Then with a full arm bowing, he swept them into the fiercely majestic
strains of the "Marseillaise," bringing the blue-coated orderlies about
the door, and such patients as could stand, and the group about the
piano to rigid attention. From the "Marseillaise" it was easy to pass
into the noble simplicity of his own national song, "Oh, Canada!"
where again his accompanist was quite able to follow, and thence to the
Empire's National Anthem, which had for a hundred years or more lifted
to their feet British soldiers and sailors the world over.
As he drew his bow over the last chord, Paula stepped to his side, and
whispered in his ear:
"Where's America in this thing?"
Without an instant's break in the music, he dropped into a whimsical and
really humorous rendering of "Yankee Doodle." Quickly the V. A. D. moved
from the stool, caught Paula and thrust her into the vacant place. Then
together the violin and piano rattled into a fantastic and brilliant
variation of that famous and trifling air.
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