_--at times it was like the
AEolian harp, at others like the trilling roulades of the nightingale.
It seemed as though there could not be space for those tones in a human
breast. Antonia, glowing with love and happiness, sang all her best
solos, and B---- played between whiles as only ecstatic inspiration can
play. At first, Krespel floated in ecstasy. Then he grew thoughtful and
silent, at last he sprung up, pressed Antonia to his heart, and said,
gently and imploringly, 'Don't sing any more, if you love me. It breaks
my heart. The fear of it--the fear of it! Don't sing any more.'

"'No,' said Krespel next morning to Dr. M----, 'when, during her
singing, her colour contracted to two dark red spots on her white
cheeks, it was no longer a mere everyday family likeness--it was what I
had been dreading.' The doctor, whose face at the beginning of the
conversation had expressed deep anxiety, said, 'Perhaps it may be that
she has exerted herself too much in singing when over-young, or her
inherited temperament may be the cause. But Antonia has organic disease
of the chest. It is that which gives her voice its extraordinary power,
and its most remarkable timbre, which is almost beyond the scope of the
ordinary human voice. At the same time it implies her early death. If
she goes on singing, six months is the utmost I can promise her.' This
pierced Krespel's heart like a thousand daggers. It was as if some
beautiful tree had suddenly come into his life, all covered with
beautiful blossoms, and it was sawn across at the root. His decision
was made at once. He told Antonia all. He left it to her to decide
whether she would follow her lover, and yield to his and the world's
claims on her, and die young, or bestow upon her father, in his
declining years, a peace and happiness such as he had never known, and
live many a year in so doing.

"She fell sobbing into her father's arms. It was beyond his power to
think at such a moment. He felt too keenly all the anguish involved in
either alternative. He discussed the matter with B----; but although he
asseverated that Antonia should never sing a single note, Krespel knew
too well that he never would be able to resist the temptation to hear
her sing compositions of his own at all events. Then the world--the
musical public--though it knew the true state of the case, would never
give up its claims upon her. The musical public is a cruel race; where
its own enjoyment is in question, and te