Complete Works of F Marion Crawford

by F. Marion Crawford

  He changed the subject with extreme directness, and Mrs. Rushmore, who was used to the dictatorial ways of lions, took the hint submissively enough, though she would have been glad to discuss the relative and intrinsic values of the designations ‘Lady Maud’ and ‘Countess Leven.’ But it was much more important that the lion should be left alone with Margaret as much as possible, and the excellent lady therefore remembered that she had something to do and left them.

  ‘I had a little talk with Kralinsky before he left,’ said Van Torp, when she was gone. ‘He says he’ll meet us in Venice any time in the next few days. He’s just going to run over to Vienna in his sudden-death-cart for twenty-four hours; then he’ll go south, he says. He ran me up to the hotel and dropped me. I daresay you heard the toots. I thought I saw Lady Maud looking out of the window of your room as I got out.’

  ‘Yes,’ Margaret said. ‘But how do you know that is my window?’

  ‘In the first place, I’ve counted the windows. I felt a sort of interest in knowing which was yours. And then, I often see your maid opening the shutters in the morning.’

  ‘Oh!’ Margaret smiled. ‘Did you notice anything unusual about Lady Maud when you saw her?’ she asked, for she knew that he had good eyes.

  ‘Since you mention it, I thought she looked as if she didn’t feel quite up to the mark — pale, I thought she was.’

  ‘Yes,’ Margaret said. ‘She felt ill for a moment, and I thought she was going to faint. But it passed almost directly, and she insisted on going for a walk.’

  ‘Oh,’ mused Mr. Van Torp, ’is that so? Well, I daresay it was the best thing she could do. I was telling you about Kralinsky. He’s not Levi Longlegs after all, and I’m not sure he was ever in the West.’

  ‘I thought it sounded unlikely,’ Margaret said.

  ‘I asked him, just like that, in a friendly way, and he thought a moment and made an effort to recollect, and then he seemed quite pleased to remember that I’d been “Fanny” and he’d been Levi Longlegs, and that he used to whistle things out of Parsifal by the fire of an evening.’

  ‘Well — but in that case—’ Margaret stopped with an inquiring look.

  ‘Just so,’ continued Van Torp, nodding. ‘Did you ever attend a trial and hear a witness being cross-examined by a lawyer who wants him to remember something, and he wants to remember it himself, but can’t, because he never heard of it before in his life? It’s quite funny. The lawyer makes steps for him and puts his feet into them so that he gets along nicely, unless the judge happens to wake up and kick, and then the little game stops right there, and somebody laughs. Well, my talk with Kralinsky was like that, only there was no judge, so he went away happy; and we’re old friends now, and punched cows on the same ranch, and he’s coming on my yacht. I only wonder why he was so anxious to remember all that, and why he thought it would be kind of friendly if I called him Levi Longlegs again, and he called me Fanny Cook. I wonder! He says he’s still very fond of Parsifal, and came on purpose to hear it, but that he’s completely forgotten how to whistle. That’s funny too. I just thought I’d tell you, because if you come on my yacht and he comes too, you’re liable to see quite a good deal of one another.’

  ‘Did you tell him that Mrs. Rushmore and I would come?’ Margaret asked. ‘And Lady Maud?’

  ‘Why, no. You’ve not promised yet, any more than you did last night when he was there and we talked about it, so how could I? I forgot to mention Lady Maud to him, or else I thought I wouldn’t — I forget which. It doesn’t matter.’

  ‘No.’ Margaret smiled. ‘Not a little bit!’

  ‘You seem amused,’ observed Mr. Van Torp.

  ‘By your way of putting it, and your pretending to forget such a thing.’

  ‘It wasn’t quite true that I forgot, but I wanted to, so I didn’t say anything about her. That’s why I put it in that way. I don’t choose to leave you any doubt about what I say, or mean, even in the smallest things. The moment you feel the least doubt about the perfect accuracy of anything I tell you, even if it’s not at all a downright lie or anything resembling one, you won’t trust me at all, in anything. Because, if you trust me, you’ll end by liking me, and if you don’t trust me you’ll go back to thinking that I’m the Beast out of Revelations, or something, as you used to. I’ve forgotten the Beast’s number.’

  Margaret smiled again, though she was continually conscious of her own sullenly smouldering anger against Logotheti. Van Torp was gaining influence over her in his own uncouth way. Logotheti had been able to play upon her moods, as on that day under the elm-tree at Versailles, and she blushed when she remembered that single kiss he had won from her. But the American had no idea of such tactics in love, for he had never learned them. He was making war on the modern scientific system of never losing a hair’s-breadth of ground once gained, keeping his communications constantly open with the base from which he had started, bringing up fresh forces to the front without intermission, and playing his heavy artillery with judgment and tenacity.

  ‘The number doesn’t matter,’ Margaret said, ‘for I’ve forgotten all about the Beast.’

  ‘Thank you,’ answered Mr. Van Torp. ‘To change the subject — I’ve got a little scheme to propose. Maybe you’ll think well of it. Anyhow, as it’s a mere matter of business connected with your career, you won’t mind my explaining it to you, will you?’

  ‘No, indeed!’ Margaret was interested at once. ‘Do tell me!’ she said, leaning forward a little.

  ‘Well,’ he began, ‘I’ve looked around this place a good deal since I’ve been here, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not very well done, anyhow, except Parsifal. That’s what most of the people really come for. I’m informed that they give all the other operas better in Munich, with the advantage of being in what you may call a Christian town, compared with this. Is that correct, do you think?’

  ‘Yes, I believe so.’

  ‘It is, you can depend upon it. Now, what I want to know is, why you and I shouldn’t go into a little business partnership, and do this kind of thing brown, as it ought to be done.’ Margaret opened her handsome eyes wide. ‘Because,’ continued Mr. Van Torp, as coolly as if he were explaining a new plan to a board of directors, ‘we’ve got the capital and the ability between us, and there’s a demand in New York for what I propose to do. It’ll fill a want, I know, and that means success and money. Why don’t we build a theatre together? When I say a theatre, I mean a first-class opera-house and not a barn. We’ll employ the best architects to build it, and, of course, I’d leave everything about it to you. I’ve got a block in New York just about in the right place, and it won’t take long to build. I’ll give the land and put up the money for the building, if you’ll undertake the management. You’ll put in any money you like, of course, and we’ll share the profits. Maybe they’ll be quite handsome, for we’ll lease the theatre to other people outside of the season. We’ll have the best talent in Europe, and pay for it, and the public will pay us back. We’ll call it the Cordova Opera, if you like, and you’ll run it according to your own ideas, and sing or not, whenever you please.’

  ‘Are you in earnest?’

  Margaret had some difficulty in pronouncing the words clearly. He had brought up some very heavy artillery indeed, and at the right moment. Was there ever a great soprano who did not dream of having the most perfect theatre of her very own, and who could receive unmoved the offer to build one from a man who could build twenty if he chose? Very rarely in her life had she been aware of her bodily heart, but she could feel it now, beating like a hammer on the anvil.

  ‘I’m in earnest,’ Van Torp answered with perfect calm. ‘I’ve thought the whole thing over in all its aspects, just as I would a railroad, or a canal, or a mine, and I’ve concluded to try it, if you’ll help me, because it’s going to be a safe investment. You see, Miss Donne,’ he went on slowly, ‘there’s no artist on the Grand Opera stage now who’s so well equipped for the business as you are. I’m not fl
attering you, either. In your own kind of parts you’ve simply got no rival. Everybody says so, and I suppose you won’t play kitty and deny it. Let’s start fair, now.’

  ‘It would be silly to deny that I’m one of the first,’ Margaret admitted.

  ‘That’ll do, thank you. One of the first, and the first is one of them, and you’re it. Besides, you’ve got before you what’s behind most of them. You’re young. I’m not talking about your personal appearance, but that’s just one more item in the assets. Another big one is that you’re a first-class musician, whereas half these singers can only bang the box like great, thundering, overgrown schoolgirls. Allow that?’

  ‘I suppose I must “allow” anything!’ laughed the Primadonna.

  ‘Well, now, I’ve told you. You’ve got the name I need, and you’ve got the voice, and the talent, and you’ve got the science and culture. I suppose you’ll let me say that I’ve got the business ability, won’t you?’

  The iron mouth smiled a little grimly.

  ‘Rather! I fancy some people have wished you had less!’

  ‘And the money’s here, for I always have a blank cheque in my pocket. If you like, I’ll fill it in, and we’ll deposit it wherever you say, in the name of the “Cordova Opera Company,” or “Madame da Cordova, Rufus Van Torp and Co.” We can make out our little agreement in duplicate right here, on the corner of the table, and sign it; and before we leave here you might go around and speak to the best singers about an engagement in New York for a Wagner festival, a year from next Christmas. That’s business, and this is a purely business proposition. If you’d like to think it over, I’ll go and take a little walk before dinner.’

  ‘It sounds like a dream!’ Margaret answered, in a wondering tone.

  ‘Money’s an awful reality,’ Van Torp remarked. ‘I’m talking business, and as I’m the one who’s going to put up most of the capital, you’ll do me the credit to believe that I’m quite wide awake.’

  ‘Do you really, really, really mean it?’ She spoke almost like a child.

  It was not the first time in his life that the financier had seen the stunning effect of a big sum, projected with precision, like a shell, at exactly the right moment. He was playing the great game again, but for a prize he thought worth more than any he had yet won, and the very magnitude of the risk steadied his naturally steady brain.

  ‘Yes,’ he said quietly, ‘I do. Perhaps I’ve startled you a little, and I shouldn’t like you to make a decision till you feel quite ready to. I’ll just say again that I’ve thought the whole thing out as a genuine venture, and that I believe in it, or I wouldn’t propose it. Maybe you’ve got some sensible lawyer you have confidence in, and would like to consult him first. If you feel that way, I’d rather you should. A business partnership’s not a thing to go into with your eyes shut, and if we had any reason for distrusting one another, it would be better to make inquiries. But so far as that goes, it appears to me that we’ve got facts to go on, which would make any partnership succeed. You’ve certainly got the musical brains, besides a little money of your own, and I’ve certainly got the rest of the funds. I’d like you to put some money in, though, if you can spare it, because that’s a guarantee that you’re going to be in earnest, too, and do your share in the musical side. You see I’m talking to you just as I would to a man in the same position. Not because I doubt that if you put your name to a piece of paper you really will do your share as a partner, but because I’m used to working in that sort of way in business. How does that strike you? I hope you’re not offended?’

  ‘Offended!’

  There was no mistaking the suppressed excitement and delight in her voice. If he had possessed the intelligence of Mephistopheles and the charm of Faust he could not have said anything more subtly pleasing to her dignity and her vanity.

  ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘it needn’t be a very large sum. Still it ought to be something that would make a difference to you.’

  She hesitated a moment, and then spoke rather timidly.

  ‘I think perhaps — if we did it — I could manage a hundred thousand pounds,’ she said. ‘Would that be too little, do you think?’

  The large mouth twitched and then smiled pleasantly.

  ‘That’s too much,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You mustn’t put all your eggs in one basket. A hundred thousand dollars would be quite enough as your share of the capital, with option to buy stock of me at par, up to a million, or so, if it’s a success.’

  ‘Really? Would that be enough? And, please, what is “stock” in such a case?’

  ‘Stock,’ said the financier, ’is a little plant which, when well watered, will grow like the mustard seed, till all the birds of Wall Street make their nests in its branches. And if you don’t water it too much, it’ll be all right. In our case, the stock is going to be that share of the business which most people sell to raise money, and which we mean to keep for ourselves. I always do it that way, when circumstances allow. I once bought all the stock of a railroad for nothing, for instance, and sold all the bonds, and let it go bankrupt. Then I bought the road one day, and found all the stock was in my own pocket. That’s only a little illustration. But I guess you can leave the financial side in my hands. You won’t lose by it, I’m pretty sure.’

  ‘I fancy not!’ Margaret’s eyes were wide open, her hands were clasped tightly on her knee, and she was leaning forward a little. ‘Besides,’ she went on, ‘it would not be the money that I should care about! I can earn more money than I want, and I have a little fortune of my own — the hundred thousand I offered you. Oh, no! It would be the splendid power to have the most beautiful music in the world given as it could be given nowhere else! The joy of singing myself — the parts I can sing — in the most perfect surroundings! An orchestra picked from the whole world of orchestras, the greatest living leaders, the most faultless chorus! And the scenery, and the costumes — everything as everything could be, if it were really, really the best that can be had! Do you believe it is possible to have all that?’

  ‘Oh, yes, and with your name to it, too. We’ll have everything on earth that money can buy to make a perfect opera, and I’ll guarantee it’ll pay after the first two seasons. That is, if you’ll work at it as hard as I will. But you’ve got to work, Miss Donne, you’ve got to work, or it’s no use thinking of it. That’s my opinion.’

  ‘I’ll work like a Trojan!’ cried Margaret enthusiastically.

  ‘Trojans,’ mused Van Torp, who wanted to bring her back to her ordinary self before Mrs. Rushmore or Lady Maud came in. ‘Let me see. They say that because the Trojans had to work so hard to get over the Alps coming down into Italy, don’t they?’

  Whether Mr. Van Torp made this monstrous assertion in ignorance, or for effect, no one will ever know. An effect certainly followed at once, for Margaret broke into an echoing laugh.

  ‘I believe it was the Carthaginians,’ she said presently. ‘It’s the same thing, as Lady Maud is so fond of saying!’

  ‘All in the family, as Cain said when he killed Abel,’ observed Van Torp without a smile.

  Margaret looked at him and laughed again. She would have laughed at anything in the remotest degree amusing just then, for she found it hard to realise exactly what she was doing or saying. The possibility he had suddenly placed within her reach appealed to almost everything in her nature at once, to her talent, her vanity, her real knowledge of her art, her love of power, even to her good sense, which was unusually practical in certain ways. She had enough experience in herself, and enough knowledge of the conditions to believe that her own hard work, combined with Van Torp’s unlimited capital, could and certainly would produce such an opera-house, and bring to it such artists as had never been seen and heard, except perhaps in Bayreuth, during its first great days, now long past.

  Then, too, he had put the matter before her so skilfully that she could look upon it honestly as a business partnership, in which her voice, her judgment, and her experience would bear
no contemptible proportion to his money, and in which she herself was to invest money of her own, thereby sharing the risk according to her fortune as well as giving the greater part of the labour. She felt for some weak place in the scheme, groping as if she were dazzled, but she could find none.

  ‘I don’t think I shall need time to think this over,’ she said, controlling her voice better, now that she had made up her mind. ‘As I understand it, I am to put in what I can in the way of ready-money, and I am to give my time in all ways, as you need it, and my voice, when it is wanted. Is that it?’

  ‘Except that, when you choose to sing, the Company will allow you your usual price for each appearance,’ answered Van Torp in a business-like manner. ‘You will pay yourself, or we both shall pay you, just as much as we should pay any other first-class soprano, or as much more as you would get in London or New York if you signed an engagement.’

  ‘Is that fair?’ Margaret asked.

  ‘Why, certainly. But the Company, which is you and I, will probably rule that you mustn’t sing in Grand Opera anywhere in the States east of the Rockies. They’ve got to come to New York to hear you. Naturally, you’ll be free to do anything you like in Europe outside of our season, when you can spare the time.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Well, now, I suppose we might as well note that down right away, as a preliminary agreement. What do you say?’

  ‘I say that I simply cannot refuse such an offer!’ Margaret answered.

  ‘Your consent is all that’s necessary,’ he said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

  He produced from an inner pocket a folded sheet of foolscap, which he spread on the corner of the table beside him. He took out a fountain pen and began to write quickly. The terms and forms were as familiar to him as the alphabet and he lost no time; besides, as he had told the Primadonna, he had thought out the whole matter beforehand.