Page:The Professor's House - Willa Cather.pdf/106

 “That happens, in mixed marriages.” Augusta spoke meaningly.

“Ah, yes, I suppose so. But tell me, what is the Magnificat, then?”

“The Magnificat begins, My soul doth magnify the Lord; you must know that.”

“But I thought the Magnificat was about the Virgin ?”

“Oh, no, Professor! The Blessed Virgin composed the Magnificat.”

St. Peter became intensely interested. “Oh, she did?”

Augusta spoke gently, as if she were prompting him and did not wish to rebuke his ignorance too sharply. “Why, yes, just as soon as the angel had announced to her that she would be the mother of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin composed the Magnificat. I always think of you as knowing everything, Doctor St. Peter!”

“And you’re always finding out how little I know. Well, you don’t give me away. You are very discreet.”

Their ways parted, and both went on more cheerful than when they met. The Professor climbed to his study feeling quite as though Augusta had been there and brightened it up for him. (Surely she had said that the Blessed Virgin sat down and composed the Magnificat!) Augusta had been with them often in the holiday season, back in the