| Show r TWO SINGERS AND A SONG by ESTELLINE E BENNETT copyright 1902 by dily story pub boj ca the last notes of the voluntary died away in a whisper for a moment the I 1 restless congregation was hushed only the muffled roar of the stamp mills on the opposite side of the gulch brol e the silence with its mon reminder of something dearer than a day of rest through the open windows of the church came the odor of pines and the damp sweet fresh ness of spring A small boy looked wistfully fully out and thought of the cro auses blooming under the rod s on the hillside A young girl with her eyes on her prayer book let her fancy stray to a winding mountain road and a young mining expert driving alone into the waiting stillness of the church floated the first faint sweet strains of the processional but above them clear and shrill rang the notes of a pop liar ilar tune a man was whistling in the street the glitter ing cross down the aisle came the vested choir led by the thin shrill treble of the little children in the rear walked the soloists marking tha words of the hymn with dumb moving lips to save their voices one of these was a stranger the other in spite of dar dari i rumors concerning his fitness to wear ear a surplice was the favorite at st johns he could sing like an angel it if he didn t live like one his handsome dissipated face brought out in sharp contrast the pure almost spiritual beauty of the new tenor As the singers filed into their places and the belated worshipers who had been detained in the vesti vestibule bulo hurried to their pews a striking looking worn an fol allowed oll owed the usher down the aisle to a seat the people in the pew crowded closer together to make room for her and some one handed her a prayer book no one noticed her again until her voice rang out on the chant then the people turned to look at her none of the women knew her most of the men did the psalter for the third day of the month morning prayer read the rector in his deep melodious voice ioie e and then he waited while hile the prayer book leaves fluttered and rustled and the singers laid their hymnals face downward to keep the place tor for the gloria lord who shall dwell in thy tabernacle or who mho shall rest upon thy holy hilla hlll he read in slow tin presslie press lve tones and with a rush of 0 many hurried voices came the response even he that an uncorrupt life and boeth the thing which is right and speak eth the truth from his heart for the first time in years the words caught the attention of de vere and with an unconscious asso elation clation of ideas he looked up tip at the new tenor he ile knew that the white surplice emphasized the spiritual quality in any face he himself could look almost a saint in his vestments and the subdued light of the church but in this boy boys s delicate clear cut face there was aas purity and strength something de vere had believed in years ago and had lost and errol the new tenor seemed to look at him across the chancel with the reproving eyes of his own lost youth on the te deum he could hear the tenor with its peculiar thrill and from the con gre gatlon gation came ane mellow contralto notes of the woman who was a stranger et ranger there with a quick sense of mockery de vere closed his lips and with a movement of his hand to his throat shook his head at the choir leader he ile sang his solo just before the sermon in a voice a it trifle husky and strange using all his art to con ceal a lack he had never realized be fore he didn dian t know what the ser mon was hardly knew whether there was one he ile was waiting for the solo that was to follow A face might deceive him but never a voice the sermon was ended the offer tory taken and the ushers standing expectantly in the rear of the church when the organ rolled out the famil tar prelude there is a green hill far away sang erroll errol and everybody listened the voice ivas as a rich sweet tenor robusto showing immaturity some glaring faults of and a lack of 0 that smoothness and finish that IP A A L he vo ce was a rich sweet tenor robusto mas nas the beauty of de leies dut but these are the things tl at come with years and the appealing charm of the voice aas something that neither masters nor hard worl nor knowledge linow ledge of I 1 fe noi even heart break can eer e er teach it seemed in its it very tones and cadences cadence to p each the gospel of love and right living it opened up the gates of heaven and made honesty and purity and even renunciation north while he died to make us good and the listeners wondered that their hearts had ever g own hard and their lives gone N rong there was a hush over the church when hen the singer finished broken only by the stifled sob of a woman men who nho spent six das days of the in a rt sh of business which I 1 new neither music nor religion furtively furt nely wiped their eyes a soprano in the choir towed her head on the back ot of the seat in front of her and cried softly then well go up to the rectory and be marred marr ed without an effort at restraint and a pale tired woman in a front pew looked up with a new nem light in her thin pinched face as though she had found something in life that made it worth the struggle de vere sat apparently unmoved but his face was pale and Ms Hs lips were set in a thin straight line in the crowded vestibule esti bule at the close of the service he met the woman with the voice and joined her she looked startled but the hard dark face soft ened cried a little and de vere showed no trace of embarrassment nor concern as he walked beside her down doun the steps and out into the bright sunlight with the church people he knew so well ell crowding him on all sides III I 1 II 11 never sing in church again he said as the they turned down the steps leading to main street I 1 have al ways known that some t me long before I 1 lost my voice I 1 d have to give up this sort of singing you know what I 1 mean we ve tall ed it over often enough its it s my better self that sings ir church on sunday mornings it its s the man I 1 might haie been when I 1 sing sacred music I 1 always imagine I 1 im in that other fellow I 1 might have been and I 1 ve known that the time would come when I 1 would be too far away from him to do it any longer yes the woman said softly but I 1 don t understand why it has come to you so suddenly NN hats the mat ter to days Is it this new singer this boy he ile doesn doean t s ng as well as you do you know he diesu doesn t yet he s thrown some kind of a spell over you I 1 saw tl at in church and I 1 don t under s don dont t youa de N vere ere said quietly don t you know that he holds people and always will because back of bis his beautiful voice and musical misical m tempera ment is a pure good life and a char acter that s worth something 7 9 don dont t y ou on I 1 now that his personal beauty has little or nothing to do with it he i he s but he lives it seven days in the week they had passed the dead line and were mere in the bad lands the district of dance halls and saloons in the brief silence that had fallen between them the woman was mas waiting breathlessly tor for what was N as to come she had never before walked down main street with de vere in the broad glare of noon something unusual was bound to happen we well 11 get dinner now he said in his cool practical fashion of arranging commonplace 1 details and then we well 11 gc up to the rectory and be married we well 11 leave town on the night train and begin all over again it may be too late to do us any good in this world but perhaps it will give us a sort of a start in the next |
