The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-03-25

seemed to De- on a Fat rock not much
above the water level, and behind it
was a curving wall, a little cliff ten
feet high, but of this only the top was
visible. for it was of course impossible
for me to see anything that was di-
rectly behind the light.
As for the singer she was utterly in
visible. There was something mystical
III this music, which seemed TO proceed
out of the red fire that. with the ia
miliar habit of inanimate moving OBJ
jects, assumed to the eye the rhythm of
the song | was so deeply fascinated
by all this that | forgot my seaman
ship and let my oar strike the boats
rail with IA sharp sound.
Instantly the music ceased, and was
tortured ~ a perfect silence. This
was a. emergency. and | knew it. The
. singer aight be at tEat l2or42nt escap-
ing ~ Seize secret pGtl among the
rocks. Tor Il moment was near to
the deadly banality Of addressing her.
apoIogi1lng, introducing myself, com
hitting / know not what absurdity
Then it occurred to my mind that
since there undoubtedly was a way of
escape for her it might possibly be
permissible for me to sing There have
been serenades in all ages. and I'M
coubtedly at one time or another wo-
men have listened to worse voices than
mine with very kind acceptance of the
offering for the sake of tie spirit in
which it has been made. So l sang the
first thing that came into my head. and
it happened to be ballad called 1.-THE
Evening Star" quite trivial in every
way, that l used to sing to Sibyl long
ago.
1t is we'll known that in moments of
excitement one speaks above his usual
pitch, and this law OF nature worked to
defeat me in the present instance The
man who wrote The Evening STAR
would never have dared to publish it
in the key that l hit, for he would have
found few that could sing it. | think
special dispensation must have been
granted me. Ter | got through the first
stanza Ike a nightingale, but l per-
spired rely with terror Then l
waited, and by my sensations of dura-
ton it should have been 4 o'clock in
the next afternoon when l heard a
blessed sound from the shore 1t was
the guitar, and presently the lady sang
again. She had chosen Hearts De-
light" quaint little melody. and
SibyPs favorite of all, as l remembered.
l have strong faith in the power and
the will of chance to deceive a man,
but to take this for coincidence was an
impossibility.
1t could be only Sibyl that sang to
Y
bic to emotion than was the wood of
the boat that bore me if l had not
thought .tenderiy of the little girl who
had wept in the dark at Hearts De
light in the old days.
In the voice itself there was nothing
whatever that reminded me of Sibyl.
1t was not girlish, and of course /
could not fully realize the difference
that the years had made. She was
still a child to me, and the voice was
womanly. l would have said the singer
had been taught not only by thoroughly
competent masters, but by her own
emotions; well taught by both, and in
the school of the heart one gets no
degree at 19-it is indeed an early age
to be admitted
l made no analysis at that time;
merely thought that it was strange.
Therein it was the more agreeable.
did not wish to reduce this adventure
to the level of the known. 1t was all
asked to sit there in the red ray of fire
and speak the language of music with
a dream girl fncarnated from the June
night.
There was III interval of silence. OBJ
viously it was for me to break it, and
1 suddenly began to ransack my brain
for a good song. That was the wrong
place to investigate. If l had left my
brain at Mrs. Witherspoon's it would
have been better. Promptings that are
worth obeying at such times arise from
the deep seated. unerring region of in
sttuct. ] could not think of the right
song, but if | had sung without think
ing there would have been no chancs
of mistake
Ito be continued.)