THE MUSIC THE FAIRIES PUT IN HER FINGERS
On the shaded corner of the wide veranda Mrs. Lee sat making
buttonholes in a blouse for Billy, humming as she worked. Occasionally
she patted the crisp cloth in her hand as though she loved this task of
stitching for her youngsters. About her quiet reigned; broken now and
then by Peggy's bird in its cage and the far-off sound of the gasoline
mower on the golf course.
Suddenly Barbara came around the corner of the house, like a rose, in
her fresh pink gingham. In her hand she swung a putter.
"Off for the golf links, dear?" Mrs. Lee asked, glancing with pride
over the straight, slim figure of the girl.
"Yes, Mother, Carol Day and I play off our match this afternoon. If I
beat her I'll win those candlesticks--"
"They will look very pretty on your dresser," smiled Mrs. Lee. "I know
what you mean, Mother--that I'm just playing for the candlesticks alone
and I'm not at all, for when I do win one I sort of hate taking a
prize. But I would like to beat Carol because she does play such a good
game!"
"That's the spirit, Bab. Where are the little girls?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Mother," Barbara, balancing
herself on the arm of a chair, tapped her toe with the putter. "Peggy
and Alice have gone off to Molly Sawyer's and they've left Keineth
home. I don't think they're treating her a bit nicely!"
"Why didn't she go with them?"
"I don't think Peggy asked her to go. She and Molly were going to play
tennis on the Sawyer courts with Joan Crate, a girl that's out here
from town, and Keineth felt left out. Peggy told her she couldn't play
well enough to play with them and that it spoiled a game playing with
beginners, anyway!"
Mrs. Lee stitched in silence. Barbara went on:
"And I heard Billy the other day teasing her about her father. He
laughed at her when she said her father was a soldier, only the kind
that didn't wear a uniform, and he told her there weren't any soldiers
like that! I think you ought to speak to the children, Mother."
"Never mind, Bab, those things will straighten themselves. Peggy must
be more considerate and patient and I will tell Billy something about
Keineth's father--Billy will be interested. We may some day have reason
to be very proud of knowing him, for he may become a very great man,
besides doing an immense good for this country of ours. Run along,
dear, to your game and good luck to you!"
Barbara kissed the top of her head and hurried away. Mrs. Lee sat on
alone, her hands idly clasped over the blouse in her lap. It was her
way to puzzle out these little problems quietly.
Suddenly across the June stillness came the sound of exquisite music;
clear, thrilling notes, unreal--fairylike! Almost hesitatingly Mrs. Lee
turned as though she expected to see a fairy sprite in gauzy robes
approaching her from the shadows of the house! She rose and crept
toward the window. No sprite was there--only Keineth sitting before the
piano, her small hands softly touching the keys as though by magic she
drew the melody from them. Across her fair head fell a slanting bar of
sunlight. To this her eyes were raised in rapt contentment.
From the window Mrs. Lee watched and listened. There seemed to be no
beginning or end to the melody--it ran on and on, now plaintive, like a
small voice crying--now full of laughter with a happy note like that of
a bird.
"Child--" Mrs. Lee stepped through the long window into the room.
Keineth turned quickly.
"I didn't know--anyone was here," she said, shyly.
But Mrs. Lee scarcely heard her. She had clasped her arms about the
small form and was holding it very close.
"I was just playing--what the fairies put in my fingers," Keineth
explained from the depths of Mrs. Lee's embrace.
"They are fairy fingers indeed," laughed Mrs. Lee. "Let us sit down
here together and you must tell me all about it. Who taught you to play
like that, child?"
"No one--like that. Madame Henri always gave me lessons. They were very
stupid and I hated having to practice. But every evening, when we'd sit
together, I'd play to Daddy the music that came into my fingers.
Sometimes he'd stand by the piano until I was finished and then he'd
kiss my fingers and say 'fairy fingers', only Tante used to snore so
loudly, poor thing."
"And you love music?"
"Oh--most of anything in the world. Sometimes Daddy would take me to
the big opera house to hear music and it seemed, when I heard it, as
though I was floating right away. Then we'd go home and I'd make up
more music and tell them a story on the piano and sometimes Daddy could
guess the story almost. Tante used to shake her head and Daddy would
say, 'Leave her alone--she knows more than we do.' I don't know what he
meant, but some day I shall study hard and try to be a great musician.
Daddy said--I should--only he said I must wait until my body grew as
strong as my spirit."
"Keineth, my dear, do you know what a precious trust has been given
you? God gives to some of His children great gifts--they are in trust
for Him! You must care for it and guard it and keep it and see that it
is bestowed generously upon many! Music is one of the most precious
things in this world--and to create it is a great power!"
Keineth, with puzzled eyes, tried to understand. Mrs. Lee patted her
hand.
"How your mother would have loved to hear what these fingers can do!
She had a nature that was like a song in its sweetness. But your father
is right; before all else you must build up this little body of yours!"
"What did he mean, Aunt Nellie?"
"He wants you to run and play games and grow strong. And you must not
be discouraged and unhappy if you can't keep up just yet with Peggy and
Billy and the others. Remember, while they've been racing their legs
off you've been doing other things. If Peggy _can_ beat you at tennis,
you just ask her to play one of her pieces for you! Poor Peg, her
fingers are all thumbs! Everything evens up in this funny world,
child."
"You're so wonderful, Aunt Nellie! I did fed as if Peggy didn't like me
because I couldn't do things as well as she can, but if she'll help me
learn to swim real well and beat Billy just once at tennis, I'll help
her with her music!"
"A fine idea, Keineth! And then sometimes, when Peggy perhaps wants to
do something that you don't care about, I will help you write down the
music you play. Some day we will surprise them all--you and I will have
a secret!"
Keineth clapped her hands eagerly. "Oh, I have wished I could! It'll be
such fun! I'll send it to my father! You _are_ wonderful, Aunt Nellie."
The child threw her arms about Mrs. Lee's neck in a burst of joy.
"Remember, now! No discouraged heart because you can't get a ball over
the net or stand on your head in the water!"
That evening an east wind blowing up with a fine, driving rain, gave an
excuse for a fire in the big fireplace. And as they sat around it;
Alice on the arm of her mother's chair, Barbara close to her father, a
little silent, because Carol Day _had_ beaten her; Peggy and Keineth on
the floor side by side, and Billy and his dog sprawled near the door,
Mrs. Lee told the children the story of the little boy who went each
day to his attic room to play on the old piano there; how one day, the
sound of the music reaching the ears of people below, they crept one by
one to the dark stairway to listen. Then in wonder they brought others
and even more. These foolish folk thought it was a spirit who came to
the attic room and made the music, but finally one of them crept closer
and opened the door and found the little boy!
"I know, Mother," cried Barbara, "it was Mozart!"
"Yes, it was Mozart, who, when he grew older, made music that will last
as long as this world. Keineth, will you play for us, dear?"
Keineth, with a very red face, walked bravely to the piano. But her
heart was happy and her fingers tingled with the music she felt. With
the firelight dancing across the darkened room it seemed like the old
library at home and as if Daddy must be sitting close to her with
Madame Henri nodding in her chair near the window!
They were silent when she had finished. Barbara sighed-as though the
music had made her sad; Billy said something under his breath that
sounded like "Gee!" and Mrs. Lee patted Peggy's hand. She had found
time for a little talk with Peggy about Keineth.
"Oh, I think you're wonderful!" Peggy cried now to Keineth, running to
her and linking her hand in Keineth's arm. "I wish I could play one bit
as well as that----"
After the children had gone to bed Mr. and Mrs. Lee sat for a long time
in the room lighted only by the flames of the fire. Somehow the music
seemed to linger about them.
"Isn't this world funny, William--" Mrs. Lee stared into the blaze. "If
that child had not lived that funny, lonely life in that big house with
no one but the queer governess, that gift of hers might never have
developed! I wonder what the future may have in store for her?"
"Above all--let us hope--health and happiness!"