“Oh! yes,” said Laurentia, sarcastically, “then my daughter used to plunge into Beethoven, Mendelsohn, Mozart, Chopin and all the rest of them, and neglect the world—”
“No, mother,” hastily broke in Anna, “not neglect—but tried for a while to forget the world which for me, as I have said, has no attractions—in the glorious realm of music, which, as a paradise, lay open before me.”
“That is a mighty fine speech,” said Laurentia, with mocking lip but with moistened eye; for the emotional woman could not, with all her cynicism, remain unmoved at her daughter’s enthusiasm. “Very fine, indeed; but, all this, remember, does not explain to me how you first came to discover that you were in love with van Nerekool.”
“Among all the company which surrounded you,” continued Anna, “there were but very few indeed who could resist the temptation of a quadrille-party, of some political dispute or of a description of a white damask burnouse to—”
“To group themselves around the priestess of Harmony,” said Mrs. van Gulpendam, with a good-natured smile.
“To enjoy some better and higher pleasure than the trivial conversation of the so-called beau monde,” continued Anna. “Among those few was Mr. van Nerekool, or rather I should say he was the only one; for even if now and then some young man would come and stand at my piano for a moment or two,—he did so—not for the sake of the music, still less for the sake of her who played it—”
“Now, Anna dear!” broke in Mrs. van Gulpendam, “we are getting a little too modest I think!”
“Still less I said,” continued the young girl, not noticing the interruption, “for the sake of her who played it; but merely because I happened to be the daughter of the Resident to which some little compliment ought now and then to be paid, and some little politeness was due. All these would run away quickly enough the moment the cards were brought in or the moment they heard some quotation from the colonial news in the Java papers. Then it was that I was left alone with Charles. I found in him a true lover of music, and one who can feel what music means! Thus we were generally isolated in the midst of a crowd, and thus used we to express our feelings in the delicious melody which our fingers could produce—No, no, dear mother,” she continued, most seriously, “pray do not smile. On such occasions never one word escaped from the lips of either of us which could convey the slightest hint of what was passing in our hearts. That word might perhaps have remained unspoken; for I am convinced that van Nerekool was thinking as little about love as I was, and that we both felt nothing more than a mutual attraction to one another. But last night—during the Invitation à la valse, our secret slipped out—and oh, dearest mother, you yourself witnessed our first kiss!”
As she spoke these words the young girl gently laid her head upon her mother’s breast, who flung her arm around her as she looked into her daughter’s appealing eyes.
“And now, mother,” continued Anna, softly, “can you forgive your child for having obeyed the voice of her heart?”