Books › The Red Book 1912-04: Vol 18 Iss 6, 1912 › scan 142
Scan 142
The Red Book 1912-04: Vol 18 Iss 6, 1912
62 lines. Read by computer on 14 September 2026. Printed page 1101. See the scan on archive.org.
1pushed back his hair, which was gray and thin at the temples.
3"There was a silence.
5"Our soloist is getting over his self-consciousness," said Saros as the Serenata continued.
7"Does not the time before you met me matter to you?"
9The maestro's long, tapered fingers wandered round the stem of his champagne glass.
11"No," said he, gently.
13A line showed between her fair brows. "It is only my gift that is of any consequence?"
15"Far from it." The words came too abruptly. He realized their meaning and a flush spread over his thin cheeks.
17It did not escape her eyes. For a moment they rested upon it wonderingly; then they dropped. She leaned back, embarrassed, scared. The great room, its flowers, its diners, the gliding waiters, the cry of the violin, became unreal—a dream—a—
19Thank heaven, the attentive waiter was at her side again.
21"A vanilla ice." Her voice came to her ears as from a distance.
23"Ah, what a poor dinner!" commented Saros calmly.
25She was herself again.
27"Not at all. Permit me to continue. I was telling you about those other years."
29"If they had been happy years you would have spoken of them."
31"Indeed, they were not sad—up to a certain point. When mother died, Martha and I were left alone. You remember my sister Martha? You came home with me one night a week before you took me abroad, did you not?"
33"Of course I remember it perfectly." And Saros silently recalled that rather careworn, homely face of a girl five years older than Margaretta. He remembered, also, that Martha had showed him an acid manner, and he had hoped that it was no reflection of her disposition.
35"Mother had brought us up in that apartment house in the Euston Road, and when she died we kept it on. The lodgers' rents covered our own, and taxes. Poor Martha toiled hard; but when I was able to go out and earn money our difficulties were eased a little. Martha managed to save enough to apprentice me to a milliner's in Regent Street, where, after a year, I was paid a small wage."
37"She was a good sister?"
39Margaretta nodded.
41"She did not seem to like me."
43Margaretta was silent.
45"Why?"
47Margaretta turned pale, and a defiant gleam which astonished Saros appeared in her eyes. Without answering the direct question she continued:
49"Robert Evlin was a brother of one of the girls at the milliner's in Regent Street. That was how I came to know him. Later on the girl married and went abroad, where she died. Robert had no other relation in the wide world. He came to lodge at our house in the Euston Road. He was salesman at a music publisher's in the Strand. He played the violin, and he it was who gave me my first lessons. All that I knew when you discovered me, my dear master, Robert had taught me."
51"Indeed?" murmured the maestro guardedly.
53"He always would have it that I could make a living with a violin. And after a time his position at the music publisher's enabled him to obtain a small engagement for me at a private concert. And I had appeared publicly about a dozen times when you heard me, when you sought an interview with me, when you assured me that I was an uncrowned queen of melody—that was your expression—and when you offered to place the crown upon my head."
55The Serenata came to an end. There was a slight, desultory applause.
57"Do I weary you, professor?"
59"Only if you are going to speak of anything I tried to do for you, child." Saros looked up with gentle depreciation, and he perceived, with sudden concern, the pallor in the fair cheeks, and in the eyes a profound shadow. She had been leading up to something, then?
61He wiped his palms, which had be-
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