"Can"t we have something bigger than that? It will take a long time to earn much money that way."
"It will be a beginning, though," was the quiet reply. "We must not expect to raise all the money at once. After we are through with this we can try something else. We might get fifty people to come, and if we sell tickets at ten cents each that will bring us in five dollars.
I am sure the summer people will come, and we may have more than fifty.
Then, we should make five dollars from the refreshments, and that will be ten dollars in all, which will not be too bad for a start."
The scouts finally agreed to what Whyn said, and they spent considerable time talking over the whole affair, and arranging their plans. The interest now became very keen, and when the tickets had been made each boy undertook to sell as many as he could. In a week"s time all the tickets were sold, and more had to be made by Mrs. Britt and Whyn.
The scouts practised hard for the important event, and Captain Josh spared no pains in his efforts to drill them as thoroughly as possible.
Each one had now pa.s.sed the tenderfoot tests, and were ready for their badges. They had also earned the money for their suits, and it was a great day when all appeared before Whyn dressed in their complete uniforms. The girl was delighted, and her eyes sparkled with joy as the captain marched them up and down outside her window.
The big affair was to take place Thursday evening, and when the scouts visited Whyn on Monday afternoon they were in fine spirits. Everything had been arranged, many tickets had been sold, and it looked as if the concert would be a great success. They found the invalid girl quieter than they had ever seen her before, though she greeted them with her usual smile and listened to them for several minutes as they talked about scout matters.
"There is something which troubles me," Whyn at length remarked.
"Every concert should have singing, or music of some kind. Now, we have not arranged for one song, and I am sure the people who come will be disappointed. I am so fond of singing myself that I know how much it will be missed. But I suppose it can"t be helped. I wish you boys could sing."
"Maybe some of the choir members would come," Rod suggested.
"Oh, do you think they would?" Whyn eagerly asked.
"I am not quite sure that they will. But I will speak to grandad about it. I know he will do all he can to help."
"I hope they will come," and Whyn gave a tired sigh. "I haven"t heard any singing for such a long time, that I am hungry for it. I had such a wonderful letter from Douglas to-day," she continued, after a slight pause. "He says that Anna Royanna, the great new American singer, has been in Ottawa, and he heard her one night. She is quite young, so he writes, very beautiful, and with such a sad sweet face. The people went fairly wild over her voice, and she had to sing one piece twice before they would let her stop. And do you know, she is coming to St.
John, and will be at the Opera House on Wednesday night. Just think of it!" and Whyn"s eyes glowed with enthusiasm, while she clasped her thin white hands together. "She will be there, so near, and yet I won"t be able to hear her. But mamma will tell me about it, and that will be something."
The scouts did not remain long in Whyn"s room that afternoon. They knew that she was tired, and so when they left her they made their way to the sh.o.r.e, and sat down upon the sand under the shade of a large willow tree. They were unusually silent now, for all were thinking of what Whyn had told them about the wonderful singer.
"Isn"t it too bad," Rod suddenly began, "that Whyn can"t hear her sing?"
"She can"t go to the city, that"s sure," Phil Dexter replied, giving the stick he was holding a savage thrust into the yielding sand.
"Maybe she"d come here," Billy Potter suggested.
This was a brilliant idea, and the scouts looked at one another, while the light of hope brightened their faces.
"Would she come?" that was the question each asked himself. These boys knew nothing about the ways of the great world beyond their own parish.
If they did they would have known how utterly ridiculous was the thought of a famous singer coming all the way to such an unknown place as Hillcrest to sing to an invalid girl. But to them their little circle was everything, and the idea of such a noted person coming was nothing out of the ordinary.
"How much do you think she"d want?" Tommy Bunker queried.
"Let"s give her half what we make," Rod suggested. "And look," he continued, "we mustn"t say a word to Captain Josh or Whyn, or to anybody else. Let it be a big surprise to all. If she comes we can keep her hid until the very last, and then she can come out and sing just like people do in story-books. Wouldn"t Whyn be surprised and delighted?"
"But who"s going to ask her?" Phil enquired. "Father"s going to the city on Wednesday, for I heard him say so this morning. Maybe he would see her."
"But we mustn"t let him know anything about it," Rod warned. "Why couldn"t you go with him, Phil?"
"I wouldn"t like to go alone," was the reply. "She"d scare me, and I wouldn"t know what to say. I"ll go, for one, if dad"ll let me, and I guess he will. Then, if you"ll come, too, Rod, I"ll go with you to see her. You can do the talking, and I"ll back you up."
"Mighty poor backing, I should say," Joe Martin retorted, with a grin.
"Better take some one with more s.p.u.n.k, Rod. I think you should go, though, as patrol-leader."
"I guess Phil will do all right," Rod replied. "We could go to hear her sing, that"s if I can go. I will find out about it and let you know."
CHAPTER XVII
ANNA ROYANNA
Rod had no opportunity that evening of speaking to Parson Dan or Mrs.
Royal about the wonderful singer. There were visitors at the rectory for tea, and he was in bed before they left. He thought very much about it, nevertheless, and in his sleep he dreamed that he was listening to Miss Royanna. He could see her quite plainly, just as Whyn had described her, and he was so disappointed when he awoke and found himself in his own little room, and not in the Opera House with the singer before him.
"I was reading in the paper last night," Parson Dan remarked, just after they had sat down to breakfast, "that a famous singer is coming to the city. Her name is Anna Royanna, and she will be at the Opera House Wednesday night. Wouldn"t you like to go, dear?" and he looked across the table at his wife.
"I"m afraid not," was the reply. "The Ladies" Aid will meet here on that day, and so I could not possibly leave. Why don"t you go, Daniel?
You are fond of good singing, and it is so seldom that you get away from the parish."
"It is utterly out of the question, Martha," the clergyman sadly returned. "I have to bury old Mrs. Fisk at Stony Creek to-morrow afternoon."
"Oh, I had forgotten about that, Daniel. Isn"t it always the way when anything of special importance comes to the city? You have never been able to attend."
"It seems so. But never mind, dear, we are going to take a long holiday next summer, and that will make up for much we have lost."
"May I go, grandad?" Rod suddenly asked.
"Go where, Rodney? With us next summer?"
"No, but to hear Miss Royanna."
"You!" and the parson straightened himself up. "Why, I didn"t know that you would care to go."
"But I do, grandad. Phil Dexter is going with his father to the city to-morrow, and why couldn"t I go along with them? Phil and I could go to hear Miss Royanna ourselves if Mr. Dexter doesn"t want to go. Oh, may I?"
"Well, we shall think it over," the parson replied, "and let you know later."
That afternoon Mrs. Royal told Rod that he could go to the city. It might do him good, so she said, to hear such a famous singer. She knew that she could trust him to behave himself, no matter where he was.
Rod was delighted, and hurried over at once to inform the rest of the scouts, who were already gathered at Headquarters. In the paper which came that day from the city there was a long piece about Anna Royanna, and Parson Dan read it aloud that evening. It told how this wonderful singer had sprung suddenly into fame during the last year. She had been singing before but had attracted little attention until one night a noted foreign singer heard her voice at a party given in a private house. It was through him that such success had come to her.
Rod and Phil were fortunate in obtaining seats in the Opera House, the only two which were left. As they looked around upon the crowded place they were for a time somewhat bewildered. They were not accustomed to seeing so many people together, and they felt very small and insignificant. Several people watched with interest the two boys who stared at everything and everybody in such undisguised wonder. But Rod and Phil did not care. They wanted to see and hear Miss Royanna and it did not matter to them what people thought.
The curtain at last slowly rose, and a deep hush pa.s.sed throughout the building. Then a woman moved quietly to the centre of the stage. Rod sat bolt upright when he saw her. He paid no attention to the storm of applause which greeted her appearance. He saw her bend her head slightly in acknowledgment of the reception she received. Never before had he seen such a beautiful woman, and his heart went out to her at once. What would Whyn say when she saw her? he asked himself. Then a doubt flashed into his mind. Would this marvellous woman listen to him? Would she be willing to go all the way to Hillcrest to sing to a helpless girl? He felt his courage slowly oozing away and he almost wished that he did not have to speak to her. Would she have anything to say to him? he wondered. He noted her dress; how beautiful it was!
And her face, he could see it quite plainly, was sweet, and yet sad, just as Whyn had described it from her brother"s letter.
Rod was presently aroused from his meditation by the sweetest sound he ever heard. He thought there must be a bird singing somewhere on the stage. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was dreaming. But, no, it was only the woman standing before him, and she was singing. As he listened to her he could not help thinking of the fields in Hillcrest, of the birds and flowers, which he knew and loved. And thus his thoughts would wander every time she sang. It was so strange that he could not account for it, and he wondered if Phil felt the same way.
Now he was tucked in his little bed at home, with the wind sobbing around the house, and the rain beating against the window. Then, he saw soldiers marching, and horses galloping, such as he had seen in pictures. Once he was sure that he was lying on the gra.s.s beneath the shade of an old tree with the bees humming around him, and the gra.s.shoppers playing upon their funny musical saws. He felt angry whenever the people made a noise, and drove the pictures away. He didn"t think of the singer now, of how she was dressed, or what she looked like, and he didn"t remember even one word she had uttered. He hardly realised that he was in the big Opera House with the crowd of people about him.
But there was one piece, and the last, which he did remember. It was the way the woman sang it which had such an effect. He was sure that there were tears in her eyes. His own were misty, anyway. She said that she always closed with it, and it was called, "My Little Lad, G.o.d Bless Him." That appealed to Rod. So this woman, then, had a little boy, and he wanted to hear what she had to say about him. The very first words arrested his attention.