A pleasant sound of young voices, that became subdued as the children
passed from street to church-yard, rose from the shadowy elm-walk and
floated up through the branches towards the window of the organist, who
seemed to have been waiting some such summons, for she now threw aside
the manuscript music she had been studying, arrayed herself in her
shawl, threw a scarf around her head, and looked at the clock. Straight
she gazed at it, a moment full, before she seemed instructed in the fact
represented on the dial-plate, thinking still, most likely, of the score
she had been revising. Some thought at least as profound, as
unfathomable, and as immeasurable as was thereon represented, possessed
her, as she now, with a glance around the room, retired from it.
With herself in the apartment it was another sort of place from what it
looked when she had left it.
There were three pictures on the wall,--three, and no more. One was a
copy of the lovely portraiture of Milton's musical inspired youth; the
wonderful eyes, the "breezy hair," the impassioned purity of the
countenance, looked down on the place where the musician might be found
three-fourths of her waking hours, at her piano. In other parts of the
room, opposite each other, were pictures of the Virgin ever-blessed!
conquering, crowned.
In the first she stood with foot upon the Serpent, that lay coiled on
the apex of the globe. She had crushed the Destroyer; the world was free
of its monster. Beneath her shone the crescent moon, whose horns were
sharp as swords. Rays of blessing, streaming from her hands, revealed
the Mother of grace and of all benefaction.
Opposite, her apotheosis. A chariot of clouds was bearing her to her
throne in heaven; the loving head was shining with a light that paled
the stars above her; far down were the crags of earth, the fearful
precipices that lead the weary and adventurous toiler to at last but
narrow prospects. Far away now the conquered Devil, and the conquered
world,--the foot was withdrawn from destructions,--the writhing of the
Enemy was felt now no more.
The organist had bought these pictures for her wall when she had paid
her first month's board in this her present abiding-place.
Towards the centre of the room stood her piano, an instrument of finest
tone, whose incasing you would not be likely to admire or observe.
White matting covered the floor. Heaps of music were upon the table and
the piano. There were few books to indicate the taste or studies of the
owner beside these sheets and volumes of music, and they were
everywhere. All that ever was written for organ or piano seemed to have
found its way in at the door of that chamber.
On a pedestal in the window stood an orange-tree, whose blossoms filled
the room with their bright, soft sweetness; a Parian vase held a bouquet
of flowers, gathered, none could question whether for the woman whose
room they decorated.
One window of this room looked out on a busy street, another into the
church-yard, a third upon the sea: not so remote the sea but one could
hear the breaking of its waves, and watch its changing glory.
Thus she had for "influences" the loneliness of the grave,--for the
church-yard was filled with monuments of a past generation,--the
solitude of the ocean, and the busy street. Was she so involved in
duties, or in cares, as to be unmindful of all these diverse tongues
that told their various story in that lofty and lonely apartment of the
old stone house?
Into the church, equally old and gray, covered with ivy, shadowed even
to the roof by the vast branching and venerable trees, she now
went,--and was not too early. The boys were growing restless, though it
needed but the sound of her coming to reduce them all to silence: when
they saw her enter the church-door, they all went down quietly to their
places, opened their books, and no one could mistake their aspect for
constraint. Here was the bright, beautiful, enthusiasm and blissful
confidence of youth.
A few words, and all were in working order. The organist touched the
keys. Then a solemn softness, beautiful to see, overspread the young
faces. It had never been otherwise since she began to teach them. If she
controlled, it was not by exhibition of authority.
"Begin."
At that word, with one consent, the voices struck the first notes of the
carol,--
"Let the merry church-bells ring,
Hence with tears and sighing;
Frost and cold have fled from spring,
Life hath conquered dying;
Flowers are smiling, fields are gay,
Sunny is the weather;
With our rising Lord to-day
All things rise together."
From strain to strain they bore it along till the old church was glad.
How must the birds in the nests of the great elm-branches have rejoiced!
And the ivy-vines, did they not cling more closely to the gray stone
walls, as if they, too, had something at stake in the music? for they
were the children of the church who sang those strains. Among the
wonder-working little company within there was no loitering, no
laughing, no twitching of coat-sleeves on the sly, no malicious
interruptions: all were alert, earnest, conscientious. They sang with a
zeal that brought smiles to the face of the organist.
Two or three songs, carols, anthems, and the lesson was over. Now for
the reward. It came promptly, and was worth more than the gifts of
others.
"You have all done excellently well. I knew you would. If I had found
myself mistaken, it would have been a great disappointment. 'T is a
great thing to be able to sing such verses as if you were eye-witnesses
of what you repeat. That is precisely what you do. Now you may go. Go
quietly."
She looked at them all as she spoke; it was a broad, comprehensive
glance, but they all felt individualized by it. Then they came, the six
lads, with their bright, handsome faces, pride of a mother's heart every
one, and took her hand, and carried away, each one, her kiss upon his
forehead. Not one of them but had been blest beyond expression in the
few half-hours they had been gathered under the instruction of the
organist. So they went off, carrying her precious praise with them.
They had scarcely gone, and the organist was yet searching for a sheet
of music, when a step was in the aisle, noiseless, rapid, and a young
girl came into the singers' seat.
"Am I too early?" she asked,--for her welcome was not immediate, and her
courtesy was not just now of the quality that overlooked a seeming lack
of it in others. Miss Ives was slightly out of tune.
"Not at all," was the answer. Still it was spoken in a very preoccupied
way that might have been provoking,--that would depend on the mood of
the person addressed; and that mood, as we know, was not sun-clear or
marble-smooth. The organist had now found the music she was looking for,
and proceeded to play it from the first page to the last, without
vouchsafing an instant's recognition of the singer's presence.
When she had finished, she sat a moment silent; then she turned straight
toward Miss Ives, and smiled, and it was a smile that could atone for
any amount of seeming incivility.
But not even David, by mere sweep of harp-string, soothed
self-beleaguered Saul.
Teacher and pupil did not seem to understand each other as it was best
such women should. For, let the swaying, surging hosts throughout the
valley deliver themselves as they can from the confusion of tongues, the
wanderers among the mountains _ought_ to understand the signals _they_
see flaring from crag and gorge and pinnacle.
Too many shadowy folds were in the mystery that hung about each of these
women to satisfy the other: reticence too cold, independence too
extreme, self-possession too entire. Why was neither summoned, in a
frank, impulsive way, to take up the burden of the other? Was nothing
ever to penetrate the seven-walled solitude in which the organist chose
to intrench herself? Was nobody ever to bid roses bloom on the colorless
face of the singer, and bring smiles, the veritable smiles of youth, and
of happiness, into those large, steady, joyless eyes?
But now, while the organist played, and Sybella sat down, supposing she
was not wanted yet, she found herself not withdrawn into the
indifference she supposed. Presently far more was given than she either
looked for or desired.
The music that was being played was indeed wonderful. This was not for
the delight of children: no happy sprite with dancing feet could
maintain this measure. It was music for the most advanced, enlightened
intelligence,--for the soul that music had quickened to far depths,--for
the heart that had suffered, triumphed, and gained the kingdom of
calm,--for a wisdom riper even than Sybella's.
An audience of a hundred souls would infallibly have gabbled their way
through the silence that would _naturally_ gather round those tones. Put
Sybella in the midst of such an audience, and you would understand her
better than I hope now to make her understood; for the torture of the
moment would have been of the quality that has demonstration.
As it was, she now sat silently, as silently as the organist sat in her
place; but when all was over, she turned to look at the magician.
Sybella had passed through fearful agitation in the beginning and
throughout the greater part of the performance, but now she quietly
said,--
"That is the one sole composition of its author."
"Why do you say so?" asked the organist, whom people in general called
Miss Edgar.
"Because, of course, everything is in it,--I mean the best of everything
that could be in one soul. If the composer wrote more, it was
fragmentary and repetitious. If you played it, Miss Edgar, to put me in
a better voice for singing than I had when I came in, I think you have
succeeded. I can almost imagine how Jenny Lind felt, when her voice came
back to her."
"We shall soon see that. I don't know that the music has ever been
played on an organ before. But you see it is a rare production,--little
known,--a book of the Law not read out of the sacred place. Let us try
that prayer again. You will sing it differently to-day,--I see it in
your face."
_"Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us!"_
Something _had_ happened to the voice that sang. Never had the organist
heard such tones from it before; there was volume, depth, purity, such
as had been unheard by those who thought they knew the quality and
compass of Sybella's voice.
The organist could not forbear turning and looking at her as she sang.
Great, evidently, was her emotion. This nature that had been in bonds
manifestly had eschewed the bondage. Was the organist glad thereat?
Whose praise would be on everybody's lips on Sunday, if Sybella sang
like this? Are women and men generally pleased to hear the praises of a
rival? You have had full hearing, generous, more than patient; do you
feel a thrill of the old rapture, a kindling of the old enthusiasm, when
you hear the praises of the young new-comer, who has reached you with a
stride, and will pass you at a bound? Since this may be in human nature,
say "Yes" to the catechist. For the organist returned to her duties with
a brightened face, she touched the keys with new power. Then, again,--
_"Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father!"_
Had this girl the vision--"Not far from any one of us"?
"I thought so," said the organist. "You come forth at last. This is what
I expected, when I overheard you instructing the children in the
Sunday-school. Now all that is justified, but you have been a long while
about it,--or I have. It seems the right chord wasn't struck. I made
these adaptations on purpose for the voice I expected of you."
"Is not the arrangement a new one, Mrs. Edgar?" asked a voice from one
of the aisles. "It is perfect."
"It is a new adaptation, Mr. Muir, and I think Miss Ives will hardly
improve on her first rendering. It is getting late also. It is time to
look at the hymn."
Mr. Muir, who was the rector of the church, now passed along the aisle
until he was beyond the voices of the ladies in the choir, and then he
stood, during the rehearsal of the Easter hymn,--
"Christ the Lord is risen to-day."
One repetition of these verses, and the rehearsal was at an end. Never
was such before in that place. Never before in reality had organist of
St. Peter's attempted so much. When the choir came together for an
hour's practice, this would be understood. Miss Ives already understood
it.
"Now indulge _me_," she said, "if I have been so fortunate as to
satisfy--satisfy you."
In consequence of this request the organist kept her place till night
had actually descended. Out of all oratorios, and from many an opera,
she brought the immortal graces, and all conceivable renderings of
passions, fears, and aspirations of men. At last, and as it seemed quite
suddenly, she broke off, closed the organ-doors and locked them, then
rose from her place.
A dark figure at the same moment passed up the aisle from the church to
the vestry-room in the rear, and organist and singer left the church.