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AUTHOR OF SEATS OF THE MIGHTY,"
THE BATTLE OF THE STRONG, ETC.
CHICAGO
CHARLES H. SERGEL COMPANY
1900
With a plaintive quirk of the voice the singer paused, gayly flicked thestrings of the banjo, then put her hand flat upon them to stop thevibration and smiled round on her admirers. The group were applaudingheartily. A chorus said, "Another verse, please, Mrs. Detlor."
"Oh, that's all I know, I'm afraid," was the reply. "I haven't sung it foryears and years, and I should have to think too hard—no, no, believe me,I can't remember any more. I wish I could, really."
A murmur of protest rose, but there came through the window faintly yetclearly a man's voice:
The brown eyes of the woman grew larger. There ran through her smile akind of frightened surprise, but she did not start nor act as if thecircumstance were singular.
One of the men in the room—Baron, an honest, blundering fellow—startedtoward the window to see who the prompter was, but the host—of intuitiveperception—saw that this might not be agreeable to their entertainer andsaid quietly: "Don't go to the window, Baron. See, Mrs. Detlor is going tosing."
Baron sat down. There was an instant's pause, in which George Hagar, thehost, felt a strong thrill of excitement. To him Mrs. Detlor seemed in adream, though her lips still smiled and her eyes wandered pleasantly overthe heads of the company. She was looking at none of them, but her bodywas bent slightly toward the window, listening with it, as the deaf anddumb do.
Her fingers picked the strings lightly, then warmly, and her voice rose,clear, quaint and high: