MAURIER.]

Then du Maurier would sing the French "romance" or the English song,
or he would "dire la chansonnette," and what with his sympathetic
tenor and his intuitive knowledge of music, he seemed to be able
to express more than many who had had the advantage of a musical
training. A few old letters of his remind me that we were audacious
enough to write verses and music, he doing the former, I the latter.

"Here's something I particularly want you to do," he writes. "Take
strong coffee, inspire yourself, think of your 'Ideal,' and compose
some very pretty music to the enclosed words, with which Rag's ideal
flame has inspired Rag--_surtout_, let it be as good as possible, with
accompaniment _a l'avenant_. An alteration in the music of each stanza
would render the gradation of energy expressed in the words, 'Je
compte sur toi.'" (How du Maurier came by the name of "Rag" I must
tell later on.) Then follow the words:--

CHANSON.

_D'apres un barde Britannique_.[1]

Les sources vont a la riviere
Et la riviere a l'ocean;
Les monts embrassent la lumiere,
Le vent du ciel se mele au vent;
Contre le flot, le flot se presse;
Rien ne vit seul--tout semble, ici,
Se fondre en la commune ivresse....
Et pourquoi pas nous deux aussi?
Vois le soleil etreint la terre,
Qui rougit d'aise a son coucher--
La lune etreint les flots, qu'eclaire
Son rayon doux comme un baiser;
Les moindres fleurs ont des tendresses
Pour leurs pareilles d'ici-bas
Que valent toutes ces caresses
Si tu ne me caresses pas?[2]

[Footnote 1: See Shelley's "Love's Philosophy."]

[Footnote 2: Pour bien apprecier la valeur artistique de cette
romance, il faut l'entendre chanter par Rag en tenant les yeux fixes
sur le profit de Bobtail.]

Two slight sketches of "L'auteur de profil" and "Le compositeur de
face" head the page.

[Illustration]

Soon afterwards he sends me another poetical effusion and writes:

"DEAR BOBTAIL,--I send you the Serenade composed 'tant bien que mal'
last night, not 'entre la poire et le fromage,' but between the tea
and the pears. I am afraid you will not find it as dramatic as you
wished; but I don't feel it otherwise, and as Mahomet can't write
words to the mountain's music, the mountain must try and adapt its
music to the verses of Mahomet.

SERENADE APRES LA SIESTE.

"Berthe aux grands yeux d'azur, ouvre done ta paupiere,
Chasse les reves d'or de ton leger somme