 Part 6 of the Song of the Lark. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Dion Giants. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cybert Cather. Part 6, Sections 1 and 2. Part 6, Kronberg 1. It is a glorious winter day. Denver, standing on her high plateau under a thrilling green-blue sky, is masked in snow and glittering with sunlight. The Capitol building is actually an armor and throws off the shafts of the sun until the beholder is dazzled and the outlines of the building are lost in a blaze of reflected light. The stone terrace is a white field over which fiery reflections dance and the trees and bushes are faithfully repeated in snow on every black twig, a soft, blurred line of white. From the terrace one looks directly over to where the mountains break in their sharp, familiar lines against the sky. Snow fills the gorges, hangs in scarves on the great slopes, and on the peaks, the fiery sunshine, is gathered up as by a burning glass. Howard Archie is standing at the window of his private room in the offices of the San Felipe mining company on the sixth floor of the Rattan building, looking off at the mountain glories of his state while he gives dictation to his secretary. He is ten years older than when we saw him last and emphatically ten years more prosperous. A decade of coming into things has not so much aged him as it has fortified, smooth and assured him. His sandy hair and imperial conceal whatever gray they harbor. He has not grown heavier but more flexible, and his massive shoulders carry fifty years and the control of his great mining interests more lightly than they carried forty years and a country practice. In short, he is one of the friends to whom we feel grateful for having got on in the world, for helping to keep up the general temperature and our own confidence in life. He is an acquaintance that one would hurry to overtake and greet among a hundred. In his warm handshake and generous smile there is the stimulating cordiality of good fellows come into good fortune and eager to pass it on, something that makes one think better of the lottery of life and resolve to try again. When Archie had finished his morning mail, he turned away from the window and phased his secretary. Did anything come up yesterday afternoon while I was away? TV? Thomas Burke turned over the leaf of his calendar. Governor Alden sent down to say that he wanted to see you before he sends his letter to the board of pardons. I asked if you could go over to the State House this morning. Archie shred his shoulders. I'll think about it. The young man grinned. Anything else? His chief continued. TV swung around in his chair with a look of interest on his shrewd, clean-shaven face. The old Jasper flight was in, Dr. Archie. I never expected to see him alive again. Seems he's tucked away for the winter with his sister, who's a housekeeper at the Oxford. He's all crippled up with rheumatism, but as fierce after it as ever. Wants to know if you or the company won't grub-steak him again. As he sure of it this time, had located something when the snow shut down on him in December. He wants to crawl out at the first break in the weather with that same old burrow with the split ear. He got somebody to winter the beast for him. He's superstitious about that burrow too, thinks it's divinely guided. You ought to hear the line of talk he put up here yesterday. Said when he rode in his carriage, that burrow was a going to ride along with him. Archie laughed. Did he leave you his address? He didn't neglect anything, replied the clerk cynically. Well, sent him a line and tell him to come in again. I like to hear him. Of all the crazy prospectors I've ever known, he's the most interesting because he's really crazy. It's a religious conviction with him, and with most of them, it's a gambling fever or pure vagrancy. But Jasper Flight believes that the Almighty keeps the secret of the silver deposits in these hills and gives it away to the deserving. He's a downright noble figure. Of course I'll stake him, as long as he can crawl out in the spring. He and that burrow are a sight together. The beast is nearly as wide as Jasper, must be twenty years old. If you stake him this time, you won't have to again, said TB knowingly. He'll croak up there, mark my word. Says he never ties the burrow at night now. For fear he might be called sudden and the beast would starve. I guess that animal could eat a lariat row, all right, and enjoy it. I guess if we knew the things those two have eaten and haven't eaten in their time, TB, it would make us vegetarians. The doctor sat down and looked thoughtful. That's the way for the old man to go. It would be pretty hard luck if he had to die in a hospital. I wish he could turn up something before he cashes in. But his kind seldom do. They're bewitched. Still, there was stratton. I've been meeting Jasper Flight, and his side meet and tin pans up in the mountains for years, and I'd miss him. I always halfway believe the fairy tales he spins me. Old Jasper Flight, Archie murmured, as if he liked the name or the picture it called out. A clerk came in from the outer office and handed Archie a card. He sprang up and exclaimed, Mr. Ottenberg, bring him in. Fred Ottenberg entered, clad in a long fur-lined coat, holding a checked cloth hat in his hand, his cheeks and eyes bright with the outdoor cold. The two men met before Archie's desk and their handclasp was longer than friendship prompts, except in regions where the blood warms and quickens to meet the dry cold. Under the general keying up of the altitude, manners take on a heartiness, a vivacity. That is one expression of the half-unconscious excitement which Colorado people miss when they drop into lower strata of air. The heart we are told wears out early in that high atmosphere, but while it pumps it sends out no sluggish stream. Our two friends stood gripping each other by the hand and smiling. When did you get in, Fred? And what have you come for? Archie gave him a quizzical glance. I've come to find out what you think you're doing out here. The younger man declared emphatically, I want to get next. I do. When can you see me? Anything on tonight? Then suppose you dine with me. Where can I pick you up at 5.30? Bixby's office, general freight agent of the Burlington. Ottenberg began to button his overcoat and drew on his gloves. I've got to have one shot at you before I go, Archie. Didn't I tell you Pinkie Alden was a cheap squirt? Alden's backer laughed and shook his head. Oh, he's worse than that, Fred. It isn't polite to mention what he is outside of the Arabian Nights. I guessed you'd come to rub it into me. Ottenberg paused his hand on the doorknob, his high color challenging the doctor's column. I'm disgusted with you, Archie, for training with such a pup, a man of your experience. Well, he's been an experience, Archie muttered. I'm not coy about admitting it, am I? Ottenberg flung open the door. Small credit to you. Even the women are out for capital and corruption, I hear. Your governor's done more for the United Breweries in six months than I've been able to do in six years. He's the lily-livered sort we're looking for. Good morning. That afternoon at five o'clock, Dr. Archie emerged from the State House after his talk with Governor Alden and crossed the terrace under a saffron sky. The snow, beaten hard, was blue in the dusk. A day of blinding sunlight had not even started a thaw. The lights of the city twinkled pale below him in the quivering violet air, and the dome of the State House behind him was still red with the light from the west. Before he got into his car, the doctor paused to look about him at the scene of which he never tired. Archie lived in his own house on Colfax Avenue, where he had roomy grounds and a rose garden and a conservatory. His housekeeping was done by three Japanese boys, devoted and resourceful, who were able to manage Archie's dinner parties to see that he kept his engagements and to make visitors who stayed at the house so comfortable that they were always loathed to go away. Archie had never known what comfort was until he became a widower. Though with characteristic delicacy or dishonesty, he insisted upon accrediting his peace of mind to the San Felipe, to time, to anything but his release from Mrs. Archie. Mrs. Archie died just before her husband left Moonstone and came to Denver to live, six years ago. The poor woman's fight against dust was her undoing at last, one summer day when she was rubbing the parlor upholstery with gasoline. The doctor had often forbidden her to use it on any account, so that was one of the pleasures she seized upon. In his absence, an explosion occurred. Nobody ever knew exactly how it happened, for Mrs. Archie was dead when the neighbors rushed in to save her from the burning house. She must have inhaled the burning gas and died instantly. Moonstone's severity relented toward her somewhat after her death, but even while her old cronies at Mrs. Smiley's millineries store said that it was a terrible thing, they added that nothing but a powerful explosive could have killed Mrs. Archie and that it was only right the doctor should have a chance. Archie's past was literally destroyed when his wife died, the house burned to the ground, and all those material reminders which have such power over people disappeared in an hour. His mining interests now took him to Denver so often that it seemed better to make his headquarters there. He gave up his practice and left Moonstone for good. Six months afterwards, while Dr. Archie was living at the Brown Palace Hotel, the San Felipe mine began to give up that silver hoard which old Captain Harris had always accused it of concealing, and San Felipe headed the list of mining quotations in every daily paper, east and west. In a few years Dr. Archie was a very rich man, his mine was such an important item in the mineral output of the state, and Archie had a hand in so many of the new industries of Colorado and New Mexico that his political influence was considerable. He had thrown it all two years ago to the new reform party and had brought about the election of a governor of whose conduct he was now heartily ashamed. His friends believed that Archie himself had ambitious political plans. When Ottenberg and his host reached the house on Colfax Avenue, they went directly to the library, a long double room on the second floor, which Archie had arranged exactly to his own taste. It was full of books and mounted specimens. It was full of books and mounted specimens of wild game with a big writing table at either end. Stiff old fashioned engravings, heavy hangings, and deep upholstery. When one of the Japanese boys brought the cocktails, Fred turned from the fine specimen of Pecoray which he had been examining and said, A man is an owl to live in such a place alone Archie, why don't you marry? As for me, just because I can't marry, I find the world full of charming unattached women, any one of whom I could fit up a house for with alacrity. You're more knowing than I, Archie spoke politely. I'm not very wide awake about women. I'd be likely to pick out one of the uncomfortable ones and there are a few of them, you know. He drank his cocktail and rubbed his hands together in a friendly way. My friends here have charming wives and they don't give me a chance to get lonely. They are very kind to me and I have a great many pleasant friendships. Fred put down his glass. Yes, I've always noticed that women have confidence in you. You have the doctor's way of getting next. And you enjoy that kind of thing? The friendship of attractive women? Oh dear, yes, I depend upon it a great deal. The butler announced dinner and the two men went downstairs to the dining room. Dr. Archie's dinners were always good and well served and his wines were excellent. I saw the fuel and iron people today, Ottenberg said, looking up from his soup. Their heart is in the right place. I can't see why in the mystery if you ever got mixed up with that reform game, Archie. You've got nothing to reform out here. The situation has always been as simple as two and two in Colorado, mostly a matter of a friendly understanding. Well, Archie spoke tolerantly. Some of the young fellows seem to have red-hot convictions and I thought it was better to let them try their ideas out. Ottenberg shrugged his shoulders. A few dull young men who haven't ability enough to play the old game the old way so they want to put on a new game, which doesn't take so much brains and gives away more advertising. That's what your anti-saloon league and vice commission amounts to. They provide notoriety for the fellows who can't distinguish themselves at running a business or practicing law or developing an industry. Here you have a mediocre lawyer with no brains and no practice trying to get a look in on something. He comes up with the novel proposition that the prostitute has a hard time of it, puts his picture in the paper and the first thing you know, he's a celebrity. He gets the rake off and she's just where she was before. How could you fall for a mousetrap like Pink Alden, Archie? Dr. Archie laughed as he began to carve. Pink seems to get under your skin. He's not worth talking about. He's gone his limit. People won't read about his blameless life anymore. I knew those interviews he gave out would cook him. They were a last resort. I could have stopped him, but by that time I'd come to the conclusion that I'd let the reformers down. I'm not against a general shaking up, but the trouble with Pinkie's crowd is they never get beyond a general writing up. We gave them a chance to do something and they just kept on writing about each other and what temptations they had overcome. While Archie and his friend were busy with Colorado politics, the impeccable Japanese attended swiftly and intelligently to his duties and the dinner, as Attenberg at last remarked, was worthy of more profitable conversation. So it is, the doctor admitted. Well, we'll go upstairs for our coffee and cut this out. Bring up some cognac and arachne, Ty, he added, as he rose from the table. They stopped to examine a mousse's head on the stairway and when they reached the library, the pine logs in the fireplace had been lighted and the coffee was bubbling before the hearth. Ty placed two chairs before the fire and brought a tray of cigarettes. Bring the cigars in my lower desk drawer, boy, the doctor directed. Too much light in here isn't there, Fred. Light the lamp there on my desk, Ty. He turned off the electric glare and settled himself deep into the chair opposite Attenberg's. To go back to our conversation, doctor, Fred began while he waited for the first steam to blow off his coffee. Why don't you make up your mind to go to Washington? There'd be no fight made against you. I needn't say the United Breweries would back you. There'd be some kudos coming to us, too, backing a reform candidate. Dr. Archie measured his length in his chair and thrust his large boots toward the crackling pitch pine. He drank his coffee and lit a big black cigar while his guests looked over the assortment of cigarettes on the tray. You say why don't I? The doctor spoke with the deliberation of a man in the position of having several courses to choose from. But on the other hand, why should I? He puffed away and seemed through his half-closed eyes to look down several long roads with the intention of luxuriously rejecting all of them and remaining where he was. I'm sick of politics. I'm disillusioned about serving my crowd and I don't particularly want to serve yours. Nothing in it that I particularly want and the man's not effective in politics unless he wants something for himself and wants it hard. I can reach my ends by straighter roads. There are plenty of things to keep me busy. We haven't begun to develop our resources in this state. We haven't had a look in on them yet. That's the only thing that isn't fake, making men and machines go and actually turning out a product. The doctor poured himself some white cordial and looked over the little glass into the fire with an expression which led Ottenberg to believe that he was getting at something in his own mind. Fred lit a cigarette and let his friend grope for his idea. My boys here, Archie went on, have got me rather interested in Japan. Think I'll go out there in the spring and come back the other way through Siberia. I've always wanted to go to Russia. His eyes still hunted for something in his big fireplace, with a slow turn of his head he brought them back to his guest and fixed them upon him. Just now, I'm thinking of running on to New York for a few weeks, he ended abruptly. Ottenberg lifted his chin. Ah, he exclaimed, as if he began to see Archie's breath. Shall you see feet? Yes, the doctor replenished his cordial glass. In fact, I suspect I am going exactly to see her. I am getting stale on things here, Fred. Best people in the world and always doing things for me. I'm fond of them too, but I've been with them too much. I'm getting ill-tempered and the first thing I know, I'll be hurting people's feelings. I snapped Mrs. Dandridge up over the telephone this afternoon when she asked me to go out to Colorado Springs on Sunday to meet some English people who are staying at the antlers. Very nice of her to want me and I was as sour as if she'd been trying to work me for something. I've got to get out for a while to save my reputation. To this explanation, Ottenberg had not paid much attention. He seemed to be looking at a fixed point, the yellow glass eyes of a fine wildcat over one of the bookcases. You've never heard her at all, have you? He asked reflectively, curious when this is her second season in New York. I was going on last March, and then old Cap Harris thought he could drive his car and me through a lap post and I was laid up with a compound fracture for two months. So I didn't get to see the... Ottenberg studied the red end of his cigarette attentively. She might have come out to see you. I remember you covered the distance like a streak when she wanted you. Aren't she moved uneasily? Oh, she couldn't do that. She had to get back to Vienna for some new parts for this year. She sailed two days after the New York season closed. Well, then she couldn't, of course. Fred smoked his cigarette close and tossed the end into the fire. I'm tremendously glad you're going now. If you're stale, she'll jack you up. That's one of her specialties. She got a rise out of me last December. That lasted me all winter. Of course, the doctor apologized. You know so much more about these things. I'm afraid it will be rather wasted on me. I'm no judge of music. Never mind that, the younger man pulled himself up in his chair. She gets it across to people who aren't judges. That's just what she does. He relapsed into his former lassitude. If you were stoned deaf, it wouldn't all be wasted. It's a great deal to watch her. Incidentally, you know, she is very beautiful. Photographs give you no idea. Dr. Archie clasped his large hands under his chin. Oh, I'm counting on that. I don't suppose her voice will sound natural to me. Probably I wouldn't know it. Ottenberg smiled. You'll know it, if you ever knew it. It's the same voice, only more so. You'll know it. Did you, in Germany that time, when you wrote me, seven years ago now, that must have been at the very beginning? Yes, somewhere near the beginning. She sang one of the Rhine daughters. Fred paused and drew himself up again. Sure, I knew it from the first note. I'd heard a good many young voices come up out of the Rhine. But by gracious, I hadn't heard one like that. He fumbled for another cigarette. Mahler was conducting that night. I met him as he was leaving the house and had a word with him. Interesting voice you tried out this evening, I said. He stopped and smiled. Ottenberg, you mean? Yes, very. She seems to sing for the idea, unusual in a young singer. I'd never heard him admit before that a singer could have an idea. She not only had it, but she got it across. The Rhine music that I'd known since I was a boy was fresh to me, vocalized for the first time. You realized that she was beginning that long story adequately with the end in view. Every phrase she sang was basic. She simply was the idea of the Rhine music. Ottenberg rose and stood with his back to the fire. And at the end, where you don't see the maidens at all, the same thing again, two pretty voices, and the Rhine voice, Fred snapped his fingers and dropped his hand. The doctor looked up at him enviously. You see, all that would be lost on me, he said thoughtlessly. It was the dream, nor the interpretation thereof. I'm out of it. It's too bad that so few of her old friends can appreciate her. Take a try at it, Fred encouraged him. You'll get in deeper than you can explain to yourself. People with no personal interest do that. I suppose, said Archie diffidently, that college German, gone to seed, wouldn't help me out much. I used to be able to make my German patients understand me. Sure it would, cried Ottenberg heartily. Don't be above knowing your libretto. That's all very well for musicians, but common mortals like you and me have got to know what she's singing about. Get out your dictionary and go at it as you would any other proposition. Her diction is beautiful, and if you know the text, you'll get a great deal. So long as you're going to hear her, get all that's coming to you, your librettos by heart. You Americans are so afraid of stooping to learn anything. I am a little ashamed, Archie admitted. I guess that's the way we mask our general ignorance. However, I'll stoop this time. I'm more ashamed not to be able to follow her. The papers always say she's such a fine actress. He took up the tongs and began to rearrange the logs that had burned through and fallen apart. So she has changed a great deal, he asked absently. We've all changed, my dear Archie. She more than the rest of us. Yes and no, she's all there. Only there's a great deal more of her. I've had only a few words with her in several years. It's better not when I'm tied up this way. The laws are barbarous, Archie. Your wife is still the same, the doctor asked sympathetically. Absolutely. Again, out of a sanitarium for seven years now, no prospect of her ever being out. And as long as she's there, I'm tied hand and foot. What does society get out of such a state of things I'd like to know except a tangle of irregularities? If you want to reform, there's an opening for you. It's bad. Oh, very bad. I agree with you, Dr. Archie shook his head. But there would be complications under another system too. The whole question of a young man's marrying has looked pretty grave to me for a long while. How have they the courage to keep on doing it? It depresses me now to buy wedding presents. For some time the doctor watched his guest who was sunk in bitter reflections. Such things used to go better than they do now, I believe. Seems to me all the married people I knew when I was a boy were happy enough. He paused again and bit the end off a fresh cigar. You never saw these mother did you, Atenberg? That's a pity. Mrs. Kronberg was a fine woman. I've always been afraid he made a mistake not coming home when Mrs. Kronberg was ill, no matter what it cost her. Atenberg moved about restlessly. She couldn't, Archie. She positively couldn't. I felt you never understood that, but I was in Dresden at the time and though I wasn't seeing much of her I could size up the situation for myself. It was just by a lucky chance that she got to sing Elizabeth that time at the Dresden Opera. A complication of circumstances. If she'd run away for any reason she might have waited for years for such a chance to come again. She gave a wonderful performance and made a great impression. They offered her certain terms. She had to take them and follow it up then and there. In that game you can't lose a single trick. She was ill herself, but she sang. Her mother was ill and she sang. No, you mustn't hold that against her, Archie. She did the right thing there. Atenberg drew out his watch. Hello, I must be traveling. You hear from her regularly? More or less regularly. She was never much of a letter writer. She tells me about her engagements and contracts. But I know so little about that business that it doesn't mean much to me beyond the figures which seem very impressive. We've had a good deal of business correspondence about putting up a stone to her father and mother and lately about her youngest brother, Thor. He is with me now. He drives my car. Today he's up at the mine. Atenberg, who had picked up his overcoat, dropped it. Drives your car, he asked incredulously. Yes, Thee and I have had a good deal of bother about Thor. We tried a business college and an engineering school, but it was no good. Thor was born a chauffeur before there were cars to drive. He was never good for anything else. Lay around home and collected postage stamps and took bicycles to pieces, waiting for the automobile to be invented. He's just as much a part of a car as the steering gear. I can't find out whether he likes his job with me or not, or whether he feels any curiosity about his sister. You can't find anything out from a Kronberg nowadays. The mother was different. Fred plunged into his coat. Well, it's a queer world, Archie. But you'll think better of it if you go to New York. Wish I were going with you. I'll drop in on you in the morning at about 11. I want a word with you about this interstate commerce bill. Good night. Dr. Archie saw his guest to the motor, which was waiting below, and then went back to his library, where he replenished the fire and sat down for a long smoke. A man of Archie's modest and rather credulous nature develops late and makes his largest gain between 40 and 50. At 30, indeed, as we have seen, Archie was a soft-hearted boy under a manly exterior, still whistling to keep up his courage. Prosperity and large responsibilities, above all getting free of poor Mrs. Archie, had brought out a good deal more than he knew was in him. He was thinking tonight as he sat before the fire in the comfort he liked so well, that but for lucky chances and lucky holes in the ground, he would still be a country practitioner reading his old books by his office lamp. And yet he was not so fresh and energetic as he ought to be. He was tired of business and of politics. Worse than that, he was tired of the men with whom he had to do and of the women who, as he said, had been kind to him. He felt as if he were still hunting for something like old Jasper flight. He knew that this was an unbecoming and ungrateful state of mind and he reproached himself for it. But he could not help wondering why it was that life, even when it gave so much, after all gave so little. What was it that he had expected and missed? Why was he, more than anything else, disappointed? He felt a looking back over his life and asking himself which years of it he would like to live over again, just as they had been. And they were not many. His college years he would live again, gladly. And after them was nothing he would care to repeat until he came to the Kronberg. There had been something stirring about those years in Moonstone when he was a restless young man on the verge of breaking into larger enterprises and when she was a restless child on the verge of growing up into something unknown. He realized now that she had counted for a great deal more to him than he knew at the time. It was a continuous sort of relationship. He was always on the lookout for her as he went about the town, always vaguely expecting her as he sat in his office at night. He had never asked himself then if it was strange that he should find a child of twelve, the most interesting and companiable person in Moonstone. It had seemed a pleasant, natural kind of solicitude. He explained it then by the fact that he had no children of his own, but now as he looked back on those years the other interests were faded and inanimate. The thought of them was heavy, but wherever his life had touched the Kronbergs there was still a little warmth left, a little sparkle. Their friendship seemed to run over those discontented years like a leafy pattern, still bright and fresh when the other patterns had faded into the dull background. Their walks and drives and confidences, the night they watched the rabbit in the moonlight, why were these things stirring to remember? Whenever he thought of them they were distinctly different from the other memories of his life, always seemed humorous, gay, with a little thrill of anticipation and mystery about them. They came nearer to being tender secrets than any others he possessed. Nearer than anything else they corresponded to what he had hoped to find in the world and had not found. It came over him now that the unexpected favors of fortune, no matter how dazzling, do not mean very much to us. They may excite or divert us for a time, but when we look back the only things we cherish are those which in some way met our original want, the desire which formed in us in early youth, undirected and of its own accord. And as part 6 sections 1 and 2 recording by Dionne Jines, Salt Lake City, Utah Part 6 of The Song of the Lark This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Dionne Jines The Song of the Lark by Willa Cybert Cather Part 6, sections 3 and 4 3. For the first 4 years after Thee went to Germany things went on as usual with the Kronberg family. Mrs. Kronberg's land in Nebraska increased in value and brought her in a good rental. The family drifted into an easy way of living, half without realizing it, as families will. Then Mr. Kronberg, who had never been ill, died suddenly of cancer of the liver. And after his death Mrs. Kronberg went, as her neighbors said, into a decline. Hearing discouraging reports of her from the physician who had taken over his practice, Dr. Archie went up from Denver to see her. He found her in bed in the room where he had more than once attended her, a handsome woman of 60, with a body still firm and white. Her hair faded now to a very pale primrose, in two thick braids down her back, her eyes clear and calm. When the doctor arrived she was sitting up in her bed knitting. He felt at once how glad she was to see him, and gathered that she had made no determination to get well. She told him indeed that she could not very well get along without Mr. Kronberg. The doctor looked at her with astonishment. Was it possible that she could miss the foolish old man so much? He reminded her of her children. Yes, she replied, the children are all very well, but they are not father. We were married young. The doctor watched her wonderingly as she went on knitting, how much she looked like thee. The difference was one of degree rather than of kind. The doctor had a compelling enthusiasm. The mother had none. But their framework, their foundation was very much the same. In a moment Mrs. Kronberg spoke again, have you heard anything from thee lately? During his talk with her, the doctor gathered that what Miss Kronberg really wanted was to see her daughter thee. Lying there day after day, he surrounded it calmly and continuously. He told her that since she felt so, he thought they might ask thee to come home. I've thought a good deal about it, said Mrs. Kronberg slowly. I hate to interrupt her now that she's begun to get advancement. I expect she's seen some pretty hard times, though she was never one to complain. Perhaps she'd feel that she would like to come. It would be hard losing both of us while she's off there. When Dr. Ard she got back to Denver, he wrote a long letter to thee, explaining her mother's condition and how much she wished to see her and asking thee to come, if only for a few weeks. Thee had repaid the money she had borrowed from him, and he assured her that if she happened to be short of funds for the journey, she had only to cable him. A month later, he got a frantic sort of reply from thee. Complications in the opera at Dresden had given her an unhoped for opportunity to go on in a big part. Before this letter reached the doctor, she would have made her debut as Elizabeth in Tonhauser. She wanted to go to her mother more than she wanted anything else in the world, but unless she failed, which she would not, she absolutely could not leave Dresden for six months. It was not that she chose to stay, she had to stay or lose everything. The next few months would put her five years ahead or would put her back so far that it would be of no use to struggle further. As soon as she was free, she would go to Moonstone and take her mother back to Germany with her. Her mother she was sure could live for years yet and she would like German people and German ways and could be hearing music all the time. Thee said she was writing her mother and begging her to help her one last time to get strength and to wait for her six months. And then she, Thee, would do everything. Her mother would never have to make an effort again. Dr. Archie went up to Moonstone at once. He had great confidence in Mrs. Kronberg's power of will, and if Thee's appeal took hold of her enough, he believed she might get better. But when he was shown into the familiar room off the parlor, his heart sank. Mrs. Kronberg was lying serene and fateful on her pillows. On the dresser at the foot of her bed, there was a large photograph of Thee in the character in which she was to make her debut. Mrs. Kronberg pointed to it. Isn't she lovely, doctor? It's nice that she hasn't changed much. I've seen her look like that many a time. They talked for a while about Thee's good fortune. Mrs. Kronberg had had a capogram saying, first performance well received, great relief. In her letter, Thee said, if you'll only get better, dear mother, there's nothing I can't do. I will make a really great success if you'll try with me. You shall have everything you want, and we will always be together. I have a little house all picked out where we are to live. Bringing up a family is not all it's cracked up to be, Mrs. Kronberg said with a flicker of irony, as she tucked the letter back under her pillow. The children you don't especially need, you have always with you, like the poor, but the bright ones get away from you. They have to go their own way in the world. Seems like the brighter they are, the farther they go. I used to feel sorry that you had no family doctor, but maybe you're as well off. These plans seem sound to me, Mrs. Kronberg. There's no reason I can see why you shouldn't pull up and live for years yet under proper care. You have the best doctors in the world over there, and it would be wonderful to live with anybody who looks like that. He nodded at the photograph of the young woman, who must have been singing, deep, thorough, holly, eye, gross, icca, weed. Her eyes looking up, her beautiful hands outspread with pleasure. Mrs. Kronberg laughed quite cheerfully. Yes, wouldn't it? If father were here, I might rouse myself, but sometimes it's hard to come back, or if she were in trouble, maybe I could rouse myself. But dear Mrs. Kronberg, she is in trouble, her old friend expostulated, and she says, she's never needed you as she needs you now. I make my guess that she's never begged anybody to help her before. Mrs. Kronberg smiled. Yes, it's pretty of her that that will pass. When these things happen far away, they don't make such a mark, especially if your hands are full, and you've duties of your own to think about. My own father died in Nebraska when Gunner was born. We were living in Iowa then, and I was sorry that the baby made it up to me. I was father's favorite too. That's the way it goes, you see. The doctor took out these letter to him and read it over to Mrs. Kronberg. She seemed to listen and not to listen. When he finished, she said thoughtfully, I counted on hearing her sing again, but I always took my pleasures as they come. I always enjoyed her singing when she was here about the house. While she was practicing, I often used to leave my work and sit down in a rocker and write the same as if I'd been at an entertainment. I was never one of those housekeepers that let their work drive them to death, and when she had the Mexicans over here, I always took it in first and last. She glanced judiciously at the photograph. I guess I got about as much out of these voice as anybody will ever get. I guess you did, the doctor ascended heartily, and I got a good deal myself. You remember how she used to sing those scotch songs for me and lead us with her head, her hair bobbing? Flow gently, sweet often, I can hear it now, said Mrs. Kronberg, and poor father never knew when he sang sharp. He used to say, mother, how do you always know when they make mistakes practicing? Mrs. Kronberg chuckled. Dr. Archie took her hand, still firm like the hand of a young woman. It was lucky for her that you did know. I always thought she got more from you than from any of her teachers, except lunch. He was a real musician, said Mrs. Kronberg respectfully. I gave her what chance I could in a crowded house. I kept the other children out of the parlor for her. That was about all I could do. If she wasn't disturbed, she needed no watching. She went after it like a terrier after rats from the first poor child. She was downright afraid of it. That's why I always encouraged her taking Thor off to outlandish places when she was out of the house, then she was rid of it. After they had recalled many pleasant memories together, Mrs. Kronberg said suddenly, I always understood about her going off without coming to see us that time. Oh, I know. You had to keep your own counsel. You were a good friend to her. I've never forgot that. She patted the doctor's sleeve and went on absently. There was something she didn't want to tell me, and that's why she didn't come. Something happened when she met those people in Mexico. I worried for a good while, but I guess she's come out of it all right. She's had a pretty hard time scratching along alone like that when she was so young, and my farms in Nebraska were down so low that I couldn't help her none. That's no way to send a girl out. But I guess whatever there was, she wouldn't be afraid to tell me now. Mrs. Kronberg looked up at the photograph with a smile. She doesn't look like she was beholding anybody does she. She isn't Mrs. Kronberg. She never has been. That was why she borrowed the money from me. Oh, I knew she'd never have sent for you if she'd done anything to shame us. She was always proud. Mrs. Kronberg paused and turned a little on her side. It's been quite a satisfaction to you and me, doctor, having her voice turn out so fine. The things you hope for don't always turn out like that when Mrs. Kohler lived. She used always to translate what it said about the in the German newspaper she sent. I could make some of it out myself. It's not very different from Swedish. But it pleased the old lady. She left the her peace picture of the burning of Moscow. I've got it put away in mothballs for her, along with the oboe her grandfather brought from Sweden. I want her to take father's oboe back there someday. She paused a moment and compressed her lips. But I guess she'll take a finer instrument than that with her back to Sweden, she added. Her tone fairly startled the doctor. It was so vibrating with a fierce, defiant kind of pride. He had heard often in these boys. He looked down wonderingly at his old friend and patient. After all, one never knew people to the core. Did she within her hide some of that still passion of which her daughter was all compact? That last summer at home wasn't very nice for her. Mrs. Kroenberg began as classically as if the fire had never leaked up in her. The other children were acting up because they thought I might make a fuss over her and give her the big head. We gave her the dare somehow, a lot of us, because we couldn't understand her changing teachers and all that. That's the trouble about giving the dare to them quiet, unbosable children. I'm sure it'll take them. Well, we ought not to complain, doctor. She's given us a good deal to think about. The next time Dr. Archie came to Moonstone, he came to be a pallbearer at Mrs. Kroenberg's funeral. When he last looked at her, she was so serene and queenly that he went back to Denver, feeling almost as if he had helped to bury the Kroenberg herself. The handsome head in the coffin seemed to him much more really thee than did the radiant young woman give out at the Gothic vaultings and greeting the hall of song. One bright morning, late in February, Dr. Archie was breakfasting comfortably at the Waldorf. He had got into Jersey City on an early train and a red, windy sunrise over the North River had given him a good appetite. He consulted the morning paper while he drank his coffee and saw that Lohengren was to be sung at the opera that evening. In the list of artists who would appear was the name Kroenberg. Such abruptness rather startled him. Kroenberg, it was impressive and yet somehow disrespectful, somewhat rude and brazen on the back page of the morning paper. After breakfast, he went to the hotel ticket office and asked the girl if she could give him something for a Lohengren near the front. His manner was a trifle awkward and he wondered whether the girl noticed it. Even if she did, of course she could scarcely suspect. Before the ticket stand, he saw a bunch of blue posters announcing the awkward cast for the week. There was Lohengren and under it he saw Elsa, Vaughn, Brabrandt, the Kroenberg. That looked better. The girl gave him a ticket for a seat which she said was excellent. He paid for it and went out to the cab stand. He mentioned to the driver a number on Riverside Drive and got into a taxi. It would not, of course, have anything to call upon thee when she was going to sing in the evening. He knew that much, thank goodness. Fred Ottenberg had hinted to him that more than almost anything else that would put one in wrong. When he reached the number to which he directed his letters, he dismissed the cab and got out for a walk. The house in which thee lived was as impersonal as the Waldorf and quite as large. It was above 116th Street where the drive narrows and in front of it the shelving bank drop to the North River. As Archie strolled about the paths which traversed the slope below the street level, the 14 stories of the apartment hotel rose above him like a perpendicular cliff. He had no idea on which floor thee lived, but he reflected as his eye ran over the many windows that the outlook would be fine from any floor. The forbidding hugeness of the house made him feel as if he had expected thee in a crowd and had missed her. He did not really believe that she was hidden away behind any of those glittering windows or that he was to hear her this evening. His walk was curiously uninspiring and unsuggestive. Presently remembering that Ottenberg had encouraged him to study his lesson, he went down to the opera house and bought a libretto. He had even brought his old Adler's German and English in his trunk and after luncheon he subtled down in his gilded suite at the Waldorf with the big cigar and the text of Lowengren. The opera was announced for 745, but at half past 7 Archie took his seat in the right front of the orchestra circle. He had never been inside the Metropolitan Opera House before and the height of the audience room, the rich color and the sweep of the balconies were not without their effect upon him. He watched the house fill with a growing reputation. When the steel curtain rose and the men of the orchestra took their places, he felt distinctly nervous. The burst of applause which greeted the conductor keyed him still higher. He found that he had taken off gloves and twisted them to a string. When the lights went down and the violins began to be overture the place looked larger than ever a great pit, shadowy and solemn. The whole atmosphere he reflected was somehow more than he had anticipated. After the curtains were drawn back upon the scene, the side-vich felt he got readily into the swing of the story. He was so much interested in the bass who sang King Henry that he almost forgot for what he was waiting so nervously. When the heralds began in stentorian tones to summon Elsa von Breybrant, then he began to realize that he was rather frightened. There was a white at the back of the stage and women began to come in two, four, six, eight, but not the right one. It flashed across him that this was something like Buck fever, the paralyzing moment that comes upon a man when his first elk looks at him through the bushes under its great antlers the moment when a man's mind is so full of shooting that he forgets the gun in his hand until the Buck nods adieu to him from a distant hill once before the Buck had left him she was there. Yes, unquestionably it was she her eyes were downcast, but the head, the cheeks, the chin there could be no mistake. She advanced slowly as if she were walking in her sleep. Someone spoke to her. She only inclined her head. He spoke again and she bowed her head still lower. Art she had forgotten his libretto and he had not counted upon these long moments. He had expected her to appear and sing and reassure him they seem to be waiting for her did she ever forget why in thunder didn't she she made a sound a faint one the people on the stage whispered together and seemed confounded his nervousness was absurd she must have done this often before she knew her bearings she made another sound but he could make nothing of it. Then the king sang to her and art she remembered where they were in the story she came to the front of the stage lifted her eyes for the first time clasped her hands and began and Sam and Trubin again. Yes it was exactly like Buck fever her face was always there toward the house now before his eyes and he positively could not see it. She was singing at last and he positively could not hear her. He was conscious of nothing but an uncomfortable and a sense of crushing disappointment he had after all missed her whatever was there she was not there for him the king interrupted her she began again leaked her waff and shine art she did not know when his buck fever passed but presently he found that he was sitting quietly in a dark house not listening to but dreaming upon a river of silver sound he felt apart from the others drifting alone the melody as if he had been alone with it for a long while and had known it all before his power of attention was not great just then but in so far as it went he seemed to be looking through an exalted calmness at a beautiful woman from far away from another sort of life and feeling and understanding that his own who had in her face something he had known long ago much brightened and beautified as a lad he used to believe the faces of people who died were like that in the next world the same faces but shining with the light of a new understanding no, Attenberg had not prepared him what he felt was admiration and estrangement the homely reunion that he had somehow expected now seemed foolish instead of feeling proud that he knew her better than all these people around him he felt chagrined at his own for better this woman he had never known she had somehow devoured his little friend as the wolf ate up red riding hood beautiful radiant tender as she was she chilled his old affection that sort of feeling was not appropriate she seemed much much further away from him and she had seemed all those years when she was in Germany the ocean he could cross but there was something here he could not cross when she turned to the king and smile that rare sunrise smile of her childhood when he thought she was coming back to him after the heralds second call for her champion when she knelt in her impassioned prayer there was something again familiar a kind of wild wonder that she had had the power to call up long ago but she merely reminded him of thee this was not the girl herself after the tenor came on the way to make the woman before him fit into any of his cherished recollections he took her in so far as he could for what she was then and there when the night raised the kneeling girl and put his mailed hand on her hair when she lifted to him a face full of worship and passionate humility art she gave up his last reservation he knew no more about her than did the hundreds around him who sat in the shadow and looked on as he was leaving some with lust he knew as much about or trude or low and grin as he knew about Elsa more because she went further than they she sustained the legendary beauty of her conception more consistently even he could see that attitudes movements her face her white arms and fingers everything was suffused with a rosy tenderness a warm humility a gracious and yet to him holy a strange beauty during the balcony singing in the second act the doctor's thoughts were as far away from moonstone as the singers doubtless were he had begun indeed to fill the exhilaration of getting free from personalities of being released from his own past as well as from the Kronborgs it was very much he told himself like a military funeral exalting and impersonal something old died in one and out of it something new was born during the duet with or trude with the swenders of the wedding processional this new feeling grew and grew at the end of the act there were many curtain calls and Elsa acknowledged them brilliant gracious spirited with her far breaking smile but on the whole she was harder and more self-contained before the curtain and she was in the scene behind it Archie did his part in the applause that greeted her but it was the new and wonderful he applauded not the old and dear his personal proprietary pride in her was frozen out he walked about the house during the on track and here and there among the people in the foyer he caught the name Kronborg on the staircase in front of the coffee room a long haired youth with a fat face was discoursing to a group of old women about the Kronborg doctor Archie gathered that he had crossed on the boat with her after the performance was over he took a taxi and started for Riverside Drive he meant to see it through tonight when he entered the reception hall of the hotel before which he had strolled that morning the hall porter challenged him he said he was waiting for this Kronborg the porter looked at him suspiciously and asked whether he had an appointment he answered brazenly that he had he was not used to being questioned by hall boys Archie sat first in one tapestry chair and then in another keeping a sharp eye to the people who came in and went up in the elevators he walked about and looked at his watch an hour dragged by no one had come in from the street now for about 20 minutes when two women entered carrying a great many flowers and followed by a tall young man in chauffeur's uniform Archie advanced toward the taller of the two women who was veiled and carried her head very firmly he confronted her just as she reached the elevator although he did not stand directly something in his attitude compelled her to stop she gave him a piercing defiant glance through the white scarf that covered her face then she looked at her hand and brushed the scarf back from her head there was still black on her brows and lashes she was very pale and her face was drawn and deeply lined she looked the doctor told himself with a sinking heart 40 years old her suspicious mystified stare cleared slowly the doctor murmured not knowing just how to address her here before the quarters I came up from the opera I merely wanted to say good night to you without speaking still looking incredulous she pushed him into the elevator she kept her hand on his arm while the cage shot up and she looked away from him frowning as if she were trying to remember or realize something when the cage stopped she pushed him out of the elevator through another door which a maid opened into a square hall there she sank down on a chair and looked up at him why didn't you let me know she asked in a hoarse voice art she heard himself laughing the old embarrassed laugh that seldom happened to him now oh I wanted to take my chance with you like anybody else it's been so long now she took his hand through her thick glove and her head dropped forward yes it has been long she said in the same husky voice and so much has happened I am a clumsy old fellow to break in on you tonight the doctor added sympathetically forgive me this time he bent over and put his hand soothingly on her shoulder he felt a strong shutter run through her from head to foot still bundled in her fur coat as she was she threw both arms about him and hugged him oh doctor art she she shook him don't let me go hold on now you're here I am at the same moment and sliding out of her fur coat she left it for the maid to pick up and pushed the doctor into the sitting room where she turned on the lights let me look at you yes hands, feet, head, shoulders just the same you've grown no older you can't say as much for me can you she was standing in the middle of the room and a white silk shirt waist and a short black velvet skirt which somehow suggested she looked distinctly clipped and plucked her hair was parted in the middle and done very close to her head as she had worn it under the wig she looked like a fugitive who had escaped from something in clothes caught up at hazard it flashed across doctor art she that she was running away from the other woman down at the opera house who had used her hardly he took a step toward her I can't tell a thing in the world about you be if I may still call you that I know of his overcoat yes call me that do I like to hear it you frighten me a little but I expect I frighten you more I'm always a scarecrow after I sing along heart like that so high too she absently pulled out the handkerchief that protruded from his breast pocket and began to wipe the black paint off her eyebrows and lashes I can't take you in much tonight but I must see you for a little while I shall be more recognizable tomorrow you mustn't think of me as you see me tonight come out for tomorrow afternoon and have tea with me can you? that's good she sat down in a low chair beside him and leaned forward drawing her shoulders together she seemed to him inappropriately young and inappropriately old shorn of her long tresses at one end and of her long robes at the other how do you happen to be here she asked abruptly I was so reminded I couldn't sure nobody will cheat you but you can explain everything tomorrow she paused you remember how you sewed me up in a poultice once I wish you could tonight I need a poultice from top to toe something very disagreeable happened down there you said you were out front oh, don't say anything about it I always know exactly how it goes unfortunately but you didn't notice it probably not, but I did here the maid appeared at the door and her mistress rose my supper, very well I'll come I'd ask you to stay doctor but there wouldn't be enough for two they seldom send up enough for one she spoke bitterly I haven't got a sense of you yet turning directly to Archie again you haven't been here you've only announced yourself and told me you are coming tomorrow this is not I but I'll be here waiting for you tomorrow my whole works good night, till then she patted him absently on the sleeve and gave him a little shoved toward the door and of part 6 sections 3 and 4 recording by Dion Jines Salt Lake City, Utah part 6 of the Song of the Lark this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information please visit LibriVox.org recording by Dion Jines the Song of the Lark by Willa Cybert Cather part 6, sections 5 and 6 5 when Archie got back to his hotel at 2 o'clock in the morning he found Fred Ottenberg's card under his door with a message scribbled across the top when you come in please call up room 811 this hotel his voice reached him over the telephone that you Archie won't you come up I'm having some supper and I'd like company late what does that matter I won't keep you long Archie dropped his overcoat and set out for room 811 he found Ottenberg in the act of touching a match to a shaping dish at a table laid for two in his sitting room I'm catering here he announced cheerfully I let the waiter off at midnight after he'd set me up you'll have to account for yourself Archie the doctor laughed pointing to three wine coolers under the table are you expecting guests yes, two Ottenberg held up two fingers you and my higher self he's a thirsty boy and I don't invite him often he has been known to give me a headache now where have you been Archie until this shocking hour ah you've been banting the doctor exclaimed pulling out his white gloves as he searched for his handkerchief and throwing them into a chair Ottenberg was in evening clothes and very pointed dress shoes his white waistcoat upon which the doctor had fixed a challenging eye went down straight from the top button and he wore a camellia he was conspicuously brushed and polished his smoothly controlled excitement was wholly different from his usual easy cordiality though he had his face as well as his figure well in hand on the serving table there was an empty champagne pint and a glass he had been having a little starter the doctor told himself and would probably be running on high gear before he got through there was even now Dan Freddy the doctor at last took up his question I expect I've been exactly where you have why didn't you tell me you were coming on I wasn't Archie Fred lifted the cover of the shaping dish and stirred the contents he stood behind the table holding the lid with his handkerchief I had never thought of such a thing but Landry a young chap who plays for accompaniments and who keeps an eye out for me Madame Reinecker had gone to Atlantic City with a bad throat and B might have chance to sing Elsa she has sung it only twice here before and I missed it in Dresden so I came on I got in at four this afternoon and saw you registered but I thought I wouldn't but M how lucky you got here just when she was coming on for this you couldn't have hit a better time Ottenberg stirred the contents of the dish faster and put in more sherry and where have you been since 12 o'clock may I ask Archie looked rather so conscious as he sat down on a fragile guilt chair that rocked under him and stretched out his long legs well if you'll believe me I had the brutality to go see her I wanted to identify her couldn't wait Ottenberg placed the cover quickly on the shaping dish and took a step backward you did old sport my word none but the brave deserve the fair well he's stooped to turn the wine and how was she she seemed rather dazed and pretty well used up she seemed disappointed in herself and said she hadn't done herself justice in the balcony scene well if she didn't she's not the first beastly stuff to sing right in there there's a break in the voice Fred pulled a bottle out of the ice and drew the cork lifting his glass he looked meaningly at Archie you know who doctor here goes he drank off his glass with a sigh of satisfaction after he had turned the lamp low under the shaping dish he remained standing looking pensively down at the food on the table well she rather pulled it off as a backer you're a winner Archie I congratulate you Fred poured himself another glass now you must eat something and so must I here get off that bird cage and find a steady chair this stuff ought to be rather good head waiter's suggestion smells alright he bent over the shaping dish and began to serve the contents perfectly innocuous mushrooms and truffles and a little crab meat and now on the level Archie how did it hit you Frank smiled to his friend and shook his head it was all miles beyond me of course but it gave me a pulse the general excitement got hold of me I suppose I like your wine Freddy you put down his glass it goes to the spot tonight she was alright then you weren't disappointed disappointed my dear Archie that's the high voice we dream of so pure and yet so vero and human combination hardly ever happens with Sopranos Ottenberg sat down and turned to the doctor speaking calmly and trying to dispel his friend's manifest bewilderment you see Archie there's the voice itself so beautiful and individual and then there's something else the thing in it which responds to every shade of thought and feeling spontaneously almost unconsciously that color has to be born in a singer it can't be acquired lots of beautiful voices having the vestige of it it's almost like another gift the rarest of all the voice simply is the mind and is the heart it can't go wrong in interpretation because it has in it the thing that makes all interpretation that's why you feel so sure of her after you've listened to her for an hour or so you weren't afraid of anything all the little dreads you have with other artists vanish you lean back and you say to yourself no, that voice will never betray Trulik, Gefert, Trulik, Bihua Archie looked envyingly at Fred's excited triumph of pace how satisfactory it must be he thought to really know what she was doing and not to have to take it on hearsay he took up his glass with a sigh I seem to need a good deal of cooling off tonight I just as leave forget the reform party for once yes, Fred, he went on seriously I thought it sounded very beautiful and I thought she was very beautiful too I never imagined she could be as beautiful as that wasn't she? every attitude a picture and always the right kind of picture full of that legendary supernatural thing she gets into I never heard the prayer sung like that before that look that came in her eyes it went right out through the back of the roof of course you get an Elsa who can look through walls like that and visions and grail knights happen naturally she becomes an abyss that girl after lo and grin leaves her she's made to live with ideas and enthusiasm not with a husband Fred folded his arms leaning back in his chair and began to seem softly I'm ridder not da doesn't she die then? at the end the doctor asked Fred smiled reaching under the table some elses do she didn't she left me with a distinct impression that she was just beginning now doctor here's a cold one he twirled a napkin smoothly about the green glass the court gave and slipped out with a soft explosion and now we must have another toast it's up to you this time the doctor watched the agitation in his glass the same he said without lifting his eyes that's good enough I can't raise you Fred leaned forward and looked sharply into his face that's the point how could you raise me once again and always the same the doctor put down his glass this doesn't seem to produce any symptoms in me tonight he lit a cigar seriously Freddy I wish I knew more about what she's driving at it makes me jealous when you are so in it and I'm not in it Fred started up my god haven't you seen her this blessed night when she'd have kicked any other man down the elevator shaft if I know her leave me something at least what I can pay my 5 bucks for seems to me you get a good deal for your 5 bucks said Archie roofily and that after all is what she cares about what people get Fred lit a cigarette took a puff or two and drove it away he was lounging back in his chair and his face was pale and drawn hard by that mood of intense concentration which lurks under the sunny shallows of the vineyard in his voice there was a longer perspective than usual a slight remoteness you see Archie it's all very simple and natural development it's exactly what Moller said back there in the beginning when she's saying the idea, the basic idea pulsing behind every bar she sings she simplifies a character down to the musical idea it's built on and makes everything conform to that the people who chatter about her being a great actress don't seem to get the notion of where she gets the notion it all goes back to her original endowment her tremendous musical talent instead of inventing a lot of business and expedience to suggest character she knows the thing at the root and lets the musical pattern take care of her the score pours her into all those lovely postures makes the light and shadow go over her face lifts her and drops her she lies on it, the way she used to lie on the rye music talk about rhythm the doctor frown dubiously as a third bottle made its appearance above the cloth aren't you going in rather strong no, I'm becoming too sober you see, this is breakfast now kind of wedding breakfast I feel rather wedding-ish I don't mind you know, he went on as the wine gurgled out I was thinking tonight when they sprung the wedding music how any fool can have that stuff played over him when he walks up the aisle with some dough-faced little hussy who's hooked him but it isn't every fellow who can see well, what we saw tonight there are compensations in life Dr. Howard Archie though they come in disguise did you notice her when she came down the stairs wonder where she gets that bright and morning star look carries to the last row of the family circle I moved about all over the house I'll tell you a secret Archie that carrying power was one of the first things that put me wise noticed it down there in Arizona that I said belongs only to the big ones Fred got up and began to move rhythmically about the room, his hands and his pockets the doctor was astonished at his ease and steadiness for there were slight lapses in his speech you see Archie Elsa isn't a part that's particularly suited to these voice at all as I see her voice it's over lyrical for her she makes it that there's nothing in it that fits her like a glove except maybe that long duet in the third act there of course he held out his hands as if he were measuring something we know exactly where we are but wait until they give her a chance at something that lies properly in her voice and you'll see me rosier than I am tonight Archie smoothed the table clock with his hand I am sure I don't want to see you any rosier Fred Ottenberg threw back his head and laughed at the enthusiasm doctor it's not the wine I've got as much inflated as this for a dozen trashy things brewer's dinners and political orgies you too have your extravagance as Archie and what I like best in you is this particular enthusiasm which is not at all practical or sensible which is downright chaotic you are not altogether what you seem and you have your reservations living among the wolves you become one lupibus vivende non lupis some the doctor seemed embarrassed I was just thinking how tired she looked plucked of all her fine feathers while we get all the fun instead of sitting here we ought to go solemnly to bed I get your idea Ottenberg crossed the window and threw it open by night outside a hag of a moon just setting it begins to smell like morning after all Archie think of the lonely and rather solemn hours we've spent waiting for all this while she's been reveling Archie lifted his brows I somehow didn't get the idea tonight that she revels much I don't mean this sort of thing Fred turned toward the light and stood with his back to the window that with a nod toward the wine cooler is only a cheap imitation that any poor stiff-fingered fool can buy and fill his shell grow thinner but take it from me no matter what she pays or how much she may see fit to lie about it the real the master revel is hers he leaned back against the window sill and crossed his arms anybody with all that voice and all that talent and all that beauty has her hour her hour he went on deliberately when she can say there it is at last we in trauma in my dream I dreamed it as in my will it was he stood silent the moment twisting the flower from his coat by the stone and staring at the blank wall with haggard abstraction even I can say tonight Archie he brought out slowly as in my dream I dreamed it so as in my will it was now doctor you may leave me I'm beautifully drunk but not with anything that ever grew in France the doctor rose the window behind him and came toward the door I say he called have you a date with anybody the doctor paused his hand on the knob with B you mean yes I'm to go to her for this afternoon if you haven't paralyzed me well you won't eat me will you if I break in and send up my cart she'll probably turn me down cold but that won't hurt my feelings if she ducks me you tell her for me that to spite me now she'd have to cut off more than she can spare good night Archie sit it was late on the morning after the night she sang Elsa when the Kroenberg stirred uneasily in her bed the room was darkened by two sets of window shades and the day outside was thick and cloudy she turned and tried to recapture unconsciousness knowing that she would not be able to do so she dreaded waking stale and disappointed after a great effort the first thing that came was always the sense of the futility of such endeavor and of the absurdity of trying too hard up to a certain point say 80 degrees artistic endeavor could be fat and comfortable methodical and prudent but if you went further than that if you drew yourself up toward 90 degrees you parted with your defenses and left yourself exposed to this chance the legend was that in those upper reaches you might be divine much likelier to be ridiculous your public wanted just about 80 degrees if you gave it more it blew its nose and put a crimp in you in the morning especially it seemed to her very probable that whatever struggle above the good average was not quite sound certainly very little of that superfluous ardor which costs so dear ever got across the foot like these misgivings waited to pounce upon her when she awakened her bad like vultures she reached under her pillow for her handkerchief without opening her eyes she had a shadowy memory there that there was to be something unusual that this day held more disquieting possibilities than days commonly held there was something she dreaded what was it oh yes Dr. Archie was to come up for a reality like Dr. Archie poking up out of the past reminded one of disappointments and losses of a freedom that was no more reminded her of blue golden mornings long ago when she used to awaken with a burst of joy at recovering her precious self and her precious world when she never lay on her pillows at 11 o'clock like something the waves had washed up after all why had he come it had been so long and so much had happened the things she had lost he would miss readily enough what she had gained he would scarcely perceive he and all that he recalled lived for her as memories in sleep and in hours of illness or exhaustion she went back to them and held them to her heart but they were better as memories they had nothing to do with the struggle that made up her actual life he felt drurally that she was not flexible enough to be the person her old friend expected her to be and the person she herself wished to be with him he reached for the bell and rang twice a signal to her maid to order her breakfast she rose and ran up the window shades and turned on the water in her bathroom glancing into the mirror apprehensively as she passed it her bath usually cheered her even on low mornings like this her white bathroom almost as large as her sleeping room she regarded as a refuge when she turned the key behind her she left care and vexation at the door neither her maid nor the management nor her letters nor her accompanist could get at her now when she pinned her braids about her head dropped her nightgown and stepped out to begin her Swedish movements she was a natural creature again and it was so that she liked herself fast she slid into the tub with anticipation and splashed and tumbled about a good deal whatever else she hurried she never hurried her bath she used her brushes and sponges and soaps like toys fairly playing in the water her own body was always a cheering sight to her when she was careworn when her mind felt old and tired the freshness of her physical self her long firm lines the smoothness of her skin reassured her this morning because of awakened memories she looked at herself more carefully than usual and was not discouraged while she was in the tub she began to swistle softly the tenor Arya ah, fuyas d'auce imagé somehow appropriate to the bath after a noisy moment under the cold shower she stepped out on the rug flushed and glowing threw her arms above her head and rose on her toes keeping the elevation as long as she could when she dropped back on her heels and began to rub herself with the towels she took up the Arya again and felt quiet in the humor for seeing Dr. Archie after she had returned to her bed the maid brought her letters and the morning papers with her breakfast telephone Mr. Landry and asked him if he can come up at half past three Teresa and order tea to be brought up at five when Howard Archie was admitted to Thie's apartment that afternoon he was shown into the music room back of the little reception room Thie was sitting in a Davenport behind the piano there was a young man whom she later introduced as a friend Mr. Landry as she rose and came to meet him Archie felt a deeper leave a sudden thankfulness she no longer looked clipped and plucked or dazed and fleeing Dr. Archie neglected to take account of the young man to whom he was presented he kept these hands and held her where he met her taking in the light lively sweep of her hair that came up strong and dazzlingly white from her green velvet gown the chin was as lovely as ever the cheeks as smooth all the lines of last night had disappeared only at the outer corners of her eyes between the eye and the temple were the faintest indications of a future attack mere kitten scratches that playfully hinted where one day the cat would claw her he studied her without any embarrassment last night everything had been awkward but now as he held her hands a kind of harmony came between them a re-establishment of confidence after all of thee in spite of all I still know you he murmured she took his arm and led him up to the young man who was standing beside the piano Mr. Landry knows all about you Dr. Archie he has known about you for many years while the two men shook hands she stood between them drawing them together by her presence and her glances when she first went to Germany Landry was studying there he used to be good enough to work with me when I could not afford to have an accompanist for more than two hours a day we got into the way of working together he is a singer too and has his own career to look after but he still manages to give me some time I want you to be friends she smiled from one to the other the rooms Archie noticed full of last night's flowers were furnished in light colors the hotel bleepness of them a little softened by a magnificent Steinway piano white bookshelves full of books and scores some drawings of ballet dancers and the very deep sofa behind the piano of course Archie asked apologetically you have seen the papers very cordial aren't they they evidently did not expect as much as I did Elsa is not really in my voice I can sing the music but I have to go after it that is exactly the doctor came out boldly what Fred Ottenberg said this morning they had remained standing the three of them by the piano where the gray afternoon light was strongest the turn to the doctor with interest is Fred in town they were from him them some flowers that came last night without a card she indicated the white lilacs on the windowsill yes he would know certainly she said thoughtfully why don't we sit down there will be some tea for you in a minute Landry he's very dependent upon it disapprovingly to Archie now tell me doctor did you really have a good time last night or were you uncomfortable did you feel as if I were trying to hold my hat on by my eyebrows he smiled I had all kinds of time but I had no feelings of the sort I couldn't be quite sure that it was you at all that was why I came up here last night I felt as if I'd lost you she leaned toward him and brushed his sleeve reassuringly then I didn't give you an impression of painful struggle Landry was singing at Weber in Fields last night he didn't get in until the performance was half over that I see the Tribune Nan felt that I was working pretty hard did you notice that Oliver doctor Archie looked closely at the red-headed young Nan for the first time and met his lively brown eyes full of a drool from fighting sort of humor Mr. Landry was not prepossessing he was undersized and clumsily made with a red shiny face and a sharp little nose that looked as if it had been whittled out of wood and was always in the air on the scent of something yet it was this queer little beak with his eyes that made his countenance anything of a face at all from a distance he looked like the grocery man's delivery boy in a small town his dress seemed an acknowledgement of his grotesqueness a short coat like a little boy's roundabout and a vest fantastically sprigged and dotted over a lavender shirt at the sound of a muffled buzz Mr. Landry sprang up may I answer the telephone for you he went to the writing table and took up the receiver Mr. Ottenberg is downstairs he said turning the fee and holding the mouthpiece against his coat tell him to come up without hesitation how long are you going to be in town Dr. Archie? oh several weeks if you'll let me stay I won't hang around and be a burden to you but I want to try to get educated up to you although I expect it's late to begin he rose and touched him lightly on the shoulder well you'll never be any younger will you I'm not so sure about that the doctor replied gallantly the mate appeared at the door and announced Mr. Frederick Ottenberg, Fred came in very much got out the doctor reflected as he watched him bending over his hand he was still pale and looked somewhat chasen and the lock of hair that hung down over his forehead was distinctly moist but his black afternoon coat his gray tie and gaiters were of a correctness that Dr. Archie could never attain for all the efforts of his faithful slave Van Dusen the Denver Haberdasher to be properly up to those tricks the doctor supposed you had to learn them young if he were to buy a silk hat that was the twin of Ottenberg's it would be shaggy in a week and he could never carry it as Fred held his Ottenberg had greeted the in German and as she replied in the same language Archie joined Mr. Landry at the window you know Mr. Ottenberg he tells me Mr. Landry's eyes twinkled yes I regularly follow him about when he's in town I would even if he didn't send me such wonderful Christmas presents Russian vodka by the half dozen they called to them come Mr. Ottenberg is calling on all of us here's the tea the maid opened the door and two waiters from downstairs appeared with covered trays the tea table was in the parlor they drew Ottenberg with her and went to inspect it where's the rum? oh yes the rum seems to be here but sent up some current preserves and cream cheese for Mr. Ottenberg and in about 15 minutes bring some fresh toast that's all thank you for the next few minutes there was a clatter of teacup and responses about sugar Landry always takes rum I'm glad the rest of you don't I'm sure it's bad he poured the tea standing and got through it as quickly as possible as if it were a refreshment the table and the little room in which it stood seemed to be out of scale with her long stout, her long reach and the energy of her movements Dr. Archie standing near her was pleasantly aware of the animation of her figure under the clinging velvet her body seemed independent and unsubdued they drifted with their plates and cuffs back to the music room when the followed them Ottenberg put down his tea suddenly aren't you taking anything? he started back to the table no, thank you, nothing I'm going to run over that aria for you presently to convince you that I can do it how did the duet go with Schlagg? she was standing in the doorway and Fred came up to her that you'll never do any better you've worked your voice into it perfectly every nuance wonderful think so? she gave him a slide long glance and spoke with a certain gruff shyness to anybody and was not meant to deceive the tone was equivalent to keep it up, I like it but I'm awkward with it Fred held her by the door and did keep it up furiously for four or five minutes she took it with some confusion seeming all the while to be hesitating to be arrested in her course and trying to pass him but she did not really try to pass and her color deepened Fred spoke in German from her an occasional ja, so muttered rather than spoken when they rejoined Landry and Dr Archie Fred took up his tea again I see you're singing Venus Saturday night will they never let you have a chance at Elizabeth? she shrunk her shoulders not here there are so many singers here and they try us out in such a stingy way think of it last year I came over in October and it was the first of December when I went on at all I'm often sorry I left Dresden still Fred argued Dresden is limited just so and I've begun to sigh for those very limitations in New York everything is impersonal your audience never knows its own mind and its mind is never twice the same I'd rather sing where the people are pigheaded and throw carrots at you if you don't do it the way they like it the house here is splendid the night audiences are exciting I hate the matinees like singing at coffee clot she rose and turned on the lights ah Fred exclaimed why do you do that that is a signal that tea is over he got up and drew out his gloves not at all shall you be here Saturday night she sat down on the piano bench and leaned her elbow back on the keyboard Nectar sings Elizabeth make Dr Archie go everything she sings is worth hearing but she's failing so the last time I heard her she had no voice at all she is a core vocalist they cut him off she's a great artist whether she's in voice or not and she's the only one here if you want a big voice you can take my orchard of last night that's big enough and vulgar enough Fred laughed and turned away this time with decision I don't want her to get tested energetically I only wanted to get a rise out of you I like Nectar's Elizabeth well enough I like your Venus well enough too it's a beautiful part and it's often dreadfully sung it's very hard to sing of course Ottenberg bent over the hand she held out to him for an uninvited guest I fared very well you were nice to let me come up I'd have been terribly cut up if you'd sent me away may I? he kissed her hand lightly and back toward the door still smiling and promising to keep an eye on Archie he can't be trusted at all the one of the waiters at Martins worked a Toranian hair off on him at luncheon yesterday for 7.25 he broke into a laugh the deep one he recognized did he have a ribbon on his hair did they bring him in a goat cage no Archie spoke up for himself he had a brown sauce which was very good he didn't taste very different from any rabbit probably came from a push card on the east side they looked at her old friend commiseratingly yes do keep an eye on him Fred I had no idea shaking her head yes I'll be obliged to you pound on me their eyes met in a gay smile and Fred bowed himself out and of part 6 recording by Dion Giants Salt Lake City, Utah