on the shaded corner of the wide veranda mrs. lee sat making buttonholes in a blouse for billy, humming as she worked. occasionally she patted the crisp cloth in her hand as though she loved this task of stitching for her youngsters. about her quiet reigned; broken now and then by peggy's bird in its cage and the far-off sound of the gasoline mower on the golf course.
suddenly barbara came around the corner of the house, like a rose, in her fresh pink gingham. in her hand she swung a putter.
"off for the golf links, dear?" mrs. lee asked, glancing with pride over the straight, slim figure of the girl.
"yes, mother, carol day and i play off our match this afternoon. if i beat her i'll win those candlesticks--"
"they will look very pretty on your dresser," smiled mrs. lee. "i know what you mean, mother--that i'm just playing for the candlesticks alone and i'm not at all, for when i do win one i sort of hate taking a prize. but i would like to beat carol because she does play such a good game!"
"that's the spirit, bab. where are the little girls?"
"that's what i wanted to talk to you about, mother," barbara, balancing herself on the arm of a chair, tapped her toe with the putter. "peggy and alice have gone off to molly sawyer's and they've left keineth home. i don't think they're treating her a bit nicely!"
"why didn't she go with them?"
"i don't think peggy asked her to go. she and molly were going to play tennis on the sawyer courts with joan crate, a girl that's out here from town, and keineth felt left out. peggy told her she couldn't play well enough to play with them and that it spoiled a game playing with beginners, anyway!"
mrs. lee stitched in silence. barbara went on:
"and i heard billy the other day teasing her about her father. he laughed at her when she said her father was a soldier, only the kind that didn't wear a uniform, and he told her there weren't any soldiers like that! i think you ought to speak to the children, mother."
"never mind, bab, those things will straighten themselves. peggy must be more considerate and patient and i will tell billy something about keineth's father--billy will be interested. we may some day have reason to be very proud of knowing him, for he may become a very great man, besides doing an immense good for this country of ours. run along, dear, to your game and good luck to you!"
barbara kissed the top of her head and hurried away. mrs. lee sat on alone, her hands idly clasped over the blouse in her lap. it was her way to puzzle out these little problems quietly.
suddenly across the june stillness came the sound of exquisite music; clear, thrilling notes, unreal--fairylike! almost hesitatingly mrs. lee turned as though she expected to see a fairy sprite in gauzy robes approaching her from the shadows of the house! she rose and crept toward the window. no sprite was there--only keineth sitting before the piano, her small hands softly touching the keys as though by magic she drew the melody from them. across her fair head fell a slanting bar of sunlight. to this her eyes were raised in rapt contentment.
from the window mrs. lee watched and listened. there seemed to be no beginning or end to the melody--it ran on and on, now plaintive, like a small voice crying--now full of laughter with a happy note like that of a bird.
"child--" mrs. lee stepped through the long window into the room. keineth turned quickly.
"i didn't know--anyone was here," she said, shyly.
but mrs. lee scarcely heard her. she had clasped her arms about the small form and was holding it very close.
"i was just playing--what the fairies put in my fingers," keineth explained from the depths of mrs. lee's embrace.
"they are fairy fingers indeed," laughed mrs. lee. "let us sit down here together and you must tell me all about it. who taught you to play like that, child?"
"no one--like that. madame henri always gave me lessons. they were very stupid and i hated having to practice. but every evening, when we'd sit together, i'd play to daddy the music that came into my fingers. sometimes he'd stand by the piano until i was finished and then he'd kiss my fingers and say 'fairy fingers', only tante used to snore so loudly, poor thing."
"and you love music?"
"oh--most of anything in the world. sometimes daddy would take me to the big opera house to hear music and it seemed, when i heard it, as though i was floating right away. then we'd go home and i'd make up more music and tell them a story on the piano and sometimes daddy could guess the story almost. tante used to shake her head and daddy would say, 'leave her alone--she knows more than we do.' i don't know what he meant, but some day i shall study hard and try to be a great musician. daddy said-i should-only he said i must wait until my body grew as strong as my spirit."
"keineth, my dear, do you know what a precious trust has been given you? god gives to some of his children great gifts--they are in trust for him! you must care for it and guard it and keep it and see that it is bestowed generously upon many! music is one of the most precious things in this world--and to create it is a great power!"
keineth, with puzzled eyes, tried to understand. mrs. lee patted her hand.
"how your mother would have loved to hear what these fingers can do! she had a nature that was like a song in its sweetness. but your father is right; before all else you must build up this little body of yours!"
"what did he mean, aunt nellie?"
"he wants you to run and play games and grow strong. and you must not be discouraged and unhappy if you can't keep up just yet with peggy and billy and the others. remember, while they've been racing their legs off you've been doing other things. if peggy can beat you at tennis, you just ask her to play one of her pieces for you! poor peg, her fingers are all thumbs! everything evens up in this funny world, child."
"you're so wonderful, aunt nellie! i did fed as if peggy didn't like me because i couldn't do things as well as she can, but if she'll help me learn to swim real well and beat billy just once at tennis, i'll help her with her music!"
"a fine idea, keineth! and then sometimes, when peggy perhaps wants to do something that you don't care about, i will help you write down the music you play. some day we will surprise them all--you and i will have a secret!"
keineth clapped her hands eagerly. "oh, i have wished i could! it'll be such fun! i'll send it to my father! you are wonderful, aunt nellie." the child threw her arms about mrs. lee's neck in a burst of joy.
"remember, now! no discouraged heart because you can't get a ball over the net or stand on your head in the water!"
that evening an east wind blowing up with a fine, driving rain, gave an excuse for a fire in the big fireplace. and as they sat around it; alice on the arm of her mother's chair, barbara close to her father, a little silent, because carol day had beaten her; peggy and keineth on the floor side by side, and billy and his dog sprawled near the door, mrs. lee told the children the story of the little boy who went each day to his attic room to play on the old piano there; how one day, the sound of the music reaching the ears of people below, they crept one by one to the dark stairway to listen. then in wonder they brought others and even more. these foolish folk thought it was a spirit who came to the attic room and made the music, but finally one of them crept closer and opened the door and found the little boy!
"i know, mother," cried barbara, "it was mozart!"
"yes, it was mozart, who, when he grew older, made music that will last as long as this world. keineth, will you play for us, dear?"
keineth, with a very red face, walked bravely to the piano. but her heart was happy and her fingers tingled with the music she felt. with the firelight dancing across the darkened room it seemed like the old library at home and as if daddy must be sitting close to her with madame henri nodding in her chair near the window!
they were silent when she had finished. barbara sighed-as though the music had made her sad; billy said something under his breath that sounded like "gee!" and mrs. lee patted peggy's hand. she had found time for a little talk with peggy about keineth.
"oh, i think you're wonderful!" peggy cried now to keineth, running to her and linking her hand in keineth's arm. "i wish i could play one bit as well as that----"
after the children had gone to bed mr. and mrs. lee sat for a long time in the room lighted only by the flames of the fire. somehow the music seemed to linger about them.
"isn't this world funny, william--" mrs. lee stared into the blaze. "if that child had not lived that funny, lonely life in that big house with no one but the queer governess, that gift of hers might never have developed! i wonder what the future may have in store for her?"
"above all--let us hope--health and happiness!"
