Mr. Pat's Little Girl: A Story of the Arden Foresters

In a sun‑dappled garden where birch leaves sway and peonies lift their crimson heads, a young girl named Rosalind spends a lazy Sunday humming hymns from a book her grandmother gave her. Her thoughts drift between the verses, the sweet scent of roses, and a lingering melancholy that makes her eyes well up. As she tries to steady herself, an odd, guttural voice breaks the quiet, drawing her attention to a gaunt stranger who suddenly appears on the doorstep.

The man, dressed in a rusty black suit with a wild gray beard, holds a curious tablet that seems to speak without sound. He asks her simple questions, offers a card with the name C.J. Morgan, and presses a request to deliver a message to the housekeeper who is away at church. Intrigued and slightly uneasy, Rosalind finds herself answering in careful, looping script, her curiosity growing as the enigmatic visitor hints at a journey to the city and a secret yet to be uncovered.