han the others.' 'Oh, I suppose
it's this one,' she said, setting down her basket, and placing her foot
on the stool. Then, keeping time by nodding her head, she sang the song
in a very low, yet clear voice, so beautifully and so charmingly that,
before she had quite finished, I tried to grasp her hand, which was
hanging at her side. 'What do you mean!' she cried, drawing back her
arm, for she probably thought I intended to take her hand immodestly. I
wanted to kiss it, although she was only a poor girl.--Well, after all,
I too am poor now!

"I ran my fingers through my hair in my eagerness to secure the song and
when she observed my anxiety, she consoled me and said that the organist
of St. Peter's visited her father's store frequently to buy nutmeg, that
she would ask him to write out the music of the song, and that I might
call for it in a few days. Thereupon she took up her basket and went,
while I accompanied her as far as the staircase. As I was making a final
bow on the top step, I was surprised by the director, who bade me go to
my work and railed against the girl, in whom, he asserted, there wasn't
a vestige of good. I was very angry at this and was about to retort that
I begged to differ with him, when I realized that he had returned to his
office. Therefore I calmed myself and also went back to my desk. But
from that time on he was firmly convinced that I was a careless employee
and a dissipated fellow.

"As a matter of fact, I was unable to do any decent work on that day or
on the following days, for the song kept running through my head. I
seemed to be in a trance. Several days passed and I was in doubt whether
to call for the music or not. The girl had said that the organist came
to her father's store to buy nutmeg; this he could use only for his
beer. Now the weather had been cold for some time, and therefore it was
probable that the good organist would rather drink wine and thus not be
in need of nutmeg so soon. A too hasty inquiry might seem impolite and
obtrusive, while, on the other hand, a delay might be interpreted as
indifference. I didn't dare address the girl in the corridor, since our
first meeting had been noised broad among my colleagues, and they were
thirsting for an opportunity to play a practical joke on me.

"In the meantime I had again taken up my violin eagerly and devoted
myself to a thorough study of the fundamental principles. Occasionally I
permitted myself to improvise, but alway