Indeed, she seemed to have
lapsed into definite silence. She deferred absolutely to Peter,
adored him, indeed, from afar. She never ate with him, in spite
of his protests.
The little apartment was very quiet. Where formerly had been
music and Harmony's soft laughter, where Anna Gates had been wont
to argue with Peter in loud, incisive tones, where even the
prisms of the chandelier had once vibrated in response to
Harmony's violin, almost absolute silence now reigned. Even the
gate, having been repaired, no longer creaked, and the loud
altercations between the Portier and his wife had been silenced
out of deference to the sick child.
On the day that Harmony, in the gold dress, had discovered
Jimmy's mother in the American dancer Peter had had an unusually
bad day. McLean had sent him a note by messenger early in the
morning, to the effect that a young girl answering Harmony's
description had been seen in the park at Schonbrunn and traced to
an apartment near by.
Harmony had liked Schonbrunn, and it seemed possible. They had
gone out together, McLean optimistic, Peter afraid to hope. And
it had been as he feared--a pretty little violin student, indeed,
who had been washing her hair, and only opened the door an inch
or two.
McLean made a lame apology, Peter too sick with disappointment to
speak. Then back to the city again.
He had taken to making a daily round, to the master's, to the
Frau Professor Bergmeister's, along the Graben and the
Karntnerstrasse, ending up at the Doctors' Club in the faint hope
of a letter.
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