“Oh, thank you! And you’ll stay here till he goes?”
“I surely will.”
“You blessed Nita! I feel guilty, when he is our guest; but I don’t see what he came up here for—I didn’t ask him.”
“Not ready yet?” broke in Miss Crilly’s laughing voice. “Please, somebody see if my hat’s on straight.”
“Yes; but you don’t want any hat. Leave it here. Let me fluff up your hair a bit—there, that’s all right. Now we’re ready.”
The afternoon passed in gala-day fashion. The party paired off as it happened, but although the others changed partners more than once, Polly walked with Nelson Randolph from the door of the chalet to the lakeside and back again.
That evening was one forever to be remembered. At the request of Mrs. Randolph, Doodles had brought his violin, and he and Polly and David played and sang from directly after tea until ten o’clock, when Mr. Randolph and the two boys left for Overlook, where they were to spend the night. Never had the little patients known such a musical feast. And Benedicta—she tells it best herself.
“I’ve heard music before; but this wasn’t the regular kind; it was something so amazin’ly over-mastering that I lost myself consummately, and when it got through I didn’t honestly know where I was. That little Doodles—my! I could hear the birds singin’ before sunrise just as plain, crooning an’ twittering as they will when it’s comin’ light, and then breakin’ out fit to burst their little throats, tryin’ to say good-morning to all the world at once! And in that other one I could see the sun dippin’ right down into a bed of gold, and the girl and feller that were in love with each other—why, I almost heard what they were whisperin’!—How does he do it!—that’s what I want to know—how does he do it?—just with those strings and a bow!”
In the duet sung by Polly and David, most innocently asked for by Nelson Randolph, Polly had to summon all her strength to control her face and her voice. She would have declined, but David responded readily enough, and she would not be outdone by him.
“If I cared for David now,” she afterwards told Nita, “I could never have sung it. All that troubled me was that it brought back the last night we sang together, when I loved him—or thought I did—and once or twice the memory almost overpowered me. But if you and Lilith say I didn’t show it, I will try to believe you.”