"Do you never sing, Miss Maverick?" asked Rutherford.
"Only sometimes for myself," she said, "I know only two or three songs that I have heard others sing."
"But you have a sweet voice," said Houston, "will you not sing for us?"
"If you will overlook any mistakes, I may," answered Lyle, "for I probably do not sing correctly, as I know nothing of music."
"Certainly, Lyle, we would like to hear you," said Miss Gladden.
As simply, and as free from self-consciousness as a child, Lyle began her song, her eyes fixed on the distant shining peaks, and her only accompaniment the music of the cascades.
"Love is come with a song and a smile, Welcome love with a smile and a song; Love can stay but a little while: Why can not he stay?
They call him away; Ye do him wrong, ye do him wrong, Love will stay for a whole life long."
Whether Lyle sang correctly that night was never known; even the beautiful words of the old song that seemed so appropriate to the occasion, were forgotten before she had sung more than two or three lines, and her listeners sat entranced, spell-bound, by the voice of the singer; a voice of such exquisite sweetness and clearness, and yet possessing such power and depth of expression, that it thrilled the hearts of her listeners, seeming to lift them out of all consciousness of their surroundings, and to transport them to another world; a world
"Where the singers, whose names are deathless, One with another make music, unheard of men."
As the last note died away, a long, deep sigh from Houston seemed to break the spell, and Miss Gladden looking up, her eyes shining with unshed tears, said, as she pressed Lyle"s hand:
"My dear, we have found our song-queen, our nightingale. We can all learn of you, and never equal you."
Houston had been strangely moved, and as he spoke, there was a slight tremor in his voice.
"I have heard, in all my life, but one voice like that, and that was one who died when I was a child."
Lyle looked surprised.
"Has no one ever told you you could sing?" asked Miss Gladden.
"I never sang for any one, excepting once, for Jack," answered Lyle.
"What did he say of your voice?" inquired Miss Gladden.
"He said, like Mr. Houston, that he had heard but one voice like mine, but that he did not like to hear me, so I have never sung since, excepting by myself."
"Lyle," said Miss Gladden suddenly, "how old is this man whom you call Jack?"
"Possibly forty, perhaps a little less," she answered indifferently.
A new thought had flashed into Miss Gladden"s mind. For some time she had doubted whether Lyle were really a child of Maverick and his wife, she was so utterly unlike them; could it be possible that Jack, whose life seemed so much a mystery, was the father of Lyle? Was that the reason for his interest in her? and had Lyle had some beautiful mother,--unfortunate perhaps,--whose life had suddenly gone out, as the little life had just begun, and whose memory was recalled too vividly by Lyle"s song? Miss Gladden determined, if possible, to find a clue to this mystery.
The boat was now on its homeward way, and a song with which all were familiar having been found, the four voices blended in exquisite harmony.
"It seems to me there are some rare treats in store for us," was Rutherford"s comment, as the friends separated for the night; then, a few moments later, when alone with Houston, he exclaimed:
"By Jove, Houston! but what a voice that girl has! I never heard anything like it in my life. I didn"t say much before Miss Gladden, for fear she might think I didn"t appreciate her singing, and I certainly did, for she sings magnificently."
"You need have no fear of any sensitiveness on Miss Gladden"s part,"
said Houston quickly, "in the first place, their voices are altogether different, there is no comparison between them; and in addition, Miss Gladden"s regard for Lyle is so disinterested and unselfish, there would be no room for any feeling of that kind. We must all acknowledge that Lyle certainly has a wonderful voice; as I said before, I have heard but one like it."
"Great Heavens!" said Rutherford, with more feeling than Houston had ever seen him manifest, "I"m sorry for that girl, Houston."
"Why?" asked Houston quietly.
"Why, only to think of her beauty and intellect, and such a voice as that, and then think of her parents, and the life to which she is tied down here."
"Granting the parents and present life," said Houston, "is that any argument that she will always be "tied down here" as you say?"
"I think it would always fetter her in a measure; it will leave its imprint upon her mind, or at least her memory, and although she is not in her proper sphere here, yet her life here, and all its a.s.sociations, would be likely to make her feel out of place in a higher sphere,"
"I think not," said Houston, watching Rutherford closely, "I think if she could be removed from here, and given a thorough education, there would remain no trace whatever of the early life."
"But what about the question of heredity?" asked Rutherford, "there must be bad blood there, when and where would it make its appearance?"
"That would be a serious question," replied Houston, "providing she is the child of these people; I have always had grave doubts of that, and Miss Gladden has often expressed the same."
"By Jove! I never thought of that! It seems likely enough, too. What do you think, that she was stolen?"
"No," said Houston slowly, "that does not seem so probable as that she may have been some child that they were hired to take."
"In that case," said Rutherford, "I should think the uncertainty regarding her family and origin, would be almost as bad as the certainty in the other case."
"It might seem so to some people," Houston replied, adding with a smile, "especially to a Bostonian, who prided himself upon his "blue blood"."
"Oh," said Rutherford, coloring, "I"m not pursuing this inquiry on my own account at all, I was only thinking of her prospects generally.
I"m not interested in that direction."
"In what direction are you interested, if I may ask?" said Houston, experiencing, for the first time, a little twinge of jealousy.
"In the direction of the "Hub," my dear boy," Rutherford replied, with another blush.
"Spoken like a true Bostonian!" said Houston approvingly.
"Yes, sir," continued Rutherford, "there"s a little girl belongs back there in Boston, that"s more to me than all the ladies you can produce in this part of the country, or any other, no matter how beautiful they may be; and she"s not bad looking either. Her parents took her to Europe for a little trip this spring, and Boston seemed so lonesome, that was the reason I came west."
"Good for you, Ned, you have my best wishes," said Houston, shaking hands with his friend, "but really, you and Lyle had seemed so fond of each other"s society lately, that I thought perhaps it was to be your destiny to rescue her from her unhappy fate."
"Well, as to each other"s society," said Rutherford, very slowly, "of late we have been restricted to that or none, for you and Miss Gladden have been growing so unconscious of us, that we"ve had to console with each other; but then, I understood how "twas, for I"ve been there myself, you know, and I"m ready to offer congratulations and all that sort of thing, whenever they are in order."
Houston appeared very unconscious of Rutherford"s meaning, as he inquired, "How does Lyle herself regard your attentions? There must be no trifling with her, I have too much regard for her myself, for that."
"Miss Maverick is not a girl to be trifled with," replied Rutherford, "I think a good deal of her, since I am better acquainted with her, and respect her and she knows it, but I think she realizes the sort of anomalous position that she occupies, and that is why I say I am sorry for her. She is far too brilliant for her surroundings, and yet not fitted for a much higher place."
"Not at present," replied Houston, "but with her natural endowments and her innate delicacy and refinement, comparatively little training and culture would be necessary to fit her for almost any position in life."
"I wonder what will be her fate."