Mary came half-
way to meet him. The pressure as of heaven's atmosphere fell
around him, calming and elevating. He stepped across the floor,
still, stately, and free. He laid down his violin, and seated
himself where Mary told him, in her father's arm-chair by the
fire. Gentle nothings with a down of rainbows were talked until
tea was over, and then without a word they set to their music--
Mary and Joseph, with their own hearts and Letty for their
audience.
They had not gone far on the way to fairyland, however, when
Beenie called Letty from the room, to speak to a friend and
customer, who had come from the country on a sudden necessity for
something from the shop. Letty, finding herself not quite equal
to the emergency, came in her turn to call Mary: she went as
quietly as if she were leaving a tiresome visitor. The music was
broken, and Joseph left alone with the dumb instruments.
But in his hands solitude and a violin were sure to marry in
music. He began to play, forgot himself utterly, and, when the
customer had gone away satisfied, and the ladies returned to the
parlor, there he stood with his eyes closed, playing on, nor
knowing they were beside him. They sat down, and listened in
silence.
Mary had not listened long before she found herself strangely
moved. Her heart seemed to swell up into her throat, and it was
all she could do to keep from weeping.
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