'I am not quite sure that you will like it,' Peggy hears her say. 'But, you know, I cannot help that—I did not write it. It is supposed to be said by an affectionate husband on the eve of his setting out for the wars.'
With this prelude she sets off—
'Oh! who will press that lily-white hand
When I am far away?
Some other man!'
Two more lines in the nature of a chorus follow, but they are so drowned by a roar of applause that Peggy can't catch them. She can only conjecture their nature from the look of impudent laughing challenge which the singer throws at the men around her. Under cover of that roar of applause the Bishop turns abruptly away.
The second verse follows—
'Oh! who will kiss those ruby lips
When I am far away?
Some other man!'
Again the two drowned lines. Again the chord and the applause; but this time it is very evident that the approbation is confined to the circle round the piano.
Betty has been well taught, and her enunciation is exceedingly pure and distinct. Not a word of her charming song is lost. She has reached the third verse—
'Oh! who will squeeze that little waist
When I am far away?
Some other man!'
Again that roar of admiring laughter from the men round the piano—all the more marked from the displeased silence of the rest of the room.