Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

2o6 MV MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
'I did not come all the way to St. -Petersburg to
study with anyone but yourself, dear Meister,' was
my reply.
' Good,' he said ;
* then we remain together
—
darm
bleiben wir beisammen. But now I wish to hear you
play, and you are to come to me on Friday next.'
But I respected my teacher's wishes, and at once
said that although I was, of course, eager to begin
with him, yet, since Mademoiselle Heinrichsen had
taken such immense pains with me, I felt it right to
consult her wishes, and to wait at least ten or twelve
days more before coming to him.
He said with an amused look, ' I told you it
would be so ;' and after a little friendly chat he
went away.
In about a fortnight after this I wrote to the
Meister, and said I was ready to show him the result
of my work with his teacher ; and he at once named
a day for giving me the first lesson, as to one belong-
ing regularly to his school. I had worked during
those weeks as I never believed that I could have
worked again, since the days when I was preparing
to take out the St. Cecilian diploma. But the work
of getting into the Henselt technique and into the
Henselt method of practising had not tired me,
except in a very healthy way. My fingers often
ached, and there were days during the first weeks
when I could not have held the pen to write a long
letter.