The Verjoos house, of old red brick, stands about a hundred feet back
from the north side of the Lake Road, on the south shore of the lake.
Since its original construction a _porte cochère_ has been built upon
the front. A very broad hall, from which rises the stairway with a
double turn and landing, divides the main body of the house through the
middle. On the left, as one enters, is the great drawing room; on the
right a parlor opening into a library; and beyond, the dining room,
which looks out over the lake. The hall opens in the rear upon a broad,
covered veranda, facing the lake, with a flight of steps to a lawn which
slopes down to the lake shore, a distance of some hundred and fifty
yards.
John had to pass through a little flock of young people who stood near
and about the entrance to the drawing room, and having given his package
of music to the maid in waiting, with a request that it be put upon the
piano, he mounted the stairs to deposit his hat and coat, and then went
down.
In the south end of the drawing room were some twenty people sitting and
standing about, most of them the elders of the families who constituted
society in Homeville, many of whom John had met, and nearly all of whom
he knew by sight and name. On the edge of the group, and halfway down
the room, were Mrs. Verjoos and her younger daughter, who gave him a
cordial greeting; and the elder lady was kind enough to repeat her
daughter's morning assurances of regret that they were out on the
occasion of his call.
"I trust you have been as good as your word," said Miss Clara, "and
brought some music."
"Yes, it is on the piano," he replied, looking across the room to where
the instrument stood.
The girl laughed. "I wish," she said, "you could have heard what Mr.
Harum said this morning about your singing, particularly his description
of The Lost Chord, and I wish that I could repeat it just as he gave
it."
"It's about a feller sittin' one day by the org'n," came a voice from
behind John's shoulder, so like David's as fairly to startle him, "an'
not feelin' exac'ly right--kind o' tired an' out o' sorts, an' not
knowin' jest where he was drivin' at--jest joggin' along with a loose
rein fer quite a piece, an' so on; an' then, by an' by, strikin' right
into his gait an' goin' on stronger an' stronger, an' fin'ly finishin'
up with an A--men that carries him quarter way 'round the track 'fore he
c'n pull up." They all laughed except Miss Verjoos, whose gravity was
unbroken, save that behind the dusky windows of her eyes, as she looked
at John, there was for an instant a gleam of mischievous drollery.
"Good evening, Mr. Lenox," she said. "I am very glad to see you," and
hardly waiting for his response, she turned and walked away.
"That is Juliet all over," said her sister. "You would not think to see
her ordinarily that she was given to that sort of thing, but once in a
while, when she feels like it--well--pranks! She is the funniest
creature that ever lived, I believe, and can mimic and imitate any
mortal creature. She sat in the carriage this morning, and one might
have fancied from her expression that she hardly heard a word, but I
haven't a doubt that she could repeat every syllable that was uttered.
Oh, here come the Bensons and their musicians."
John stepped back a pace or two toward the end of the room, but was
presently recalled and presented to the newcomers. After a little talk
the Bensons settled themselves in the corner at the lower end of the
room, where seats were placed for the two musicians, and our friend took
a seat near where he had been standing. The violinist adjusted his
folding music rest. Miss Clara stepped over to the entrance door and put
up her finger at the young people in the hall. "After the music begins,"
she said, with a shake of the head, "if I hear one sound of giggling or
chattering, I will send every one of you young heathen home. Remember
now! This isn't your party at all."
"But, Clara, dear," said Sue Tenaker (aged fifteen), "if we are very
good and quiet do you think they would play for us to dance a little by
and by?"
"Impudence!" exclaimed Miss Clara, giving the girl's cheek a playful
slap and going back to her place. Miss Verjoos came in and took a chair
by her sister. Mrs. Benson leaned forward and raised her eyebrows at
Miss Clara, who took a quick survey of the room and nodded in return.
Herr Schlitz seated himself on the piano chair, pushed it a little back,
drew it a little forward to the original place, looked under the piano
at the pedals, took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and hands,
and after arpeggioing up and down the key-board, swung into a waltz of
Chopin's (Opus 34, Number 1), a favorite of our friend's, and which he
would have thoroughly enjoyed--for it was splendidly played--if he had
not been uneasily apprehensive that he might be asked to sing after it.
And while on some accounts he would have been glad of the opportunity to
"have it over," he felt a cowardly sense of relief when the violinist
came forward for the next number. There had been enthusiastic applause
at the north end of the room, and more or less clapping of hands at the
south end, but not enough to impel the pianist to supplement his
performance at the time. The violin number was so well received that Mr.
Fairman added a little minuet of Boccherini's without accompaniment, and
then John felt that his time had surely come. But he had to sit, drawing
long breaths, through a Liszt fantasie on themes from Faust before his
suspense was ended by Miss Clara, who was apparently mistress of
ceremonies and who said to him, "Will you sing now, Mr. Lenox?"
He rose and went to the end of the room where the pianist was sitting.
"I have been asked to sing," he said to that gentleman. "Can I induce
you to be so kind as to play for me?"
"I am sure he will," said Mrs. Benson, looking at Herr Schlitz.
"Oh, yes, I blay for you if you vant," he said. "Vhere is your moosic?"
They went over to the piano. "Oh, ho! Jensen, Lassen, Helmund,
Grieg--you zing dem?"
"Some of them," said John. The pianist opened the Jensen album.
"You want to zing one of dese?" he asked.
"As well as anything," replied John, who had changed his mind a dozen
times in the last ten minutes and was ready to accept any suggestion.
"Ver' goot," said the other. "Ve dry dis: Lehn deine wang' an meine
Wang'." His face brightened as John began to sing the German words. In a
measure or two the singer and player were in perfect accord, and as the
former found his voice the ends of his fingers grew warm again. At the
end of the song the applause was distributed about as after the Chopin
waltz.
"Sehr schön!" exclaimed Herr Schlitz, looking up and nodding; "you must
zing zome more," and he played the first bars of Marie, am Fenster
sitzest du, humming the words under his breath, and quite oblivious of
any one but himself and the singer.
"Zierlich," he said when the song was done, reaching for the collection
of Lassen. "Mit deinen blauen Augen," he hummed, keeping time with his
hands, but at this point Miss Clara came across the room, followed by
her sister.
"Mrs. Tenaker," she said, laughing, "asked me to ask you, Mr. Lenox, if
you wouldn't please sing something they could understand."
"I have a song I should like to hear you sing," said Miss Verjoos.
"There is an obligato for violin and we have a violinist here. It is a
beautiful song--Tosti's Beauty's Eyes. Do you know it?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Will you sing it for me?" she asked.
"With the greatest pleasure," he answered.
Once, as he sang the lines of the song, he looked up. Miss Verjoos was
sitting with her elbows on the arm of her chair, her cheek resting upon
her clasped hands and her dusky eyes were fastened upon his face. As the
song concluded she rose and walked away. Mrs. Tenaker came over to the
piano and put out her hand.
"Thank you so much for your singing, Mr. Lenox," she said. "Would you
like to do an old woman a favor?"
"Very much so," said John, smiling and looking first at Mrs. Tenaker and
then about the room, "but there are no old women here as far as I can
see."
"Very pretty, sir, very pretty," she said, looking very graciously at
him. "Will you sing Annie Laurie for me?"
"With all my heart," he said, bowing. He looked at Herr Schlitz, who
shook his head.
"Let me play it for you," said Mrs. Benson, coming over to the piano.
"Where do you want it?" she asked, modulating softly from one key to
another.
"I think D flat will be about right," he replied. "Kindly play a little
bit of it."
The sound of the symphony brought most of even the young people into the
drawing room. At the end of the first verse there was a subdued rustle
of applause, a little more after the second, and at the end of the song
so much of a burst of approval as could be produced by the audience.
Mrs. Benson looked up into John's face and smiled.
"We appear to have scored the success of the evening," she said with a
touch of sarcasm. Miss Clara joined them.
"What a dear old song that is!" she said. "Did you see Aunt Charlie
(Mrs. Tenaker) wiping her eyes?--and that lovely thing of Tosti's! We
are ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Lenox."
John bowed his acknowledgments.
"Will you take Mrs. Benson out to supper? There is a special table for
you musical people at the east end of the veranda."
"Is this merely a segregation or a distinction?" said John as they sat
down.
"We shall have to wait developments to decide that point, I should say,"
replied Mrs. Benson. "I suppose that fifth place was put on the off
chance that Mr. Benson might be of our party, but," she said, with a
short laugh, "he is probably nine fathoms deep in a flirtation with Sue
Tenaker. He shares Artemas Ward's tastes, who said, you may remember,
that he liked little girls--big ones too."
A maid appeared with a tray of eatables, and presently another with a
tray on which were glasses and a bottle of Pommery _sec._ "Miss Clara's
compliments," she said.
"What do you think now?" asked Mrs. Benson, laughing.
"Distinctly a distinction, I should say," he replied.
"Das ist nicht so schlecht," grunted Herr Schlitz as he put half a
_pâté_ into his mouth, "bot I vould brefer beer."
"The music has been a great treat to me," remarked John. "I have heard
nothing of the sort for two years."
"You have quite contributed your share of the entertainment," said Mrs.
Benson.
"You and I together," he responded, smiling.
"You have got a be-oodifool woice," said Herr Schlitz, speaking with a
mouthful of salad, "und you zing ligh a moosician, und you bronounce
your vorts very goot."
"Thank you," said John.
After supper there was more singing in the drawing room, but it was not
of a very classical order. Something short and taking for violin and
piano was followed by an announcement from Herr Schlitz.
"I zing you a zong," he said. The worthy man "breferred beer," but had,
perhaps, found the wine quicker in effect, and in a tremendous bass
voice he roared out, Im tiefen Keller sitz' ich hier, auf einem Fass
voll Reben, which, if not wholly understood by the audience, had some of
its purport conveyed by the threefold repetition of "trinke" at the end
of each verse. Then a deputation waited upon John, to ask in behalf of
the girls and boys if he knew and could sing Solomon Levi.
"Yes," he said, sitting down at the piano, "if you'll all sing with me,"
and it came to pass that that classic, followed by Bring Back my Bonnie
to Me, Paddy Duffy's Cart, There's Music in the Air, and sundry other
ditties dear to all hearts, was given by "the full strength of the
company" with such enthusiasm that even Mr. Fairman was moved to join in
with his violin; and when the Soldier's Farewell was given, Herr Schlitz
would have sung the windows out of their frames had they not been open.
Altogether, the evening's programme was brought to an end with a grand
climax.
"Thank you very much," said John as he said good night to Mrs. Verjoos.
"I don't know when I have enjoyed an evening so much."
"Thank _you_ very much," she returned graciously. "You have given us all
a great deal of pleasure."
"Yes," said Miss Verjoos, giving her hand with a mischievous gleam in
her half-shut eyes, "I was enchanted with Solomon Levi."