The poor old man rallied himself for a last effort. "In that little cupboard yonder there is a packet containing a few private papers. You will destroy all except a letter addressed to yourself; in it you will find my last instructions. But you will not open that cupboard till I am dead. You both know as well as I do that it is only a question of a few hours. Well, my son, I do not regret; I have lived long enough to know of your success. And you have both been a great comfort to me. My heart was starved till I met you. You have taken the place of the children I never had."
As he finished, there was a thundering knock at the door. Nello jumped up, remembering. Had not the Princess Nada promised to send their own physician?
"I forgot to tell you, _bon_ Papa. I told them I was in a hurry to get back to you because you were so ill. The young Princess, a most beautiful girl, inquired your name and address. I gave them. She wished you to have the best medical advice. She is sending you their doctor, Sir Charles Fowler. I am sure that is he. I will go down and see."
In good health, Papa Peron, in spite of his kind heart and still kinder actions, had a little spice of malice in him. He was not quite exhausted, as his next words showed.
"I know him well by reputation." This remarkable old man knew of everybody, so it seemed. "Rather pompous and very suave, a good bedside manner, rather despised by his fellow pract.i.tioners. But he has a large and very aristocratic connection: he panders to their whims. But it was very sweet of the young Princess. Evidently she does not take after her father, she inherits the sweetness of her mother. Twenty Sir Charles Fowlers cannot keep me alive. But show him up, out of deference to the Princess. He is as much a charlatan in his profession as Bauquel is in his."
Nello went downstairs into the shabby sitting-room, where the slatternly maid had just shown in the popular physician.
Sir Charles addressed the young musician in his most bland and courteous accents. He must privately have been very annoyed to be sent at this time of night to such an obscure patient, but he did not betray his annoyance. The Princess Zouroff and her daughter were demi-G.o.ddesses to him. Their whims were equivalent to a Royal command.
"Signor Corsini, I presume? The Princess has told me over the "phone of your great success to-night; I congratulate you. She has sent me to see a friend of yours, who I understand is seriously ill. Of course it is not very strict professional etiquette that I should intrude myself without a request from his local doctor. But the Princess is a little autocratic, and will be obeyed." He waved his plump hands deprecatingly, in well-bred apology for the unaccountable vagaries of the aristocracy. "Will you take me to him, please?"
Corsini led him up the shabby, narrow staircase into the small apartment containing the two beds, in one of which the now successful violinist was used to sleep.
Anita was hanging over the bed, with a white face, the tears raining down her cheeks. In those few seconds of the conversation between her brother and the doctor, the poor old man"s soul had taken flight to happier realms.
Sir Charles stepped to the other side, and his trained eye took in the situation at once.
"Alas, my dear sir, too late! He has pa.s.sed away, absolutely without pain, I a.s.sure you. But I could have done nothing for him. He is very old: a clear case of senile decay, aggravated by the malady from which he has been suffering. Your local doctor will give you a certificate."
He looked intently at the white countenance. Sir Charles might not be a very clever physician, as his less opulent colleagues were always very fond of affirming, but he had special gifts of his own.
"A fine, intellectual head, a distinguished face. I should not be surprised if he had once been a man of some distinction. Do you know anything of his antecedents?"
Nello shook his head. "Next to nothing. Our acquaintance has been too recent for much confidence, but he has been very kind to myself and sister. I gather that he was at one time a very celebrated pianist."
"His name, the Princess told me over the "phone, was Peron. With the recollection of all the great artists for, say, fifty years, I cannot recall that name. We have here, my dear sir, a mystery, and probably a tragedy also. I will keep you no longer. A thousand regrets that my visit has been so useless."
Nello saw the plump, urbane man to the door, and then returned to the little bedroom where poor old Papa Peron, of the kind heart and the caustic tongue, lay in the last sleep of all.
CHAPTER V
His heart heavy with grief at the loss of his kind old friend, who had been to him and his sister a second father, Nello Corsini faced again a fastidious and critical audience in the saloons of the Russian Emba.s.sy.
Last night he had played to the elite of the fashionable world, made up of its many elements. Royalty, as represented by the sovereign and her children, the flower of the aristocracy, subordinate members of the financial and commercial world, distinguished persons of every profession.
To-night he was to appear before the smaller world of diplomacy and politics. But he was very confident of himself. If he had not failed on that vast stage, he would not disgrace himself on a smaller one.
The Princess Zouroff was devoted to music, as was her daughter. The somewhat brutal Prince, her son, could not distinguish one note from another--like his father, whose death had been regretted by n.o.body, excepting his son.
The difference between father and son was very easy to define. The late Prince Zouroff was both brutal and brainless. The present holder of the t.i.tle was of quite as brutal nature as his father, but he possessed mentality. In short, he inherited the brains of his mother, the gentle, grey-haired lady, whom he despised for her womanly qualities.
Two _prime donne_ and a celebrated contralto had already sung. The two _prime donne_ had united in a duet which resembled the warbles of two nightingales; the contralto had enchanted the audience with her deep and resonant notes; an accomplished quartette had disbursed exquisite music.
It was time for the turn of the violinist. Nello Corsini, his slim figure habited in the garments which he had hired from a costumier in the neighbourhood of Wardour Street, followed these famous personages.
He was so adaptive that, in this short s.p.a.ce, he had learned to accustom himself to his environment. A few weeks ago he had been playing in the streets for coppers. To-night he was playing for higher stakes.
He darted his bright, keen eyes over the ill.u.s.trious a.s.sembly, and his spirits rose, as they always did when something was to be striven for.
In a far corner he saw three men standing together and whispering confidentially. One was the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, wearing the ribbon of the Garter; another was that brilliant genius, too early eclipsed, Lord Randolph Churchill; the third was a slim, tall young man, who had taken on the dangerous post of Secretary for Ireland, still now with us, beloved and revered by all parties, Arthur James Balfour, who later succeeded his great uncle as Prime Minister.
In these far-off days the old melodies were the sweetest. Nello played first the "Ave Maria" of Gounod. He followed on with Chopin. And then, as a finale, he played that exquisite little romance which had floated on a wintry night out of the window of a house in Dean Street, with his own variations.
There was a subdued thrill amongst the audience. There was not the full-throated applause that had greeted him at Covent Garden; but he made allowance for that. The pit and the gallery had had something to say last evening: they were always ready to recognise a new genius.
This a.s.sembly was too _blase_, it was no longer capable of great emotion, even in the case of an artist of the first rank. But, in a way, they were subtly appreciative. At least, he had pleased them.
Nello Corsini, with his keen Latin mind, grasped the situation.
Princess Zouroff had set the fashion. There were many more fashionable concerts at which he would be invited to play, at remunerative fees.
But he also remembered that both Papa Peron and Degraux had pointed out to him the uncertain tenure of public favour.
Un.o.btrusively, he made his way out, but not before Princess Zouroff had thanked him warmly for the pleasure he had given them, and introduced him to a few notable persons, some of them hostesses as popular as herself, who had spoken gracious words.
And while he was talking to one of these exalted ladies, there had floated to him a vision of youthful beauty, the lovely young Princess Nada, attired in an exquisite dress of white satin, a single diamond star in her dark-brown hair, round her slim neck a row of pearls.
These were her only ornaments. She reached out her slender hand.
"Thank you so much, Signor. That exquisite little romance brought the tears to my eyes. We shall meet many times again, I trust, and I shall often ask you, as a special request, to play that to me."
"Enchanted, Mademoiselle," answered Corsini, bowing low, and blushing a little. He was rather overwhelmed with these compliments from great ladies. The person to whom he was talking when Nada intervened was a popular Countess, the chatelaine of an historic house in Piccadilly.
She had spoken of a concert in a few days" time which she had invited the young violinist to attend.
"A great artist and a very handsome young man also," murmured the great lady to Nada, as soon as Nello was out of earshot. "He will very soon be the rage. Bauquel will want to commit suicide."
The Prince, who was talking to the Prime Minister, and always saw everything that was going on, had observed the brief conversation between his sister and the violinist. A scowl settled on his handsome face.
As soon as he was disengaged, he overtook the young Princess as she was on her way to speak to some guests.
"Indulging in a little bout of sentiment again with this young fiddler, Nada?" he inquired in sneering tones. "Telling him how delighted you were with his playing, eh? What need is there to thank these hired artists? They are well paid, generally overpaid, for what they do."
Usually the Princess endured the insults and coa.r.s.e remarks of her truculent brother with disdainful indifference. To-night she was a little unstrung. Like her mother, she was a pa.s.sionate lover of music--what the French describe as _un amateur_. The lovely voices of the two _prime donne_, the exquisite strains of the violin, had raised her to an exalted mood, in which she only wanted to think of things pure and beautiful.
The Prince"s coa.r.s.e words and sneering accents jarred upon her sensibilities, and aroused in her a spirit of antagonism. She darted at him an angry and contemptuous glance.
"You are more than usually offensive to-night, Boris. I suppose you have been indulging in your favourite habit of drinking too much champagne."
The shaft went home. It was well known in his family and amongst his friends that the Prince, in spite of the obligations of his high position, was far from abstemious, and had caused some scandal as a consequence of his unfortunate proclivities.
A dull flush spread over his hard, handsome face. "You little spitfire!" he growled savagely. "I wonder when you will be tamed.
Never, so long as our mother refrains from keeping a tighter rein over you."
For answer, the young Princess swept scornfully away from him, in her pearls and shimmering white satin, a dream of loveliness to everybody except her churlish brother.