Could Alice sing like that, and who was this nightingale? How he wished
he knew; and when next the people arose, obedient to the organ's call,
he was of their number, and turning full about, looked up into the
gallery, starting as he looked, and half uttering an exclamation of
surprise. There was no mistaking the Russian sable fur, the wide blue
ribbons thrown so gracefully back, the wealth of sunny hair, or the
lustrous eyes, which swept for an instant over the congregation below,
taking in him with the rest, and then were dropped upon the keys, where
the snowy, ungloved hands were straying. The organist was Alice Johnson!
There were no more regrets now that he had come to church, no more
longings to be away, no more maledictions against Mr. Howard's drawling
manner, no more invectives against the poor old woman, listening like
himself with rapt attention, and wondering if the music of heaven could
be sweeter than that her bonny Alice made. The doctor, too, felt better
for such music, and he never remembered having been more attentive to a
sermon in his life than to the one, which followed the evening service.
When it was ended, and the people dismissed, she came tripping down the
stairs, flooding the dingy vestibule with a world of sunshine.
"Here, Aunt Densie, here I am. Martin is waiting for us," the doctor
heard her say to the old lady, who was elbowing her way through the
crowd, and who at last came to a standstill, apparently looking for
something she could not find. "What is it, auntie?" Alice said again.
"Lost something, have you? I'll be with you in a minute."
Two hours ago, and Dr. Richards would not have cared if fifty old women
had lost their entire wardrobe. As an attache of some kind to Alice
Johnson, Densie was an object of importance, and stepping forward, just
as Alice had made her way to the distressed old lady's side, he very
politely offered to assist in the search.
"Ah, Dr. Richards, thank you," Alice said, as the black kid was found,
and passed to its anxious owner.
The doctor never dreamed of an introduction, for his practiced eye saw
at once that however Alice might auntie her, the woman was still a
servant. How then was he surprised when Alice said:
"Miss Densmore, this is Dr. Richards, from Terrace Hill," adding, in an
aside to him: "My old nurse, who took care of both mother and myself
when we were children."
They were standing in the door now, and the covered sleigh was drawn up
just in front.
"Auntie first," she said, as they reached the carriage steps, and so the
doctor was fain to help auntie in, whispering gallantly in an aside:
"Age before beauty always!"
"Thank you," and Alice's ringing laugh cut the winter air as she
followed Densie Densmore, the doctor carefully wrapping her cloak about
her, and asking if her fur was pulled up sufficiently around her neck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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