answer, but went on warmly:

— I have loved music all my life. I was a little girl like you, just like you. That day, when I saw you standing before me, emotion overcame me, and I seemed to see "myself" standing before me. That self of mine which I shall never be again.

Myself at twelve years of age...

And she laughed lightly, with trembling tears on the tips of her lashes; and I took her hand, to say to her: "I am here — do not grieve!" At that she drew me to her with a violent movement and took my head between her hands and kissed me on my hair and my eyes and my face.

I nearly choked with emotion, and she noticed my fright and the

flush of my face and said in a voice of utmost sweetness:

— Are you afraid of me?

— No, madam! You are kind, and very beautiful; never in my life have I seen anyone like you.

And I felt that I had spoken like a simpleton,

(The remainder of this piece is on page 33)

for that was not what I had