A Duet (with an occasional chorus)

A Duet (with an occasional
chorus)

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Duet, by A. Conan Doyle (#32 in
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Title: A Duet
Author: A. Conan Doyle
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5260] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 18, 2002]
[Most recently updated: June 18, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, A DUET
***

Transcribed from the 1899 Grant Richards edition by David Price,
email [email protected]

A DUET WITH AN OCCASIONAL CHORUS

TO MRS. MAUDE CROSSE

Dear Maude,--All the little two-oared boats which put out into the great
ocean have need of some chart which will show them how to lay their
course. Each starts full of happiness and confidence, and yet we know
how many founder, for it is no easy voyage, and there are rocks and
sandbanks upon the way. So I give a few pages of your own private log,
which tell of days of peace, and days of storm--such storms as seem
very petty from the deck of a high ship, but are serious for the
two-oared boats. If your peace should help another to peace, or your
storm console another who is storm-tossed, then I know that you will
feel repaid for this intrusion upon your privacy. May all your voyage be
like the outset, and when at last the oars fall from your hands, and those
of Frank, may other loving ones be ready to take their turn of toil--and
so, bon voyage!

Ever your friend, THE AUTHOR. Jan. 20, 1899.





CHAPTER I
--THE OVERTURE--ABOUT THAT DATE

These are the beginnings of some of the letters which they wrote about
that time.
Woking, May 20th.
My Dearest Maude,--You know that your mother suggested, and we
agreed, that we should be married about the beginning of September.
Don't you think that we might say the 3rd of August? It is a Wednesday,
and in every sense suitable. Do try to change the date, for it would in
many ways be preferable to the other. I shall be eager to hear from you
about it. And now, dearest Maude . . . (The rest is irrelevant.)
St. Albans, May 22nd.
My Dearest Frank,--Mother sees no objection to the 3rd of August, and
I am ready to do anything which will please you and her. Of course
there are the guests to be considered, and the dressmakers and other
arrangements, but I have no doubt that we shall be able to change the
date all right. O Frank . . . (What follows is beside the point.)
Woking, May 25th.
My Dearest Maude,--I have been thinking over that change of date, and
I see one objection which had not occurred to me when I suggested it.
August the 1st is Bank holiday, and travelling is not very pleasant
about that time. My idea now is that we should bring it off before that
date. Fancy, for example, how unpleasant it would be for your Uncle
Joseph if he had to travel all the way from Edinburgh with a
Bank-holiday crowd. It would be selfish of us if we did not fit in our

plans so as to save our relatives from inconvenience. I think therefore,
taking everything into consideration, that the 20th of July, a
Wednesday, would be the very best day that we could select. I do hope
that you will strain every nerve, my darling, to get your mother to
consent to this change. When I think . . . (A digression follows.)
St. Albans, May 27th.
My Dearest Frank,--I think that what you say about the date is very
reasonable, and it is so sweet and unselfish of you to think about Uncle
Joseph. Of course it would be very unpleasant for him to have to