Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

HENSELT 215
hear him play on the old Seller as on his own beautiful
Becker. He then told me that the Bechsteins had
offered to send him down one of their grand pianos
for the summer, and that his wife had been trying to
persuade him to accept. 'But,' he said, in quite a
cross tone, 'if I have a good piano, people will be
asking me to play.' 'Asking you!' I said. 'Why,
dear Meister, who could presume to take such a
liberty with you?' 'Well,' he said, 'they'll be
wishing me to play.' 'Who could blame them for
that?' I repUed. Then he said, in a very tough
manner, ' Sie woUen die letzten Lebenskrafte eines
alten Mannes, und die will ich ihnen gar nicht
geben.' I saw, however, that he was undecided;
so, waiting till the last moment, I summoned up
my courage for a bold stroke, and just as I was
saying good-bye to him I made the audacious speech,
'If you will comply with your wife's wishes, dear
Meister, you will see me at Warmbrunn.' Then I
was so frightened at my own boldness that I ran off,
without giving him time to make me any reply. I
knew that if he had once said ' No,' nothing would
induce him to change his mind afterwards.
Before my next lesson I heard, to my great delight,
in an incidental manner, from Mademoiselle Hein-
richsen, that the Meister was going to have a Bech-
stein sent to Warmbrunn for the summer.
Upon this I, of course, decided to go to Warmbrunn.
Mademoiselle Eanuschewitz was much disappointed