The Weird Adventures of Professor Delapine of the SorbonneJohnson, G. Lindsay (George Lindsay)
Science
The Weird Adventures of Professor Delapine of the Sorbonne
Johnson, G. Lindsay (George Lindsay)
Spiritualism -- Fiction
Riche noticed Renée's departure, and whispered to Céleste, who silently
left the room to look for Renée. The guests had been waiting in
silence for about a minute when suddenly they heard the organ (which
Villebois had erected at the end of the library) pealing out the air
of the "Marche Funèbre." First came the prelude, then the solemn tones
of death and the mourners and the funeral service, and gradually the
Vox Celeste and the Vox Humana pealed forth the triumphant notes
"Oh, Death, where is thy sting, oh, Grave, thy victory? For Death is
swallowed up in Victory." The guests were entranced. The organ, which
had a superb tone, was played as it had never been played before.
"Surely angels must be playing it," said Céleste to Riche, who had
tracked her to the library, and found her working the bellows with all
her might. But the keys and stops moved of their own accord. At length
the air was finished, and the guests who had stood in awe just inside
the door of the library returned to the séance. Delapine had just woken
up.
"Well," he said to the astonished guests, "I have had such a curious
dream. I dreamt that I was in heaven and that I was playing the 'March
Funèbre' to a select crowd of angels."
"By Jove," said Marcel, "I would go to heaven to-morrow if I could hear
music like that. Why, my dear professor, I never heard such music in my
life, and I have heard some pretty good stuff, I assure you. You would
make Paderewski weep with mingled envy and rapture. His music one can
only compare to a school-girl strumming after yours."
"Oh, please, professor, give us one more piece," said Madame Villebois
and Céleste in one breath.
"Well, if I can, you shall have one more, but I shall want a rest
afterwards, as it fatigues me more than you have any idea of."
He whispered something to Renée, and she at once rose and tuned up her
violin. Placing the piece of music in front of her, she began playing
the prelude to 'En Sourdine' by Tellam. Then suddenly the piano took up
the refrain.
Have you ever read Dumas Fils' 'La Dame aux Camelias'? If you have
you will understand the piece. You remember where Marguerite has been
forsaken by her lover owing to the pressure put on him by his good but
mistaken father. Well, this piece reproduces the scene, and you can
positively hear, and even feel the poor girl sobbing her heart out. And
then comes the delightful refrain, and finally the exultant triumph of
Love. Never was melody more rapturously poured forth. The guests hung
on the refrain, and at the conclusion Madame Villebois was silently
weeping.
"I propose," said Marcel, unconsciously imitating the speaker of the
House of Commons on the conclusion of Sheridan's great speech during
the debate on Warren Hastings, "that we do now adjourn to the smoking
room to recover from the sublime effects of Delapine's and Renée's
melodies."
The professor went to his room to obtain his much needed rest on the
sofa, while the ladies chatted together.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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