so many curious things going on made
setting a most entertaining occupation. On wet days the Eggs' mother
sometimes felt even a little dull because the children did not come
into the garden.

But even on wet days it could not be said that Mary and Colin were
dull. One morning when the rain streamed down unceasingly and Colin
was beginning to feel a little restive, as he was obliged to remain on
his sofa because it was not safe to get up and walk about, Mary had an
inspiration.

"Now that I am a real boy," Colin had said, "my legs and arms and all
my body are so full of Magic that I can't keep them still. They want
to be doing things all the time. Do you know that when I waken in the
morning, Mary, when it's quite early and the birds are just shouting
outside and everything seems just shouting for joy--even the trees and
things we can't really hear--I feel as if I must jump out of bed and
shout myself. If I did it, just think what would happen!"

Mary giggled inordinately.

"The nurse would come running and Mrs. Medlock would come running and
they would be sure you had gone crazy and they'd send for the doctor,"
she said.

Colin giggled himself. He could see how they would all look--how
horrified by his outbreak and how amazed to see him standing upright.

"I wish my father would come home," he said. "I want to tell him
myself. I'm always thinking about it--but we couldn't go on like this
much longer. I can't stand lying still and pretending, and besides I
look too different. I wish it wasn't raining today."

It was then Mistress Mary had her inspiration.

"Colin," she began mysteriously, "do you know how many rooms there are
in this house?"

"About a thousand, I suppose," he answered.

"There's about a hundred no one ever goes into," said Mary. "And one
rainy day I went and looked into ever so many of them. No one ever
knew, though Mrs. Medlock nearly found me out. I lost my way when I
was coming back and I stopped at the end of your corridor. That was
the second time I heard you crying."

Colin started up on his sofa.

"A hundred rooms no one goes into," he said. "It sounds almost like a
secret garden. Suppose we go and look at them. Wheel me in my chair
and nobody would know we went."

"That's what I was thinking," said Mary. "No one would dare to follow
us. There are galleries where you could run. We could do our
exercises. There is a little Indian room where there is a cabinet f