“You don’t mean that she must be deprived of all enjoyment. ‘All work and no play’—you know the rest.”
“No doubt she will get play enough, but I don’t want her to be a mere toy, as the other part of the old saw suggests. You and she talk the organ matter over, and if it doesn’t interfere with her school or her duties at home I have no objection. What do you say, Ellen? Would you like to learn to play the organ?”
“I’d just love it!” cried the girl excitedly. “I love the violin, too, but if I can’t have both, which of course I can’t, I’d adore to play the organ, to learn all those lovely things from the old masters, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and all the rest.”
“Then consider yourself my pupil.” Mr. Todd’s face was wreathed with smiles. “We’ll have the first lesson—— Let me see—when can you spare her, Rindy?”
“Why——” Miss Rindy considered the question. “I suppose she could always have a half hour late in the afternoon when she has done her lessons for the next day, or on Saturdays.”
“But——” Ellen suddenly looked distressed. “I—I’ve no money, Mr. Todd.”
His usually gentle face took on a frowning expression. “The daughter of one of our soldiers, who gave his life for a noble cause, needs no money in exchange for the little I can give her. Permit me, my dear child, to offer this much in honor of your brave father. You understand, Rindy, that I shall consider it a high privilege, aside from the pleasure it will give me, to have such a pupil, for it is a red-letter day when I meet a kindred soul such as she is.”
A whimsical smile flickered around Miss Rindy’s mouth. “Very well, Jeremy, all I ask is that you don’t haul her too high up into the clouds with your sentimentality. The practical part is all right, and I appreciate it and your goodness. I hope Ellen will do her part and come up to your expectations.”
“There isn’t the least doubt in my mind but she will,” responded Mr. Todd as he rose to go.
“You may as well take your fiddle,” charged Miss Rindy.