It was like any other morning except that Catherine knew that Willy would come by her plantation to teach her algebra. He had promised her so last week. Catherine’s mother Mrs. Morrison had been surprised when Catherine had offered to work in the fields that morning but the reason was not far to seek. For each time when Mrs. Morrison looked out of her kitchen window she found Catherine gazing towards the west end of the fields.

She neither approved nor disapproved of Willy. Indeed he was an extremely good looking youth of eighteen years; a boy more educated than other in the county. And he was to leave for Harvard for his further studies when hardly any youth in the county took primary education seriously. But he would not be a suitable match for her daughter of sixteen years, so she felt it in her bones. After all, he was not Irish. He was American, cultured, had a different code of morality, ethics and etiquette. And according to Mrs. Morrison these were not the attributes of a boy. But then paradoxically enough there was something compelling about the youth, something utterly magnetic against which all reason would fail and sometimes in her reverie Mrs. Morrison would be shocked to find herself thinking that Willy and Willy alone would be the right match for Catherine.

When Mrs. Morrison looked out of her window this time she found Willy and Katie sitting together, talking. Willy was trying to teach Katie algebra from a book. Katie’s eyes bore the ex-pression of fright combined with respect. But that went ignored as far as Willy was concerned. Or did he see that ex-pression in her eyes and ignored it? And in that moment, Mrs. Morrison knew exactly why Willy would not make a good husband for her daughter.

Katie knew that Willy loved her. It was in the way he looked at her. She knew that several men in the county were in love with her for her good looks. But no man in the county had ever held her in a gaze of as much reverence. And it was precisely his gaze that resonated within her and something within her answered to his gaze with love.

But his gaze seemed to withhold as much as it gave away. Katie decided to somehow bring Willy to confess his love for her. She knew how to go about it. She had done it with several men. She had an indomitable will and when she willed herself to do anything she normally achieved it.

Her mother did not approve of their relationship. But that was something she could deal with—she was shattered to find in the following week that Willy too did not approve of their relationship. He had confessed to his love for her. But he could not marry her against the wishes of the two families. His family did not want him to marry at his age. They wanted him to finish his studies at Harvard and thereafter they would marry him to any girl he wished. Katie knew her family would not wait for four years.

Several girls in the county of her age, and some even younger, had already got married. With each passing day, Mrs. Morrison was troubled with the question of Katie’s marriage. She sought the opinion of her husband on the matter. Katie’s opinion on the matter was never asked. Katie fought tooth and nail with her mother and in a fit revealed all her feelings for Willy. But her mother seemed as firm in her decision as Willy. There was something which the two people had in common. They both loved her but they both were against her marriage with Willy. Why it was so was something she could not see at all. And it perplexed and tortured her night and day. She gave it up but her spirit did not. It kept on probing the answer just like her heart kept on loving him. In the following month, she was married to a youth named Jack who was the son of a friend of Mr. Morrison.


Willy did not stay to see Katie’s marriage. He went to Harvard. In his years at Harvard, he realised why he had loved Katie. He had loved her because she had breathed in him her own strong spirit. There was something vital and elemental that was born in him since the day he met her. And it had grown with each passing day spent with her.

His love for her had evoked in him a love for life and the passing days that made the labour of his fruit sweet to him. But at Harvard, his days were stale without her. He plunged himself in studies to forget Katie but that did not help. Girls batted eyelashes at him but he would not notice their overtures. He would either be busy studying or thinking about Katie.

Katie bore a child after a year. But her love for Willy kept her from devoting herself fully to the service of her child and her husband. She would often times be lost thinking about Willy. Jack, her husband would often enter into heated arguments with her for he did not receive the love which he thought he so rightfully deserved.

In the course of these four years, Katie was not washed from Willy’s memory as he had hoped she would. Instead, her memory had freshened and grown into something more beautiful with each passing year as if it had been receiving nourishment.

Willy realised that Katie would continue to charm him till the end of his days. Temporarily, he fell in love with a girl and he followed her for quiet some time. Finally when he gave up and his heart was broken, Katie’s memory came to haunt him again. He realised that it had never left him.



After four years, Willy came back to the county. Many including Mrs. Morrison had thought he would return with a girl. It was hard to believe that a girl would deny him given his good looks and wit. But he had come alone. He rested that whole day in his house.

The next day, he galloped his horse to Katie’s new home and stood looking at it from a distance. He managed to get a glance at Katie. Suddenly Katie noticed him looking at her from behind the tree. Quickly she came outside and stood in the way. The years that had been without, dissolved into oblivion when she looked into his eyes. The same summer came alive once more. Willy’s eyes held Katie with the same tenderness and Katie felt like a free-spirited county girl again and in her ecstasy she forgot the present context; she ran towards him with open arms… Willy broke her run by holding her at a distance by an arm. He would not let her come any close. Katie stood shocked. She looked in his eyes and by what she now saw she slapped him with all her might.


When Willy came home, he sat in his study and looked outside through the window till he saw the sun go down. When it was finally dark, he went to the stables for his horse. He galloped towards Mrs. Morrison’s plantation. He saw a silhouette of a house in the dark and recognized it. He stopped and gazed awhile at it. Finally he turned and started for his house.


The wind ran among the trees alongside like a beast mad with passion. The trees groaned as their branches bent against the force of the wind as if shying away from some dark secret the wind held in her bosom. There was no moon in the sky. He galloped like a madman and felt one with that monstrous wind.


The End.


In this story, Katie is a sun sign Aries.