human
Great fellow, Schubert! her cousin observed, sauntering up to her side as soon as the recital was ended.
gpt
They say that this Thayer is daft upon the subject of him. Anyway, he manages to interpret him fairly well. What did you think?
human
Don't expect me to analyze him, Bobby. He is past that.
gpt
Bad or good?
human
Good, if making havoc of my nerve centres is any test.
gpt
Then you really liked him? I thought you didn't want to come.
human
I didn't. Nothing but a stern sense of duty brought me; but it also brought its own reward. One hears such a voice only once a decade.
gpt
Sure this is yourself, Beatrix? I thought you scoffed at all baritones, and only delighted in maudlin tenors and anticking sopranos. I have hopes of you yet; but whence comes your conversion?
human
From this man, Mr. ----.
gpt
Thayer, her cousin prompted.
human
Cotton Mather Thayer.
gpt
Bobby! What a name for an artist!
human
For a punster, you'd better say; but at least one can't doubt its genuineness. If he had been going to assume a stage name, he would have chosen something more romantic.
gpt
Who is he, and where did Mrs. Stanley accumulate him?
human
Mrs. Stanley hunts every lion that comes to Manhattan Island. As a rule, she catches only cubs; this is the exception which proves the rule.
gpt
I haven't heard the name before.
human
No; Thayer is a brand-new lion, but fully grown. Of course, with that name, his family tree sprouted in Massachusetts; but he has been in Germany and Italy for years. He only landed, the third, and is to make his formal début at the Lloyd Avalons's on the twentieth. Don't you want to meet him?
gpt
N--no. I am afraid it would be anticlimax.
human
Not a bit of it. He doesn't indulge in speckled neckties and an imperial. He is a man, as well as a singer.
gpt
You know him, then?
human
Yes, as one knows any number of people. Lorimer has had him at the club occasionally, and I have met him there.
gpt
Mr. Lorimer?
human
Lorimer knew him well in Germany. Come and help burn incense before him, and do try to say something rational. Those fellows must get deadly sick of the inanities people talk when they are being introduced. If you make a good impression, perhaps I'll bring him around, some Monday.
gpt
Wait till you see what impression he makes, Bobby. I'm not Mrs. Stanley, you know, and I'm not stalking any lions.
human
Good for you, Beatrix! But Thayer is a gentleman first of all, then an artist. A cad always shows himself at a strange club; but Thayer passed muster at The Critic, where even Lorimer isn't altogether popular.
gpt
Why not?
human
Difference in taste in jokes, her cousin replied evasively.
gpt
I only spoke of it to show you that you were safe enough in knowing Thayer. Lorimer is a good fellow; even good fellows have their foes.
human
But if Mr. Thayer hasn't--
gpt
Thayer hasn't been here long enough to get them. Give him time, Beatrix. Inside of six weeks, he will have every singer in New York slandering him. There's nothing more lovable than the way musicians stand by one another, when it's a case of fighting a successful rival.
human
How do you know, Bobby? You're not a musician.
gpt
Heaven forfend! If I were, I should spend half my time on The Island, doing sentence for battery and breach of the peace. I have known a few musicians in my time, Beatrix, and I know their pleasant little ways.