, to have any
attention to spare for the person he was actually with? At the idea
that he was perhaps mistaken, Maurice grew so unsettled that he rose
from the piano. But, by the time he took his seat again, he had
wavered; say what he would, he could not get rid of the belief that if
he had achieved anything out of the common, Madeleine would not have
made it her business to avoid him. After this, however, his fluctuating
hopes rallied, then sank once more, until it ended in his leaving the
piano. For it was of no use trying to concentrate his thoughts until he
knew.

Even as he said this to himself, his resolution was taken. There was
only one person to whom he could apply, and that was Schwarz. The
proceeding might be unusual, but then the circumstances in which he was
placed were unusual, too. Besides, he asked neither praise nor
flattery, merely a candid opinion.

If, however, he faced Schwarz on this point, there were others on which
he might as well get certainty at the same time. The matter of the
PRUFUNG, for instance, had still to be decided. So much depended on the
choice of piece. His fingers itched towards Chopin or Mendelssohn, for
the sole reason that the technique of these composers was in his blood.
Whereas Beethoven!--he knew from experience how difficult it was to get
a satisfactory effect out of the stern barenesses of Beethoven. They
demanded a skill he could never hope to possess.

Between five and six that afternoon, he made his way to the SEBASTIAN
BACH-STRASSE, where Schwarz lived. It was hot in the new, shadeless
streets through which he passed, and also in crossing the JOHANNAPARK;
hardly a hint of September was in the air. He walked at a slow pace, in
order not to arrive too early, and, for some reason unclear to himself,
avoided stepping on the joins of the paving-stones.

On hearing that he had not come for a lesson, the dirty maidservant,
who opened the third-floor door to him, showed him as a visitor into
the best sitting-room. Maurice remained standing, in prescribed
fashion. But he had no sooner crossed the threshold than he was aware
of loud voices in the adjoining room, separated from the one he was in
by large foldingdoors.

"If you think," said a woman's voice, and broke on "think"--"if you
think I'm going to endure a repetition of what happened two years ago,
you're mistaken. Never again shall she enter this house! Oh, you pig,
you wretch! Klara has told me; she saw you throu