“No, not answerable for the accident, perhaps,” said Mr Tankardew; “but your case and the case just related by my young friend are not quite parallel, for his companion knew that the farmer had, by his own confession, been in the habit of exceeding; you didn’t know but that the guard was a moderate man.”
“Exactly so,” replied the other; “I presumed, of course, that he knew when to stop.”
“And yet, my dear sir,” rejoined the old man, earnestly, “isn’t it perilous work offering a stimulant which is so ruinous to tens of thousands, and has emptied multitudes of homes of health, and peace, and character?”
“Well, it may be so; I’m certainly beginning to think it anything but wise getting children into the habit of liking these things;” and he glanced anxiously at Mark, who appeared intensely absorbed in looking at some photographs upside down.
There was a few moments’ pause, and then the old man said, “Come, let us have a little music, perhaps Miss Rothwell will favour us.”
Nothing loth, the young lady led off in a brilliant sonata, displaying in the execution more strength of muscle than purity of taste; then came a duet by the eldest and youngest sisters, and then a song by the second. Mr Tankardew expressed his satisfaction emphatically at the conclusion, possibly more at finding the performance ended than at the performance itself.
Mr John Randolph then seated himself at the piano, at the host’s request, and addressed himself to his work with a loving earnestness that showed that the soul of music dwelt within him. The very first chords he struck riveted at once the attention of every one, an attention which was deepened into surprised delight, as he executed with perfect finish passages of surpassing brilliancy growing out of the national airs of many countries—airs which floated out from the entanglements of the more rapid portions with an earnest pathos that held every hearer as with a spell of enchantment.
“Marvellous, marvellous! Bravo!” cried both Mr Rothwell and Mark at the conclusion.
“My young friend,” said Mr Tankardew, “will be glad to give lessons in music, as an occupation. He will be making my house his home at present.”
There was a slight expression of surprise on every face, and of something like scorn or contempt on the Rothwells’. However, both the young ladies at “The Firs” and Mrs Franklin expressed their wish to engage Mr Randolph’s services, and so it was arranged.