Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

54
MY MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
going to see her, and telling her that some of the
finest players had had similar experiences, but finally
decided that the very best way to help her a little
would be to give her some agreeable surprise during
the hours of suspense, and thus to divert her thoughts
into another channel at that critical time. But how
to do this was the question ; and, after many half-
formed plans, we settled on the following. Not very
English, my readers will say. We wrote a letter to the
young lady, in which we praised her talent, expressed
ourselves her sincere well-wishers, and begged her not
to let her thoughts revert to what was after all, though
a misfortune, yet one that could reflect no real dis-
credit on her; the piece (a concert study by Liszt)
bemg, moreover, of enormous difficulty—from begin-
ning to end one maze of intricate passages. We did not
sign our names to the letter, but concluded by tellmg
her we should be at the concert, and fully expected
that she would play admirably. I took the letter, ac-
companied by a book, called Volere e potere, to the floor
on which the young lady lived ;
and being very anxious
to avoid recognition, not only put on a very thick gauze
veil, but when the door was opened by Signorina
G -'s mother, handed her the parcel without saying
a word, and hurried away. Had I spoken, my foreign
accent would have betrayed my nationality, and given
them a clue as to who I was. I hurried away, there-
fore, in silence, and reached home, congratulating
myself that neither on the staircase nor at the street