Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1911-03-09
His
Criticism
By Henry O. Martin



Copyright. 1910, by Associated Literary press)
She was ready and waiting. She
was not nervous. She had too much
confidence in herself for that She
smiled serenely as she glanced again
at the program in her hand How
we'll her name looked printed, Miss
Maude Vance, soprano Yes, taken
all in all, she was quite perfect in
training and figure and stage pres
ence. And her dress-wl.y, it was
Partisan to the last degree and, there
fore, perfect, too. She had chosen it
because she had always had fond
ness for pink-and she remembered
that he had, too. Certainly she had
thought of him. She had meant
from the first to show him that she
could succeed, that her voice was
worth something. She had never quite
forgiven him what he had said that
night two years ago, when she had
told him that she was going abroad
to study.
Don't do it, Maude," he had said.
You haven't voice enough"
He had said it in those very words.
And he was the only one who had
ever said it. Everybody else had
praised her to the skies-her mother
| and her dearest friends and her teach
ers. They must know better than he
did. Yet she could never get those
words of his out of her mind. And
] his way of saying them! He was al
ways so deadly, in earnest about evs
erything. Especially about that. How
| angry she had been!
III show you! she had flung back
at him as she struggled to keep the
tears from her eyes.
During those two years of study
| that determination of hers had been
ever present: "I'll show him." 1t
had driven her to do, painstakingly,
all the drudgery demanded of her.
1t had kept her on her feet under
the e1acting eyes of the famous macs
tro, who had been coaxed to accept
her as his pupil, when she was ready
to fall down with fatigue.
!. And now she had learned all there
was to learn, apparently, and had
come back to show him that she had
a voice and could sing, after ALL She
would f1aunt her success in his face
and, since he was fair, he would be
obliged to admit it. Then she would
smile at him and forgive him.
She knew that he was out there
in the audience with the rest-her
m nd
and the old uncle who had advanced
the money for her training. They
were impatiently listening, she knew,
to the performers that preceded her
and longing for her to appear. Not
one OF them, except her mother, who
had been her constant companion,
had heard her sing since she return
ed. She had been very careful that
they should not She wanted to sur
prise them all-him especially.
1t was curious that she should still
care for his opinion-that she had al
ways cared, even when she would not
own it. What was there, aside from
his love for her, that should have any
weight withs her whatever? He was
not rich or handsome or of great in,
| fuence, as were half dozen other
men she knew almost as well, but
somehow it was always his face and
not theirs that she saw in her dreams.
| Miss Vance!" said the manager.
Her turn had come. From beyond
the stage came the diminishing ap-
plause Of an encore. She thought,
Mr.. HEREFORD must have pleased
them" Then she rose, arranged her
train and followed her accompanist
out upon the stage. They were all
there and she faced them calmly,
smiling and bowling in acknowledge
ment OF the whirlwind of applause
that greeted her.
| There was her mother, very flushed
and conscious in her new lavender
satin; there was Aunt Belle, her bos-
ON twinkling with jetted lace; there
was her cousin Violet Vance, who, too,
longed to sing, and there was Uncle
James, whose bounty had supplied her
with French gowns and Italian teach
ers.
There was he, with his lifted look
and his white brow, from which the
dark hair went back smoothly, and his
clear grey eyes fixed upon her.! Did
he notice that her gown was pink?
Or dream of its meaning? She won
dered great many things as she
stood waiting for the applause to end
SO that she could sing. She felt eager
to sing. She left capable of doing her
best.
Her voice had never been better
and the aria she had chosen was sure
to please. All, there was the keynotel
AS she sang, she was still conscious
of what was going on before her up
on the faces of the audience, which
was composed largely of people she
had known all her life. The general
look of eager expectation had chang
ed. not to one of qualification, but to
one of amazement. of perplexity, al
most of pain
The one man sat very still, with his
-1.t ls-.t~