Adrian is sixteen years old and he were with his father and mother on holidays in Italy. One night when they were driving they saw a big villa named “Villa Henderson” with tall black trees around it. Her father knocked at the door and small woman opened it. They went into a long, comfortable room. They meet there Margaret Henderson with her daughter Chiara. She was a tall women, with long, fair hair and blue eyes. She was perhaps about thirty-five. After tea they went up some stairs and fallowed Chiara along a corridor. She stopped at a door and told his parents that it was their room. Then she looked at Adrian. They turned right and walked along another corridor. His room was at the end. He locked the door and after five minutes he was in bed. During his sleep he suddenly woke up. The window shutters were making a loud noise against the wall. He could see that the window was open. He got up and closed both the shutters and the window. Now the room was very dark, so he walked with his hands out in front of him, to try and find the light on the table by the bed. His left hand touched the table- and something took hold of his right arm. He found the light on the table and turned it on. A little girl in a long nightdress stood in front of him near the bed. She has big blue eyes, blond hair and pale face. Her name was Allegra, it means “happy” in Italian. Her voice was soft and sweet and she spoke English beautifully, but she couldn’t say the letter “r”. She wanted to take her to her mama. When he refused she disappeared. Next morning he went into the garden. Adrian walked round to the back of the house because he wanted to look at the windows of his room and Allegra’s room. There was a big tree between them near the wall of the house. He thought that perhaps she got out of her window on to the tree, and then got in through his window, because the door was locked. He went back to the front garden and meet Allegra’s mother. He told her about her daughter visit in night. She think that it could be possible, because her daughter sometimes walk in her sleep. When Adrian saw Allegra, he couldn’t believe that is the same girl who visit him in the night. This was a different girl. This Allegra had long black hair and her eyes were brown. The girl said that wasn’t in his room, and when she spoke she spoke English beautifully, but she couldn’t say the letter “r”.
When he went to bed that night, he couldn’t sleep. He was waiting for the girl and he was afraid. After about an hour he felt asleep. But he woke up suddenly when a cold little hand touched his face. He turned on the light. She was there. When he touched her face, it was cold, but it was real. He looked at window, it was closed. Then he went to the door, it was locked. He ask her how did she get in here. She showed a curtain in a corner of the room. There was another, smaller bed for a child behind it. Adrian said that he will take her to her mother. Suddenly the girl began to speak in Italian. She said that her mother is at Bagno a Ripoli, near Florence. She wanted to see her mama tonight. She wanted to see her before she die. He go downstairs to bring Chiara, but when they came back, the child wasn’t there.
Next day he went for a walk with Allegra Henderson because he wants to know all about Allegra. She said that she want to see her daddy before she die. After the week Adrian with his parents said goodbye to the Henderson. When Adrian said goodbye to Allegra she said that her father is dead now and he was a famous lord who took her away from her Mama.
When they back to England, Adrian went back to school, but he didn’t forget Allegra. He wrote letters to her an send some small presents. She didn’t answers him, but then a year after his holiday a letter arrived from Margaret Henderson. First she thanked for letters and presents. Then she wrote that Allegra got a fever and then on April 21.st a year ago she died. She was only five years and tree months old.
In spring Adrian went to Italy for studies and he stayed in Florence with an Italian family. They had a little daughter named Allegra. She was tall, her face was pale and beautiful. She had long brown hair and brown eyes. She was born on January 21.st. when he went to his room that night, he was thinking about Allegra Henderson. She was born on January 21.st too. He couldn’t sleep so he tried to read a book about some English poets in Italy. Next day he decided to go to Bagno a Ripoli. There were only a few houses and a small church called Santa Maria dell’ Antella. He walked around the church and saw the small cemetery behind it. When he was going out of cemetery he saw a tombstone with some English words, that here lies Claire Clairmont. He was surprised but he still didn’t understand anything. He decides to go to a bar and read the book about English poets. And while he was read about Byron and Shelley, he began to understand the mystery of Allegra. He read that Claire Clairmont on January 21.st 1817 had a baby with poet Lord Byron. In Italy Claire decided to give Allegra to Byron because she thought that the daughter of an English lord would have a good future, and Claire never saw her again. When Allegra was four years old, Byron send her to a convent school near Ravenna. But the convent was strange to her. The walls were white and cold, the rooms were empty, and sometimes she was cold because there was no fire. And then Allegra got a fever. She died on April 21.st 1822. She was five years and tree months old.
After he read this story he understood the mystery of Allegra. The ghost of Allegra was unhappy and she couldn’t rest because she wanted to be with her mother but she couldn’t find her. He left the bar and when he arrived to his family houses, the mother was crying. She told him that Allegra is in hospital because she’s got a bad fever. This night Allegra also visit him. But now Adrian take her to her mother. They went to the cemetery and he took her to Claire tombstone. And then the ghost began to disappear.
Next morning Allegra’s mother said that Allegra is much better.