So he listened to Will’s humming and hawing apology with a quiet face of subdued9 amusement. What a bother about nothing! If Will wrote a piece for Linnet, why, of course, he’d write it excellently, and write it with most intimate knowledge of her voice, as well as with close sympathy for all its shades of feeling. Will knew her exact compass, her range, her capabilities10; he knew also her weak points, her limitations, her dramatic failings. And Linnet, for her part, was sure to sing well whatever Will wrote for her?—?both because it was Will’s, and because it was suited to her voice and character. The idea was an excellent one; how absurd to make a fuss about it!
“And he has some of it scored already, he says,” Linnet put in, half-trembling.
“Let me see it,” Andreas exclaimed, in his authoritative11 way; and he skimmed it over carefully. “H’m, h’m . . . that’s not bad,” he muttered from time to time as he went along . . . “suits her style very well . . . not at all a weak close; fine opportunity for that clear upper G of hers; excellently considered piece?—?have you tried it over, Linnet? I should think it ought to do very nicely indeed for you.”
“I just sang it a bit at sight,” Linnet answered, “on the hillside. When I met Herr Will first, we sat down and talked, because Herr Will was tired; and he showed me his score, and I tried part of it over a bit. But it was not that which you would quite call fairly trying it, for I had not seen it before, and had no time to study it. Still, I thought it very good?—?oh, exquisite12, perfect!?—?and I should like so much the chance to sing in it.”
“Try it now!” Andreas said, in his dictatorial13 tone.
And Linnet, without any affected14 hesitation15, or professional airs, opened her rich mouth naturally, and trilled forth16 upon Will’s delighted ear in a raptured17 flood her native first reading of his own graceful18 music.
“That’ll do!” Andreas said, with decision, as soon as she’d finished. “That’ll do, Linnet. We’ll arrange for it.”
And Will, leaning across to her over the plain deal table, as she stood blushing in front of him, exclaimed with delight, “Why, Linnet?—?Frau Hausberger, I mean?—?that’s charming, charming! I couldn’t have believed how pretty my own song was, till I heard you sing it!”
So that very day the whole matter was settled, as far, at least, as those three could settle it. It was decided19 and contracted that Will should definitely write an opera for Linnet; that he should offer it first to Mr Wells, the manager of the Harmony; and that if Wells refused it, it should go next to the Duke of Edinburgh’s, on condition that Linnet was engaged for the title-role. Before evening, Will had shouldered his knapsack once more (though Andreas would fain have constrained20 him to stay the night at their inn), and, with a timorous21 farewell to Linnet at the chalet door, had gone on his way rejoicing, to descend22 towards Oberwesel.
That interview gave him courage. During the course of the autumn he completed his piece, for he was a man of inspirations, and he worked very rapidly when the fit was upon him. The greater part of his opera he wrote and composed in the open air, beneath the singing larks23, on those green Swiss hillsides. And the larks themselves did not sing more spontaneous, with heart elate, for pure joy of singing. That one short tête-à-tête with Linnet at her chalet had filled his teeming24 brain with new chords and great fancies. Words and notes seemed to come of themselves, and to suggest one another; moods seemed to mirror themselves in becoming music. Besides, Will thought with no little pleasure, this new venture would bring him, for a time at least, into closer personal connection with Linnet. While rehearsals25 and other preliminary arrangements went on, he must be thrown a great deal perforce into Linnet’s company. And how delightful26 to think they would be working together for a common end; that success, if achieved, would be due in part and in equal degrees to each of them.
Will didn’t return to London till the end of October. He had spent the time meanwhile partly in the Bernese Oberland, and partly, later, on the south side of the Alps, among the valleys and waterfalls of the Canton Ticino. But when he arrived at Charing27 Cross, it was not empty-handed; he carried in his portmanteau the almost complete manuscript of Cophetua’s Adventure, that exquisite romance of no particular time and place, with its fanciful theme and its curious episodes, which proved at last that poetry is not stone-dead on our English stage, and that exquisite verse wedded28 to exquisite harmonies has still its fair chance of a hearing in England. He had only to polish it at his rooms in Craven Street, before submitting it to the opinion of the manager of the Harmony.
Linnet came later. She had a two months’ engagement first to fulfil in Paris, where Will read, with a little pang29 of regret, in the Figaro how she had turned the heads and captured the hearts (if any) of ten thousand boulevardiers. Her very innocence30 and simplicity31 at once delighted and surprised the profoundly sophisticated Parisian mind. All the world of the foyer unanimously voted her tout32 ce qu’il-y-a de plus enfantin. “She has afforded us,” said a famous lady-killer of the Avenue Victor Hugo, “the rare pleasure of a persistent33 and unreasoning refusal.” So all Paris was charmed, as all Paris always is at any new sensation. An opera-singer insensible to the persuasiveness34 of diamonds and the eloquence35 of bank-notes?—?all Paris shugged its shoulders in incredulous astonishment36. “Incroyable!” it muttered: “mais enfin, elle est jeune, cette petite?—??a viendra!”
So it was March before Linnet was in London once more. Andreas, ever business-like, had preceded her by a week or two, to conclude the needful arrangements with the people at the Harmony. By the time the prima donna herself arrived, everything was already well in train for the rehearsals. Linnet had studied her part, indeed, in Paris beforehand, till she knew every line, every word, every note of it. She had never learnt anything so easily in her life before, though she would hardly admit, even to herself, the true reason?—?because Will had written it. They met at the Harmony the very next afternoon, to discuss the details. Andreas was there, of course?—?he never left his wife’s side when business was in question; he must protect her interests: erect37, inflexible38, tall, powerful, big-built, with his resolute39 face and his determined40 mien41, he was a man whom no theatrical manager on earth could afford to bully42. He bargained hard with the Harmony for his wife’s services in this new engagement; for, indeed, her late Parisian vogue43 had put up her price another twenty per cent, or so; and now he stood there, triumphant44, self-conscious, jubilant, aware that he had done a good stroke of business for himself, and ready to do battle again on his wife’s behalf with all and sundry45. So satisfied was he, indeed, with their rising fortunes, that he had presented Linnet spontaneously with a five-pound note, all pocket-money of her own to do as she liked with, on their way to the theatre.
Linnet stood a little behind. Will grasped her hand eagerly. She took his in return without the faintest pressure?—?for Our Dear Lady knew well how wisely and circumspectly46 she meant to behave now towards him. The circumstances were dangerous: so much the more, Beloved Frau, would she strive to comport47 herself as becomes a good Catholic wife in the hour of temptation.
“You like your part, Signora?” Will asked of her, half-playfully, adopting her theatrical Italian style and title.
Linnet raised her big eyes. “I have never sung in anything I liked half so well,” she answered, simply.
The company assembled by degrees, and the usual preliminary discussion ensued forthwith as to parts, and cues, and costumes, and properties. Will’s own ideas, conceived among the virgin48 snows and pure air of the high Alps, were a trifle too ethereal and a trifle too virginal for that practical manager. He modified them considerably49. Various points had to be talked over with various persons. In the midst of them all, Will was surprised to feel of a sudden a sturdy gloved hand laid abruptly50 on his shoulder, and a powerful though musical feminine voice exclaiming volubly at his ear in very high German, “Ach mein Gott! it’s Herr Will! So we meet again in London. Herr Andreas told me you had written this piece for Linnet; but one hardly knows you again, you’ve grown so much older?—?and better dressed?—?and richer! And, Dear Frau! in the Tyrol, you wore no beard and whiskers!”
Will turned in surprise. It was a minute, even so, before he quite recognised the stalwart speaker. It was Philippina, still good-humoured and buxom51 and garrulous52 as of old; but, oh, great heavens, how much changed from the brown-faced sennerin with the rough woollen petticoat who had offered them milk, all frothy from the cow, in the stoneware mug on the hillside at St Valentin! If Linnet was altered, Philippina was transmogrified. Her jolly round face was surmounted53 incongruously by the latest and airiest thing out in Parisian bonnets54; her dress was the very glass and mirror of fashion; her delicate gloves looked as dainty as seven-and-a-halfs are ever likely to look upon feminine fingers. Civilisation55, indeed, had done its worst for Philippina: it had transformed her outright56 from a simple and natural if somewhat coarse-fibred cow-girl into the jolly, bouncing, distinctly vulgar type of third-rate actress. With all the good-humoured coarseness of her original nature, she now possessed57 in addition all the airs and graces, all the coquettish affectations, all the noisy self-assertion of the theatrical utility.
“Why, I didn’t know you were in England,” Will exclaimed, taken aback at her unexpected salute58, and surveying from head to foot with no very pleased eye the fly-away peculiarities59 of her over-trimmed costume. “Then you’ve taken to the stage!” He turned hastily to Linnet, and added in English, which Philippina did not understand when he last met her, “She isn’t surely going to play in this piece of mine, is she?”
“So!” Philippina answered, in a very Teutonic voice, indeed, but in our native vernacular60. “Ach, yes; I am going to play in it; Herr Andreas has arranched all zat wis ze manager. You are surbrized to zee zat I shall blay in your biece. But I haf blay pevore in many bieces in Paris.”
Will glanced at Linnet, a mute glance of inquiry61. He didn’t know why, but Linnet’s eyes fell, and a blush spread quick over that clear brown cheek of hers. It wasn’t the familiar blush he was accustomed to see there; he noted62 at once some tinge63 of shame and personal humiliation64 in the look that accompanied it. But she answered quickly, “Oh yes; Philippina’s to play. My husband and Mr Wells have settled all about it.”
“What part?” Will inquired, with a slight sense of sinking; for he wasn’t over-well pleased to hear those dainty lines of his were to be murdered by Philippina’s coarse guttural utterance65.
“Ze Brincess Berylla,” Philippina replied, with glib66 promptitude and great self-satisfaction. “It’s a very schmall part; bod I shall do my best in it.”
Will gave a slight sigh of relief. The Princess Berylla would do at a pinch. If she must sing at all, it was well at least she should sing in so minor67 a character. Though, to be sure, he had his misgivings68 how his water-fairies’ song would sound on the stage when delivered with her clumsy Teutonic pronunciation:
“They loved to dwell
In a pearly shell
And to deck their cell
With amber69;
Or amid the caves
That the riplet laves
And the beryl paves
To clamber.
By the limpets’ home
And the vaulted70 dome71
Where the star-fish roam
They’d linger;
In the mackerel’s jaw72,
Or the lobster’s claw,
They’d push and withdraw
A finger.”
He trembled to think what sort of strange hash those thick lips of hers would make of his lilting versification.
However, for the moment, and for Linnet’s sake, he said nothing against it. A little later in the afternoon, he had five minutes with the prima donna alone in one of the passages. “Look here, Linnet,” he said hurriedly with a beseeching73 glance, “must we have Philippina?”
“There’s no must at all in the matter, except the musts you make,” Linnet answered, trembling. “If you say she must go, Mr Wells will cut her out, I suppose, to please you. Only?——” and she hesitated.
“Only what?” Will cried, inquiringly.
“Only . . . I’m afraid Andreas wouldn’t like it.”
Her face flushed again. Will looked down at her and paused. A great many thoughts ran through his head in a second. Linnet scanned the floor, embarrassed. After awhile, Will spoke74 again in a very low tone. “I’d let anybody sing, Linnet,” he said, “with a voice like a frog’s, rather than allow?—?well, any trouble to crop up between myself and your husband.”
“Thank you,” Linnet answered simply. But she lifted her eyes and gave him one grateful look that was more than full recompense.
“How did Philippina learn English?” Will asked once more, hardly daring to press the subject.
“Oh, Andreas has always taken?—?well?—?a very great interest in her, you know,” Linnet answered, with a faintly evasive air. “She went with us to Italy. He kept her on when he paid off the rest of his troupe75 at Meran; and he got her trained under agreement, and put her into a minor part when I sang at San Carlo. When we came to England first, she went for awhile to Paris; but he’s always been getting her English lessons everywhere. He has a claim on her, he says, for money advanced to train her for the stage. . . . She’s a very good-natured girl, and she’s always been kind to me.”
“I see,” Will answered, with a suddenly sobered air. “Very well, then, Linnet,” and he drew a deep sigh?—?though not for himself; “she shall sing the part of Princess Berylla.”
“Thank you,” Linnet said simply, with a sigh, once more.
But till then, he had never thought Linnet had that to put up with.
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1
flouting
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| v.藐视，轻视( flout的现在分词 ) | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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capabilities
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| n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力 | |
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authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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13
dictatorial
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| adj. 独裁的，专断的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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raptured
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| 欢天喜地的，狂喜的，销魂的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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23
larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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24
teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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rehearsals
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| n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复 | |
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26
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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27
charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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28
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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persuasiveness
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| 说服力 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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38
inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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42
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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45
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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circumspectly
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| adv.慎重地，留心地 | |
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comport
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| vi.相称，适合 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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51
buxom
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| adj.（妇女）丰满的，有健康美的 | |
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52
garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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53
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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54
bonnets
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| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
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civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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57
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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58
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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59
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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61
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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63
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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64
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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65
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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glib
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| adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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68
misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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69
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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70
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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71
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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72
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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73
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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74
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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75
troupe
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| n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团 | |
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