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-