shallow marble steps
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  to the front door. There, standing in the twilight a determined little boy.
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  He pulled the bell. Gentian and the wind Boy followed him. They
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  would stand by. The door was promptly opened by a maid servant. She
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  stared down at Kay, surprised. What is it? Why do you come
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  to the front door, she asked with curiosity. A child at the great
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  front door was the last thing she had expected to find. Please, said
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  Kay, that masker, you know, the horrid thing with long ears and
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  a queer mouth. Well it has just now gone right into your house.
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  It will frighten Rose Marie. The maid, screamed, The masker in this
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  house, she cried, stepping very quickly out onto the marble step beside.
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  Kay. Then not a step. I'll stir back until it's been got out.
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  But Rosemarie will be frightened, Kay pleaded, you may be frightened.
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  Now you must go and take care of her. I do not know whether
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  the maid would have gone to see Rosemarie or not, for any one could
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  tell that she was pretty well frightened herself. Had the village policeman at that
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  minute not come up the steps to find what the trouble was about. He
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  had seen the children at the artist's front door and felt they did not belong
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  there. What is all this, he asked, for he had heard Kay's
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  words. What will frighten miss Rosemarie? The masker, Kay answered, turning
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  around, glad now of the policeman's interference, and was not a bit afraid.
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  It came to our window, and we chased it. We followed it
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  right up to the house and then around to the side. It ran in
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  at a door behind the syringa bush. There the wind boy saw it go
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  in at the door. There isn't any door behind the searing a bush.
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  Said the maid. You must be dreaming. And who saw it, asked
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  the policeman. The wind boy. He came flying past us, over our
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  heads and got around the corner first. That is why he was in time
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  to see it. Go in at the little door. Where is the windboy?
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  Now? Why? Right here by Gentian. The policeman looked down at
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  Gentian, but he did not see the wind boy. His eyes were not
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  nearly clear enough for that. He stared at Kay and Gentian very suspiciously.
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  Then come show us that door, he said, gruffly. There just isn't
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  any door there at all? So why bother? Snapped the maid. She
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  had begun to get over her fright, and to think the children impudent and
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  mischievous. The policeman thought them imputed and mischievous too, But he remembered Nan
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  and the way he had looked through her eyes to the mountains. He hesitated.
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  Oh, give them every chance, he thought. Then that girl certainly
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  thinks they are all right. Oh, nevertheless, there is something very queer
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  about all this. Out loud, he said, come anyway, we'll make
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  certain about the door. But Kay cried Rose Marie, what about her?
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  Aren't you going to see that? She's not frightened. You're right, said
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  the policeman. Then if by any chance the masker did get into the house,
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  she may well be very frightened. Better go in Better, Better was
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  the maid's name, and see that the little miss is safe. No,
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  indeed, I'll not go a step, said Better, frightened again now that
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  she thought the policeman was taking the children's story seriously. What you afraid of
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  the masker too? Then I'll have to go with you, and you children.
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  Don't move a step from here until we get back. I mean to
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  go to the bottom of this. Indeed, it's more my duty than ordinary,
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  since the artist is away. The great door closed and the children waited.
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  They had no temptation to go away. They were only too eager to
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  stay and learn whether the masker was caught. The wind boy was on tiptoes
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  with excitement. The three sat down on the lowest marble step until the great
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  door should open again. But it was a long time before the door opened.
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  The artist's mansion was a very very big one, indeed, and there
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  were many rooms, corners, passages, and closets into which the policeman had
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  to look to make sure that the masker was not hiding. He was rather
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  cross when at last he did come out, for against his reasons, he
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  had hoped to get his hands on the masker at last. And so when
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  the artist's praise and reward when he should come home tomorrow, well, youngsters,
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  he said, shortly, come now and show me that wonderful door that
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  probably isn't a door at all. Miss Rosemarie is busy at her lessons,
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  safe and quiet as you would be if your mother took proper care of you
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  and kept you out of mischief evenings. Where are you anyway, For he
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  did not see them just at first, in their place on the low step.
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  But Kay jumped up. Our mother does take proper care of us,
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  cried Kay. We just followed the masker to catch it. That was all
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  she would want us to do. That, luckily enough, answered the policeman,
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  striding down the steps. But step lively now and show us that door.
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  So Gentien and Kay and the wind boy led the way around the house
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  to the syringa bush, of course better and the policeman could not see the
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  wind boy, although it was his hands that parted the sweet smelling white blossoms
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  that brushed the hidden door. The policeman and better thought it was just a
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  little wind stirring on the edge of night that did it. But even when
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  the flowers were parted, they could not see the door. Even Kay and
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  Gentean could not see the door. Kay and Gentean were startled. Had the
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  wind boy made a mistake, And what would the policeman think of that?
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  Oh, he would mistrust them more than ever now he would think they had
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  lied. They were troubled, indeed. But the wind boy said, push
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  against the wall right here. That's all the masker did, and it opened
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  just as easy. Kay thought it would be too silly to push against the
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  wall where the wind boy was pointing. It seemed so much like all the
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  rest of the wall there, just war without a sign of a door.
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  The policeman could not hear the wind boy's voice. He only thought to himself,
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  the wind is rising a little. He began to laugh, not a
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  very pleasant laugh, for now he thought what he had found the children out.
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  They were, truly, in his words, bold ones and mischief makers.
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  But Gentian stepped forward and did as the wind boy said. She pushed
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  against the blank wall with all her strength, and the next she knew she
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  was lying flat on her face in a very dark place. There had been
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  no need to push so hard, for the door opened at a touch,
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  But she was not hurt. A bit up, she jumped and stood alone
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  in the pitchy dark, for the door had swung too behind her. And
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  now that those outside knew that there was a door, they pushed it open
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  again and let her out. Well, I never, better gasped, poking
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  her head in at the door that was now held open by the policeman.
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  I never heard of such a thing at all. Who'd ever guess it?
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  Why? Was just nothing to show? The policeman was as surprised as Better.
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  It's a secret door, he said, that's what it is. We'll
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  have to see where it leads. Why it's just a coat closet under the
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  backstairs, Better exclaimed, craning her neck. A body coming in could run
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  right up the back stairs and be seen by nobody. Well, then I
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  shall just have to ask the artist when he returns whether he knows about this
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  door, the policeman said, importantly, And you better please say nothing about
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  it. But my master won't be back until tomorrow. Better cried, Until
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  then, am I to sleep in a house with a secret door? And
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  not even a key in it and say nothing to nobody. Yes, that
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  is just what you are to do. And you children, you too,
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  say nothing. The children nodded. It was very exciting and surely very important
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  to be sharing a secret with the policeman. But at that minute Gentian Kay
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  came to come in. Come in. Nan was standing in the doorway of
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  the little brown house calling them. So they are looking out for you after
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  all, said the policeman, but not gruffly. Now. I'm glad to
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  know it. But I might have trusted that girl to have an eye out
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  for you. Anyway, she'd know where you were, he meant Nan.
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  In all his life, he was never to forget her and the far off
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  mountains he had seen through her clear eyes. Are you coming with us,
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  win boy, do, spered Gentian, But the wind boy shook his head
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  no, he said, I'm going to stay around by this door to make
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  sure the masker doesn't come out again. Oh if I had only caught it.
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  So Gentian and Kay had to run home without their new playmate, for
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  Nan was calling again. When they had gone, the policeman said, to
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  better, you better go in too, or the other maids will be asking
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  you all sorts of questions. I shall stay here a bit to think things
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  over. Betta went reluctant and grumbling, but not daring to disobey the policeman.
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  Then the policeman sat down in front of the syringa bush to do his
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  thinking of things over at his ease. But his eyes were alert and keen
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  enough as they rested on the hidden door in spite of all his puzzle thoughts.
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  Beside him, waiting too and watching, sat the wind boy cross legged,
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  his purple wings folded down his back. But the policeman knew nothing of
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  the wind boy now. And then he did hear the rustle of the wind
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  boy's wings as he changed his position a little, But if he thought about
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  the sound at all, it was to him just the night wind among the
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  syringa flowers. So the purple twilight fell deeper and deeper all around them,
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  until they were just the faintest outlines in the dusk. But as the purple
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  deepened, the policeman, staying on so carelessly there in the gathering dew,
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  forgot to puzzle about the masker and the secret door. He had fallen to
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  thinking about Nan instead, that strange girl who had come to work for the
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  foreigners in the little brown House. It is not every day you can see
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  far off purple mountains just by looking into a girl's clear eyes. And the
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  wind boy was thinking about Gentian. What a brave little girl she had been
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  to run after the masker. Kay was brave, of course, boys had
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  to be. But Gentian was brave because she had promised to help him.
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  The wind boy he was sure of that. So the policemen and the wind
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  boy thought their thoughts without interfering with each other in the Purple Twilight on Watch
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  at the Secret Door, end of chapter ten