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Chapter 13 Kay and the Masker · The Wind Boy

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  Chapter thirteen of The wind Boy by Ethel Cook Eliot. This LibriVox recording is
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  in the public domain. Chapter thirteen, Kay and the Masker. The next
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  afternoon, Kay and Gentian took their homework out under the cherry tree. There
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  was more than usual of it to day, and they wanted to get it
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  all out of the way before twilight, for at twilight they had promised each
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  other to lie in wait for the Masker, and they hoped that the wind
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  Boy would come to join them. Even as they studied, they kept glancing
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  up, half expecting to see him standing in the garden waiting for them,
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  and several times Gentian was sure she spied a bit of his purple wings when
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  the spring wind moved over head in the cherry tree. You really must study,
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  Gentian, Kay at last, cried a little impatiently. If you keep
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  looking up there for him all the time and thinking about him, you'll never
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  get done this afternoon. Then mother'll keep us in to night. Gentian sighed,
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  all right, she said, I'll try, and she bent over her
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  lesson book determinedly. Just then the wind Boy did come running down from the
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  clear land and into the boughs of the cherry tree, but he made no
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  more sound than the spring wind had already made there, so the children did
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  not let themselves look up. He knelt in a forked branch, watching them
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  for some time, but they did not lift their eyes from their books.
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  He shook the boughs, then, making the air sweet with cherry blossom smell.
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  Still they would not look. He spread his purple wings and drifted to
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  the grass, and, standing directly before them, looked down wistfully at the
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  coppery tops of their bent heads. He had come to play with them.
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  But if you are to play with the wind boy, you must first see
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  him, and he has no way of getting your attention, and if you
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  are quite ready to give it. So he waited now in vain for his
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  human playmates. At last, too proud to stay longer unwonted, he turned
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  away and flew slowly over the hedge and back to the artist's tulip garden.
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  There he stretched himself out in the grassy center, where the sun was warmest,
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  and stayed half asleep, waiting for twilight and time to watch for the
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  masker. But back under the cherry tree, it was Gentean who was now
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  rebuking Kay, Really, Kay, unless you stop staring up at that nursery
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  window, you'll never get done, and mother won't let us out in the
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  twilight, please you see, Rosemarie had come to her high nursery window and
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  stood looking down at the brother and sister. She was hoping that Kay would
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  soon put by his books and climb, for if she herself might not climb
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  down the brown limbs of that old cherry tree among the budding blossoms, the
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  next best thing was to watch somebody else doing it. But to day Alas
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  he did not climb, and Rosemarie as the wind Boy, turned away after
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  a while, lonely and disappointed. After that, Cay and Gentien got on
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  famously with the work they had set themselves, and there was only silence and
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  now and then the turning of a page in the tiny garden. But after
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  all the wind Boy was not patient enough to wait for twilight to return to
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  the little brown house and his playmates. He found them through with an early
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  supper, Tossing a ball before the door. They were throwing it back and
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  forth to each other, calling and laughing. The wind boy heard their happy
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  voices before he came to the hedge. Gentian was the first to see him
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  and clapped her hands. So you've come, she cried. We've been looking
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  and looking for you. But it's not time to watch for the masker yet.
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  What shall we play till twilight? She knew very well, of course,
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  that the wind Boy would not be able to catch or throw their ball,
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  for she remembered that he could not even open the secret door that needed
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  only a touch. In the clear land. You must know, the wind
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  boy could open doors well enough and play ball too. It was only down
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  here that he had no touch for things. Let's play hide and seek,
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  he suggested, I'll blind first, Oh, lets Both children agreed. So
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  the wind Boy faced the cherry tree, and, crossing his arms on the
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  old brown trunk, closed his eyes against them. Away. Gentian ran almost
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  before he had began to count, around the house and out across the meadow.
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  At the back. There in a hollow behind some huggleberry bushes, she
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  crouched to hide, But Kay had not gone so far. He wanted to
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  get his goal and fool the wind Boy, who he thought much of herd
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  Gentian running away around the house and would go in that direction, leaving him
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  safe to slip in and get free. So very softly, moving on his
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  toes, he got to the Lilac hedge and worked his way in among the
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  bushes. Once there, safely hidden, he stood erect. The wind Boy
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  did just as Kay had expected. When he had finished counting, he turned
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  about and looked all around carefully. For an instant he looked straight at Kay's
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  hiding place, and Kay felt that their eyes met, but they could not
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  have, for the wind Boy never saw him there at all. Peering out
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  through the green leaves, once again, he turned on his heels, looking
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  carefully every way. When he ran away in the direction he had heard Gentian's
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  feet taking. Now, Kay would have jumped from his hiding place and got
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  his goal with ease if he had not heard a sound behind him. He
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  turned to see what it was and stayed as though frozen, for there,
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  standing close against a tree trunk on the Artist's lawn and looking back around it
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  as though in fear of someone seeing it from the windows of the Great House.
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  Was the Masker. It had come early tonight. Kay wanted to shout
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  for the wind Boy and Gentian, but that would do no good, he
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  knew, for the Masker would only escape again. Then he remembered the policeman
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  who was able to keep special watch every evening. He looked out carefully toward
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  the street. Yes, there he was, just arriving for dearer and pacing
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  back and forth within easy call. But Kay did not call. No.
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  He suddenly decided to catch the masker for himself and have all the fun of
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  waving the mask in the faces of the wind Boy and Gentian when they should
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  come back to the goal. So he simply stayed perfectly still, waiting in
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  his leafy secrecy. And now that he had decided on a brave thing,
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  the masker suddenly became not so terrifying to him. It was a figure only
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  about his own height, covered from neck to heels in a blue silk cape.
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  The cape had a peaked hood, and this was pulled over the masker's
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  head. The mask itself was the only frightening thing, and since he knew
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  that it was only a mask, why mind it anyway? Seen close like
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  this in late afternoon light, it was almost more comical than horrible. The
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  long green eyes, the big brown ears, the pointed nose, and the
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  turned up mouth came very near to making him laugh and so giving away his
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  hiding place. But he had no intention of doing that. He waited,
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  hoping with all his heart that the policeman would not look over the hedge and
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  see the masker too. After a minute, the masker left the concealment of
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  the tree and ran very swiftly toward the hole in the hedge. To reach
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  the hole, it had to pass Kay. He leapt out and caught at
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  the flying cape. With a startled but stifled scream. The masker wrenched the
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  cape from his grasp and fled back across the g right towards the artist's house.
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  This time it did not stop to hide behind the trees, for Kay
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  was after it right At once he realized that the masker was making for the
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  secret door behind the syringa bush. Well that should not happen again, not
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  if he could help it. He ran faster than he had known he could
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  run, taking a short cut right across a bed of jonquils that headed the
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  masker off. Before it could get near the Syringa bush, it swerved off
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  and sped away in the direction of the tulip garden. Down long grassy piles.
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  It ran, the blue Cape streaming behind like a streak of cloud.
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  For Kay had pulled it loose from one shoulder, but Kay was gaining.
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  Then the maskers stopped bothering about the paths and dashed through the flowers, over
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  ferns, over freshly planted places, and at last reached the foot of the
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  stone steps leading up to the tulip garden. And Kay followed through everything.
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  To what his mother or the artists would say to all this ruin of their
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  feet, he gave not a thought at that time. He was after the
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  masker, and he meant to catch it. He could only think of that.
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  Just at the top of the steps, the masker tripped over its cape
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  and fell, sprawling. Kay, who was close behind and had not time
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  to stop, tripped over the masker and fell, sprawling too. Up got
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  the masker to its knees to run again, but Kay reached out a hand
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  and clutched the cape. At that the masker had to stand still, though
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  tugging, for the cape was fastened securely to a strap round the masker's waist.
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  There cried Kay, springing up. Now I've got you, you horrid
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  thing that scares children and keeps the wind boy away from his comrades. I'm
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  not afraid of you, and he reached for the mask to tear it off,
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  but the masker itself pulled down the mask before Kay could, and Kay
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  gave up his hold on the cape and fell back a step in utter dismay
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  for the mask coming off had brought the peaked hood with it. And there
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  were the dancing dark curls, and the merry brown eyes and the rosy cheeks
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  of Rosemarie. And she was laughing. Indeed, she was laughing so hard
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  that her knees gave out, and she sank to the ground, shaking with
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  mirth. Oh, I would and to tripped if I hadn't got to laughing,
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  she said, when she could stop a little. Didn't I fool you?
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  Oh? Wasn't it fun? You never guessed it was I all the
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  time? But how you can run? But Kay had nothing to say.
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  He could only stare and stare. He had never been so near to Rosemarie
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  before, or dreamed anybody could be so pretty. At last, he found
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  his voice, though, and asked, was it always you all the time?
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  He could hardly believe it. Yes, of course, didn't you guess?
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  But how did you come by the mask at all? Oh? One
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  day when I was wondering what I should do alone, and wanting, oh
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  so to play with you and your sister. But Old Prinney, that's my
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  governess, said I never could. I just found it. It was blowing
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  about the hedge. Old Prynney's nose was buried in a book and she never
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  saw it. So I hid it out of my cape. I tried it
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  on that night when she left me alone to do my lessons. It was
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  so funny. I laughed and laughed at myself in the mirror on my door.
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  Then I got this blue cape out of Prynney's closet. It's her best
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  Sunday cape, you must know. But I had to be covered up,
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  didn't I. If my dress showed, everybody would guess. There is a
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  secret door, yes, behind the serringa interrupted kay Rosemarie looked at him,
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  surprised. Why that's my secret door? What do you know about it?
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  I'll tell you afterwards, only go on with your story. I found it
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  for myself one day. I was playing Indians. You see, since I
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  was playing alone, I had to be all the Indian and the white settlers
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  too well. The Indian chief was just about to scalp a white man.
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  Only the white man tumbled back into some bushes and then ran away and got
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  safe. When I tumbled back among the bushes, it was the syringa bush.
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  You know why. I tumbled right into that door, and so I
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  found out about it. I used it for all my play after that.
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  It fitted into so many stories. It is such fun, Yes, it
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  must be. I wish we had a secret door. It's awfully exciting.
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  If only Prinny would let us play together, we could find lots of things
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  to do with it. I should say so. But do you use it
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  when you go out and in with the mask? Yes? And then I
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  run from tree to tree, just like the Indians. You know, nobody
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  has ever seen me from the windows. Prennye would looking out anyway, Not
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  then, for she's having her supper with the housekeeper. They're having it early
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  tonight because grandfather's coming home and they must get me dressed for him. But
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  weren't you afraid of the policeman. No, why should I be afraid of
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  the policeman. Didn't you know he is on watch for you to catch you.
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  No, why haven't you heard how frightened everybody is of the mask,
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  even some of the grown ups. Your grandfather has told the policemen to catch
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  you, not you, of course, the masker. No, I didn't
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  know all that. I wouldn't hear any of it. Of course they would
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  think I might be frightened of the masker myself, I suppose. Rosemarie burst
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  into laughter again at the quaint thought. Oh, it would have been all
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  the more fun if I'd known that. You would have been afraid of the
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  policeman. If you had known, Kay asked, wondering at her, Yes,
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  perhaps a little, But I would have gone out all the same.
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  Oh, Kay, you must never tell on me. It will be so
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  exciting now. But I want the mask, Rosemarie, you see. And
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  then Kay told her all about the wind boy. She listened enchanted. But
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  when he was done, she asked, aren't you making it all up out
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  of your head? No, no, it's as true as true. He
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  is very unhappy, but once he gets the mask back and has torn it
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  up, everything will come right with him again. Well, of course you
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  must take it to him. Then he must be clever, the wind boy,
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  to have made it so frightening. Only now, Kay, when I
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  give it to you, am I ever to get into your garden again and
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  look in at your window. If I couldn't play with you, It's been
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  fun to frighten you and have you chase me. Why last night when you
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  were after me and I got in at my secret door, it was the
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  most fun I have ever had in my whole life. Oh, Rosemarie,
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  why don't you ask your grandfather? He might Rosemary shook her head. No,
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  he mightn't. Miss Prane is to say about everything. When she says
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  no, I must never never ask him. But I should think Kay had
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  not time to say what he should think. For suddenly a voice came calling
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  Rosemarie, Rosemarie, where are you? The voice sounded vexed and frightened at
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  the same time, for the artist had returned a little earlier than they had
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  expected, and Rosemarie was not to be found. Miss Prine and Polly had
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  searched the whole house, and now they were calling in the grounds. It
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  was Miss Prane's voice, the children were hearing. She had come in her
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  hunting to the foot of the stone steps. Oh there she is, whispered
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  Rosemarie. Oh bother, stay here and hide. Kay, here here is
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  the mask, Give it to the wind boy. Won't she just be furious
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  about the cape, though I don't care. It's been worth it playing with
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  you. Then she stood up and ran down the steps. Kay stayed still
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  where she had left him, the mask at his back. Oh there you
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  are, he heard Miss Priane's exasperated voice exclaiming, in my best cape,
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  what will you bear next? Naughty, naughty, mischiefous girl. For a
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  long whay. As they went down the grassy path, Hay heard Miss Prane's
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  quick scolding words, but for some time after the voice had faded out,
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  Hay stayed thinking. He thought, rose Marie's not really naughty. It's just
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  that she has nothing else to do but naughtiness, nobody to play with.
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  If she could play with Gentian and me, she wouldn't want to take Miss
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  Prane's best cape, and not to get her lessons and frightened little children.
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  We'd find plenty to do without that, how jolly it might be. We'd
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  play Indians and shipwreck and everything. Gentian just wants to play fairy stories all
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  the time, but rose Marie's different. And there's the secret door and all
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  the gardens. He sat on his eyes bright, thinking up the things they
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  might do with Rosemarie. Why there would be no end to them, But
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  after some time he remembered the wind Boy and Gentian, who must have come
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  back long ago to the goal, and now were wondering where he was and
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  perhaps hunting him. He picked up the mask and ran away down the steps.
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  End of Chapter thirteen.