'Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.'
Francesca joined me just then, and a tear was in her eye. "Penny
dear, when all is said, 'Believe me' is the dearer song of the two.
Anybody can sing, feel, live, the first, which is but a youthful
dream, after all; but the other has in it the proved fidelity of the
years. The first song belongs to me, I know, and it is all I am fit
for now; but I want to grow toward and deserve the second."
"You are right; but while Love's Young Dream is yours and Ronald's,
dear, take all the joy that it holds for you. The other song is for
Salemina and Dr. Gerald, and I only hope they are realising it at
this moment--secretive, provoking creatures that they are!"
The old organist left his pupil just then, and disappeared through a
little door in the rear.
"Have you the Wedding March there?" I asked the pupil who had been
practising the love-songs.
"Oh yes, madam, though I am afraid I cannot do it justice," he
replied modestly. "Are you interested in organ music?"
"I am very much interested in yours, and I am still more interested
in a romance that has been dragging its weary length along for
twenty years, and is trying to bring itself to a crisis just on the
other side of that screen. You can help me precipitate it, if you
only will!"
Well, he was young and he was an Irishman, which is equivalent to
being a born lover,and he had been brought up on Tommy Moore and
music--all of which I had known from the moment I saw him, else I
should not have made the proposition.
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