He was a young man, only twenty-four,
and he had married, before he came of age, an Italian girl called Tina.
They had come to England in order to make their fortune. They lived in
apartments in the Hereford Road, Bayswater.
They had two children, a little girl and a little boy; they were very
much in love with each other, as happy as birds, and as poor as church
mice. For Heraclius Themistocles got but few pupils, and although he
had sung in public at one or two concerts, and had not been received
unfavourably, he failed to obtain engagements to sing in private houses,
which was his ambition. He hoped by this means to become well known, and
then to be able to give recitals of his own where he would reveal to the
world those tunes in which he knew the spirit of Hellas breathed. The
whole desire of his life was to bring back and to give to the world
the forgotten but undying Song of Greece. In spite of this, the modest
advertisement which was to be found at concert agencies announcing that
Mr. Heraclius Themistocles Margaritis was willing to attend evening
parties and to give an exhibition of Greek music, ancient and modern,
had as yet met with no response. After he had been a year in England
the only steps towards making a fortune were two public performances
at charity matinees, one or two pupils in pianoforte playing, and an
occasional but rare engagement for stray pupils at a school of modern
languages.
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