Page:Willa Cather - The Song of the Lark.djvu/387

 good. But all the same, I cared a great deal more than anybody else did. I lived through it, I have no choice now. No matter how much it breaks me up, I have to go. Do I seem to enjoy it?"

Fred bent over trunk and picked up something which proved to be a score, clumsily bound. "What 's this? Did you ever try to sing this?" He opened it and on the engraved title-page read Wunsch's inscription, "Einst, O Wunder!" He looked up sharply at Thea.

"Wunsch gave me that when he went away. I 've told you about him, my old teacher in Moonstone. He loved that opera."

Fred went toward the fireplace, the book under his arm, singing softly:

"You have no idea at all where he is, Thea?" He leaned against the mantel and looked down at her.

"No, I wish I had. He may be dead by this time. That was five years ago, and he used himself hard. Mrs. Kohler was always afraid he would die off alone somewhere and be stuck under the prairie. When we last heard of him, he was in Kansas."

"If he were to be found, I 'd like to do something for him. I seem to get a good deal of him from this." He opened the book again, where he kept the place with his finger, and scrutinized the purple ink. "How like a German! Had he ever sung the song for you?"

"No. I did n't know where the words were from until once, when Harsanyi sang it for me, I recognized them."

Fred closed the book. "Let me see, what was your noble brakeman's name?"

Thea looked up with surprise. "Ray, Ray Kennedy."

"Ray Kennedy!" he laughed. "It could n't well have been better! Wunsch and Dr. Archie, and Ray, and I,