Books › The Red Book 1911-06: Vol 17 Iss 2, 1911 › scan 122
Scan 122
The Red Book 1911-06: Vol 17 Iss 2, 1911
52 lines. Read by computer on 14 September 2026. Printed page 313. See the scan on archive.org.
1any ear so attuned to every shade of tone as that of the violinist.
3"I could play that deep tone of his voice into my violin," was what Marjory thought, and, with a swift revulsion to self-pity: "Oh, I couldn't!"
5The stab of her own limitations made her gentle to all sorrow, though, as was characteristic of her solitary nature, she was absolutely incurious as to what phase of it her companion knew.
7"I regret that I judged you hastily," she said. "You have been most considerate. If you really wish to act as boatman until Andy is well again, we shall let it rest there."
9"Thank you."
11Through the wonderful Northern twilight, with the afterglow staining the sky with saffron and rose the boat cut its way through the water. Though no words passed between its occupants, each felt that the situation was changed.
13At dinner time the next day, Garrard turned abruptly to his companion.
15"If you are determined to commit suicide," he said, "why not utilize this convenient Basin to drown in, instead of choosing slow starvation?"
17The painful flush that dyed her cheeks, the widening of her grave, sweet eyes, made the man realize he had put a rude hand upon issues larger than he knew.
19"I—I gave you no right to speak to me so," she gasped, with her hand at her throat. "You presume!"
21"On my position as your boatman, perhaps; but not on the inalienable right of any human being to save another from disaster or death."
23"Death!" she echoed, as if the word were sweet. "I should never take my own life. But do not dare to asperse those who do—those high-strung, sensitive souls who find the pain beyond their strength to bear because they suffer in a way which is beyond the capacity of ordinary people. That highroad is not for me—not for me. I promised my father."
25He was torn at the sight of the distress he had awakened.
27Suddenly he understood.
29"Your father must have been Rudolf Erwin then? Forgive me. I did not know."
31Vaguely he recalled that the wonderful virtuoso who had been the furore of a decade before, had been stricken with violinist's cramp and had committed suicide in the hour in which his physician pronounced his doom as a musician.
33"I heard him play while I was at the university," said Garrard.
35"Tell me." Marjory's voice was swift and responsive.
37"I have always loved music in a dumb sort of way, but until I heard your father I never dreamed how audaciously glad the violin could be. You never imagined anything so gay, so capricious, so carefree. It was a gypsy song of his own; all the riotous Romany blood seemed in it. I can't tell you how it stirred the wanderlust in me. I never forgot."
39Her eager little face made him think of a flower that holds up its cup to the dew.
41"Oh, it is so good to hear of him from one who remembers! I have no near relative except my mother's sister, and she will never speak of him to me. She hates the music which took his life and which she thinks is taking mine. Tell me more."
43"There is not a great deal more. I think the thing which most impressed me was the fact that he didn't care about the crowded hall, nor the people, nor the applause. You felt it in that 'air apart' which he had. I remember (forgive it) that my chum said, 'That man doesn't care a damn whether these seats are empty or crowded! He is playing to his own ears, and he doesn't know whether anybody else is listening.'"
45The girl's hands struck together rapturously.
47"Yes, yes, that was my padre! I was only twelve when—when the end came—but I see that rapt look of his now."
49Not as if excusing, for to her loyal heart he needed no excuse, she explained:
51"He was very sorry afterwards. They took me to him and I cried out with a child's terrible selfishness, 'Padre, you mustn't leave me! Aunt Cornelia doesn't like our violins.' All at once he saw what the years ahead would be without his sympathy. He said, 'Marjory, you will play better than I. If trouble like mine overtakes you, remember that the
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