Chapter XV
Drifting
THE days had passed swiftly by, and Philip had been for more than three years in the household of Signor Marini at Milan. To be sure he had been carried off by Lord Ashden for a month or two at the end of the first year’s work, and a glorious holiday it had been. The two travelled together through Switzerland, and Philip surprised his companion by his powers of endurance and his ability to undertake the most difficult and often dangerous feats of mountain-climbing without nervousness or fatigue. The joy of being united was equally great on both sides, and despite the great difference in their ages, Lord Ashden found in Philip the most congenial of companions, while the boy looked up to his friend with a glowing admiration and affection which day by day increased and strengthened.
It was a painful moment for both when, the vacation over, Philip returned to Milan for another twelve months of work and study, while Lord Ashden made a visit to England, promising to return for Philip’s début the following autumn, for Signor Marini had pushed his private scholar with might and main, and his enthusiastic hopes for Philip’s future made the old man quite young again.
“I live over again in your playing, my boy,” he would say, and he himself made all the arrangements for his pupil’s first public appearance at La Scala.
Philip himself was strangely unmoved by the prospect of playing before the largest, and perhaps the most critical, audience in all Europe.
“I can but do my best,” he said quietly with his flashing smile, and he was far more excited over the promise of Lord Ashden to come to Milan for the occasion than at the thought of the promised presence of royalty itself in the audience.
The night came, and Signor Marini was not disappointed in his pupil. The effect upon the audience of his uncommon beauty and youthfulness, and his wonderful playing, were instantaneous and lasting, and round upon round of applause greeted each appearance and exit.
Lord Ashden stood at the wings, pale with excitement, and when Philip came quietly towards him, saying simply: “They seem to like my playing, do they not?” he folded the boy in his arms, saying in a voice trembling with emotion:
“My darling boy, this is the proudest and happiest moment of my life! And now that the world recognizes your talent, and you have won your place in the topmost ranks, my dear boy, we must give you a long vacation,” he said later, when, the performance being over, they were taking supper in his lordship’s room at the hotel.
Lord Ashden then unfolded a plan of taking Philip with him on an extended tour through Europe and the East.