The Tenor happened to be entering the cathedral next day for the afternoon service just as Angelica was being handed from a carriage by a singular looking man who wore _pince-nez_, was clean shaven, and had an immense head of hair. Angelica very evidently called the attention of this gentleman to the Tenor as he pa.s.sed, and the latter heard the "Ach!" of satisfaction to which the stranger gave utterance when he had adjusted his _pince-nez_ with undisguised interest, and taken the Tenor in.
The latter felt that he had seen the man before, and while he was putting on his surplice he remembered who he was, an _impresario_, well-known by sight to regular opera goers and musicians generally. Having established his ident.i.ty, the reason of his presence there that afternoon was at once apparent. The Tenor had been requested to sing a solo which was admirably calculated to display the range and flexibility of his voice to the best advantage, and the _impresario_ had been brought to hear him. The mountain had come to Mahomet.
The Tenor never sang better than upon that occasion, and he had scarcely reached his cottage after the service was over, when the _impresario_ burst in upon him, having, in his eagerness, omitted the ceremony of knocking. He seized the Tenor"s hand, exclaiming in broken English:--"Oh, my tear froind, you are an ideal!" Then he flung his hat on the floor, and curvetted about the room, alternately rubbing his hands and running his fingers upward through his luxuriant hair till it stood on end all over his head. "And have I found you?" he cried sentimentally, apostrophising the ceiling. "Oh, have I found you? What a _Lohengrin!_ Ach Gott! it is the prince himself. Boat"--and he stopped prancing in order to point his long forefinger at the Tenor"s chest--"boat you are an actor born, my froind! You was the _Prince of Devotion_ himself jus" now. You do that part as if you feel him too! Why"--jerking his head towards the cathedral with a gesture which signified that if he had not seen the thing himself he never could have believed it--"why, you loose yourself in there kompletely!" Then he asked the Tenor to sing again, which the Tenor did, being careful, however, not to give his excitable visitor too much lest the intoxicating draught should bring on a fit.
The music-mad-one had come to make the Tenor golden offers, and he did not leave him now until the Tenor had agreed to accept them.
The dean came in by chance in time to witness the conclusion of the bargain, adding by his congratulations and good wishes to the Tenor"s own belief that such an opportunity was not to be lost. The drawings the Tenor had been doing for the dean were all but finished now, and it was arranged that the Tenor should enter upon his new engagement in one month"s time.
When he found himself alone at last and could think the matter over, he was thoroughly content with what he had done. There could be no doubt now as to whose wish it was that he should go and make a name for himself; and he felt sure that the step he was about to take would not lead to the separation he dreaded, but rather to the union for which he might at last without presumption; after such encouragement, venture to hope.
CHAPTER XIII.
A few nights after the Tenor had signed the agreement the Boy burst in upon him, exclaiming in guttural accents: "Oh, my tear froind! have I found you?" Then he threw his hat on the floor and began to prance up and down, waving his hands ecstatically.
The Tenor picked up a cushion and threw it at him. "You wretched Boy!" he said laughing. "Who told you he did that?"
"Oh, my _dear_ Israfil!" the Boy replied. "Why on earth do you ask who _told_ me? You must know by this time, and if you don"t you should, that genius does not require to be told. Given the man and the circ.u.mstances, and we"ll tell you exactly what he"ll do, don"t you know,"
and the Boy showed his teeth.
But the Tenor was not convinced. "Knowing your patience and zeal when engaged in the pursuit of knowledge--I think that was the euphemism you employed the last time you had to apologize for the unscrupulous indulgence of your boundless curiosity," the Tenor, standing with his back to the Boy, observed with easy deliberation, as he filled and lighted a pipe, "I have little doubt that you a.s.sisted at the interview from some safe coigne of "vantage--to borrow another of your pet-expressions--perhaps from the closet under the stairs there--"
"Or from behind the sofa," the Boy suggested, with that enigmatical grin of his which the Tenor disliked, perhaps because it was enigmatical, "Like my new suit, Israfil?" he demanded in exactly the same tone. He had on a spotless flannel boating suit, with a silk handkerchief of many colours, knotted picturesquely round his neck.
"It"s too new," said the Tenor. "It looks as if you"d got it for private theatricals, and taken great care of it."
The Boy laughed, and then, a.s.suming another character, he began to remonstrate with himself playfully in the Tenor"s voice.
"Boy, will you never be more manly?" and "Don"t mock, Boy!" and "Boy, you have no soul!" and "Oh, Boy, you"re not high-minded." Then he did a love scene between the Tenor and Angelica. The Tenor tried to stop this last performance, but he only made matters worse, for the Boy argued the question out in Angelica"s voice, taking the part of "dear Claude"--he still insisted that his name was Claude--and ending with: "Dear Israfil, we are so happy ourselves, I think Claude should have a little lat.i.tude to-night. He studies so hard, poor boy, he deserves some indulgence."
When this amus.e.m.e.nt ceased to divert him, he announced his intention of going on the stage, of not going home till morning, and of being rowed down the river in the meantime.
"But where will you get a boat at this time of night?" the Tenor objected.
"You"re not a man of much imagination," said the Boy, "or you wouldn"t have asked such a question. How do you suppose I come every night, after all the world is barred and bolted out of your sacred Close, and the alternative lies between the porter at the postern, whom you know I shun, and the water-gate?"
"Do you mean to say you row yourself down the river, every time you come?"
"I do," said the Boy complacently.
"I didn"t think you could!" was the Tenor"s naive e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n.
The Boy was delighted. "It never struck you, I suppose," he chuckled, "that my fragile appearance might be delusive? Haven"t you noticed I never tire?"
"Yes," said the Tenor. "But I thought that you probably paid for these nights of dissipation by days of languor."
The Boy laughed again. "Don"t know the sensation," he declared. "Days of laziness would be nearer the mark. I have plenty of them."
It was a lovely night, all pervaded by the fragrance of the flowers in the gardens round about the Close.
They sauntered out, turning to the left from the Tenor"s cottage, the cathedral being on their right, the cloisters in front. The Boy walked up to the latter and peeped in, "Come here, dear Israfil," he said obligingly, "and I will show you the beauties of the place. These are the cloisters, and, as you see, they form a hollow square, nearly two hundred feet long, and twelve feet wide, Yon slowly rising moon shows the bare quadrangle In the centre, and the tracery of the windows opposite; but the exquisite groining of the roof, and the quaintly sculptured bosses, are still hidden in deep darkness. The light, however, brightens in the northeast corner, and--if you weren"t in such a _hem_ hurry, Israfil--"
The Tenor had walked on, but the Boy stayed where he was, and now began to improve the occasion at the top of his voice.
The Tenor returned hurriedly. "For Heaven"s sake hold your tongue!" he expostulated, "You"ll wake the whole Close."
"I was calling your attention to the details of the architecture," the Boy rejoined politely; and, as usual, for the sake of peace and quietness the unfortunate Tenor was obliged to hear him out.
When he stopped, the Tenor exclaimed "Thank Heaven!" devoutly, then added, "No fear for your exams, Boy, if you can cram like that. But I did not know you were a cultivated archaeologist."
"Nor am I," said the Boy with a shiver. "I hate architecture, and I don"t want to know about it, but I can"t help picking it up. It is horrid to remember that that arch yonder was built in the time of William the Conqueror. I never look at it without feeling the oppression of the ages come upon me. And when I get into this bigoted Close and think of the heathenish way the people live in it, shutting themselves in from the rest of the citizens with unchristian ideas of their own superiority, I am confirmed in my unbelief. I feel if there were any truth in that religion, those who profess it would have begun to practise its precepts by this time; they would not be content to teach it for ever without trying it themselves. And oh!"--shaking his fist at the cathedral--"I loathe the deeds of darkness that are done there in the name of the Lord."
"What unhappy experience are you alluding to, Boy?" said the Tenor, concerned.
"I was thinking of Edith--poor Edith Beale," the Boy replied, "But don"t ask me to tell you that story if you have not heard it. It makes my blood boil with indignation."
"I have heard it," the Tenor answered sadly. "But, Boy, dear, every honest man deplores such circ.u.mstances as much as you do."
"Then why do they occur?" the Boy asked hotly. "If the honest men were in earnest, such blackguardism would not go unpunished. But don"t let us talk about it."
They went through the arm of the Close in the centre of which the lime trees grew round a gra.s.sy s.p.a.ce enclosed from the road by a light iron railing. "This is grateful!" the Boy exclaimed, as they pa.s.sed under the old trees, lingering a while to listen to the rustle and murmur of the leaves. Then they emerged once more into the moonlight, and took their way down the little lane that led to the water-gate. Here they found an elegant c.o.c.kle-sh.e.l.l of a boat tied up, "a most ladylike craft," said the Tenor.
"I"ll steer," said the Boy, fixing the rudder, and then arranging the cushions for himself, while the Tenor meekly took the oars.
With one strong stroke he brought the boat into mid-stream, then headed her down the river toward the sea, and settled to his oars with a long steady pull that roused the admiration of the Boy.
"You row like a "Varsity man," he said.
"So I should," was the laconic rejoinder.
"_Are_ you a "Varsity man?"
"I am."
"Oxford, then, I"ll bet. And did you take your degree?"
The Tenor nodded.
"Well, you _are_ a queer chap!" said the Boy. "Were you expelled?"
The Tenor shook his head. "Did you do _anything_ disgraceful?" The Tenor again made a sign of negation. "Then why on earth did you come and bury yourself alive in Morningquest?"
"That I might have the pleasure of rowing you down the river by moonlight, apparently," the Tenor answered, but without a smile.
"I"d give my ears to know!" the Boy e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed.