And their own laughter went out to follow it
across the night.
The room became suddenly very still again. Some one had closed the
window. The twig no longer tapped. The game was over. Uncle Felix
collected them, an exhausted crew, upon the sofa by his side.
"It was very wonderful," he whispered. "We've done what no one has
ever done before. We've played with the Night-Wind, and the Night-
Wind's played with us. It feels happier now. It will always be our
friend."
"It was awfully strong," said Tim in a tone of awe. "It fairly banged
me."
"But awfully gentle," Judy sighed. "It kissed me hundreds of times."
"I felt it," announced Maria.
"It's only a child, really," Uncle Felix added, half to himself, "a
great wild child that plays with itself in space--"
He went on murmuring for several minutes, but the children hardly
heard the words he used. They had their own sensations. For the wind
had touched their hearts and made them think. They heard it singing
now above the cedars as they had never heard it sing before. It was
alive and lovely, it meant a new thing to them. For they had their
little aching sorrows too; it had taken them all away: they had their
little passionate yearnings and desires; it had prophesied fulfilment.
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