Between You and Me

as surer of regular earnings, but I liked the concerts. I have never had a happier time in my work than in those days when I was building up my reputatio

n my wee hoose amang the heather at Dunoon on the Clyde. But there is no excitement about an engagement now; I could fill five times

t in a different town. It was after that, too, that for the first time I flatly refused an engagement. I had the offer of a guinea, but I had fixed a gu

ometimes envied them for their musical gifts, but not seriously-my efforts were in a different field. As a rule I got along extremely well with my fellow performers, but sometimes they were

ss. The two ladies and the tenor greeted me cheerfully enough, and seemed glad to see me-the contralto, indeed, was very friendly, and said she always went to hear me

shall not sing to-night! I'm an artist, and I value my professional re

ooking uncomfortable. "That's a bit thic

the bass. "I resent being associated with a m

t I'll no be sayin' I did no wi

outer pigeon, strutting about the room, and then he got red, and I thought he looked like an

ong here, what! Fancy expecting me to appear on the

oked surprised,

tting angrier each second. "You can

I'd have something to say to that basso before the evening was oot. And I looked at him, and listened to him bluster, and thought maybe I'd

the secretary. He smiled, and let the b

r is ready to fulfill his engagement-if you are not I don't see how I can force you to do so. But you will do yourself no

e concert was a great success. I had to give a dozen encores, I mind. And puir Roberts! He got no more engagements, and a little later became a chorus ma

Lauder," he said. "I don't just recall the circumstances- I think we appear

t to remind him! And I "lent" him the twa shillin' he asked. Frae such

s always someone else's fault, never their own. They dislike you because you've done well when they've done ill. But it's easy to forgie them-it's aye hard to bear a grudge in this world, and to be thinkin' always of

g the music halls in the north, but Donald Munro was getting up a concert tour, and I accepted his offer instead. It was a bit ne

d. Maybe Ysaye and some of the boys with the unpronounceable Russian names can play better than he. I'll no be saying as to that. But I know that he could win the tears from your een when he playe

and the midlands of Scotland on that tour, and it was a grand success. Our audiences were large, and they were generous wi' their applause, too, which Scottish audiences sometimes are not. Your Scot is a canny yin;

the siller folk paid to hear us? Why, nothin' at all that we could no do our twa selves-so I figured. And it hurt me sair to see Munro gettin' siller it seemed to me Murdoch and I mi

There's sense in your head, man,

said. "We'll take out a concer

or the time we'd spent we had a hundred pounds apiece to put in the bank, after we'd paid all our

or a ticket or so, and it seemed that folk were interested, and looking forward to having us come. But if they were they did not show it in the only practical way-the only way that gladdens a manager's heart. They did not come to our concer

ere the manager has hi

rofits-but he takes

aged, man Harry

I. "If you're not, I'm

you sa

in' it oot in Russia now, since the Bolsheviki have been so busy. I'm that when the world's gone along for so many years, and worked out a way of doing things, there must be some good in it. I'm not sayin' all's richt and perfect in this world -and

fore, and this time it was good. And I learned something a manager could ha' told me, had he liked. Often and often it's necessary to tak' a loss on an artist's first tour that'll be more than made up for later. Some folk go to hear him, or see him, even that first time. An' they tell ither

t and dearest friends-man never had a better. And a jollier companion I can never hope to find. We always lived together; it was easier and

always thought, than when he was thinking of his audience, though he always gave an audience his best. It was just, I think, that when there

lly on one another because there was always something one of us wanted to get even for. But the commonest trick was one of mine. Mac and I would come down to breakfast, say, at a hotel

d cow cross

ow crosse

on why it cr

to the ot

eping time with his feet, while the others did so. Sometimes people didn't care for my song; I remember one old Englishman, with a white moustache and a very red face, who looked as if he might be a retired army officer. I think he thought we were all m

; I'm a wee bit that way inclined still. I mind that in Montrose, when we woke up one morning after the most successful con

tae a game, Ma

player, Harry," he s

never played at all. We hesitated, but our landlady,

adays. I'll gie ye the lend of some of our Jami

o far as was needful. I thought the gowf wad be easier than digging for coal wi' a pick.

must take the honor and drive off. He did no look sae

l back, man, and watch

well doon th

y een. I heard him strike, and I looked awa' doon the coorse, as he had

ha' hit it an awfu' swipe. I

, but no as if

ong way, man," he said. "I sort o' misse

ds from the tee, and lookin' as if it had been cut in twa. He made to lift it and put it

I cried. "That counts a s

o begin with the further I could send it when I hit it. But I was wrong, for my attempt was worse tha

shot, too!

ruefully. "I-I sort o

a

after that, but I'm no

st the champion in the

Andr