"Like dew on the gowans lying Is the fall of her fairy feet, And like winds in summer sighing Her voice is low and sweet.
Her voice is low and sweet, And she"s all the world to me; And for bonnie Annie Laurie--"
The song floated up into the blue summer sky, carrying me with it--possibly in pursuit of the fairy feet (for which I had already found an owner). Exposure, rough usage, mayhap gin-and-water--all these had robbed the singer"s notes of something of their pristine freshness; but they rang out pure and limpid for all that. It was a trained voice, and must once have been a great voice. The crowd stood absolutely still.
Never have I beheld a more attentive audience.
"Grand opera, once," said d.i.c.ky"s voice softly in my ear. Then--"Oh, you poor thing!"
I recalled my thoughts from their sentimental journey, to realise that the verse had broken off before the end and that the woman was once more in the throes of another attack of coughing, the black pompoms on her little white clown cap vibrating with every spasm. Impatient spectators began to drift away.
I was conscious of a sudden movement beside me, and d.i.c.ky"s voice exclaimed, in the hoa.r.s.e whisper which I knew he reserved for conversations with himself:--
"Go on! Be a man!"
Next moment he had left my side and was standing in the centre of the ring, addressing the crowd. He was quite cool and self-possessed, but I saw his fingers curling and uncurling.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted.
"Git out of the ring, Elbert!" suggested a voice, not unkindly.
But The Freak continued:--
"I know we all sympathise with the plucky attempt this lady is making to entertain us under very difficult circ.u.mstances."
The crowd, suspicious of a hoax of some kind, surveyed him dumbly.
"I am sure," d.i.c.ky went on, "you will agree with me that with such a bad cough our entertainer has no right to be working so hard this afternoon; and I therefore propose, with your kind permission, in order that she may have a rest and get her voice back, to sing you one or two songs myself. I can"t sing for toffee; but I will do my best, and I know that you, being sportsmen all, will a.s.sist me by singing the choruses!"
He took off his hat, bowed genially, and turned to the harpist. There was a buzz of appreciation and antic.i.p.ation among the crowd. Evidently d.i.c.ky had touched the right note when he appealed to them as sportsmen.
"Can you vamp a few chords, do you think?" I heard him say to the accompanist.
"Yes, sir," replied the old man quickly. "Go on: I"ll follow you."
The tired woman sank down upon the trampled gra.s.s beside the little boy; The Freak, hat in hand, struck an att.i.tude; and the entertainment began.
I do not know how many songs he sang. He pa.s.sed from one to another with amazing facility, discoursing between the verses upon topics well suited to the taste and comprehension of his audience. His songs were not new, and the tales that he told were neither true nor relevant; but they served their purpose. He uplifted his voice and carried us all off our feet. He conducted us over the whole of that field of Music Hall humour which is confined within the following limits:--
(1) Alcoholic excess.
(2) Personal deformity (e.g., Policemen"s feet).
(3) Conjugal infelicity; with which is incorporated Mothers-in-law.
(4) Studies of insect life (e.g., Seaside lodgings).
(5) Exaggerated metaphor (e.g., "Giddy kipper").
He enlarged upon all these, and illuminated each. He was unspeakably vulgar, and irresistibly amusing. The crowd took him to their bosoms.
They roared at his gags; they sang his choruses; they clamoured for more.
I shouted with the rest. This was the real d.i.c.ky Mainwaring--the unregenerate, unrestrained Freak of our undergraduate days--my friend given back to me in his right mind after a lamentable period of eclipse.
My heart swelled foolishly.
"Chorus once more, please, gentlemen!" shouted d.i.c.ky. "Last time!"
[Ill.u.s.tration: "CHORUS ONCE MORE, PLEASE, GENTLEMEN!"]
The refined and elevating paean rolled forth, d.i.c.ky conducting:--
"Beer, Beer, glorious Beer!
Fill yourself right up to here!
(_Ill.u.s.trative gesture._) Take a good deal of it, Make a good meal of it--"
With head thrown back and mouth wide open, I shouted with the rest--and--caught the eye of Miss Hilda Beverley! She was standing exactly opposite to me on the other side of the circle. Next moment she was gone.
It was the accompanist who gave in first. For nearly half an hour his aged but nimble fingers had followed the singer"s most extravagant flights, and he now began obviously to falter.
d.i.c.ky seized this opportunity to conclude his performance.
"That is all, gentlemen," he said, with a flourish of his hat. "I know no more. Thank you for your kind attention and a.s.sistance. But don"t go away. I am going to ask the Colonel here to carry his hat round."
He signalled to the small pale-faced boy to take up a collection, but the child hung back shyly. Evidently he was not accustomed to enthusiastic audiences. d.i.c.ky accordingly borrowed his cone-shaped headpiece and set to work himself.
Touch your neighbour"s heart, and his pocket is at your mercy. The bell was ringing for the last race, but not a man in that crowd stirred until he had contributed to d.i.c.ky"s collection. Silver and copper rained into the cap. I saw one st.u.r.dy old farmer clap d.i.c.ky upon the shoulder with a "Good lad! good lad!" and drop in half-a-crown.
Then the audience melted away as suddenly as it had collected, and we five were left--d.i.c.ky, myself, the old man, his daughter, and the recently gazetted Colonel. The daughter still sat limply upon the gra.s.s. d.i.c.ky crossed over to her and emptied the collection into her lap.
"You had better tie that up in a handkerchief," he said. He spoke awkwardly. He was no longer an inspired comedian--only a shy and self-conscious schoolboy. My thoughts flew back to a somewhat similar scene in a third-cla.s.s carriage on the Great Eastern Railway many years before.
The woman was crying softly. Her tears--those blessed faith-restoring tears that come to people who encounter kindness when they thought that the world held no more for them--dropped one by one upon the pile of coins in her lap. She caught d.i.c.ky"s hand, and clung to it. The Freak cleared his throat in a distressing manner, but said nothing. Far away we could hear the roar of the crowd, watching the last race.
"I must be going now," said d.i.c.ky at length. "I hope you will soon get rid of your cough and have good luck again. We all get under the weather sometimes, don"t we? Good-bye! Good-bye, Colonel!"
The officer addressed fixed round and wondering eyes upon the eccentric stranger, but made no remark.
"Good-bye, sir," said the woman. "G.o.d--"
d.i.c.ky released his hand gently and turned deferentially to the old gentleman, who was still sitting patiently at his harp.
"Thank you very much, sir," he said, speaking like a polite undergraduate to an aged don who has just entertained him to dinner, "for your splendid accompaniments. I can"t imagine how you contrived to follow me as you did. I"m a pretty erratic performer, I "m afraid.
Good-bye!"
He held out his hand.
The old man struggled to his feet, and gave a little old-fashioned bow, but disregarded d.i.c.ky"s proffered hand.