Page:Willa Cather - The Song of the Lark.djvu/416

 said Mrs. Kronborg; "and poor father never knew when he sang sharp! He used to say, Mother, how do you always know when they make mistakes practicing?" Mrs. Kronborg chuckled.

Dr. Archie took her hand, still firm like the hand of a young woman. "It was lucky for her that you did know. I always thought she got more from you than from any of her teachers."

"Except Wunsch; he was a real musician," said Mrs Kronborg respectfully. "I gave her what chance I could, in a crowded house. I kept the other children out of the parlor for her. That was about all I could do. If she was n't disturbed, she needed no watching. She went after it like a terrier after rats from the first, poor child. She was downright afraid of it. That 's why I always encouraged her taking Thor off to outlandish places. When she was out of the house, then she was rid of it."

After they had recalled many pleasant memories together, Mrs. Kronborg said suddenly: "I always understood about her going off without coming to see us that time. Oh, I know! You had to keep your own counsel. You were a good friend to her. I 've never forgot that." She patted the doctor's sleeve and went on absently. "There was something she did n't want to tell me, and that 's why she did n't come. Something happened when she was with those people in Mexico. I worried for a good while, but I guess she 's come out of it all right. She 'd had a pretty hard time, scratching along alone like that when she was so young, and my farms in Nebraska were down so low that I could n't help her none. That 's no way to send a girl out. But I guess, whatever there was, she would n't be afraid to tell me now." Mrs. Kronborg looked up at the photograph with a smile. "She does n't look like she was beholding to anybody, does she?"

"She is n't, Mrs. Kronborg. She never has been. That was why she borrowed the money from me."