Blue Peter

“ It was couched in the language of his caste—an almost barbaric language in its crude poverty of expression, but sincere enough. He must have been Peter's contemporary, not less than thirty, and yet he looked such a boy, so pink and smooth. She had a sudden conviction that when he was fifty he would be just the same. He might grow a little fatter or a little leaner. There would be lines about his pleasant eyes, and the fair hair would have receded from the honest forehead. But he would never, never grow up. ”

“ It was warm with life. A fire that had once blazed genially, glimmered to meet her. A carefully shaded candle threw down a pale light from the mantelpiece. Yes it was a dream. Peter's room, luxurious and shabby, and Peter's long, slim legs stretched out to the last warmth. She could not have cried out. So long and slim and graceful, And above them—in the shadow of the big chair—nothing—nothing recognizable—a hulk—limbless—and something white—a sheet of paper—a mask with slits—an awful caricature that turned slowly toward her with its unchanging stare—its grin—
“Who is it—?” ”

“ He thought this so clever of him that he could scarcely resist wakening her to hear her say, ‘O Peter, how exquisitely you play!’ However, as she now seemed comfortable, he again cast looks at the window. You must not think that he meditated flying away and never coming back. He had quite decided to be his mother’s boy, but hesitated about beginning to-night. It was the second wish which troubled him. He no longer meant to make it a wish to be a bird, but not to ask for a second wish seemed wasteful, and, of course, he could not ask for it without returning to the fairies. ”

“ We are alone, in a tiny glass house on the roof of the ivory palace, and dawn has this very moment come. Such a glorious dawn, Peter!
"Are you rested? I never saw any one so completely burned out. Such fury! Gracious, what a man! But why, Peter, did you attack poor Kahn Meng? He's the best friend you have in the world!"
"The Gray Dragon!" muttered Peter, clenching his fists.
"Peter, Kahn Meng would lay down his life for you. Of course, he is the Gray Dragon; but that is only a name now. He is the Gray Dragon, and he has you, and you only, to thank for it. ”

“ He knew he could never be a real human again, and scarcely wanted to be one, but oh, how he longed to play as other children play, and of course there is no such lovely place to play in as the Gardens. The birds brought him news of how boys and girls play, and wistful tears started in Peter's eyes. ”

“ For almost the only time in his life that I know of, Peter was afraid. “Don’t turn up the light,” he cried.
She let her hands play in the hair of the tragic boy. She was not a little girl heart-broken about him; she was a grown woman smiling at it all, but they were wet-eyed smiles.
Then she turned up the light, and Peter saw. He gave a cry of pain; and when the tall beautiful creature stooped to lift him in her arms he drew back sharply.
“What is it?” he cried again.
She had to tell him.
“I am old, Peter. I am ever so much more than twenty. I grew up long ago.” ”

“ There, very badly rolled up, not wholly innocent of dirt, as if it had been dragged along the ground, lay my lost black silk stocking. Nobody could have rolled it up like that and brought it there save Peter. Dear Peter, he must have taken my laughing words to heart. Wasn't it kind and sweet of him to have brought it back? No human thief would ever have done that. I fell in love with Peter straight away. ”

“ The comfort and happiness of his life with Bobby, the success of the book, the opening of a career in front of him, these things had made of him another creature. He had grown ten years younger; his cheeks were bright, his eye clear, his step buoyant. He moved now as though he loved his fellow creatures. One felt, on his entrance into a room, that the air was clearer, and that one was in the company of a human being who found the world, quite honestly and naturally, a delightful place. This was the first effect that success had upon Peter. ”

“ Through the front gate to the road, braving the hideous vapor—
Sought him in lane and on pike, called him in orchard and meadow,
Clamoring "Peter!" in vain, vainly outcrying for Peter.
Joining the search came the rest, brothers and sisters and cousins,
Venting unspeakable fears in pitiful wailing for Peter!
And from the neighboring farms gathered the men and the women,
Who, upon hearing the news, swelled the loud chorus for Peter. ”

“ Peter could not realize yet the disaster which had come to him and his father. He knew only that the one human being who loved him, and whom he loved above everything in the world, was hurt and bleeding. The slowly reddening snow beside his father gave the boy a vague idea of a wound which might in time be cured.
And it might not be real at all, this tragic morning, but a dream. Peter saw about him the black circle of boots like the trees of a forest; he saw the print of nails in the hard snow ”

“ He was tormented in his dreams, and repeatedly awoke, hearing a sweet voice calling to him: “Peter, Peter, see that you get a warmer heart.” Even when he was awake it was the same, and he knew the voice to be Lisbeth’s. He went down to the inn to divert his thoughts, and there he met Fat Ezekiel. He sat down opposite to him and they began to talk of all sorts of things, the weather, the war, the stars, and at last of death and how quickly some had died off.
Then Peter asked the fat one what he thought of death and the hereafter. ”

“ Then he advanced to the throne, taking his stand at the Gray Dragon's side, a maneuver which was thoroughly mystifying to Peter.
The Gray Dragon seemed to ignore his presence. To Peter he said: "You recognize your companion of last night? The man with a legion of a thousand loyal men at his back?"
Peter nodded, muttering.
The Gray Dragon waved Kahn Meng to one side. "He is my son. He is my son by my faithful wife! Do you understand that, Peter Moore?" ”

“ When they had travelled a short distance Peter made a jump, and exclaimed: "Look what I have found!" "What did you find?" inquired one of his brothers, turning around. It was only a dead crow which was lying in the road. "I must take it along to the palace," said Peter again; "no one knows what use one may have of it." "Oh, you are a real fool!" said his brothers, spurring on their horses and fetching him a rap with their horsewhips. "Wait and take me along!" shouted he. "You may follow us as well as you can," answered they. Peter stuffed the dead bird into his pocket and quickened his walk. ”

“ And at his lips, held like a trumpet, he carried little Peter, one hand on Peter’s feet set to the kingly lips, and the other stretched out to Peter’s breast.
Then Peter lifted up his shrill little voice and shouted loud his message:—
“The world is beginning! The world is beginning! The world is beginning! You must go and help the king. You must go-o-o and help the king!”
But just as he cried that, the carnival band struck into a merry march, and all the heralds were calling, and the people were shouting, and Peter’s little voice did not reach very far. ”

“ Though Peter still remembers Maimie he is become as gay as ever, and often in sheer happiness he jumps off his goat and lies kicking merrily on the grass. Oh, he has a joyful time! But he has still a vague memory that he was a human once, and it makes him especially kind to the house-swallows when they revisit the island, for house-swallows are the spirits of little children who have died. They always build in the eaves of the houses where they lived when they were humans, and sometimes they try to fly in at a nursery window, and perhaps that is why Peter loves them best of all the birds. ”

“ After dinner they watched the moon rise, until Alix drifted in to the piano and Peter followed her, and the others came in, too, to sit beside the fire. As usual it was midnight before any one thought of ending one of Peter's evenings.
And all through the pleasant, quiet hours, and when he bundled them up in his own big loose coats to drive them home, Cherry was thinking of him in this new light; Peter loving a woman, and denied. ”

“ When Big Peter got home again, he was so wroth and mad against Little Peter, he threatened to strike him dead there and then; he needn't hope for mercy, die he must.
"Well, well," said Little Peter, "that's the way we must all trudge, and betwixt to-day and to-morrow there's only a night to come. But if I must set off now, I've only one thing to ask; stuff me into that sack that hangs yonder, and take and toss me into the river." ”

“ Come the shrill voices of birds calling and calling for Peter;
Out of the maple and beech glitter the eyes of the wailers,
Peeping and peering for him who formerly lived in these places—
Peter, the heretic lad, lazy and careless and dreaming,
Sorely afflicted with books and with pubescent paresis.
Hating the things of the farm, care of the barn and the garden. ”

“ She knew at once it was Peter’s voice, but in her joy and excitement she forgot to open the door, running back into the prayer-meeting room and crying out, “Peter is out of prison! Peter is at the door.” All arose from their knees and said, “Rose, you must be crazy to talk like that.” “No, I am not,” she said; “it is Peter!”
“Isn’t it too bad?” said one, “Herod has already killed Peter, not waiting until to-morrow; and God has sent Peter’s angel to comfort us.” “No,” cried Rose; “no, it is not Peter’s angel; it is Peter himself! I know I am right! ”

“ Tonight it seemed harder than ever to believe that Peter was really dead—or that there was any other life for her but this. She loved dancing. She loved the music and the atmosphere of well-bred opulence. She loved her own youth and beauty with an almost impersonal tenderness. She felt protective toward it, as though somewhere out in the dark an enemy awaited it. Tonight, when she thought of Robert Napier, it was with a kind of resentment. ”

“ Dost Thou think I can have it back?'
"And just then Peter came into the room. He had followed the Man with the halo. 'But it's only a little thing,' Peter said. 'And it made so much noise when it was awake. Its big sister had to warm milk for it, and take it out in the buggy and to wash its clothes, sometimes when its mother was busy or had been up the night before. Is it not better for all that it is in Heaven?'
"And then she said, 'I'm not speaking to you, Peter,' and she looked again at the Man with the halo. ”

“ He caught his breath sobbingly as he stared into the wall of chaotic darkness beyond the firelight. It was only Peter who counted now, and this night was the last Peter would be with him. Tomorrow he would be alone, an outlaw, a hunted man running away to save his life. And Peter....
A moan came to his lips, a dry and broken cry of hopelessness, and his eyes fixed themselves in their anguish upon the heart of the fire. Without Peter, would God give him strength to live? What would the days be like—and the nights—and the months and years to come without Peter? For Peter was not only Peter. ”

“ His fingers tightened in the loose hide of Peter's neck.
"Peter," he whispered in the thickening darkness. "I believe there's a God, but He's a different sort of God than most people believe in. He lives in the trees out there, in the flowers, in the birds, the sky, in everything—and I hope that God will strike me dead if I do what isn't right with her, Peter! I do. I hope he strikes me dead!"
And that night Peter knew that Jolly Roger tossed about restlessly in his bunk, and slept but little. ”

“ They always wake up at once if it is you that says their name. Then she would give such a joyous cry and squeeze him tight. How nice that would be to him, but oh, how exquisitely delicious it would be to her. That I am afraid is how Peter regarded it. In returning to his mother he never doubted that he was giving her the greatest treat a woman can have. Nothing can be more splendid, he thought, than to have a little boy of your own. How proud of him they are; and very right and proper, too.
But why does Peter sit so long on the rail, why does he not tell his mother that he has come back? ”

“ Then Peter denied again, and immediately the cock crew, Then said the damsel that kept the door, unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? he saith, I am not, but denied, saying, I know not the man, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch, and the cock crew; but he began to curse and swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. When Peter had gotten some feeling in his conscience, he went out and wept bitterly. 'Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame,' I Cor. ”

“ First she began to dress Peter for the trail. Every instant gave her more courage. This helpless, sunken-cheeked man with the hair graying over his temples was Peter, her Peter, the Peter who had watched over her, and sheltered her, and fought for her ever since she had known him, and now had come her chance to fight for him. The thought filled her with a wonderful exultation. It flushed her cheeks, and put a glory into her eyes, and made her voice tremble. How wonderful it was to love a man as she loved Peter! ”

“ On his way he met an old woman who drew a small sledge after her. She stopped and asked him for a bite of bread and a penny. Peter answered, however, that he had no more of each than he would need in the long voyage before him. "Your voyage may be an unhappy one," said the woman. But Peter did not listen to her; he went on, announced himself at the royal palace, and was ushered into the presence of the king and the princess. ”