"No, dear."
"People make me so cross," continued Athalie,--"and so ashamed when they ask so many questions. What is there to be surprised at if sometimes I see things _inside_ my mind. They are just as real as when I see them _outside_. They are no different."
Her mother nodded, encouragingly.
"When papa was in New York," went on Athalie, "and I saw him talking to some men in a hotel there, why should it be surprising just because papa was in New York and I was here when I saw him?"
"It surprises others, dear, because they cannot see what is beyond the vision of their physical senses."
Athalie said: "They tease me in school because they say I can see around corners. It makes me very cross and unhappy, and I don"t want anybody to know that I see what they can"t see. I"m ashamed to have them know it."
"Perhaps it is just as well you feel that way. People are odd. What they do not understand they ridicule. A dog that would not notice a horse-drawn vehicle will bark at an automobile."
"Mamma?"
"Yes, dear."
"Do you know that dogs, and I think cats, too, see many things that I do; and that other people do not see."
"Why do you think so?"
"I have noticed it.... The other evening when the white cat was dozing on your bed, and I was down here on the floor, sewing, I saw--something. And the cat looked up suddenly and saw it, too."
"Athalie!"
"She did, mamma. I knew perfectly well that she saw what I saw."
"What was it you saw?"
"Only a young man. He walked over to the window--"
"And then?"
"I don"t know, mamma. I don"t know where they go. They go, that"s all I know."
"Who was he?"
"I don"t know."
"Did he look at us?"
"Yes.... He seemed to be thinking of something pleasant."
"Did he smile?"
"He--had a pleasant look.... And once,--it was last Sunday--over by the bed I saw a little boy. He was kneeling down beside the bed. And Mr. Ledlie"s dog was lying here beside me.... Don"t you remember how he suddenly lifted his head and barked?"
"Yes, I remember. But you didn"t tell me why at the time."
"I didn"t like to.... I never like to speak about these--people--I see."
"Had you ever before seen the little boy?"
"No, mamma."
"Was he--alive--do you think?"
"Why, yes. They all are alive."
"Mrs. Allen was not alive when you saw her over by the door."
The child looked puzzled. "Yes," she said, "but that was a little different. Not _very_ different. They are all perfectly alive, mamma."
"Even the ones we call dead? Are you sure of it?"
"Yes.... Yes, I"m sure of it. They are not dead.... Nothing seems to die. Nothing stays dead."
"What! Why do you believe that?"
Athalie said slowly: "Somebody shot and killed a poor little dog, once,--just across the causeway bridge.... And the dog came into the garden afterward and ran all around, smelling, and wagging his tail."
"Athalie! Athalie! Be careful to control your imagination."
"Yes," said the child, thoughtfully, "I must be careful to control it.
I can imagine almost anything if I try."
"How hard have you ever tried to imagine some of the things you see--or think you see?"
"Mamma, I never try. I--I don"t care to see them. I"d rather not.
Those things come. _I_ haven"t anything to do with it. I don"t know these people, and I am not interested. I _did_ try to see papa in New York--if you call that imagination."
But her mother did not know what to call it because at the hour when Athalie had seen him, that mild and utterly unimaginative man was actually saying and doing what his daughter had seen and heard.
"Also," said Athalie, "I _was_ thinking about that poor little yellow dog and wondering whether he was past all suffering, when he came gaily trotting into the garden, waving his tail quite happily. There was no dust or blood on him. He rolled on the gra.s.s, too, and barked and barked. But n.o.body seemed to hear him or notice him excepting I."
For a long while silence reigned in the lamp-lit room. When the other children came in to say good night to their mother she received them with an unusual tenderness. They went away; Athalie rose, yawning the yawn of healthy fatigue:
"Good night, mamma."
"Good night, little daughter."
They kissed: the mother drew her into a sudden and almost convulsive embrace.
"Darling, are you sure that nothing really dies?"
"_I_ have never seen anything really dead, mamma. Even the "dead"
birds,--why, the evening sky is full of them--the little "dead" ones I mean--flock after flock, twittering and singing--"