The Diva's Ruby

led 'musical centres.' Before the glories of the great Brunhilde, or the supreme Kundry of the day, the fame of the 'nightingale soprano' pa

with Kundry, and what comparison was possible between the most beautiful of Italian or French operas and that one immortal masterpiece; for she thought, and rightly perhaps, that all the rest of Wagner's work had been but a preparation for that, and that Parsifal, and Parsifal alone, had set the genius of music beside the genius of poetry, an equal, at last, upon a throne as high. On that night the sound of her own voice would have given her no pleasure, for she longed for another tone in it; if by some impossible circumstance she had been engaged to sing as Juliet that night, she would have broken down and burst into tears. She knew it, and the knowledge made her angry with herself, yet for nothing she could think of would she have foregone the second hearing of Par

r too happy with her to question anything she said, and he obeyed her most scrupulously. Twenty-four hours earlier she would have laughed at the idea that his presence beside her at such a time could be not only bearable, but sympathetic, yet that seemed n

begun when he had whistled to her. It grew while he sat beside her in the darkened theatre. She was absorbed by the music, the action, and the scene, and at this second hearing she could follow the noble poem itself; but she was subconscious of what her neighbour felt. He was n

was silent, and she was the first to speak. Margaret hated the

t,' she said. 'I'm

don't understand,' Va

to tell her how much pleasure the music had given him, or that he would perhaps laugh at himself for having been move

hey reached the hotel, 'and I'll meet you here

instead of going to eat, he sat down on a bench outside, and wait

idlers, but never to be taken into consideration in real life. He never asked about the pr

the theatre he had just left as the mill, h

ly soliloquised. 'If that's wha

whistled notes; his sandy lashes half veiled his eyes and he saw again what he had lately seen: the King borne down to the bath that would never heal his wound, and the dead swan, and the wondering Maiden-Man brought to answer for his

imself what illusion it was all intended to produce upon his sight and hearing, he would have pulled the trick to pieces, mentally, in a moment, and what remained would have been the merely pleasant recollec

before the earthquake, the awful heave of the earth, the stupendous crash of the doomed city, the long rolling rumble of falling walls and tumbling houses, big with sudden death; or again, it was like sad gleams of autumn sunshin

him the story of the opera in the evening; he had followed it easily enough and could not forget it. It was a sort of religious fairy-tale, he thought, and he was ready to believe that Wagner had made a good poem of it, even a great poem. But it was not the story that could be told, which had moved him; it was nothing so easily defined as a poem, or a drama, or a pie

ntly touched, yet he had forgotten that she was there. If the music had been Tristan and Isolde he could not have been unaware of her, for a m

ll, and prepared to be annoyed with him for taking so long over a meal. She stood on the step and looked about, and

time?'

Did you get anythi

is, now I think of it, I forgot

nk, the blank that had sometimes frightened her by its p

a biscuit, or a sandwich?

ing meals when I'm interested in t

ites,' Margaret said, as they drove up th

hing, if you don't mind my telling you. It

nt for a few moments, a

' she sai

might just as well not have been there. It's the first time since I ever knew you that I've been near you without thinkin

glad that I brought you

uite sure that the same thing could no

presence moved him, and as his hands lay folded on his knee, a mischievous girlish impulse almost made her, the great artist, forget that she was listening to the greatest music in the world and nearly made her lay her hand on his, just to see what he would do. She was ashamed of it, and a little

gale of golden wings, and there was no passing of time till the very end; and the people rose in silence and went out under

there was no moon, and one could smell the dust, for many people were moving in the same direction, thoug

oad and entered a narrow lane, an

s,' she said. 'I must breath

e cont

ight change of position

er nostrils to the sweet smell of grass that reached her already. In a little while

undo the fastening,

on't go through. I lo

nto the dim, sweet-scented meadow. He felt her presence now and it almost hurt him; he could hear his slow pulse in his ears, hard and regula

g about?' he asked, t

esitated, before

said, aft

might have withdrawn a foot from the edge of a precipice, out of common caut

did to Mrs. Rushmore yeste

ut y

es

ered. 'I told her that I couldn't give her an unbiassed opinion of the

t the way i

me,' said Van Torp, gathering the reins of hims

differently when yo

. 'I didn't think she'd go and tell you right away, bu

t was all true!' There was the faintest lau

n't expect that I should be talking to

fulminating,' Margaret said more lightly. 'She says I ought

f her, I'm sure,' o

ike it less and less,

I wasn't going to say anything against him, and I wouldn't say anything for him, so there was nothing to

igner because he's a Greek man of business, and that you

d Van Torp, snatching at his first chance to steer o

call me celebrated in mine; but so far as the rest is concerned we are just two ordinary human being

share,' said Van To

ou frightened me last winter, and I hated you. Not only that, I loathed you-there's no word

een as bad as that,' sa

aid against you, even that you had murdered your partner's daughter in cold blood to get rid of her, though that looked as incredible

lad yo

d in whom she believes. And now I'm changed still more. I like you, and I'm

t is

of ever marrying me, no matter

't promise anything like that. Maybe you don't realise w

t tried to laugh lightl

hing. Another is, that I played a regular trick on Logotheti so as to come and see you here. I deliberately asked him to dine with me last night in London. I went right home, wrote a note to him, antedated for yesterday afternoon, to put him off, and I left it to be sent at the right hour. Then I drove to the station, and here I am. You may call tha

er head a littl

promise what you asked,' s

nough that it was the plain statement of a man who meant to succeed, and whose strength and resources were far beyond those of ordinary suitors. She was not exactly frightened; indeed, since her dis

k like that,' she said rat

sort of a ewe-lamb. He's a man, he's got plenty of strength and determination, he's got plenty of money-even what I choose to call plenty. He says he cares for you. All right. So do I. He says he'll marry you. I say that I will

e was perfectly safe, and that a much deeper and more lasting power had hold of him than any mere passionate longing to take her in his arms and press his iron lips on hers against her will. She began to understand why he was what he was, at an age when many successful m

s really at a loss what to say, and she said the first sensib

l! It's impossible for a woman like me, who can still be free, not to be flattered when such a man as you cares for her in earnest, and says th

what I've told you-ever! Why should I say it again? I don't want to, until you can say as much to me. If it's

w me, but to go home and lie down in your kennel?

' answered Van

t said in a begging tone either. Margaret's short laugh followed it instantl

'm cut out for a French pet, because I'm not. I'm too big for a lap-dog, and too fond of sport for the drawing-room, I suppose. A go

to send for Logotheti at once, or not. Van Torp would certainly not leave Bayreuth at a moment's notice, at her bidding, and if he s

ay over again any of those things you h

I me

ll I ask if you are going to spend the next t

Torp answered, wi

to smile at the futility of what she was requiring of him with so much earnestness, for little as he knew of women's ways he was more than sure that the wo

said. 'That shall

he was so well satisfied now that she did not think it necessary to telegraph to Logotheti that he might start at once, though even if she had done so immediately he could hardly have r

r a few moments, and the lights

some supper with us, of c

nce you're so kind,

e,' she laughed. 'I must make it up to you. By this

rfection, she knows that you're safe with me, I

ed home very slowly, in o

walked home

t I shall not say we have been out to

f we have,' observed Mr

more is quite capable of thinking that I h

advice,' he said, comple

ubject she had felt obliged to approach; 'she has been a mother to me, and heaven knows I needed one, and she has the best and kindest heart in the world. But she is so anxious

thinks me perfection, I'll

a message to Alphonsine, her theatre maid, who was visiting her family in Alsatia. Margaret generally telegraphed her instructions, because it was much less trouble th

g to dress him, and the valet handed him a telegram. It was

3.30 P.M. Quick passage. No stop. Coalin

the table in order to save Stemp the

f his coat and kicked off his dus

able valet, but he offered no

o joke to wash and get into evening dress in six minutes, even wit

e was already fastening his col

emp, in precisely the

ack cravat. Yes. I mean on a yacht. Fix it behin

, s

ur

s,

l take yo

k you

ves, he shook his sturdy shoulders, and pulled the jacket down in front while th

ht?' he

lly from head to foot in the

s,

she was a very fine old lady indeed. Margaret had not entered yet; a waiter with smooth yellow hair stood by a portable sideboard on which there were covered dishes. There were poppies and corn-flowers in a

aid, as if the fact were very pleasi

aid Mr. Van Torp wi

continued the lady, 'for I heard the other people in t

owly,' said Mr. Van Tor

little walk to get some a

aid Mr. Van Torp-'to breathe the air, as you say. I have to

ry glad to let you take my place. I cannot say I enjo

ost delicate shade of heliotrope. Her dressmaker called it also a tea-gown, but Mr.

g you were in getting back from the theatre!

lowly,' said Margaret,

r a little walk

y, in order to breathe the air,

should say, since they used identically the same words, and that they therefore had an understanding about something they preferred to conceal from her. Nothing could have given Mrs. Rushmore such profound satisfaction as this, and it revealed itself in her bright smiles

hungry, and Mr. Van Torp was both hungry and very much in love. Mrs. Rushmore was nei

his foretopsail to come to anchor, as Captain Brown might have expressed it,

of,' answered the latter

threatened the director with all sorts of legal consequences because the roo

served Mr. Van Torp, i

' Margaret asked, wi

y, Justine assisted at the whole int

re's Parisian maid, who

uired Margaret, stil

obile,' answered Mrs. R

s a sudden-death-cart

you are always in them, my dear child!' She looked at M

ds either kill or get killed in

is very bad for the voice, so

profession has been of some

ret l

she said. 'Has he found lodgings, o

ffered any price for it, but the director said it was owned by a company in Munich. Then he sent his secretary abou

orp, slowly peeling a peach. 'Did you h

e all the afternoon. His name

ically and economically, though he was aware that

f the knife as he finished what he was doing. 'It's not an uncommon

on his fork. He smiled as he met her eyes, and she nodded

done better?' he asked

answered. 'You're

ld, what ter

rican expressions from Mr. Van Torp, and when they get mix

y slang expressions yet, my dear,'

laugh. 'What became of Count Kralinsk

ive up his house, by offering him

ved Mr. Van Torp. '

ost dreadful things to-ni

re,' objected the millionaire. 'There'

ity we lay up treasures in

ion other men in that connexion, especially as I've done the same thing myself now and then, just to quiet things down; but I suppose s

know,' answere

blankets, for the good of the poor who are to have the money, and he'd get everybody to come and look at him in his sleep, and notice how good he was. Instead of that, he's probably turned in unde

t Van Torp's sermon on charity, and wondering vaguely whether he

certainl

t have looked for anything else from a fellow-countryman I respect. You startled me a l

but I'm glad we think alike, for I must say I value your opinion very highly

d,' she said, in

with the mere thought his words and his voice came back to her, with his talk about the uselessness of ever repeating what he had said that once, because he knew she could never forget it. And her young instinct told her that he dea

ccomplished in two days, and also about another question which had lately presented itself

staken. Kralinsky is not in New York, but here in Ba

gned it and gave it to Stemp to be sent at once. Logotheti never went to bed befor

held that all was fair in such a contest, he did not mean to do anything which he himself thought 'low-down.' One proof of this odd sort of

who used to whistle Parsifal with his companion in exile, and who, having grown rich, had lost no time in coming to Europe for the very purpose of hearing the music he had always loved so well. And that this man had rob