Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

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MV MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
sumptuous in asking him to do the same for me.
But it was not easy, for he looked resolved; and
saying, 'I am in a hurry—can't wait to hear any
more,' he was moving to the door, when I summoned
up what for me was extreme boldness, and, running
before him, I took his hand, which I pressed to my
lips, and with great earnestness begged him to pause
just one moment— just for one moment reflect on the
distance I had come to be under his guidance ; and
granting that it was by a 'whim,' 'a fit of touchiness,'
that I had stayed away three weeks in the winter,
who, I asked him, was the loser by it ? I said that I
had been really worried by it at the time more than
lie could imagine ; that I believed him to have for-
gotten it all : and now that we were going to part for
many long months, surely he was not going back on
old grievances ? I ventured to add, ' I presume to ask
nothing which you are not likewise giving to others.'
I know full well that the venerable Meister enjoyed
having me in the position of a suppliant in the pre-
sence of the two servants, one of whom had been sent
for me several times ; for he said, in a less gruff tone
' Well, child, you must let me run off now ; but we
shall see.' I knew he was mollified even more than
I had ventured to hope, for his man brought me a
letter the next morning to say he was coming round
in an hour or two, and I could tell him then whether
I should like to have four more lessons.
When Henselt left St. Petersburg—which he always
: