Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

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A^y MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
seemed to find difi&culty in mastering his agitation.
I would have liked to say something, but feared to
make him break down by asking what was the matter.
"When we sat down to play, however, he was so
absent, so unable to concentrate his attention on
what we were doing, that more than once we had to
begin afresh. It seemed cruel, under such circum-
stances, to let him go on, and I therefore told him
that, as I could perceive he was either ill or in great
trouble, I begged he would consider himself free, and
not continue our reading for that day.
' I am not ill, signorina,' he replied ;
' nor am I in
trouble in the way you perhaps imagine. But I am
at this moment so unhappy about a friend of mine
that I can think of nothing else. Ah, signorina, can
you imagine what it is to look on at suffering and be
unable to relieve it ; to hear a person you love tell
you that he is hungry, and even starving, and not be
able to tell him that you can, at least, give him bread
enough to satisfy his hunger ?' As he pronounced
the last sentence, Bignor E 's voice grew thick
and husky, and I could see that it was only by
making a great effort that he refrained from giving
way to a burst of tears.
I entreated him to tell me who was in such pressing
need, hoping to find some way of giving a helping
in the' matter.
He then told me that a young countryman from
his own province (Naples) had, until within the last