The Magical Circle
THE OCTOBER SURPRISE
October’s first surprise was easy to guess, as it was marked to open on Marjorie’s birthday, which was the twenty-second. She said it was a birthday present—but she did not guess that the birthday present was a pretty handkerchief as well as a birthday card! That was fun! The story was a Hallowe’en story, so it was marked to open on the afternoon of October thirty-first. It was called, “The Magical Circle.”
XII
The Magical Circle
The family moved into the new house about the first of October. It was the first time that Mark and Marjorie had ever moved and the event was full of novelty. The new house was a big one in the country and the two found much to explore in the first weeks of arrival.
Mark was always romancing. He believed, maybe, if he were to hunt long enough, he might find something interesting that had been left by former tenants. He was sure that there were secret drawers in the old desk that was in the barn and he spent hours trying to find them. Then, too, he went about tapping the walls of the house to see if they emitted a hollow sound. He was sure, he said, that there must be secret panels with things hidden behind them.
Marjorie only laughed at Mark’s romancing. She half believed in it. It was fun, anyway. So she followed Mark’s tapping and listened to the knocks. One day when the paperers were busy, Mark went into a store-closet that adjoined the room and somehow he did find a place that was hollow. It was back of a board shelf in the closet and, when opened, was quite a hiding place. There was nothing in it. Marjorie insisted that it was where the gas pipes had been before electricity was installed. But Mark called it triumphantly the secret panel. He talked a great deal about it and showed it to the neighbor’s children, Eleanore and Mabel and Richard. He even persuaded Mother to hide some silver in the place for safe keeping. And she did it, she said, laughingly, to please him.