Part 13 (1/2)

”I'm glad my name can't be changed, easily,” she said, thoughtfully.

”It could be 'Rosie,' with an 'ie,' and if you were that sort, it would be. Take Aunt Francesca, for instance. She might be 'Frances' or 'f.a.n.n.y'

or even 'Fran,' but her name suits her, so she gets the full benefit of it, every time.”

Madame turned away from the fire, with the air of one who has been away upon a long journey. ”Did I hear my name? Did someone speak to me?”

”Only of you,” Allison explained. ”We were talking of names and nicknames and saying that yours suited you.”

”If it didn't,” observed Madame Bernard, ”I'd change it. When we get civilised, I believe children will go by number until they get old enough to choose their own names. Fancy a squirming little imp with a terrible temper being saddled with the name of 'William,' by authority of Church and State. Except to his doting parents, he'll never be anything but 'Bill.'”

”Does my name fit me?” queried Isabel, much interested.

”It would,” said Allison, ”if you weren't quite so tall. Does my name fit me?”

He spoke to Madame Bernard but he looked at Rose. It was the older woman who answered him. ”Yes, of course it does. How dare you ask me that when I named you myself?”

”I'd forgotten,” Allison laughed. ”I can't remember quite that far back.”

They began to play once more and Isabel, pleading a headache, said good- night. She made her farewells very prettily and there was a moment's silence after the door closed.

”I'm afraid,” said Madame, ”that our little girl is lonely. Allison, can't you bestir yourself and find some young men to call upon her? I can't think of anybody but the Crosby twins.”

”What's the matter with me?” inquired Allison, lightly. ”Am I not calling? And behold, I give her a headache and she goes to bed.”

”You're not exactly in her phase of youth,” Madame objected. ”She's my guest and she has to be entertained.”

”I'm willing to do my share. I'll take her into town to the theatre some night, and to supper afterward, in the most brilliantly lighted place I can find.”

”That's very nice of you,” responded Rose, with a look of friendly appreciation. ”I know she would enjoy the bright lights.”

”We all do, in certain moods,” he said. ”Are you ready now?”

The voice of the violin rose to heights of ecstasy, sustained by full chords in the accompaniment. Mingled with the joy of it, like a breath of sadness and longing, was a theme in minor, full of question and heartbreak; of appeal that was almost prayer. And over it all, as always, hovering like some far light, was the call to which Rose answered. Dumbly, she knew that she must always answer it, though she were dead and the violin itself mingled with her dust.

Madame Bernard, still seated by the fire, stirred uneasily. Something had come into her house that vaguely troubled her, because she had no part in it. The air throbbed with something vital, keen, alive; the room trembled as from invisible wings imprisoned.

Old dreams and memories came back with a rush, and the little old lady sitting in the half light looked strangely broken and frail. The sound of marching and the steady beat of a drum vibrated through her consciousness and the singing violin was faint and far. She saw again the dusty street, where the blue column went forward with her Captain at the head, his face stern and cold, grimly set to some high Purpose that meant only anguish for her. The picture above the mantel, seen dimly through a mist, typified, to her, the ways of men and women since the world began--the young knight riding forward in his quest for the Grail, already forgetting what lay behind, while the woman knelt, waiting, waiting, waiting, as women always have and always must.

At last the music reached its end in a low chord that was at once a question and a call. Madame rose, about to say good-night, and go up- stairs where she might be alone. On the instant she paused. Her heart waited almost imperceptibly, then resumed its beat.

Still holding the violin, Allison was looking at Rose. Subconsciously, Madame noted his tall straight figure, his broad well-set shoulders, his boyish face, and his big brown eyes. But Rose had illumined as from some inward light; her lovely face was transfigured into a beauty beyond all words.

Francesca slipped out without speaking and went, unheard, to her own room. She felt guilty because she had discerned something of which Rose herself was as yet entirely unconscious. With the instinctive s.e.x- loyalty that distinguishes fine women from the other sort, Madame hoped that Allison did not know.

”And so,” she said to herself, ”Love has come back to my house, after many years of absence. I wonder if he cares? He must, oh, he must!”

Francesca had no selfish thought of her own loneliness, if her Rose should go away. Though her own heart was forever in the keeping of a distant grave, she could still be glad of another's joy.

Rose turned away from the piano and Allison put his violin into the case. ”It's late,” he said, regretfully, ”and you must be tired.”

”Perhaps I am, but I don't know it.”