The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-10-09
fContinued from last Saturday,


thought him much nicer than he had
formerly been, and she liked his per
feet simplicity.
"Stand anywhere you like" she
said, but let me hear the tune"
Van Torp rose and went to the
window and she looked quietly at his
square figure and his massive, sandy
head and his strong neck. Presently
he began to whistle. very softly and
perfectly in tune Many street-boy
could do as well, no doubt, and Mrs.
Rushmore would have called it a vul-
gar accomplishment, but the mag
nifcent prima donna was too true
musician, as well as a singer, not to
take pleasure in a sweet sound, even
if It were produced by 2 stTeet-bOy.
But as Mr. Van Torp went on, she
opened her eyes very wide and held
her breath. There was no mistake
about it; he was whistling long pieces
from "Parsifal," as far as it was pos
sible to convey an idea of such music
by such means. Margaret had studied
it before coming to Bayreuth, in or
der to understand it better; she had
now already heard it once, and had
felt the greatest musical emotion of
her life-one that had stirred other
emotions, too, strange ones quite
new to her.
She held her breath and listened,
and her eyes that had been wide open
in establishment, slowly closed again
in pleasure, and presently, when he
reached the Good Friday music, her
own matchless voice 1oated out with
her unconscious breath, in such per
feet octaves with his high whistling
that at first he did not understand;
but when he did. the rough hard man
shivered suddenly and steadied him
self against the window-sill, and
Margaret's voice went on alone, with
family breathed words and then
without them, following the instru-
mentation to the end of the scene,
beyond what he had ever heard.
Then there was silence in the room,
and neither of the two moved for
some moments, but at last Van Torp
turned, and came back.
Thank you" he said, in low
voice.
Margaret smiled and passed her
hand over her eyes quickly, as if to
dispeI vision she had seen. Then
she spoke.
do you really not know what that
music isl" she asked. Really,
really?"
ooh, quite honestly 1 DON'T"
You're not Joking? You're not
laughing at me?"
~" He could not understand. Il
shouldn't darei" he said.
You've been whistling some of
"Parsifal." some of the most beauti-
full music that ever was written-and
you whistle mavellously, for it's any
thing but easy Where in the world
did you learn it? Don't tell me that
those are old tunes you picked up
on a California ranchi"
It's true all the same" Van Torp
answered.
He told her of the two foreigners
who used to whistle together in the
evenings, and how one was supposed
to have been shot and the other had
disappeared, no one had known with
er. nor had cared
All sorts of young fellows used to
drift out there" he said, and one
couldn't tell where they came from,
though I can give a guess at where
some of them must have been, since
I've seen the world There were
younger sons of English gentlemen
fellows whose fathers were genuine
lords, maybe, who had not brains
enough to get into the army or the
church. There were cashiered Prus-
sian officers. and Frenchmen who had
most likely killed women out of jeal-
ousy. and Sicilian bandits, and brok-
en- society men from New York There
were all sorts And there was me
And we all spoke different kinds of
English and had different kinds of
tastes. good and bad-mostly bad
There was only one thing we could
all do alike, and that was TO ride
q never thought Of you as riding,
Margaret said.
Well why should you? But I can,
because was just a common cowboy
and had to, for living"
ITS intensely interesting a
strange life you have had Tell me
more about yourself, won't your"
There's not much to tell, it seems
to me-" said Van TOrp. From being
cowboy l turned into miner, and
struck a little silver, and I sold that
and got into nickel and I made the
Nickel Trust what it is. more by
financing it than anything else, and
got almost all of it. And now I've sold
the whole thing"
sold the Nickel Trust?" Margaret
was quite as much surprised as Lady
Maud had been
Yes. I wasn't made to do one
thing long, I suppose. If were,
should still be a cowboy. Just now,