The street was narrow, and the houses on either side were close together. Each had its tiny patch of ground in front, laid out in flower-beds bordered with whitewashed stones, in true German fashion.
There were no street lamps, for West Lancaster also resented all modern innovations, but in the Spring night one could see dimly.
Lanterns flitted here and there, like fireflies starred against the dark. Margaret protested that she was tired, but Lynn put his arm around her and hurried her on. Never before had she set foot upon the soil of West Lancaster, but she had full knowledge of the way.
The brow of the hill was close at hand, and she caught her breath in sudden fear. Lynn, in the midst of a graphic recital of some boyish prank, took no note of her agitation. He did not even know that they had come to the end of their journey, until a man tiptoed toward them, his finger upon his lips.
"Hush!" he breathed. "The Master plays."
At the very top of the hill, almost at the brink of the precipice, was a house so small that it seemed more like a box than a dwelling. In the street were a dozen people, both men and women, standing in stolid patience. The little house was dark, but a window was open, and from within, muted almost to a whisper, came the voice of a violin.
For an hour or more they stood there, listening. By insensible degrees the music grew in volume, filled with breadth and splendour, yet with a lyric undertone. Sounding chords, caught from distant silences, one by one were woven in. Songs that had an epic grasp; question, prayer, and heartbreak; all the pain and beauty of the world were part of it, and yet there was something more.
To Lynn"s trained ear, it was an improvisation by a master hand. He was lost in admiration of the superb technique, the delicate phrasing, and the wonderful quality of the tone. To the woman beside him, shaken from head to foot by unutterable emotion, it was Life itself, bare, exquisitely alive, tuned to the breaking point--a human thing, made of tears and laughter, of ecstasy, tenderness, and black despair, lying on the Master"s breast and answering to his touch.
The shallows touch the pebbles, and behold, there is a little song. The deeps are stirred to their foundations, and, long afterward, there is a single vast strophe, majestic and immortal, which takes its place by right in the symphony of pain. To Margaret, standing there with her senses swaying, all her possibilities of feeling were merged into one unspeakable hurt.
"Take me away;" she whispered, "I can bear no more!"
But Lynn did not hear. He was simply and solely the musician, his body tense, his head bent forward and a little to one side, nodding in emphasis or approval.
She slipped her arm through his and, trembling, waited as best she might for the end. It came at last and the little group near them took up its separate ways. Someone put down the window and closed the shutters. The Master knew quite well that some of his neighbours had been listening, but it pleased him to ignore the tribute. No one dared to speak to him about his playing.
"Mother! Mother!" said Lynn, tenderly, "I"ve been selfish, and I"ve kept you too long!"
"No," she answered, but her lips were cold and her voice was not the same. They went downhill together, and she leaned heavily upon his supporting arm. He was humming, under his breath, bits of the improvisation, and did not speak again until they were at home.
The fire was out, but Iris had left two lighted candles on a table in the hall. "A fine violin," he said; "by far the finest I have ever heard."
"Yes," she returned, "a Cremona--that is, I think it must be, from its tone."
"Possibly. Good night, and pleasant dreams."
They parted at the head of the stairs, and down on the landing the tall clock chimed twelve. Margaret lay for a long time with her eyes closed, but none the less awake. Toward dawn, the ghostly fingers of her dreams tapped questioningly at the Master"s door, but without disturbing his sleep.
II
"Mine Cremona"
Lynn went up the hill with a long, swinging stride. The morning was in his heart and it seemed good to be alive. His blood fairly sang in his pulses, and his cheery whistle was as natural and unconscious as the call of the robin in the maple thicket beyond.
The German housewives left their work and came out to see him pa.s.s, for strangers in West Lancaster were so infrequent as to cause extended comment, and he left behind him a trail of sharp glances and nodding heads. The entire hill was instantly alive with gossip which buzzed back and forth like a hive of liberated bees. It was a st.u.r.dy dame near the summit who quelled it, for the time being.
"So," she said to her next-door neighbour, "I was right. He will be going to the Master"s."
The word went quickly down the line, and after various speculations regarding his possible errand, the neglected household tasks were taken up and the hill was quiet again, except for the rosy-cheeked children who played stolidly in their bits of dooryards.
Lynn easily recognised the house, though he had seen it but dimly the night before. It was two stories in height, but very small, and, in some occult way, reminded one of a bird-house. It was perched almost upon the ledge, and its western windows overlooked the valley, filled with tossing willow plumes, the winding river, half asleep in its mantle of grey and silver, and the range of blue hills beyond.
It was the only house upon the hill which boasted two front entrances.
Through the shining windows of the lower story, on a level with the street, he saw violins in all stages of making, but otherwise, the room was empty. So he climbed the short flight of steps and rang the bell.
The wire was slack and rusty, but after two or three trials a mournful clang came from the depths of the interior. At last the door was opened, cautiously, by a woman whose flushed face and red, wrinkled fingers betrayed her recent occupation.
"I beg your pardon," said Irving, making his best bow. "Is Herr Kaufmann at home?"
"Not yet," she replied, "he will have gone for his walk. You will be coming in?"
She asked the question as though she feared an affirmative answer. "If I may, please," he returned, carefully wiping his feet upon the mat. "Do you expect him soon?"
"Yes." She ushered him into the front room and pointed to a chair. "You will please excuse me," she said.
"Certainly! Do not let me detain you."
Left to himself, he looked about the room with amused curiosity. The furnishings were a queer combination of primitive American ideas and modern German fancies, overlaid with a feminine love of superfluous ornament. The Teutonic fondness for colour ran riot in everything, and purples, reds, and yellows were closely intermingled. The exquisite neatness of the place was its redeeming feature.
Apparently, there were two other rooms on the same floor--a combined kitchen and dining-room was just back of the parlour, and a smaller room opened off of it. Lynn was meditating upon Herr Kaufmann"s household arrangements, when a wonderful object upon the table in the corner attracted his attention, and he went over to examine it.
Obviously, it had once been a section of clay drainage pipe, but in its sublimated estate it was far removed from common uses. It had been smeared with putty, and, while plastic, ornamented with hinges, nails, keys, clock wheels, curtain rings, and various other things not usually a.s.sociated with drainage pipes. When dry, it had been given further distinction by two or three coats of gold paint.
A wire hair-pin, placed conspicuously near the top of it, was rendered so ridiculous by the gilding that Lynn laughed aloud. Then, influenced by the sound of the scrubbing-brush close at hand, he endeavoured to cover it with a cough. He was too late, however, for, almost immediately, his hostess appeared in the doorway.
"Mine crazy jug," she said, with gratified pride beaming from every feature.
"I was just looking at it," responded Lynn. "It is marvellous. Did you make it yourself?"
"Yes, I make him mineself," she said, and then retreated, blushing with innocent pleasure.
Not knowing what else to do, he went back to his chair and sat down again, carefully avoiding the purple tidy embroidered with pink roses.
Outside, the street was deserted. He wondered what type of a man it was who could live in the same house with a "crazy jug" and play as Herr Kaufmann played, only last night. Then he reflected that the room had been dark, and smiled at his foolish fancy.
A square piano took up one whole side of the room, and there were two violins upon it. Unthinkingly, Lynn investigated. The first one was a good instrument of modern make, and the other--he caught his breath as he took it out of its case. The thin, fine sh.e.l.l was the beautiful body of a Cremona, enshrining a Cremona"s still more beautiful soul.
He touched it reverently, though his hands trembled and his face was aglow. He snapped a string with his finger and the violin answered with a deep, resonant tone, but before the sound had died away, there was an exclamation of horror in his ears and a firm grip upon his arm.
"Mine brudder"s Cremona!" cried the woman, her eyes flashing lightnings of anger. "You will at once put him down!"
"I beg a thousand pardons! I did not realise--I did not mean--I did not understand----" He went on with confused explanations and apologies which availed him nothing. He stood before her, convicted and shamed, as one who had profaned the household G.o.d.
Wiping her hands upon her ap.r.o.n, she went to her work-box, took out her knitting, and sat down between Lynn and the piano. The chair was hard and uncompromising, with an upright back, but she disdained even that support and sat proudly erect.
There was no sound save the click of the needles, and she kept her eyes fixed upon her work. After an awkward silence, Lynn made one or two tentative efforts toward conversation, but each opening proved fruitless, and at length he seriously meditated flight.
The approach to the door was covered, but there were plenty of windows, and it would be an easy drop to the ground. He smiled as he saw himself, mentally, achieving escape in this manner and running all the way home.
"I wonder," he mused, "where in the d.i.c.kens "mine brudder" is!"