rose kneeled on the long window-seat and peered through the glass, occasionally rubbing away the mist that gathered so that she might the better watch the wild game the snow was playing. it was falling so thickly that the row of alfalfa haystacks resembled dim giants, advancing on the house stealthily but surely; the horse barn loomed darkly behind them and seemed enormous—a grim castle, or a dungeon. and how the snowflakes whirled and danced, never touching the ground, yet somehow turning it whiter and whiter. the prairie vanished in the whiteness, and even at a little distance the sky was all mixed up with it.
every now and then rose could hear a long, wild shriek that swept around the house and died away slowly. it was the wind, of course, but it certainly sounded like a cry for help, and rose wondered if, after all, it might not be a princess in distress. one couldn’t be quite sure, and marmie 16had said that very morning that it was always the most unexpected thing that happened.
“and a snow-storm,” thought rose, “isn’t so unexpected as a princess.”
she turned her head and looked into the big pleasant room. the fireplace had a fine blaze in it, and lying on the navajo blanket that covered the floor right before it, busily reading, was rose’s younger sister, ruth.
“oh, ruth, stop reading and come and look out. it’s getting blizzarder every minute.”
ruth grunted, turned a page, and remarked:
“wait just a bit, till i finish this chapter.”
rose looked out once more, just in time to see a man ride round the corner of the barn and disappear into the flying snow.
“there goes jim to round up the cows,” she exclaimed. “i guess the other boys have gone too. probably we are going to have a sockdolager of a storm.”
“marmie said you mustn’t say sockdolager,” chided ruth, abandoning her book and joining rose at the window. “oh, i wish we could go riding too. but i guess we won’t any more now, till spring. don’t you hate to think of winter coming, rose? we can’t go out at all most of the time, or just round the inclosure, and that’s no fun, and we sha’n’t have anything to do, and we sha’n’t see a living soul for months. that’s what marmie said. i wish we had some other little girls to play with. books are nice, but they aren’t 17alive and real—o-o-o see how hard it’s snowing now! i can’t see the barn any more.”
the two little girls leaned close together, looking out at the storm that grew more furious as the moments passed. it shook the house, it blotted out the landscape, it even hid the haystack giants. it made them feel very small and lonely and far from everybody. the nearest ranch was five miles away. that didn’t seem much in summer, but now—why, no one would care to ride there now, and as for the two themselves, they knew they would not get far from home for months to come.
presently it began to grow dark, and the sisters returned to the fire, curling up close together on the long seat with its thick cushions that stood in front of the hearth.
rose was a good deal taller than her sister, though they were only a year apart. her hair was thick and hung in two long red braids, a real golden red, and her eyes were golden too, with brown shadows. there were freckles on her nose, which turned up just a little. rose was forever imagining and pretending, and wondering whether she might not be lucky enough to stumble on a fairy or a gnome, or find a charm or a wishing cup; and ruth would listen to the wonderings, and follow her sister about, hoping that rose really might have an adventure, and that she would be in it too.
ruth was a slender, vivid, dark little thing, with hair that tumbled round her head in curls, and big, black eyes that opened wide when she sat listening to rose’s make-believes. she liked to read better than anything, and even when they went off on long rides she would tuck in a book somewhere, and find a chance to read it while they stopped for a rest or to water the ponies or to chat with the dillinghams, on the next ranch.
“think of all the little girls there are in the world, hundreds and hundreds and millions, and we don’t know any of them,” continued rose, lugubriously. “wouldn’t it be grand if we had a magic carpet, and could sit on it and wish we were anywhere and be there in the shake of a cat’s hind leg.”
“what’s that?” asked ruth.
“oh, nothing. it’s just what jim says when he means a little bit of a time.”
“where would we go, rose?”
“perhaps to a big school, where lots and lots of girls were playing together. or to a fairy island, where all the nicest boys and girls in the world lived, and went on picnics and had parties. or maybe we’d go to a nice big house where there were two other girls as old as we are, and they were wishing, like us, that they had some little friends to play with—that would be nicest of all, i think.”
ruth sighed deliciously, picturing the joy of it.
“i don’t suppose you can possibly find such a carpet,” she murmured.
“n-no—i suppose they are all in persia or arabia. or perhaps they are all worn out by this time.”
the fire shot up a great plume of sparks as one of the logs fell apart, and then died down. the room was dark, for the storm had brought night on earlier than it should have come.
“well,” said a small, clear voice right beside the girls, “i don’t know anything about wishing carpets; but i can’t see why you don’t go through the magic gate. if you go through that, you reach places quite as interesting as those you are talking about—and as for children! why, it leads to thousands and thousands of them.”
rose was too surprised to breathe, and ruth’s eyes opened and opened.
“what’s the matter? don’t you know a fairy when you see one?” went on the clear voice.
the girls looked all around.
“but—but we don’t see anything,” stammered rose.
“what do you look like?” queried ruth.
“can’t see me? how extremely provoking. i’m sitting right here on the arm of the settee, and i look just like a fairy—what would you have me look like?” the voice sounded the least bit impatient.
rose, who was nearest to it, started back a trifle. she wasn’t exactly frightened,—but it was a little—well, startling—to hear a fairy and then not be able to see it! rose had never expected that sort of adventure.
20“i—i can hear you,” she said, politely. “perhaps if you got right in front of the fire we could see you.”
“the fire won’t help. why, i have a shine of my own. come now, look hard.”
both girls looked hard at the sound of the voice. but they couldn’t see it a whit better than they could see the bang of a door or the creak of a board. they felt very sorry and embarrassed, for they could tell the fairy was trying her hardest to be seen.
“it’s too bad,” said rose, at last. and ruth echoed her sadly. “to think that there is really a fairy here with us, and we can’t see you!”
“it’s ridiculous,” remarked the voice, “but i suppose it can’t be helped. you’ll have to get along without seeing me, that’s all. anyhow, you seem to be able to hear me, and that’s something. and there’s no knowing; you might be disappointed if you did see me, and that would hardly be pleasant.”
“indeed we shouldn’t!” exclaimed both girls at once. “no one was ever disappointed in a fairy.”
“tut-tut,” said the voice, and then gave a little laugh, so sweet and mellow that it made rose and ruth laugh too. “but come, how about that magic gate?”
“where is it?” asked ruth, who liked to get straight to essentials.
“you can find it easily enough with me,” returned the fairy. “it’s near enough—and it’s far enough. would you really like to go through it?”
“can we get back again? we couldn’t leave the ranch for too long,” answered rose. “marmie might miss us, and every evening we play games with dad.”
“oh, yes, you can get back. in fact, you can’t stay inside the magic gates beyond a certain length of time. there are rules that have to be kept, you see.”
“oh, ruth, i’d like to go, wouldn’t you?” breathed rose, excitedly.
“yes,” replied ruth, clutching her sister’s arm. “but where does it go, fairy?”
“it will lead you to other little girls—little girls who only live inside the magic gates and can’t be reached any other way. all sorts of little girls, in all sorts of places and all sorts of times.”
“will they like us to come?”
again the fairy laughed her silver laugh, that sounded like drops of rain falling on the roof of an enchanted palace.
“they’ll be delighted, my dears. for they really don’t begin to live until some one finds the way to them through the gates. they are all remarkable little girls, too, in their different ways, and i know you’ll enjoy playing with them. so suppose we start. since you can’t see me, each of you must take hold of one of my hands. do you want to choose where to go first, or shall i choose for you?”
“you choose,” said the two girls, stretching out their hands. they could hear the fire snapping as they did so, and the wind in the chimney seemed to be calling to them. and they felt a slim, strong little hand clasp theirs, and the clear voice said:
“we might just as well begin in the golden age. have you heard of sappho, the greek girl who wrote wonderful poems after she grew up? she was a very sweet and merry child, and i know you’ll enjoy playing with her. so shut your eyes, shut your eyes, shut ... your ... eyes....”
the fairy’s voice trailed away into silence as rose and ruth obeyed her. the two girls had a queer sensation, as though everything they knew was flying past them ... a sort of whirr ... then a kind of tiny shock, as if they had suddenly stopped falling, and then....
