THREE OF A KIND RICHARD BURTON o/? c? c " / SO THE THREE FACED THE OTHER TWO. [Frontispiece. See p. ISO. THREE OF A KIND THE STORY OF AN OLD MUSICIAN A NEWSBOY AND A COCKER DOG BT RICHARD BURTON AUTHOR OF ; DUMB IN JUNE," " BAHAB," " LITERABY "LIKINGS," ETC. Illustrated from drawings by FRANK T. MERRILL BOSTON LITTLE. BROWN, AND COMPANY 1908 0* CALiK LiBilAKX. LOS ANGELEfe Copyright, 1908, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. All rights reserved. printers 3. J. PARKHILL A Co. BOSTON, U. S. A. To the gentle might of music; to the won- derful magic of love; and to the dear memory of Dun. PREFACE Is there not something heart-warming, O Reader, in the very number three, hardly less mystic, too, in its suggestions than the number seven ? Is it not a foul misrepresentation, the saying that two's company, three is a crowd ? By the shades of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, a thousand times, Yea ! Do not the theodi- cies of all nature make sacred the august mystery of the trinity, while for humbler uses, mankind has ever and anon seized on triple alliances, whether stately with the nations or simple in some fireside group, to express its faith in such a numeral. The very word tribe bears witness to its ancient power. In Mother vii Preface Goose we count " one, two, three, out goes she," and the words are ruddy with childhood joys: we call for " three times three " right heartily when we cheer the flag; or, straining at our posts, wait until the number be counted, ere racing for the coveted goal. Man's life, sacred or secular, ethnic or individual, is inextricably intertwined with this thought of three. Listen then, to a little tale of three friends, and may it, albeit homely enough, serve to strengthen our belief that it is a genial good number for life or literature, all about the world. vni CONTENTS I. THE THREE AT HOME 3 II. How NUMBER Two CAME .... 25 III. THE COMING OP NUMBER THREE ... 51 IV. SUNDAY AFIELD 71 V. DUN TO THE RESCUE 101 VI. LUCK CHANGES 125 VII. THE WOLF AND THE Doo . . . .149 VIII. FATHER AND SON 187 IX. A PAIR OF MUMMERS 209 X. CHRISTMAS EVE ....*. 243 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS SO THE THREE FACED THE OTHER TWO Frontispiece THE DOG SHOWED NOT THE SLIGHTEST IN- TENTION OF DEPARTURE . . . Page 57 THE OLD MUSICIAN WAS MAKING HIS FIDDLE SING "108 BOTH BOY AND MAN RESTED THEIR HANDS GENTLY ON THE WAVY BLACK HAIR OF THE FAITHFUL DOG " 26G I THE THREE AT HOME THE THREE AT HOME THE strains of Beethoven's " Fare- well to the Piano," beseeching, tender, filled the low-ceiled, roomy garret-place with peace. There, was in the music, along with the beauti- ful melancholy of autumn, the mood that looks back and remembers and grieves, the wistful hope that is in a 3 Three of a Kind spring day, as delicate as the green of willows beside a swollen stream in April. As Ludovic played, Phil paused now and then in his task of instructing the dog Dun to hold a newspaper in his mouth, while he stood erect on hind feet and danced, so it seemed, to the rhythmic bowing of the old musician. Dun was as yet far from an adept at the game. Phil, with a bundle of papers under his arm, w^ould offer one to the dog, who, dog-like, would snuff at it, his plastic tail expressive of pleasant expectation : and upon the discovery that it was neither food nor the still more coveted sweet would back away w r ith a noticeable diminution of fervor, a sort of kindly reproach showing in all his body. The boy would then set him up again on his hind legs, a position to which Dun took with an amazed reluc- 4 tance, and, forcing open his teeth, place a newspaper between them; and then, moving a few feet back, aim a stern forefinger at the animal and speak this admonitory word : " Stand up and sell it, Dun, that's the dog : " whereupon Dun would gleefully respond by promptly resuming his four-footed position with a cheerful bark and so lose his grip on the paper. Tirelessly, at least on the part of the lad, was this routine gone through with: and again and again would the small black cocker drop the paper and run to where Ludovic bent over his violin, throw back his head and howl in unison with the instrument; sensitive, it would appear, to the tune, whether pleas- antly or the reverse was not for the casual observer to say. Then would Phil call him back to his practice, and 5 Three of a Kind the manoeuvre, evidently utilitarian in its purpose, be resumed, much to the discomfiture of Dun, who, with a soul attuned to the great master, ill-brooked so mundane a discipline as that set by newsboy Phil. But the dog loved the boy, and the reward of a stroking hand on his ear, or a much delectated choco- late drop, was enough to put him instantly in high good humor: testified to by sparkling brown eyes and fairly vocal tail ; surely, the poet's words, " Something sweet in the mouth Makes all things sweet for a boy," applies with equal force to his canine companion. The afternoon shadows lengthened among the trees of the old graveyard across the way, upon which their dormer window looked : and the softened light, a 6 The Three at Home light that seemed to emphasize the higher values of life, touched the old, worn furniture of the room to a certain poetry and dignity. It was no common room this, you felt on entering it. The eye rested with surprise and pleasure on the wainscoted walls, the smooth old oak of the floor, the dark rafters above which gave almost a baronial suggestion to the quarters. The meddling philan- thropy which might climb these stairs ran the risk of disappointment on enter- ing such a habitation, humble as it seemed: only the social bore or bar- barian could have patronized it as the haunt of the " worthy poor," - though it was at the top of several panting flights of stairs, innocent of an elevator. It was because the occupants were so high, perhaps, that the rent was so ac- commodatingly low. Three of a Kind With quiet satisfaction, too, the eye might note the quaint corner lowboy, into whose drawers were crammed the music compositions accumulated through long years by Ludovic ; the centre table of oak grown black with time, the legs curiously carved into writhen shapes resembling the gargoyles of mediaeval cathedrals, the board from which they partook of their daily meals; there was the cur- tained recess opposite the window, behind which, among more miscellaneous treas- ures, was a choice collection of fiddles, the musician's extravagance for he knew the inward and esoteric differences between an Amati and a Stradivarius, as you know the palm of your hand, and although such heirlooms and windfalls were, of course, far beyond him, he had gradually gathered together a little col- lection which contained instruments of 8 The Three at Home genuine interest and value to the con- noisseur. Then there was the homely cozy- looking corner fire-place where, on this keen November afternoon, a deep red glow from the remains of a hard-wood fire sent forth a comfortable warmth and bathed the furnishings in a rich light. It was another of Ludovic's extrava- gances, this open fire : he had taken the apartment years before, though the rent had been for him excessive, allured by its possibilities for homely comfort ; chief among them the friendly fire, which is the eye of the house, even as the river is the eye of the landscape. A dominant feature of the room was the queer old screen, shutting off one corner. It was of Spanish leather, with a design that transported you at once to some ancient chapel-of-ease. Its use was multiple; 9 Three of a Kind behind it were still other of the musician's precious plunder, bits and oddities he had acquired ; and not only was it a convenient hiding place for the human members of the household, but it was the favorite retiring place also of the dog, whose tiny bit of carpet was spread there, and more in use than any prayer-rug out of the East. Thus, although there were signs a- plenty of straitened means, there was something indescribably picturesque in the colors and contours of this livirig- room; as the name implies, eminently livable it was, a place for homely human comradeship, a shelter fragrant with the incommunicable magic of love. Three doors led from this main room : one to the outer hall, one to a small inner bed-room, and yet another giving on a tiny kitchen where the master of the 10 The Three at Home little menage concocted wonderful dishes of German tradition; and whence odors of sauer-kraut and even Limburger pene- trated to a protesting outer world at times. Looking at the house without, you saw that it had stood there in elder, better days, a testimonial to gentility : with its quietly dignified facade of red brick sobered down by time ; its touches of white in door-sill and window-ledge; its air of neatness and retirement. The street sloped downward from a hill once aristocratic, and at its lower end had been encroached upon by busi- ness interests, especially in the malodor- ous presence of livery stables, a fact re- sulting in the pleasantry which had given to that section of Chestnut Street the ambiguous name, Horse Chestnut. Lin- coln's comment on the mighty difference between a horse chestnut and a chest- 11 Three of a Kind nut horse seemed hardly applicable here. Ludovic was the natural centre of this home. His fifty odd years had not quenched a kind of inalienable youthful- ness which lay in the very turn of his head, the quick alert movements of his body, and the shifting coal-fire glow of his eye when excitement aroused him out of some music dream. To be sure, the once black hair, pushed back from a noble brow --he had the head of a true musi- cian was streaked with gray. No matter: Ludovic would never be old in the unhappy sense of the word ; for the idealist remains a boy to the end, and a boy he still was, as he laid aside the instrument and chuckled to see Dun mastering the intricacies of the new game nor venturing foot to floor until a snap of Phil's finger and the rewarding caress gave him permission. 12 The Three at Home " Good, good, thou little hound," he said, as he placed the violin lovingly in its black leather case and set it in its corner place : * Thou wilt make our fortune yet, not? Phil's and mine and thine: Du Lieber, but I must come to the street corner yet, and make music mit, or thou wilt never sell papers for the Kleine, two babies thou art to- gether.'' And Ludovic wagged his mane affec- tionately, as he disappeared into the inner chamber, to lay aside his velvet smoking- jacket and don a conventional long- tailed coat; in the which arrayed, he descended the three flights of stairs with a clatter of his stout foreign-looking shoes, on his way to the vaudeville house where, though it was Sunday, he must play the program of more or less cheap selections which was his nightly disci- 13 Three of a Kind pline. He knew and revered the master composers of his native Germany, but for bread's sake he shared in the daily execution -- how ominous and fit the word ! of the operatic ephemera of the day. Once more in his comfortable garret room, it was his consolation to pour balm upon his bruised spirit by copious applications of Bach and Handel and Mendelssohn; above all, of Beethoven, his chief worship, whose headship over all the world of tone was the vital clause in his creed. At first blush, you would have said they were very unlike, these three. What can be the resemblance between a Ger- man violinist, a newsboy and a cocker spaniel ? Yet here was a confederation such as few states or other human asso- ciations can boast; three of a kind they were, in very truth. Love bound them 14 The Three at Home each to each in the unity of the simple heart. And the manner of their coming together shall be told. Ludovic was a North German, a native of Cassel. Music he had drunk in as a boy in that pretty little Hessian city, where his father had been a band- master: music was as much a part of him as bread and beer. Not to follow the same profession had never even occurred to his mind. Caught in the great stream of immigration which seemed to sing a song of hope to the hosts of the elder lands, he had come, long years before, to America, a young man with a happy knack at the fiddle, an honest open face under his wavy hair and, deep down in his heart, the desire to become rich and famed; but not for himself he wished it, ach, no that he might send for Hilda, to join him in the great 15 Three of a Kind new splendid country and be his bride. He was getting on for old now, and Hilda had never come; he did not even know her fate; yet he was not unhappy. Music had been a faithful mistress, and his life, inconspicuous though it might be, brought him his full share of cheer and comfort. Only it was as if the original spring of action had been broken; the native resiliency was there still, but the motive for doing that had been killed, long, long ago. In those more prosperous times, he had been a member of a distinguished symphony orchestra, whose standing 'set a seal of ability on all its personnel; it was a place to which his talents naturally called him. He made no murmur that of late years his fate had turned dingier and brought him employment at the humbler playhouses. It was no diminu- 16 The Three at Home tion of skill nor dimming of ideals that had wrought the change : a disagreement with his old leader over a technical point of interpretation ; an unnecessary sticking to his side of the argument and dis- missal, that was all. The essential trouble was that Ludovic was what is called unambitious; he who feeds on dreams is often careless as to his daily meat. He had even at times, under pressure, become a member of an itin- erant street band, and in that capacity breathed a certain dignity into a trom- bone, nor been unhappy in such en- deavor. It was a sign of delicate dis- crimination that he chose such an in- strument. He could not have brought himself quite to use his beloved fiddle un- der such circumstances : perhaps, too, he recognized that the trombone, like the violin among the strings, is the one 17 Three of a Kind wind instrument which runs the chromatic full scale and so possesses wider and almost human possibilities of expression. Perhaps Ludovic too easily fell into that satisfaction with the private inner life, in which, for your true idealist, often lies the doom of what the world calls success. Food and drink enough to sustain life, a roof over his head, a few friends tried and true, -- his fiddle and his dreams: Lieber Herr Gott, what would you more ? " Not as the world loves, lovest thou me." So Ludovic lived the life of the affections and was content: disillusionment with him, if indeed you can call it such, had no touch of cynicism or sour kicking against the pricks. And why had not Hilda come ? In agony had Ludovic asked himself that question years ago, before the kindly 18 The Three at Home passing of time had gentled the hot throbs of pain and blurred the keenness of the hurt. His letters had remained unan- swered. No clue with her could be established. Inquiries of friends at Cassel had simply elicited the reply that the girl had suddenly disappeared, as they had believed, to join him. Gradually the conviction had deepened in Ludovic's mind that his sweetheart had been lost at sea, one of the innumerable steerage passengers too humble and unknown to count in the blazonry of the daily press. So he lived down his grief, hugged his violin to his breast, and went his simple way, his kind face more rugged, yet with a certain mellow quality that made friends for him among children and animals - and with mature folk whose hearts could respond to a purity like Galahad's. That face of his did not change into hard set 19 Three of a Kind lines, cut by business cares and the fierce selfish competition for the so-called prizes of earth. Hilda - She was ein Engel im Himmel ; he was here on earth, not with- out his comfort and joy : it was enough. And always there was music: a fugue of Bach, whose theme played hide and seek with Beauty; a barcarolle by Schumann, in which you felt the very motion of the waves, and smelt the eternal tang of the brine : a berceuse wherewith Chopin expressed for all time the mother love-longing and the sweet childly de- pendence in the cradle; a Beethoven symphony broad as life and uniting in one great harmony the discordant myster- ies of fate. No, with such divine com- panions to attend his leisure hours, or sweeten his hours of work, Ludovic did not walk alone nor uncomforted. Then, too, did he not have, for fellow farers 20 The Three at Home along the same dusty highway, Phil, the newsboy, and Dun, the dog ? And now we must hear of their coming to him and of the great love that sprang up between three of a kind. 21 II HOW NUMBER TWO CAME HOW NUMBER TWO CAME LATE one night in autumn, a year before the tale opens, Ludovic, his orchestra work over, was on his way home, and passing through an alley that made a short cut from one thoroughfare to another, he paused a moment at the edge of the curb, to watch a noisy circle of street boys whose 25 Three of a Kind vociferations rent the night air and accented the customary absence of a policeman. It was evident that the center, of which these youngsters formed the circumference, was re- served for one of those fisticuffs, im- promptu or planned, which are the de- light of unregenerate America in our cities. Yes, there they were, at it ham- mer and tongs, Ludovic saw as he drew near; a torch held in the hands of one of the leaders of the gang, threw shadows on the combatants : the group stood out in a chiaroscuro that only a Correggio might have matched; the musician felt the artistic values of the scene, but his sense of humanity was uppermost rather than his artistic sensibility. For some- thing in the pose and personality of the younger of the two fighting boys moved his compassionate interest; although the 26 fellow stood his ground right sturdily, he was so much the smaller of the two that the match appeared cruelly unfair. His companions, indifferent to the in- equality, jeered at him as he was worsted in an exchange of blows or a wrestling clinch: it is only in Sunday-school stories that such onlookers chivalrously espouse the cause of the under dog. The adolescent sense of justice in untutored young humanity is but in the egg, at the best. But more than the sense of unfair play drew the musician towards the lad: the tumble of dark hair falling low over the right brow, and impatiently thrown aside by a quick jerk of the head ; the clear oval of the cheek in which a belligerent red now flamed ; more than all, the dog-like look of appeal in the fellow's eyes so suggestive of fidelity, these character- 27 Three of a Kind istics for some reason moved Ludovic strangely : it was not that he knew the face and form, yet he felt drawn to the boy, and as the battle grew fiercer apace, he finally made up his mind to interfere. A few firm words, not unkindly spoken, were enough : " You will stop, eh ! You make me call the policeman or that I fight this big bully myself, -- ja? " With a quick jerk of his collar he sent the larger lad spinning backward. Ludovic's frame drawn to its full height through indig- nation, produced respect in itself: the leonine ring in his voice was unmistak- able: apparently he could and would back up his speech by action. The circle melted away like magic at a hint of the authorities and in a few minutes the musician found himself walking toward the well-lighted avenue, his hand resting 28 How Number Two Came fraternally upon the shoulder of his new friend. " It's Phil they call me," the latter panted out', in response to Ludovic's question : " I'm a newsboy. I could lick him, boss, if if --ye hadn't butted in." He was half sobbing, half laughing, still hysterical with combat. " The gang was down on me, 'cos I beat 'em out selling specials de udder day, when dey was tryin' to arrest John D., yer know." Something in that last yer know, a confiding note, accompanied with an upward glance that meant the sympathy of the listener was unhesitatingly as- sumed, won the other's heart. " Tell me all of yourself, where you live, mit who ? " There was the ring of true liking in the tone and it was not lost on the news- 29 Three of a Kind boy. The sturdy little fellow's story - a story repeated in the case of thousands of such waifs who battle their way up into manhood or sink in the struggle where the odds are so terribly against them was easily drawn out by the shaggy, kind, old violinist, with his half fatherly, half fraternal way. Phil re- sponded readily to kindness - - just as all mankind has ever responded to it, since in the annals of the aborigines the first hand reached out to another for a hearty grip and Godspeed. He was alone in the world, he gossiped garrulously on : of his father and mother he knew or remembered naught. He sold papers for a living, with an occasional detour into boot blacking: he lived over a shop in a side street not far from the whizz of central traffic a consideration in his business. Phil explained that he 30 How Number Two Came ' kept house," looking up at his inter- locutor with a smile that revealed very white teeth between red lips, winsome in spite of the fact that his upper lip was badly puffed and one eye fast grow- ing dark around the edges. " Keeping house," it appeared, was a euphuism: Phil hired a room where he fed himself, when he did not eat at some street stand or night hawk, or in one of the cheaper restaurants. " It's fine in the summer, when there's lots of fruit and penny ice-cream in the stand at the corner yum yum ! But it's on the bum, winters the landlord ain't throwin' any heat away," and the boy's shoulders humped themselves into a shiver involuntarily. It was cold now, where they stood, as the crisp autumn night moved toward the bleaker morn- ing. 31 Three of a Kind And as the young Arab of the city had talked on, more and more Ludovic had become interested, attracted. Before their walk was finished, all the sup- pressed paternalism of his nature seemed to surge up and over into a tenderness for the lad that was almost inexplicable, beyond analysis. He said good night with a strange reluctance. A few days later he called on Phil in his room, saw its ugly comfortlessness and invited him to take pot luck for over Sunday in the cozy quarters under the eaves. Phil never went home again, save to tie his scant belongings into a bundle, and notify his landlord of his departure. He liked Ludovic, trusted him utterly, was glad of the companion- ship. His feeling for him was touched with awe because of the musician's gray locks and power with the bow; and too 32 How Number Two Came the touch of the foreign about him. To Phil, the other's connection with the orchestra set Ludovic upon one of the thrones of the earth. Moreover, the boy had a natural love for music, and never tired of hearing the violinist play some of his favorite airs : " The Three Grena- diers," or the " Wacht am Rhein " ; often singing the words, too, in a big, vibrant temperamental German voice, while the instrument fairly quivered with the pathos or power of the accompaniment. Within a week the pair were as close to each other, as dear cronies, as if their relation had been established for years on end. It was a pleasant thought to Ludovic, as he would draw near to his lodging after the theater had emptied its patrons into the night, to know that a comrade awaited him; Phil might be asleep, to be sure, on the little iron bed- 33 Three of a Kind stead which had been purchased ex- pressly for him and set up in the inner room opposite to Ludovic's ampler bed; a room hitherto useless except for storing purposes but now converted into a bed chamber; for Ludovic had been content with a cot behind the screen. And, asleep or awake, the old musician knew he was there, and the thought made his bachelor quarters infinitely more like home. Ludovic worked hard to interest Phil in good reading, and bought picture books of all kinds in order to lure the lad - to whom two winters of sporadic at- tendance upon a night school had im- parted the elements of the three R's - into occupying himself happily of an evening instead of lawlessly roaming the streets. As a pedagogue no doubt the violinist left much to be desired : he was 34 How Number Two Came no adept in child psychology and the very word " methodology " would have dazed him. But he recognized the good in the newsboy and loved him. Hence his instruction fell on fruitful soil. Be- fore his coming, Phil, naturally enough, since he had but his unspeakable dreary room to go to, had spent his evenings mostly with other boys of his sort: in the gallery of some variety theater, if the day had been lucky and they " had the price ; " or wandering in the alleys where mischief called unto its own. But with genuine interest and attraction at home, even though his friend the musi- cian could not be there, Phil very will- ingly remained indoors after the evening meal. Man or boy, humanity follows the line of least resistance in such matters. He would busy himself with books and 35 Three of a Kind pictures, or mercantile calculations, for the newsboy took much pride in his work and his first regular duty after the late supper was despatched he must be at his stand in the city's heart during the hour of golden harvest between six and seven -- was to reckon up the ac- count of the day's takings and profits; which were then duly entered with the stub of a pencil in a much-thumbed and frankly dirty note-book. Phil's pride in this vesper transaction passed all belief. In the first place, it was a practical demonstration of wiiat he had learned at the night school; and secondly, it showed that he was steadily becoming a capitalist, which was as balm to his spirit. Regularly were his earnings passed over to Ludovic for safe keeping; and before they had been six months together, the increasing funds had led 36 How Number Two Came Phil to think seriously of a savings bank ; not the big ones whose cashiers go wrong, but the little iron ones with a slot to re- ceive the coins and a squat look of inac- cessibility to attack, and a final touch lifting it, at a stroke, into a loftier type - a little door in the back actually opened by a bona-fide key, for the reception, it need not be said, of valuable papers or other securities altogether too large for the slit in .front. Up to the present, however, the boy had been well content to let these accu- mulations lie in a certain old carven box of German manufacture, one of Ludo- vic's treasures : an affair of dark, scented wood and many compartments, - - just the receptacle for hidden gold or roman- tic secrets. Of a Sunday, it was his keenest indoor pleasure yes, dear reader, keener, I regret to say, than any 37 Three of a Kind church observance or other Godly exer- cise, to get the box out and tumble its contents upon the floor. To see Phil on such an occasion, his bronze hair falling over the clear olive of his cheek as he sorted out the nickels, dimes and quarters into neat piles, and with many furrowings of the brow, made the addi- tions necessary to a knowledge of the full sum of his earnings, would have stirred the desire of a painter of genre subjects. A Rembrandt would have called it the " The Boy Miser " (a great injustice to Phil) and crowds would have stood agape in a gallery before the pic- ture. More than once (not without secret sighings at the reduction of the sum total) a quarter had been abstracted from the strong box of Phil's mounting ambition, wherewith he purchased, as a special treat for his friend, perhaps 38 How Number Two Came some of the pumpernickel the German loved, or even the malodorous Lim- burger: these and other gastronomic dainties of the fatherland were tempt- ingly displayed in the front window of a delicatessen shop around the corner. Phil, indeed, had well-nigh got the es- tablishment into serious trouble by his generous donation of Limburger on one occasion. Ludovic, trembling with de- light, had hung the delectable on the window-sill, and a limb of the law, scenting the fray from afar, had labori- ously clumped up the stairs he was like Hamlet, " fat and scant of breath " - to investigate the difficulty with the drain. Once aware of the cause, he had to the great discomfiture of the occupants, ordered the precious morsel removed : " Yez can't make a smell like that 30 Three of a Kind public, not in this town," he had declared solemnly, as his cumbersome blue form descended to the street. To describe Phil's feeling for Ludo- vic, during this period of ever deepening intimacy, as adoration, is to talk in too pale colors of a sentiment so prismatic in its hues as to dazzle speech. The musician came to be for him at once model, protector, king; and the model was matchless, the protector all-power- ful, the king could do no wrong. Phil's sensitiveness to music was re- markable in view of his lack of training, the nomadic nature of his brief life pre- vious to his joining forces with the old musician. Ludovic learned that, whereas Phil was unknown to him on the night of the rescue, he w r as by no means a stranger to the newsboy, who had often stood in the street to hear Ludovic play 40 How Number Two Came at those times when the German had been an itinerant Musiker by day, in- stead of a member of the theater orches- tra by night. On one occasion, Phil said, he had followed the street band from early in the morning until late in the afternoon, lured on by piece after piece, prevailingly martial in kind, as Ludovic ascertained by making the lad whistle snatches of the various airs. And during his practice hours in his room, the musician noticed with pleasure that the instinctive taste of his boy friend was excellent; although his mouth was dumb to tell why he liked a composition, he was apt to ask for those of the better sort, not the cheap trash in which Ludovic had to be particeps criminis, at the theater. Phil had an argot all his own in indicating his preferences. " Give us de tune wid de twinkle," he 41 Three of a Kind would say, and the German had come to recognize this as a graceful trifle of Gil- let's called " Loin du bal." Or it would be, " How about de one with de stiff in it, Luddy ? " And Ludovic's response with Chopin's Funeral March was automatic. :< De piece where dey break furniture and then sing fine to cover up de noise, see ? " was his offhand description of a selection from the Niebelungen played in the public park one Sunday. But if language lacked, the funda- mental appreciation was there ; it showed in the naive queries the boy showered upon Ludovic, by the heightened color and even the moist eye tell-tale signs of which Phil was heartily ashamed and would have denied, had they been charged to him withal. Waif that he was, wee fragment of the city's flotsam, he had been dowered with a nature attuned to 42 How Number Two Came those high harmonies which, above all other ways of beauty, seem to bring heaven momently nearest to the work- aday earth whereon we tread. Familiar- ity with the best would do wonders with such a soul. This Ludovic knew and knew also that the music gift, like many a gift other, has naught to do with cul- ture, place nor fortune, much as such incidentals may do to help it. So he strove to develop Phil's dormant sensi- bilities so far as in his power lay, by talk- ing commonly of the affairs and interests of the music world, and taking pains to instruct him in the simpler essentials of the art: the notes of the scale, the ele- mentary names of the music score and the like. It was a sight not without its pathos to see little Phil, under instruction, force his clumsy gamin hands to pick the strings 43 Three of a Kind of an old violin which the musician placed in his arms, bidding him imitate his master in the correct position, the bowing and the production of a full tone. Progress was slow, for the practice had to be confined mostly to Sundays; but the flushed face and eager eyes of the pupil were a warrant of his set purpose to make the accomplishment his own in the end, and Ludovic showed an infinite gentle patience in his teaching. " Thou wilt be a Meister yet," he would say playfully, by way of encouragement; " a little master, I shall call you." And the lad, picking up the word, called the musician :< big master " in return; and the affectionate epithets became of familiar use between them. When Phil would stop, tired out and discouraged, maybe, he would get his reward in the beautiful melodies the 44 How Number Two Came other evoked from the sounding-board, which seemed suddenly like an Aladdin's cave of tone treasures, pouring forth fair flocks and companies of dreams, until the homely garret place widened into some stately pleasure palace of storied history, of which they two alone had the freedom, in which they sat rejoicing with the joy of the elect. It was a sort of shock a too sudden return to mundane realities when Lu- dovic at last must cease playing and cry out in his sonorous voice, with its tinge of foreign accent : " See, now, bubchen, 'tis eleven of the clock and we must to bed go. Ein glass beer, and then lights out." Whereupon Phil, with the music daze still on him, might have been seen to arise and busy himself with emptying a bottle of Pabst, kept religiously outside the 45 Three of a Kind window for coolness' sake, into a stein of noble proportions which stood upon the mantel shelf over the fire place, along with sundry other similar remind- ers of the favorite beverage of Deutsch- land. Ludovic had the true German disdain for a mere glass as a receptacle wherefrom to quaff his best-loved tipple. He would have found himself in hearty agreement with Mr. Richard Swiveller, upon the classic occasion when that gentleman declared to the Marchioness that beer couldn't " be tasted in sips." Ludovic's evening drink was, with him, as with all idealists and artist souls, a sort of social sacrament, and the stein, which with its motto in German script, and its picture of a group of good fellows, served by the jolliest of fraiileins, carried the suggestion of an immemorial host of boon companions who had drunk of its 46 How Number Two Came comfortable contents, was an indispen- sable adjunct to his enjoyment. And so, in the whole big, busy selfish city, there could scarce be found a pair of friends closer bound or more all- sufficient to each other than Ludovic the musician and Phil the newsboy. And yet they were to learn, through the com- ing of a third comrade, that their domes- tic felicity still failed of the full happiness destined to be their own. 47 Ill THE COMING OF NUMBER THREE THE COMING OF NUMBER THREE THE coming of the dog Dun was in this wise. One day, in the bleak white of midwinter, Phil was standing at a particularly wind- swept corner, a cross-way of traffic where the sale of newspapers to home- returning toilers was keenest after five o'clock in the afternoon. He was cry- 51 Three of a Kind ing in his clear treble and with the phonetics peculiar to his craft: :< Here y're, Evenin' Post, Extry: Tribyune, all about the big fire : I-talian earthquake, five hundred swallowed up alive." In the dream of world peace which to-day sets a few prescient souls aflame, I wonder if they include a kind of peace, less martial yet equally desirable: that which begins at home and means that our daily prints can be haw^ked with the same profit without raucous-voiced news- boys fouling the air with their cries of lust, murder and sudden disaster just the sort of thing from which poor hu- manity would flee when it goes forth of a morning fresh from sleep and with hope at heart, or as it goes home to rest and take comfort after the strain of the work- ing hours ? Think of the relief, the joy, of hearing 52 The Coining of Number Three such corner calls as these : " Here y're ! Restoration of kidnapped boy ! Just out ! Special : Millionaire's gift to the blind ! Big sensation : Honest thief in State's Prison ! Extry : Hero saves a railroad train ! " Really, when you stop to think of it, there are a lot of dramatic occurrences in a day, doings which are neither grim nor terrible : acts that en- courage humanity in the triumphal march towards better things. Mayhap the day will come when we shall no longer be asked to breakfast with dis- aster and sup on horrors. Meanwhile, the yellow journal feeds itself fat on such food; which is where it differs from a yellow dog. Suddenly, at Phil's feet stood a little animal looking up at him in utter friend- liness, the eye a-yearn as only a dog's can, the tail supplementing the eye-speech 53 Three of a Kind with no less eloquence of love. It seemed a telepathic recognition, an unprecedented offer of brotherhood. The fine silky, black hair of the brute (how one hates to use the word where Love is ), a cocker spaniel, by breed, was wofully bemired, his feathers drooped disconsolate. But his whole bearing was gay, not dejected : the very spirit of the light-foot comrade shone forth from his entire personality. Moreover, his points, although obscured by his present plight, were aristocratic for the knowing eye. So he stood gazing up at the lad, barking now and again to attract attention, if Phil's business cares took his eye from this new friend. It was as if the dog said in so many words : " I like you, I need you ; make me yours and all will be well." And it was evident that this appeal was not made piteously, but as man to man, 54 The Coming of Number Three because of an instant perception in the canine mind that here was a fellow after his own heart. In the big world of hu- mans, these sudden likings are common enough. Some of us even believe in love at first sight, or if we don't, our chil- dren do, and act accordingly, much to our alarm. Why then, forsooth, should we not allow the same privilege to ani- mals, whose instincts take the place of our boasted reasoning faculties and not seldom make those faculties look slow and blundering? Half the romance of history begins thus, with the chance meeting of strangers at the cross-ways of Life. There was nothing to mark ownership in the dog; no collar adorned his neck, nor were there signs of gentle care in his keeping. Yet, as we said, Nature had made him a beautiful creature: with his 55 Three of a Kind luxuriant soft thick coat, handsomely feathered, with the slender snout es- teemed of fanciers, and with animation and ease in all his movements; and with the crowning gift and grace of rich brown eyes, which now, seeking Phil's, held a pleading that was well-nigh irresistible. Phil took him to be homeless, or lost, at any rate, in the devious paths of the city, in that section of it where ancient cow- paths and tortuous lanes have resulted in a down-town tangle, apt to confuse even the superior intellect of man. This cocker had a way of looking up at you, head perked a little to one side, one ear drooping properly forward but the other turned coquettishly back, and with an arch, quizzical expression of countenance which had all the effect of a keen appreciation of the humors of life ; and was potent to draw out affection 56 THE DOG SHOWED NOT THE SLIGHTEST INTENTION OF DEPARTURE. [Page 57, The Coming of Number Three in every one save those unfortunates con- demned by an inscrutable fate to indiffer- ence toward man's best friend among brute kind. He took that pose now, and Phil was a ready victim. Young as he was, he could feel in a vague way the pathos of being a dumb outcast in a great city, indeed, had not Phil himself been very much in the same boat ? And his soul, all unknowingly, also responded to an exhibition of pluck in taking such a sorry lot debonnairely : Phil was no im- mune from the contagion of courage. As trade slackened and the bunch of papers melted away, he pondered the proper action and made wrong change to his mortification several times, because of his absent-mindedness. The dog showed not the slightest intention of de- parture ; it was plain he intended to stick to this self-elected master; he was the 57 Three of a Kind very figure of constancy in action. When, at last, the boy turned his face toward the lane that gave on the old graveyard, the canine trotted obediently after, unre- pulsed, without so much as a whistle to bring him to heel. His carriage implied there had been a close relation between the two from time out of mind. Now and again he would bound ahead of the boy, looking back with the light of an expectant gratitude in those leal brown eyes. He seemed to rebuke the other for his slow progress. When he trotted more sedately just ahead of the boy (sat- isfied that the other would follow), there was something both appealing and comic in his gait. The forward movement of a small dog is for all the world like that of a side-paddle steamer going transverse to the current. Yet Phil made short work of the mile 58 The Coining of Number Three between him and supper. Not only did hunger impel him, he had, too, the addi- tional incentive of the surprise to the master. Truth to tell, his query was not unmingled with a mild alarm. He knew Ludovic liked animals of all sorts. Had he not one day, before Phil's very eyes, rescued a wretched gutter cat from the machinations of a gang of urchins who were striving to make a practical dem- onstration of the proverb which de- clares that animal to be possessed of nine lives : apparently meaning nine times the usual chance for torture ? And in some of their suburban journeyings he had noticed the old musician's gentle delight in those merry little wights, the birds : a joy which might have reminded Phil of St. Francis of Assisi, had the former been a literary man instead of a newsboy whose handsome face was not 59 Three of a Kind always perfectly clean, and whose hands never \vere. Still, Ludovic might not take an immediate, violent fancy to the little black cocker, which already, by its frank and affectionate demeanour, was winning its way into Phil's too fond heart. But the fears were groundless. As the twain entered the living room, after a stair-climb in which the dog boldly led the way, as if he, not the boy, were mine host, the animal rushed toward Ludovic, seated in his corner, with an assurance of kindly welcome no less pathetic than sublime. And the musician, after the first moment of amazement taking in the situation at once, made a mock heroic gesture of despair and exclaimed with a comical moue : " It is a hound, yes - and I am his long lost father, eh ? And thou art his brother, Phil, nicht ? See, 60 The Coming of Number Three he smells the stew. He must eat yet, before he go ! " But of course he never went. The two comrades were an easy prey to the blan- dishments of the third, who by morning - for it would have been cruelty undreamt of to turn him out that night had so ingratiated himself into their affections that they made excuses to each other for keeping him day by day ; knowing all the while in their guilty hearts that he already belonged, as much as they them- selves. Until finally, throwing aside all pretence, they shamelessly organized themselves into the trinity of the top floor. His name had been a matter of some concern. You will have observed that Dun was not dun-colored. Nay, on the contrary, there was theatrical history in his cognomen. Phil, with the delicacy 61 Three of a Kind of a true gentleman, waived the right of discovery and insisted on Ludovic as the proper baptismal authority. Now, the musician had once played in an orchestra where he had witnessed the performance of the elder Sothern as Lord Dundreary, - one of the pleasant memories of the older theater goers of this land. He had laughed, as have most of us who are past forty, at the peculiar little skip which the actor introduced, at first by accident in a rehearsal, into the walk of the funny fop, - to the huge content of his audience. One day Ludovic observed that the dog, busily threading the way in front of them on a Sunday outing, feet a-twinkle, skipped a step with one of his hind legs ; instantly, Sothern flashed upon his amused mind; the resemblance threw him into Jovian laughter. So then and there, Dundreary was the animal dubbed. 62 The Coming of Number Three And this, after the immemorial usage in respect of names, was reduced to Dun, - and accepted gratefully by all concerned. And most kindly did Dun, now once and for all reclaimed from the ranks of the vagrants, take to his new life. There is in the cocker nature (as contrasted with other breeds) an extra share of the nomadic instinct, the Wanderlust of all free farers after joy. Hence, dearly he loved his days in the street. Even when masterless and unsure of his next meal, he had enjoyed them ; but now, with fire and food and friends another of the world's sweet trinities to greet him at the day's end, his mood was beatific. What bliss unalloyed to dodge vehicles, bark up alleys, touch noses with stranger dogs, and always follow, follow, follow after at the beck of the Two> in the ca- maraderie of a common zest for life. 63 Three of a Kind Dogs when happy are perfectly happy : and even when things go against them, they assume the best and keep up a cheer- ful attitude towards life : they are the first Christian Scientists in history. Two distinct duties were his : on the one hand, he would help Phil sell his papers for within a month he was so trained that he surprised and delighted gaping crowds of folks at Phil's corner by his antics and was a source of much revenue to the newsboy. Or again, he would trot beside Ludovic through the residential avenues, perch near while the musician played and, tin cup in mouth, gather coppers when the music ceased : and during its production, do his full share toward the securing of orchestral effects. This last statement is no mere trope of speech, for Dun literally assisted the 64 The Coming of Number Three musicians in their work; it is quite ac- curate to describe him as a musical dog. He always co-operated in the perform- ance of the various selections. Seated close beside Ludovic, he would lift up his head, look languishingly to heaven, and emit sounds which, if they were not mellifluous, certainly implied emotion on his part, and moreover, were fully as efficacious in the bringing in of money, thrown from the windows or drawn from the pockets of passers-by, as were the concerted efforts of the remaining mem- bers of the band. Even as Orpheus lured wild animals to follow him by his sweet pipings, so did this tame animal lure human beings. Sometimes, in his excitement, Dun would rise from his sitting posture and stand on his hind legs the very atti- tude he was to assume later in the day 65 Three of a Kind when a vendor of newspapers in the serv- ice of Phil. This, however, was when the selection was of a particularly sad, lac- rymosal sort. For it is to be remarked that the manner of Dun's singing it could be called naught else and his general deportment, varied according to the style of composition. Yes, he seemed susceptible not only to pitch, intensity and tempo, but to the more subjective and subtle elements which have to do with harmony, sentiment, theme. A brisk merry dance tune, running from violin to flute like a wind in a wheat field (this street band boasted both brass and wood wind instruments), would draw from him a succession of short, staccato yelps, as he lay on his belly with head erect : to a mournful, slow-moving melody he would respond by long-drawn-out plain- tive whines, perhaps with head between 66 The Coming of Number Three his paws; while the crashing close har- monies of a composer like Wagner would bring him in a trice to his feet, tail and head pointing, the whole body tense and vibrant, and making noise enough to rival the music almost. To the uninstructed, this might seem like angry protest against the music of the future; but Ludovic knew, from many private experiments at home, that Dun was in truth a firm adherent of the Wagnerian school, a creature not to be scared off even by the extremes of a Rich- ard Strauss. There is work yet to do, by the by, for our laboratory psycholo- gists in the study of the musical sensi- tiveness of the lower orders of sentient beings. Six months after Dun's adoption, he was as firmly lodged in the affections of his two friends as if he had been always 67 Three of a Kind by their side. All their plans and pleasures included him ; and in return for such feel- ing the dog gave them a devotion which, this side of heaven, they were unlikely to receive again. For often in the unques- tioning fealty of those we mis-call brutes, is to be found a not unworthy fore- glimpse of that final love which, our best moments whisper, shall pilot this blun- dering old world to a safe haven at last: that spirit in whose loving kindness, as Dante has sung it, we are ever fain to find our peace. 68 IV SUNDAY AFIELD SUNDAY AFIELD THE roof-top trinity were wont to go of a Sunday out into one of the beautiful suburbs of the city, there to spend the sunshine hours beyond the " man-stifled town." In May, when the tender spring made a magic of early green on the trees and the revel of blossoms was near; in the full flush of midsummer, regal with 71 Three of a Kind her brilliances and blooms ; or on some splendid autumn day when the sparkling air was like a draught of golden wine and the country-side glowed with rich har- monies of reds and yellows, purples and browns, you might have seen the three friends fare forth from their lodging and seek the open. By railroad train they went, or crowded trolley, or, best of all, travelled afoot after the manner of those who, above all else, love the beck of the long, white road. To Phil this week-end holiday was joy supreme; all healthy-natured lads love the freedom of the fields. Ludovic, with his poet's nature, basked in the wide sun-warmed places of God ; while as for Dun, it was a veritable heaven he found among the reaches of park and wood and meadow. One of the finest things this side the grave, is to see a dog enjoy that 72 Sunday Afield " great good place, outdoors." His in- fectious exuberance of high spirits is a winsome characteristic, in perfect key with his surroundings. It is really thrill- ing to behold a young dog racing about in sheer abandon of strength and heyday of blood, daring you to a race, now a speck in the distance through arrow-swift flight, yet darting back to your side as sure as the stone drops to earth or tides lift to the wooing moon. His attitude towards all things, as he sweeps along or pauses panting for a moment before re- suming his mad run, is the very epitome of that unspoiled spontaneous interest in the created universe which makes life worth while. To doubt the " joy of liv- ing " from the dog's point of view, under such conditions, were inconceivable. Things are good enough, he opines, and he has the immense common sense to 73 Three of a Kind grasp all they offer and not worry ahead. Ludovic would take his violin along at such times, not for professional reasons, but for the pure love of it. In fact, all professionalism was banished on these Sunday outings, by common consent. Phil might have picked up many a silver piece had he chosen to sell papers or exhibit the antics of the cocker ; but even Dun seemed to catch the spirit that ani- mated the day and was never the trick dog but just a natural, happy quad- ruped, with room to run wild in and a whole, long, splendid day in which to disport himself in the open air. Happi- ness fairly oozed from all his body when, in the early Sabbath morning, the weather being fine, he recognized the usual prep- arations for an excursion: the living- room hardly held his leaps and his cries of exultation. 74 Sunday Afield O how the three did enjoy these little excursions, even as did thousands more of the toilers of the town ! It is sotimemes said that only the city-bred, the folk who are subtle and sophisticate, truly appre- ciate the beauties of nature. Like most generalizations, this is too sweeping and therefore untrustworthy. It may be true that fanners, as a rule, care little for scenery and have a habit of so building their barn as to obstruct the superb. view from the front piazza, if so be they have a piazza at all. And it is undeniable that the better-class denizen of towns, has, of late years, brought new eyes and a new value to the country-side. Never- theless, many humble folk, who make up humanity's rank and file, love the coun- try and in their dumb way respond to the manifold lures of it beyond city limits. They cannot talk about it, to be sure, in 75 Three of a Kind the terms of art, or with the finesse of literary culture : yet perhaps none the less does it nourish their spirit and is a joy often sought, If you are dubious, watch the disposition of their time by the masses in a great city on a fair-weather Sabbath in the right season. It is more than peep-shows that takes them thus afield, peopling the parks, surging to the sea-resorts, dotting bits of water with their pleasure boats and roaming forest ways. On this keen, brilliant day in late October, of the year following Phil's coming, they had started bright and early for one of the outlying parks. It was magic weather : all glitter and bronze and gold. The smell of burning leaves (when once you were without the city) was heavy in the air, breeding a misty thought of immemorial camp-fires. 76 Sunday Afield Myriads of leaves fell with a crinkly sound curiously like the spurtles of a wood fire, if you did but listen more than carelessly and had the trick of remem- bering. To breathe deep was to taste the primary joy of living. In a little black knapsack slung for- eign fashion over Ludovic's broad shoul- ders, was their luncheon; Phil carried in his pocket a small steel chain, which though to do the dog justice, very seldom - it was sometimes necessary to slip on to Dun's collar amidst the alien ex- citement of outdoors. The inevitable fiddle case was tucked under the musi- cian's arm. They were heading for a quiet part of the park, where was a broad stretch of sward, tapering down to a large pond (or little lake, as esthetes preferred to call it), the background set in fine oak trees, now superb in their 77 Three of a Kind autumn changes. The garish attrac- tions of merry-go-rounds and swan boats were not too near, and the three had chosen it for its comparative seclusion. Phil and the master had ensconced themselves comfortably under a big tree: Dun came and went as mood dictated and external incitations too alluringly arose: a squirrel to be chased, a passing stran- ger to investigate, butterflies to follow in their tortuous aeries, nuts dropping from far above out of mysterious branches to dodge, or a delicious roll in the still green grass, belly up and legs a- wriggle in a spasm of pure earthly bliss. Ludovic drew from his pocket a little book; the boy, leaning against the mot- tled bole of a beech, settled himself to listen. It was the violinist's habit, on these occasions, to translate out of the German in his own way for his com- 78 Sunday Afield panion's benefit one of Grimm's Mar- chen a style of literature which he had discovered, by accident, was most agree- able to the lad, and one he himself adored. After the impromptu English rendering, it became Phil's task to give the tale in his own vernacular. To have used one of the excellent English translations of the fairy tales already existing, Ludovic would have deemed next door to sac- rilege; most reverently did he interpret, with the original firmly grasped in hand. In this course of popular education, they had reached the highly instructional story of " Frau Holle." The copy from which he read was fitted to evoke the proper mood in which those greatest of all tellers of folk-tales, the Brothers Grimm, should be enjoyed. It was a tiny volume, bound in yellow and red boards and with a highly colored 79 Three of a Kind picture cover after the German fashion : one looked at a lovely sylph with blue- tipped wings sitting beside a mystic Lake (fancy not using a capital!), behind which rose beetling crags, crowned with a mediaeval castle. Companions at her side were a swan which wore a crown, and a doe with a blue ribbon about its neck. Surrounding the group, a vign- ette of fairy creatures, animal or human, heightened the suggestion of the lore within. Many a year before, in the fatherland, had Ludovic acquired this book, and it was much thumbed, its stories dimmed by time and use ; but all the more dearly prized : one of those beloved pocket vol- umes which become more intimately a part of personal life than the very clothes one wears. And now the old musician read aloud 80 Sunday Afield in his rich, sympathetic voice, with its tinge of another land: an ideal medium through which to convey the sentiment of what he read, an imaginative handling of child life. Perhaps part of the reason why Ludovic eschewed an English ver- sion in indoctrinating Phil into the riches of German fable, lay in a secret pride in his ability thus to draw from the treasure- house of his native literature, in a manner to enthrall his audience of two ; yes, two, since even Dun gave token of attention and ceased from troubling, momently, while Ludovic translated. The cynic might have declared he slept, but the cynic is always wrong. " This is the story of Frau Holle, my Phil," he began ; " listen how it fell. " A widow had two daughters ; thereof one was beautiful and industrious, the other hateful and lazy. But she held the 81 Three of a Kind hateful, lazy one far liefer, since she was her true daughter; so the other must all the work do, and be the hearth scrubber in the haus. The poor maiden must sit beside a well daily in the great highway and must so much spin, that the blood from her finger fell down. Now it hap- pened, that the spindle was once all bloody, so she bent down to the well and would wash it away; but it sprung out of her hand and fell down into the water. She wept and ran to her stepmother and told her the unluck. Stepmother blamed her heartily and was so " the trans- lator hesitated "so unpiteous as to say : * If thou hast let the spindle fall into the water, go fetch it out again ! ' " Then went the maiden to the well, and knew not what to do, and in her heart's anguish she leapt down into the well, for to fetch the spindle. She lost her senses 82 Sunday Afield and when she came to herself again, she was in a beautiful meadow; there shone the sun and there were many tausend blooms. On the meadow, back and forth, went a bake-oven which was full of bread ; and the bread cried out : * ach, draw me out, draw me out, otherwise I shall burn. I am already for some time well-baked/ " So she took hold of the bread-spoon oder, that is, shovel, and fetched it all out. Thereafter went she further, and came to a tree, which hung full of apples and called to her : ' Ach, shake us, shake us, we apples are altogether ripe.' " So she shook the tree, so that the apples fell as if it rained apples, and shook so long, until no more were up above. And when she had laid them to- gether in a heap, went she further on the way. At the end, she came to a little 83 Three of a Kind haus, from which beckoned an old lady; but because she such great teeth had, the maiden was scared and wished to run away. But the old woman called after her : * Why fearest thou me, dear child ? Stay with me, and if thou willst do all work in the haus orderly, then it shall go well with thee; only thou must take heed that thou makest my bed with care and givest it a good shaking so that the feathers fly : then snows it in the world. I am Mother Holle. ' " " What did she mean ? " interrupted Phil, who had been dreamily flipping bits of stick at Dun, his whole soul absorbed in the tale ; " could de lady turn on and off the snow, like you do the water faucet ? " " She was a sort of a goddess," ex- plained Ludovic, slowly; " what dey call a pagan deity; and she had charge of 84 Sundav Afield the weather and crops and all growing things, so the peasants, they loved her. and wished friendly with her. Yes."" the musician's eyes grew dark, and looked far away across the green and gold of the park, "in my native Hesse we used to sav vet : * When it snows, Frau * Holle, she makes her bed." Phil made no reply; he seemed satisfied. " Because the old woman spoke so kind to her," Ludovic resumed, with a quaver in his voice, " the maiden took heart and agreed to enter into her service. She did all to her mistress' content, and shook up her bed so hard that the feathers flew about like snowflakes: hence she lived a pleasant life there, with no cross words and plenty to eat all day along. " Now she had been a long while with Frau Holle and then she became sad, 85 Three of a Kind and knew herself at first not what ailed her ; but at last she saw it was Heimweh- das heisst, homesickness," explained the translator; " and although it was here a thousand times better than at home, yet had she a longing thither. At last she said to her mistress : " The home-sorrow tortures me, and although it goes so good with me here, yet can I not longer stay, I must go back again to my own.' Frau Holle said : ' It pleases me that thou desirest to go home, and since thou hast served rne so true, I will myself bring you up there. So she took her by the hand and led her to a great gateway. The gate opened and just as she was passing through there fell a fierce rain of gold and all the gold remained hanging upon her, so that she was covered with it over and over again. ' That shalt thou have, for that thou hast 86 Sunday Afield been industrious/ cried Frau Holle, and also gave her the spindle back, which had fallen into the well. Then the gate closed and the maiden found herself above in the world again, not far from her mother's haus." " Stepmother, you mean, ain't it ? " asked Phil; evidently he was letting nothing escape him. " Ja, ja, but the Herren Grimm, they say just ' mother ' here," replied Ludovic ; :< perhaps she seemed like she was her own mother for a minute, verstehst du, because the little girl was so glad she was back, nicht ? " Once more Phil seemed satisfied and the recital went on : " And as she came into the yard, a cock sat by the wall and cried : ' Cock - a - doodle - do ! Our girl's come back, all golden too ! ' 87 Three of a Kind Then she went in to her mother " Phil let it go this time " and since she was all gold bedecked, she was right well welcomed by her, and by her sister. " The maiden told all that had happed, and when the mother heard in what wise she had got great riches, she would have the other and lazy daughter fare in the same fashion. She, too, must seat herself by the well and spin : and that the spindle might be bloody, she pricked her finger and thrust her hand into the thorn-hedge. Then she threw the spindle into the well and sprang in after it. So she came, like the other, upon the beautiful meadow and went along the self-same path. When she fell in with the bake-oven, shrieked the bread again : ' Ach, draw me out, draw me out, or I shall burn, I have been so long a-baking.' But the lazy one answered, ' I'm not going to dirty myself 88 Sunday Afield for you, stay there till you be black,' and went on. Soon came she to the apple tree, which cried out, * O shake me, shake me, we apples are altogether ripe.' But she answered : ' A nice way to talk, you might fall on my head,' and went along. When she came to Frau Holle's haus, she was not afraid; for she had heard about the big teeth already, and so entered into her service. The first day she worked hard, was industrious, and when Frau Holle told her anything, took heed, for she kept thinking of the gold she would give her. But on the second day, she began to be lazy, on the third still more so, and next day, she did not want to get up. She failed to make her mistress' bed, which her duty was, and did not shake it so that the feathers flew. So Frau Holle soon wearied of her and declared her service ended. 89 Three of a Kind ' The wench was well pleased and be- thought her : ' Now the rain of gold will begin.' Mother Holle led her also to the gateway and when she stood there, in- stead of the gold, a big kettle full of pitch was shaken over her. " ' That to pay for your service ! ' said Frau Holle and banged to the door. Then the lazy madchen came home and was all covered with pitch, and when the cock by the well saw her, he cried : ' Cock - a - doodle - do ! Our dirty daughter has come back too!' and the pitch stayed on her, and so long as she lived, would not off." There was a pause after Ludovic fin- ished his translation. Dun, I regret to say, had not shown the interest to be ex- pected in the denouement, and his form, dimmed by distance, was to be seen on 90 Sunday Afield the borders of the lake, where he gam- boled with some small children ; perhaps he had objected to the too obvious moral of the tale and felt in his heart that there were others in the world dirty besides the Jazy daughter. At last the musician spoke : ' Well, mein liebe Phil ! how like you the marchen ? " Phil grinned reflectively. " O, pretty good. I like some of them stories about fighting, and bears and o-gres and robbers better. Old Mammy Holle handed the lemon to lazy one all right, didn't she ? I wish somebody would plaster me all over with gold like that; you bet, I'd get busy, all right, all right. No more windy corners in winter for little Phillie." " Ja wohl, thou rascal boy," said the other amiably. " But come now, speak 91 Three of a Kind the story in thy own words." He smiled encouragement. Phil puckered his brow a bit and then began : " Well, dere was a widder woman what had two daughters; one of 'em was pretty, all 'right, but the other nit ; she wouldn't work a little bit. But, you see, she was her own girl, so she had the widder woman dead to rights. T'other girl, the good one, used to sit by a well and sew to beat the band, and one day she pricked her finger and got it bloody and washed it off in the water. But the - the spindle what she spieled with, dropt in, and then the girl sprinted to the widder and give her an earful 'bout how it hap- pened ; and the mother-in-law - " Nay, spitzbubel, das heisst step- mother," interpolated Ludovic. " That's right, the stepmother," Phil 92 Sunday Afield accepted the correction with due meek- ness " she was hot, and sent the girl back to dive for the blamed old spindle Huh ! think of all that fuss over no thin' ! " meditated Phil. " So the nice daughter took a swim and then, first thing she knew she didn't know nothin'; then she woke up and it was a fine naedder somethin' like this, all flowers and the sun a-shinin' : it might have been Sunday, -- 1 dunno. And they was baking bread mighty queer place for a kitchen, too. Well, anyway, the bread in the oven ups and says : ' Get a move on you, 'cos I'm burning up.' So she takes it out. Then she sprinted some more and came to a apple tree - I'd like to take a whack at that myself," was Phil's marginal comment. " And says the apples, * Give us a shake, for we're pretty near rotten.' So 93 Three of a Kind she shakes 'em all down and piles 'em up, and then, her for the race track again. After a while she treks up to a house, and an old lady says come here with her hand ; but she flashed so many store teeth that the girl got leery and was going to do a hundred yard dash; but the old woman told her, ' Aw, I'm all right ; you hire out to me and we'll get on fine; but you'll have to shake all the feathers out of my bed, so the folks'll think it's snowing ! " It would look kinder like that, wouldn't it, big master?" The boy again brought his latter-day realistic vision to bear upon the magic law of myth. " Ganz sicker sure, it would," re- sponded his friend. " Well, so they made a deal, and the girl made good. What was her name ? It don't say, does it ? " suddenly queried 94 Sunday Afield Phil, the thought striking him that a nameless heroine was an anomaly in fiction. " She was just ein Madchen, a gut girl, like all good girls are," explained Ludo- vic, with an impressive air of wisdom. " Well, anyway, she made snow-storms with the bed and had the time of her life eatin' and sleepin' and standin' in with the old Dame. Then after a while she took sick homesick, they call it," it was a disease that waif Phil had es- caped in his brief existence. " So she says to the lady : ' Me for mother-in - I mean * stepmother.' I should think she'd rather have stayed with the Holley lady," mused Phil, "like I'd rather stay with you than do the lonesome act; no use going home to stepmother; she was a kind of near-mother, warri't she ? " Anyway, it suited the old woman what 95 Three of a Kind hired her all right, so she took her to a gateway, and just as she was going through the gold came down and slathered her all over. And bang ! the door went and the stage went dark, and she was back near her mother's, naw, naw, her step- mother's house. And in she goes into the yard and there was a rooster that handed some dope 'bout bein' glad she was back and her folks was glad to see her 'cos she had the boodle. They didn't care nothin' 'bout her really, see ? * Then she told 'em her story and the old girl was dead anxious to have Girlie Number Two try the gold cure. So she did the well stunt and got into the medder ; but say, she wasn't goin' to fool with bread and apples; no sir; they wasn't high-life enough for her. So she just let 'em holler. And when she hired out to the Holley dame, she earned her salary 96 Sunday Afield 'bout two days and a half, then laid down on her job. So old Mother Holley called the deal off. This was just like findin' money to Miss Lazy, so she stood by the gateway and shut her eyes for to let the gold fall on her. Gee ! but she was the limit for gall ! But did it fall ? I don't think. Naw ! Somebody emptied a lot of pitch onto her, and then she come home sudden-like; and the rooster told 'em how the bad one was back, and the pitch is on her yet. So that was the end of the story. " But I'll bet there was some scrappin' in that house," was the lad's postscript. 97 V DUN TO THE RESCUE DUN TO THE RESCUE SUDDENLY Ludovic sat up, his body tense. Cries and commotion from the little lake that dimpled in the distance beyond the superb sweep of grass, had come to his consciousness. The companions were startled out of their mood of pleasure-day enjoyment. Once and again a sharp staccato yelp split 101 Three of a Kind the autumn air : Phil knew it at once. It was a friend talking, a friend who needed help. Dun was in trouble. Springing to their feet, the two rushed pell-mell towards the water. Already a crowd of people were gath- ered from the various pleasances of the park; a burly blue-coated officer dom- inated it and was engaged, as they reached the scene, in pushing the massed human- ity back from the water's edge. Another officer, Phil and Ludovic noticed when they reached the bank, was strenuously oaring a small skiff out from the shore. But their eyes looked anxiously beyond him, to a tiny black dot that bobbed along the ripples and made for the bank. Yes, it was Dun, -- Dun with something in his mouth, which looked at first glance like a piece of white rag. But a second look, and their hearts went a-thumping; 102 Dun to the Rescue it was a bit of dress that gleamed white and the dog was manfully struggling against seemingly insuperable odds to bring it to shore, and the child with it. A hurried question or two revealed the whole situation. The child, a girl of six or eight, had been in one of the pleasure boats without her nurse, who had care- lessly strolled away to talk to a friend; trig-keeled, the craft had floated from the bank and overturned, and the little one, far beyond her depth, had begun to drown before the eyes of the spectators, mostly women petrified with fear. The dog, excited by her cries and splashes, had dashed in after her, per- haps with the instinct of play, possibly - who knows ? animated with the divine instinct of helpfulness. In any case, in he had gone and was now doing yeoman service. The child was under water in 103 Three of a Kind the main, no doubt half drowned ; but she could yet be saved if drawn out in time. Certainly the animal could not tow the little body all the distance in to shore; but at least he was so far keeping it from the bottom, and the policeman was drawing near with swift oar-strokes. Phil stood trembling on the bank: without his being aware of it, his hand sought and found Ludovic's ; he w r as thinking, be it confessed, fully as much of the dog as of the human tot whose life was in jeopardy. " Good boy, Dun. Come on, that's the dog," he called in a rather uncertain voice, and interspersed the words with the particular whistle of three notes a long and two short, like a telegrapher's code which was their private shibbo- leth. Responsive to the call, still more frantically did Dun struggle on; he 104 Dun to the Rescue would have barked, but, like the crow in the fable, to do so would have been to drop his prey. Ludovic's deep voice supplemented Phil's : " Du Lieber Hund, Come, mein little Dun. Kommst du jetzt, ach, du bist ein braver Mann! " All mortal crises are brief, and so it was here. Suspense gave way to relief, when the policeman swept alongside the child and dog; he drew the poor little morsel of unconscious humanity from the lake, limp, sodden with water, safe into the boat, and then to his honor be it spoken drew the dog in after her, ap- parently to the latter's high indignation. But it was just as well that the kindly officer had not left Dun to his own de- vices in the water, for when he crawled on shore and, after a convulsive shake of his water-logged body which showered 105 Three of a Kind wet radiations upon the eager circle surrounding him and broke it up ab- ruptly, crouched at the feet of his masters, young and old, who overwhelmed him with caresses despite his wetness, he could but tremble and whimper and put his belly close to the ground in an abject sort of way that bespoke a sense either of wrong-doing or great exhaustion - perhaps both. That he was a hero he had no comprehension; Nature had denied him that glow of self-righteous satisfaction which might come to a hu- man who had performed a like act. Meanwhile, a physician, summoned by a telephone message in the pleasure- house near by, and responding with mar- vellous promptness, had arrived, and after some fifteen minutes rapid, skilful working over the girl, was rewarded by her restoration to breath and the color of 106 Dun to the Rescue life. After a round scolding of the thor- oughly frightened maid, he hustled his charge off in a closed carriage, making for home and dry clothes. The attention of the pleasure-seekers was thus naturally centred on Dun, and encomiums upon his conduct flew thick and fast. Many were the expressions of surprise that so small a fellow could ex- hibit such power. In truth, the cocker spaniel has a wiry strength that belies his diminutive proportions. He has a record in history for deeds of bravery and en- durance that seem better suited to breeds like the Newfoundland or St. Bernard. And although one might sooner expect his brother, the water-spaniel, to perform aquatic feats, yet all the spaniel varieties of dog are likely to show self-sacrificing sagacity by land or water. The big policeman seemed especially 107 Three of a Kind interested and was careful to take the address of the trio as Ludovic sup- posed, that he might make the usual report at headquarters of this small inci- dent of the city's daily life. He did not realize what good " copy " Dun had furnished the newspaper reporters, and was to be instructed by the morning journals. Brief are the tragic memories of dog- kind. Later under the trees, while they ate their luncheon, of which, you may be very sure, Dun got his full portion, he was dry, full of life, happy; revelling in the extra petting he received and ready, no doubt, for the humdrum or heroic, as either might chance to come his way. As the shadows lengthened over the wide green sward, the old musician was making his fiddle sing, to the vast joy of a rapidly assembling audience already 108 THE OLD MUSICIAN WAS MAKING HIS FIDDLE SING \.Pa