Merely Mary Ann
r the bull's-eye, so to speak-as a vague automaton that worked when he pulled a bell-rope. Infinitely more important things were troubling him; the visit of Peter had somehow put
veying him curiously, and then he would start, and remember he had rung her up, an
onscious, he rankled sorely. Lancelot discovered that the publisher kept a "musical adviser," whose advice appeared to consist of the famous monosyllable, "Don't." The publisher generally published all the
n," he said to himself grimly. "
"what is the use of bringing quartets and full scores to me? You should have taken them
s clerks that had recommended him here; so he repl
hing, sir, quite a different thing. There's no sale for these things-none at all, sir-public never heard
have constructed an Ollendorffian dialogue, entitled "Between a Music-Publisher
he publisher, almost disconcerted. "Th
them. "It won't take you five minutes-just let me play one to you. The tunes are rather m
time now. If you leave t
nd dashing at a piano that stood handy, he played
u suppose I'm going to sell a thing with an accompaniment
nt of emotion that brings out the full pathos of the words. Note the elegant
goes down," and seating himself at the piano for a moment (somewhat to Lancelot's astonishment, for he had gradually formed a theory that music-publishers did not
looked
feeling that he had at last resumed his natural supremacy, "if you want to get y
God-forsaken country must have no chords but t
makes demands upon the singer's vocalisation which are not likely to make a demand for the song. What you have to remember, my dear sir, if you wish to achieve suc
the strings of his portfolio very tig
ger I shall swear," he
it by jumping into a hansom. He dared not think how low his funds were running. When he got home he forgot to have his tea, crouching in dumb misery in his easy-chair, whi
e door opening
ir, I didn't y
Lancelot's head drooped again o
d let your fir
atisfaction in this aggravation of discomfort,
ssiduously encouraged by blowing at the embers with her mouth. Lancelot looked on in dull apathy, but as the fire rekindled and the little flames leapt up and made Mary Ann's flushed face the one spot
Mary Ann. There, you shall give me
r a moment Lancelot forgot his worries w
warm face. "A fellow must have something to divert his mind," he thought, "or he'd go mad. And there's no harm done-the poor thing takes it as a kindness, I'm sure. I suppose her life
words broke the spell. The vul
l ringing?" he said,
s. I yer it in my dreams, I'm so used to it. One night I dreamt the mis
cried Lancelot, cutting
said Ma
do you s
. She said my own
missus that has corrupted you, is
said Ma
ken aback. "She
ver I said 'she' she made me say ''er,' and whenever I said 'her' she made me say 'she.' When I said 'her an
id Lancelot, laughing. "Did she set
ke prisoned skylarks suddenly set free. "I used to say, 'Gie I thek there broom, oo
ry you've got! Now I underst
nn, her face lighting
s it, who's taught you Cockneyese? My instinct was not so unsound, after all. I dare say you'll
nk in the cart, and I rode down on a pony to the
re a farmer
ittle fields when he was alive, but we had a nice garde
sunshine was more pleasant to contemplate than that of Mary Ann whitening the wintry steps. "What a complexion you mus
o see how the dull veil, as of London fog, ha
floor bell," she cried, moving
ear no bell,"
Mary Ann, hesitating and blushing
r kiss for talking so nicely. There! And-stop a moment-bring m
must I say?" she added, paus
celot,'" he ans
nd Mary Ann
nd five minutes Lancelot paced his room feverishly, cursing the ground floor, and stamp
opeless confusion, and Mary Ann was considered lucky to be taken into the house of the well-to-do Mrs. Leadbatter, of London, the eldest siste
g to pay me wages as well," concluded
ere you when you
urt
old are
used. "I don't quite
laughingly; "is this y
g enough to tell
me into Mary
protested earnestly; "I for
, you'll be," he said, amus
" said M
e quite alone
me because I cried so. And I brought it to London and it hangs in my bedroom. And the vicar, he was so kind to me, he did g
had any broth
ally, but she di
ody
her Tom-but I mustn'
l me about h
so w
elot, could not help laughing, and Mar
" said Lancelot, compos
y more. And mother was crying, and I cried because Tom used to give me tickey-backs and go blackberrying with me and our little Sally; and eve
you went to ch
n I was at h
y Sun
ng, and I wanted to go too, but I didn't know how to get away, and they told me to cough very loud when the sermon beg
rtily. "Then you did
he sun was shining that
on, only I did get tire
n-our little Sally,
he thought. Then to brighten her up again he aske
missus will be
" he said, emptying the milk-jug into
lendour of the deed. She took t
ell, you haven't told me half
and I fed
et's hear somethi
suckle sometimes, when th
! Well, but how c
alves suck 'em. The silly creatures thoug
ut her fingers into the slop-b
her where he would fain have seen her volant; it was not only that the coarseness of her nature had power to drag her down,
y Ann, he had
ike a pair of gl
. "Oh, sir!" was all she could say. Then a swift sh
r goes out,
t," he correct
said Mary Ann, h
er. I want you to
nobody to see
them," he r
y'll get
me to me. If I buy you a nice pair of gloves, will y
t'll mis
ome in, you'll put them on, and just bef
y'll see me looking
you rather look grand for
said Mary Ann, earnestly,
. He could ill afford the gift, and made one of his whimsical grimaces when he got the bill. The young lady who served him looked infinitely more genteel than Mary Ann. He wondered what she would think if she knew for whom he was buying these dainty articles. Perhaps her f
see Mary Ann handling the sugar-tongs, he remained cold to her for some weeks. He had kissed her again in the flush of her joy at the sight of the gloves, but after that there was a reaction. He rarely went to the club now (there was no one with whom he was in correspondence except music-publishers, and they didn't reply), but he dropped in there once soon after the glove episode, looked over the papers in the smoking-room, and chatted with a popular composer and one or two men he knew. It was while the waiter was holding out the coffee-tray to him that Mary Ann flashed upon his consciousness. The thought of her seemed so incongruous with the sober magnificence, the massive respectability
he gloves; it was the least he could do for them. So, whenever Mary Ann made a mistake, Lancelot corrected her. He found these grammatical dialogues not uninteresting, and a vent for his ill-humour against publishers to boot. Very often his verbal corrections sounded astonishingly like reprimands. Here, again, Mary Ann was forearmed by her feeling that she deserved them. She would have been proud had she known how much Mr. Lancelot was satisfied with her aspirates, which came quite
t sang to him individually-the piccolo, the flute, the oboes, the clarionets, filling the air with a silver spray of notes; the drums throbbing, the trumpets shrilling, the four horns pealing with long, stately notes, the trombones and bassoons vibrating, the violins and violas sobbing in linked sweetness, the 'cello and the contra-bass moaning their under-chant. And then, in the morning, when the first rough sketch was written, the glory faded. He threw down his
ock at the doo
tired to the point of tenderness. And then he wait
eezy voice at last. Mrs. Leadb
im apologetically, meeting him casually in the passage. "I can't trollop up and down stairs as I used to when I fust took this h
said Lancelot less gently. The woman's voice jar
n't been burnin' all night, sir
" he sai
ver since that black winter that took pore Mr. Leadbatter to 'is grave. Fair is fair, and I shall 'ave to reckon it a hextry, with the rate gone up seven
ritation. And Mrs. Leadbatter, who was standing in the aperture with no immediate inten
arms strangely soften
ise faintly what
ery!" he cried aloud. He felt quite tend
repared to renew the battle, and to give Mrs. Leadbatter a
while Mary Ann drew on her gloves; and this
elp you,"
he absurdity of wasting time upon an operation which would have to be undone in two minutes. Then Mary
t was astonished to see her carrying a cage-
that?" h
o ask you to do me a favour." S
aid briskly. "But wha
ease, sir, would you mind?"-then desper
eated in frank
hy
ir, and I-I think it must be pining aw
on her eyelids, he finished with laughing good-nature-
will be glad, because she don't like the canary-she says its singi
d it doesn't
xclaimed Mary Ann in rosy confusion;
y Mary Ann's opinion. It was a pretty little bird-one golden ye
cried eagerly, "it's
lot grimly; "but
window," said Mary Ann, "wh
responsibilities," murmu
end to that," said
e who had, at moments, strange dancing lights in her awakened eyes, strange flashes of witchery in her ingenuous expression. And yet he made a desultory struggle against what a secret voice was
, meek, accepting, with well-nigh every spark of spontaneity choked out of her. The women of his dreams were quite other-beautiful, voluptuous, full of the joy of life, tremulous with poetry and lofty thought, with dark, amorous orbs that flashed responsive to his magic
nt synonym for silliness. And it might not be ingenuousness-or silliness-after all! For was Mary Ann as innocent as she looked? The guilelessness of the dove might very well cover the wisdom of the serpent. The instinct-the repugnance that made him sponge off her first kiss from hi
half-way up the second flight of stairs-a strange region where his own boots had never before trod-but came down ashamed and with fluttering heart as if he had gone up to steal boots instead of to survey them. He might have asked Mary Ann or her "missus" who the other tenants were, but he shrank from the topic. Their hours were not his, and he only once chanced on a fellow-man in the passage, and then he was not sure it was not the tax-collector. Be
itor had been nullified by his father despatching him to Germany to buy up some more Teutonic patents. "Wonderful are the ways of Providence!" he had written to Lancelot. "If I had
m in one afternoon without troubling to ask Lancelot if he was "at home."
impolite old bear?" Peter asked, war
Lancelot rep
u got 'Ops.' enough? I bet you ha
es of getting it put on. Gasco, the impresario, is a member of my club, and h
ve to see it," sai
ill," said La
said Peter, shaking his head dolefully; "and
poor Lancelot. "But everybod
he lump that would rise to his throat. He had
oul. I never doubted your genius for a moment. Don't I know too well that's what keeps you back? Come, come, old fellow. Can't I persuade you to write rot? One must keep the pot boiling, you know. You turn out
r starve; and you can't shake them off-the first impression is everythi
the first dreams that you've got to wake from is the dream that anybody connected with the stage can be relied on from one day to the next. They gas for the sake of gassin
quent," said Lancel
e us your hand that you'll chuck art, and we'll drink to your popular b
oing to have some tea. I think
etically; "I'm as parched as a pea." Inwardly he
and Mary Ann came up with t
from a possible scolding, in case Lancelot's matches should be again unapparent. Then he uttered a comic e
ted sight of a stranger, but when he struck
were you putting on glo
r, a
eeks. He wondered that the ridiculousness of the whole thing had never struck him
to go out, and I'm in a
fter his brow wrinkled itself. "Oho!" he t
take them off agai
as to burst into tear
id Peter. "Did you see how
minx," thou
door," went on Peter. "What an odd gi
a bit queer in her head," said Lancelot, conceiving he was
as here last. But I had a good stare at her just now, and she seems rather b
nse!" exclaimed
us-which he had just passed through, contributed to rouse him from his torpor
t!" suddenly broke i
!" cried Peter.
a ca
en jealous? I wonder he doesn't consume his riva
ticularly. I
se i
asked to be allowed to keep it here. It seem
you beli
oesn't sing mu
canary you should have come to me, I'd have given you one 'made in Germany'-
his one disturbs
o you put u
t over the mantel-piece? It's part of the furniture.
e to feed it! Let me see, I suppose you give it can
You don't imagine I bother my head wh
eeds i
nn, of
s in and
tain
l times
ppose
er solemnly, "Mary A
ll's-eye seemed to cast a new light on Mary Ann, too, but he felt too unpleasantly dazzl
l day long-gets supplied in the morning like a coal-scuttle. Besides, she comes in to dust a
d so ugly-so squalid. In the actual, it was not so unpleasant, but looked at from the
make allowance for your poetical feelings and give up the word-except in its lit
Oh, but if I'm to write those popular bal
rown across the track. "You stand out for a royalty on every copy, so that if you str
now I only object to that in connection with English
the words left out, and exact definitions of the conditions under which on
ttered Lancel
to a hearty laugh. "Oh yes-on that ballad. Now, look here! I've brought
d good-bye, I hope,
one!" cried Pe
ned Lancelot i
ready?" inquire
thout seeing the advertisement an
if you want to strike-er-to make a hit you'll just
t!" gaspe
When the public cotton to a thi
rite my own
t isn't enough to write rot-the public want a particular kind of rot. Now just play
e piano, played the introductory chords, and com
en ran towards t
ing and looked appro
o out. What an ear for
ong enough. I suppose that's
latest period-he was deaf. Lucky devil! That is, if
old man! Fini
r Beethoven'
Beet
ng ears of yours if it gets too horrible. You have been used to high-class music, I know, but this is the sort of thing that England expects every man to do, so the soo
take it as a s
ents are too staccato.
more use to you that way than setting up to be a musician, which Nature never meant him
le beast remained quiet, while his lord and master went th
good-night
the old
is summo
ear love,
expected," said Lancelot candidly
er eagerly; "the public ar
in twaddle!" said Lancelot, as if he
ld man. But there-the cat's out. That's what took me to Brahmson's that afternoon we met! And I harmonised it myself, mind you, every c
y Lesterre, eh?" said Lance
t to grieve the old man. You see, I promised him to r
rable, Peter?" said Lan
. It doesn't interfere a bit with business. Besides, as you'd say, it isn't music," he said slyly. "And just becau
u had no difficulty in get
ipped a professional to go down and tell Brahmson he was going to take it up. You know, of
aid Lancelot. "H
he publisher to give it them
was published and the publisher
ther song, and let that moulder on
en a musician's reputation is really at the mercy of a mercenary crew of singers,
ine, and I'll get them to take up those b
his arm whirled Good-night and good-bye into the air. Peter picked it up and wrote
ember it's your own property-and mine-t
chap," said Lancelot,
"And whenever you decide to become
t at ten. "My poor Beethoven! What you must have suff
to Bach, and then into Chopin and Mendelssohn, and at last drifted into dreamy improvisation
rt, for Beethoven was barking towards the
s late, and that he himself had been noisy at unbeseeming hours. "What's
merely
vision, but its expression was one of confusion and guilt; there
ancelot put his hand on her shoulder, and turned her
s up? What are y
crying," said Mary Ann,
on't fib. What
it's only the mus
" he echoed
kes me cry-but you can't cal
ou've been
eyes drooped i
in bed," he said. "You get l
than sleep,"
ated through him like
d her hair
hild!"
ky landing, across which a bar of light streamed from his half-open door, and only Beethoven's eyes were upon th
ying," he said, not without
r heard you pla
often
, and I feel back in the country again, and standing, as I used to love to stand of an evening, by the stile, under the big elm, and watch how the sunset d
he eyes lit up witchingly. She pulled herself up
said; "tell me all you
s play that makes me feel floating
bars of the Gonde
did you like what I was playing just now?" he went on, gr
"because it reminded me of my favourite one-every moment
sparkle leapt
I was so origin
s if suddenly remembering she had never made a spontaneous
ked best?" he sa
ng this afternoon
no song," he said,
That on
ear love, g
, but it made me sto
his comi
ught he had an ear! And I thought you had an ear!
n't I to ha' liked it?
gly, "it's very popular. No
is voice. "It wasn't so much the
to spoil yourself,"
she protested. "I
he murmured be
e of my mother a
said L
e was going to little Sally, and I remember I was such a silly then, I brought mother flowers and apples and bits of cake to take to Sally with my love. I put them on her pillow, but the flowers faded and the cake got mouldy-mother was such a long time dying-and at last I ate the apples myself, I was so tired of waiting. Wasn't I
ho, simpler than most children to start with, had grown only in body, whose soul had been stunted by uncounted years of dull and monotonous drudgery. The blood burnt in his veins as
oor child," he said, "or y
ssi
ered on her eyelashes. For an instant he thought she was expecting her kiss, but she only wanted to explain an
ow the words did not seem so full of maudlin pathos to him now.
re already drawn too close to his. But, ere he release
ybody but me?" he
" said Mary
ill. "Haven't you got h
lly than resentfully. "I told you I ne
had conveyed the information, that the fact itself had made no impression. Now his anger against Mrs
about the-the milkman-and
aid Mary Ann, "I
d help expressing his
o for the last time. He had a Quixotic sub-consciousness that
the brimming eyes shone with so
ed like
hes, and watching the water glide along till it seemed gradually to wash away the fading colours of the sunset that glorified it. And as he dwelt on the vision he felt harmonies and phrases stirring and singing in his brain, like a choir of awakened birds. Quickly he seized paper and wrote down the theme that flowed out at the point of his pen-a reverie full of the haunting magic of quiet waters and woodland sunsets an
include a prize symphony by Lancelot in the programme of a Crystal Palace Concert. This was of itself sufficient to turn Lancelot's head away from all but thoughts of Fame, even if Mary Ann had not been luckless enough to be again discovered cleaning the steps-and without gloves. Against such a spectacle the veriest idealist is po
uggestion from the popular composer, who was a member of his club, that Lancelot should collaborate with him in a comic opera, for the production of which he had facilities. The composer confessed
ffering him fifty pounds for the job, half of it on account. Lancelot was in sore straits when he got the letter, for his stock of money was dwindling to vanishing point, and he dallied with the temptation s
lot had detected her on the doorstep, straightening her out again, and replacing her upon her semi-poetic pedestal. Bu
h she was the cause. She was vaguely aware that he had external worries, for all his grandeur, and if he was by turns brusque, affectionate, indifferent, playful, brutal, charming, callous, demonstrative, she no more connecte
y Ann almost stood between him and suicide. Continued disappointment made his soul sick; his proud heart fed on itself. He would bite his lips till the blood came, vowing never to give in
t bring himself to that; indeed, she never for a moment appeared to him in the light of an intelligent being; at her best she was a sweet, simple, loving child. And he scarce spoke to her at all now-theirs was a silent communion-he had no heart to converse w
d his wardrobe, and hunted together his odds and ends of jewelry. From this signif
ith an inter
can do to crawl up to the top to bed. I'm thinkin' I shall have to make up a bed in the kitchen. It only shows 'ow ri
ented Lancelot
t say anything about the hextry gas, though a poor widder and sevenpence hextry on the thousand, but I'm thinkin' if you would give my Rosie a lesson once a
dea altogether. Mrs. Leadbatter stood waiting for his reply
got a piano
Mrs. Leadbatter al
a week is of very little use anyway, but unless she
cal pride. "You mustn't judge by other gels-the way that gel picks up things is-w
ed Lancelot, "I practised
dbatter, unshaken. "And it don't look natural neither to se
hat you propose is impossible. First of all, because I am doubtful whether I shall remain in these rooms; and sec
ayin' the hinstalments, instead of lettin' all you've paid go for nothing. Rosie
ancelot's room, and that five shillings a week should be taken off his rent in return for six lessons of an hour each, one of the hours counterbalancing the gas grievance. Reviewing the bargain, when Mrs. Leadbatter was gone, Lancelot did not think it at all bad for him. "Use of the p
ent laughter; a spectator migh
celot thought, but then he had never had any other pupils, and was not patient. It must be admitted, though, that Rosie giggled perpetually, apparently finding endless humour in her own mistakes. But the climax of the horror was the attendance of Mrs. Leadbatter at the lessons, for, to Lanc
. But it's the neighbours; they never can mind their own business. I told 'em you was going to give my Rosie lessons, and you know,
y this chronometry, felt that an ironic Providence
e may apply the adjective to that catastrophic washing of the steps. And Mary Ann herself had grown gloomier-once or twice he thought she had been crying, though he was too numbed and apathetic to ask, and was incapable of suspecting that Rosie had anything to do with her tears. He hardly noticed that Rosie ha
n to do so, no abandonment of his artistic ideal, rather a solution of the difficulty so simple that he wondered it had not occurred to him before-why should he give them at so wretched a price? He would get another pupil, other pupils, who would enable h
get piano-forte pupils in London was as easy as to get songs published. By the ti
d be on the streets; for a poor widow could not be expected to lodge, partially board (with use of the piano, gas), an absolute
ot in the prospect. Rosie's
t take to a barrel-organ-but that would be a cruel waste of his artistic touch. Perhaps he would die on a
surrender of some sort must be-either of life or ideal. After so steadfast and protracted a struggle-oh, it was cruel,
ts throat swelling, its little body throbbing with joy of the sunshine. And then Lanc
yr, an idealist! He could not divide himself into two compartments like that and pretend that only one counted in his character. Who was he, to talk of dying for art? No, he was but an everyday man
popular work, to devilling, to anything that would rid
gar, as wounding to the artist's soul,
usly, so that Peter wouldn't know, after all; he would escape from this wretched den and take a flat far away, somewhere where nobody knew him, and there he would sit and work, with Mary Ann for his housekeeper. Poor Mary Ann! How
n he had sunk. How happy they would be! Of course the world would censure him if it knew, but the world was stupid and prosaic, and measured all th
nt the canar
f life, the joy of the sunshine. He rang the bell violently, as th
door, came in, and beg
ruity struck him so that he bur
touch of resentment he had never noted before
after all. Perhaps she had awakened to her iniquities, and had been trying to was
d, "I'm going to l
She was a child again-her big eyes full o
, "how would you like
it, sir?" she
ay to some nice spot, and be quite alone together-in the country if you like, amid the foxglove and the meadowsweet, or by the green waters, where you shall stand
aid the canary in t
s choking her-sh
nary, too-unless I say g
mustn't le
owly, "it will not be
under
breathed, and
n pang of compunction shooting through his bre
I shall be wit
ly: "I shall look
reathed. Her boso
as "a sort of white Topsy" recurred to
ow how you came into the world. I
Mary Ann gravely
gely for a moment. B
Sw-w-w-