never dreamed vs never dreams

Hi
There is a sentence I have just read:
My daughter, Jane, never dreamed of receiving a letter from a girl of her own age in Holland.

Why not use ‘dreams of’?

Thank you
Miao

You can’t say “dreams of”, because any dreaming, or not dreaming, would have been in the past. She has already received a letter from the girl in Holland, so it would be silly for her to dream of it now, so we don’t say it in the present tense.