Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-12-16

/
J knew how 20 be. He became more do
nestle. His sporting friends thaving
/ worked their fated influence upon his
nerves. fieeced him of a few thousands,
and he was Shrewd enough 10 notice that,
! though they were hail fellow Wen met (
rey's. they never invited him to meet
1 their womenkind His pride in his daugh-
! ter ouSted the hankering for tiff hunting,
/ and he devoted himself more and more to
| her
Early in life the child had shown un-
! usual talent for the violin. As she grew
| in years her technique grew with her.
/ And when she was Il years of age Mar
maduke bought her genuine Amati. He
! took singing lessons again, and furnished
! MP his light tenor. now Il little the worse
for champagne and wear.
lie advertised for Il housekeaper of
good family and Il decent pianist, and ems
gagged woman of 40 possessing these at
| tributes. to sit at the end Of his table and
chaperon his little daughter, 30 that he
| could invite the few men who would
| bring their wives to his table for the sake
! of good dinner. Maude always dined
with them Then. after twenty-course
dinner. with a champagne. "a claret
and II port, and cigars for the men
which he was careful TO tell them cost
| him 2s6d each, he would give an exhibit
ton in the drawing room Of Maude's
prOwess on the AInati and his own yo-
caization in some air with violin Obliga-
to. OF all his repertoire nothing appealed
so much to him as Blumenthal's ''Requi-
tai" and GOunOd's Ave Maria" He
had got an incorrect translation of the
Latin of the latter. and managed TO put
some meaning into words which were
meaningless to him. His pride in the
pure rich tones of the violin and the eff
feet of the music flor music will affect
all kinds of natures, from highest to lows
est made a better man of him. rs he
reached from the high b fiat in ''nCnc in
bora morris nostrae," than he had ever
been before.
1t was a strange scene The parasites
who cared for nothing but the dinner try
ing not to look bored; the pretentious
housekeeper flashing her rings in the
Bach prelude; the accompaniment to
Gounod's melody; the lovely child with
eyes turned heavCnward and nerves and
sinews taut with the pious passion OF the
beautiful obligato appear, which went
Wailing from her old violin. pure and
true i'll tone, and instinct with the emo-
ton vibrating at her finger tips and the
little sandy haired, light-morstached
man, bending over the piano, complacent
and gesticuatory, but growing better,
better and nobler for the stirring in his
heart, for the tears in his eyes.
Maude never knew the real nature of
her father-or perhaps she did know the
real man, and | and the rest of us only
the artificial At any rate she loved him
with mere than the ordinary love Of a
daughter for a father. TO her he was
ever KIND. In her presence he would talk
tenderly Of his dead wife, and with self
deceptive path0s would sing WYATT her.
angels, through the Skies till the tears
ran down the cheeks of both widower
and child as they thought of her
whom the man had killed with neglect.
till the houSekeeper gave up all house
keepers thoughts of ever supplanting the
dead woman's memory.
But Maude grew up, and Mt concert
at which she was playing she met a
young planlst-One of those ephemeral
genluses who take the town by storm
for one season and then never play up to
the same form again.
Marmaduke engaged him for two or
three evenings to play with Maude feven
fiction should have taught him better).
and In the slow movement of The
| kreutZer they told each other their love
The tale is too old to give in detail.
Maude's love for her father was great.
but her love for her lover was greater.
And vet Marmadnke might have got her
70 sacrifice her lover to her father if he
| had gone the right way to work They
told him their secret on Christmas eve
of 1897 (when the guests had left after
Il dinner, thinking that the season would
make his heart kindly to their love-the
season OF peace and good will. But the
| knowledge that his daughter loved an
| other better than himself was sufficient
| To Kill any tenderness that had been
nursed into existence in Marmaduke. 1t
| cut at his pride, his vanity, his absurd
| self-importance.
He stormed and clustered, and insultcd
| both his daughter and the pianist. ana
| fnally turned them both out of the house
! into the night, daring either of them eyer
| to cross his threshold again. AS they
/ went down the steps into the street they
/ JoStlcd against some carol singers Iati-
| mer. the butler, let them out and syazed
sadly after them. All the servants loved
! AIaude.
Lawrence Confer. the pianist, was an
/ honorable youth. He took the girl TO
! his mothers house. whence he married
/ her as soon as the necessary formalities
/ could he got through.
! And that was fourteen years ago.
Since then no word had come to the
/ father Of either his daughter or the man
| She married. lie Went back TO the old
! selfish life, and, with the assistance of
/ the h0uSckeeper. who was now gray ana
! whose hopes were dead. he tried to salts
! fN the. sensation of something wanting
/ by giving great entertainments
For rhe last hour he had been sitting
| alone in the billiard ROOM that opened
into the hall. He had been ill., The
/ years and life were telling on him. His
/ toW-colored lHr was streaked with white
Ills features were more pinched and
| peeviSh than Of old.
Was it i'll health that had brought
thoughts Of the old days back to him
as he sat by the fire, putting with quick
| nervous puffS from cigar that deserved
better treatmentE
Hang her. ne said again. in spite
Of the curious aoftness he felt coming
over him; hang her, She deserved all
she got Hang all romance, anyway
lie. woke with a start. Who's that =
| he cried.
The fire was burning fiercely-the
swan lights glowed through the room
| lie looked round nervously. There was
nn one there. His dead cigar lay in
the hearth close beside him. The crel-
| ves2ancc of HIS brandy and soda had bub-
| hued ont He looked ot his vatch. no