“Not in the humor? Well, be in the humor. I was never in better spirits in my life. I would n't change with Davis when he won the Czarewitch. Such a dinner as old Bauer gave us, and such wine! and then this coffee, not to speak of the company,—eh, Lizzy?”
“Yes, Mr. Bauer was most agreeable.”
“I was n't talking of Mr. Bauer, ma chère, I was thinking of some one else.”
“I did n't know,” said she, with a half-weary sigh.
Beecher's cheek flushed up, and he walked to the window and looked out; meanwhile she took up a book and began to read. Along the alley beneath the window troops of people now passed towards the rooms. The hour of play had sounded, and the swell of the band could be heard from the space in front of the Cursaal. As his eyes followed the various groups ascending the steps and disappearing within the building, his imagination pictured the scene inside.
There was always a kind of rush to the tables on the last few nights of the season. It was a sort of gamblers' theory that they were “lucky,” and Beecher began to con over to himself all the fortunate fellows who had broken the bank in the last week of a season. “I told old Grog I 'd not go,” muttered he; “I pledged myself I'd not enter the rooms; but, of course, that meant I 'd not play,—it never contemplated mere looking in and seeing who was there: rather too hard if I were not to amuse myself, particularly when”—here he turned a glance towards Lizzy—“I don't perceive any very great desire to make the evening pass pleasantly here. Ain't you going to sing?” asked he, half angrily.
“If you wish it,” said she, coldly.
“Nor play?” continued he, as though not hearing her reply.
“If you desire it,” said she, rising, and taking her place at the piano.
He muttered something, and she began. Her fingers at first strayed in half-careless chords over the instrument; and then, imperceptibly, struck out into a wild, plaintive melody of singular feeling and pathos,—one of those Hungarian airs which, more than any other national music, seem to dispense with words for their expression.