At last it was over. I turned to the direktor, who was still near the piano, and asked timidly:
"Do you think I may join? Will my voice do?"
An odd expression crossed his face; he answered, dryly:
"You may join the verein, _mein Fräulein_--yes. Please come this way with me. Pardon, Fräulein Stockhausen--another time. I am sorry to say I have business at present."
A black look from a pretty brunette, who had advanced with an engaging smile and an open score to ask him some question, greeted this very composed rebuff of her advance. The black look was directed at me--guiltless.
Without taking any notice of the other, he led Anna and me to a small inner room, where there was a desk and writing materials.
"Your _Vorname_, though--your first name."
"M--a--_na_! Perhaps you will be so good as to write it yourself, and the street and number of the house in which you live."
"Humph! If you wish to make any progress in music, you must stay much longer."
"It--I--it depends upon other people how long I remain."
He smiled slightly, and his smile was not unpleasant; it lighted up the darkness of his face in an agreeable manner.
"So I should suppose. I will call upon you to-morrow at four in the afternoon. I should like to have a little conversation with you about your voice. Adieu, _meine Damen_."
With a slight bow which sufficiently dismissed us, he turned to the desk again, and we went away.
Our homeward walk was a somewhat silent one. Anna certainly asked me suddenly where I had learned to sing.
"I have not learned properly. I can't help singing."
"I did not know you had a voice like that," said she again.
"Herr von Francius will tell you all about it to-morrow," said she, abruptly.
"What a strange man Herr von Francius is!" said I. "Is he clever?"
"At first I did not like him. Now I think I do, though."
She made no answer for a few minutes; then said:
When Miss Hallam heard from Anna Sartorius that my singing had evidently struck Herr von Francius, and of his intended visit, she looked pleased--so pleased that I was surprised.
He came the following afternoon, at the time he had specified. Now, in the broad daylight, and apart from his official, professional manner, I found the Herr Direktor still different from the man of last night, and yet the same. He looked even younger now than on the estrade last night, and quiet though his demeanor was, attuned to a gentlemanly calm and evenness, there was still the one thing, the cool, hard glance left, to unite him with the dark, somewhat sinister-looking personage who had cast his eyes round our circle last night, and told us to sing as if we were damned.