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Speaker 1: Perdita by Hildegarde Hawthorne, Part one. Alfalfa Ranch. Alfalfa Ranch,

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low wide, with spreading verandahs, all overgrown by roses and woodbine,

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and commanding on all sides a wide view of the

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rolling alfalfa fields, was a most bewitching place for a

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young couple to spend the first few months of their

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married life. So Jack and I were naturally much delighted

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when Aunt Agnes asked us to consider it our own

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for as long as we chose. The ranch, in spite

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of its distance from the nearest town, surrounded as it

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was by the prairies, and without a neighbor within a

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three mile radius, was yet luxuriously fitted with all the

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modern conveniences. Aunt Agnes was a rich young widow, and

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had built the place after her husband's death, intending to

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live there with her child, to whom she transferred all

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the wealth of devotion she had lavished on her husband.

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The child, however, had died when only three years old,

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and aunt Agnes, as soon as she recovered sufficient strength,

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had left Alfalfa Ranch, intending never to visit the place again.

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All this had happened nearly ten years ago, and the widow,

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relinquishing all the advantages her youth and beauty, quite as

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much as her wealth could give her, had devoted herself

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to work amid the poor of New York at my wedding,

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which she heartily app proved, and where to a greater

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extent than ever before, she cast off the almost morbid

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quietness which had grown habitual with her. She seemed particularly

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anxious that Jack and I should accept the loan of

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alfalfa ranch, apparently having an old idea that the power

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of our happiness would somehow lift the cloud of sorrow

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which in her mind brooded over the place. I had

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not been strong, And Jack was overjoyed at such an

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opportunity of taking me into the country. High as our

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expectations were, the beauty of the place far exceeded them.

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All what color, what glorious sunsets, and the long rides

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we took, seeming to be utterly tireless in that fresh,

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sweet air. One afternoon I sat on the verandah at

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the western wing of the house. The veranda here was

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broader than elsewhere, and it was reached only by a

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flight of steps leading up from the lawn on one side,

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and by a door opposite these steps that opened into

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Jack's study. The rest of this veranda was enclosed by

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a high railing and by wire nettings so thickly overgrown

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with vines that the place was always very shady. I

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sat near the steps, where I could watch the sweep

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of the great shadows thrown by the clouds that were

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sailing before the west wind. Jack was inside, writing, and

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now and then he would say something to me through

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the open window. As I sat, lost in delight at

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the beauty of the view and the sweetness of the

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flower scented air, I marveled that Aunt Agnes could ever

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have left so charming a spot. She must still love it,

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I thought, getting up to move my chair to where

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I might see still further over the prairies, and sometimes

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she will come back. At this moment I happened to

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glance to the further end of the verandah, and there

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I saw, to my amazement, a little child seated on

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the floor, playing with the shifting shadows of the tangled creepers.

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It was a little girl in a daintily embroidered white

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dress with golden curls around her baby head. As I

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still gazed, she suddenly turned and with a roguish toss

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of the yellow hair, and fixed her serious blue eyes

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on me. Baby, I cried, where did you come from?

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Where's your mamma, darling? And I took a step towards her.

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What's that? Sylvia called Jack from within. I turned my

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head and saw him sitting at his desk. Come quick, Jack,

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there's the loveliest baby. I turned back to the child,

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looked blinked, and at this moment Jack stepped out beside me. Baby.

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He inquired, what on earth are you talking about, Sylvia dearest? Why?

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But I exclaimed, there was one? How did she get away?

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She was sitting right there when I called a baby,

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repeated my husband, My dear, babies don't appear and disappear

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like East Indian magicians. You have been napping and are

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trying to conceal the shameful fact. Jack, I said, decisively,

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don't you suppose I know a baby when I see one?

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She was sitting right there, playing with the shadows, and

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I it's certainly very queer. Jack grinned go and put

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on your habit, he replied. The horses will be here

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in ten minutes, and remember that when you have accounted

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for her disappearance. Her presence still remains to be explained.

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Or perhaps you think was Singh produced her from his sleeve,

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I laughed, Was Singh was our Chinese cook, and more

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apt I thought to put something up his sleeve than

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to take anything out. I suppose I was dreaming, I said,

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though I could almost as well believe I had only

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dreamed our marriage, or rather, observed Jack, that our marriage

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had only dreamed us Part two Shadows. About a week

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later I received a letter from Aunt Agnes, among other things,

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chiefly relating to New York's slums. She said, I am

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in need of rest, and if you and Jack could

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put up with me for a few days, I believe

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I should like to get back to the old place.

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As you know, I have always dreaded a return there,

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but lately I seem somehow to have lost that dread.

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I feel that the time has come for me to

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be there again, and I'm sure you will not mind me.

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Most assuredly we would not mind her. We sat in

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the moonlight that night on the Verandah, Jack swinging my

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hammock slowly, and talked of Aunt Agnes. The moon silvered,

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the waving Alfalfa and sifted through the twisted vines that

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fenced us in, throwing intricate and ever changing patterns on

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the smooth flooring. There was a hum of insects in

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the air, and the soft wind, ever and Anon blew

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a fleecy cloud over the moon, dimming for a moment

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her serene splendor. Who knows, said Jack, lighting another cigar.

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This may be a turning point in Aunt Agnes's life,

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and she may once more be something like the sunny,

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happy girl your mother describes. She is beautiful, and she

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is yet young. It may mean the beginning of a

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new life for her. Yes, I answered, it isn't right

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that her life should always be shadowed by that early sorrow.

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She is so lovely and could be so happy now

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that she has taken the first step. There's no reason

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why she shouldn't go on. We'll do what we can

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to help her, responded my husband, let me fix your cushions, darling,

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they have slipped. He rose to do so, and suddenly

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stood still, facing the further end of the Verandah. His

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expression was so peculiar that I turned following the direction

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of his eyes, even before his smothered exclamation of Sylvia,

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look there reached me. Standing in the fluttering moonlight and shadows,

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was the same little girl I had seen already. She

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still wore white, and her tangled curls floated shining around

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her head. She seemed to be smiling and slightly shook

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her head at us. What does it mean, jack, I whispered,

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slipping out of the hammock. How did she get there? Come?

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Said he? And we walked hastily towards the little thing,

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who again shook her head. Just at this moment, another

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cloud obscured the moon for a few seconds, and though

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in the uncertain twilight I fancied I still saw her.

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Yet when the cloud passed, she was not to be found.

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Part three Perditta. Aunt Agnes certainly did look as though

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she needed rest. She seemed very frail, and the color

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had entirely left her face, But her curling hair was

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as golden as ever, and her figure as girlish and graceful.

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She kissed me tenderly and kept my hand in hers

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as she wandered over the house and took long looks

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across the prairie. Isn't it beautiful? She asked softly, Just

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the place to be happy in I've always had a

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strange fancy that I should be happy here again some day,

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and now I feel as though that day had almost come.

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You are happy, aren't you, dear? I looked at Jack

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and felt the tears coming into my eyes. Yes, I

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am happy. I did not know one could be so happy,

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I answered. After a moment. Aunt Agnes smiled her sweet

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smile and kissed me again. God bless you and your Jack.

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You almost make me feel young again, as though you

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could possibly feel anything else, I retorted, laughing, you little

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humbug to pretend you're old, and slipping my arm round

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her waist, for we had always been dear friends, I

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walked off to chat with her in her room. We

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took a ride that afternoon, for aunt Agnes wanted another

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gallop over that glorious prairie. The exercise and the perfect

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afternoon brought back the color to her cheeks. I think

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I shall be much better tomorrow, she observed as we

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trotted home. What ache country this is, and what horses,

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slipping her hand down her mount's glossy neck. I did

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right to come back here. I do not believe I

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will go away again, and she smiled on Jack and me,

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who laughed and said she would find it a difficult

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thing to attempt. We all three came out on the

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verandah to see the sunset. It was always a glorious sight,

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but this evening it was more than usually magnificent. Immense

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rays of pale blue and pink spread over the sky,

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and the clouds, which stretched in horizontal masses, glowed rose

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and golden. The whole sky was luminous and tender, and

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seemed to tremble with light. We sat silent, looking at

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the sky and at the shadowy grass that seemed to

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meet it. Slowly the color deepened and faded. There can

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never be a lovelier evening, said aunt Agones, with a sigh.

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Don't say that, replied Jack. It is only the beginning

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of even more perfect ones. Aunt Agnes rose with a

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slight shiver. It grows chilly when the sun goes, she murmured,

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and turned lingeringly to enter the house. Suddenly she gave

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a startled exclamation. Jack and I jumped up and looked

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at her. She stood with both hands pressed to her heart,

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looking the child again, said Jack in a low voice,

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laying his hand on my arm. He was right there

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in the gathering shadow stood the little girl in the

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white dress. Her hands were stretched towards us, and her

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lips parted in a smile. A belated gleam of sunlight

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seemed to linger in her hair. Perdita cried aunt Agnes

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in a voice that shook with a kind of terrible joy.

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Then with a stifled sob, she ran forward and sank

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before the baby, throwing her arms about her. The little

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girl leaned back her golden head and looked at aunt

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Agnes with her great serious eyes. Then she flung both

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baby arms round her neck and lifted her sweet mouth.

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Jack and I turned away, looking at each other with

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tears in our eyes. A slight sound made us turn back.

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Aunt Agnes had fallen forward to the floor, and the

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child was nowhere to be seen. We rushed up, and

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Jack raised my aunt in his arms and carried her

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into the house, but she was quite dead. The little

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child we never saw again, and of Perdita