FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140  
141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  
o teach him, you refused to accept money. Your reasons were that you were devoted to your art and that you loved to help the children of the poor. Surely I don't come under _that_ classification, Herr Von Barwig?" "Oh, no, no!" faltered poor Von Barwig. "Then why do you refuse to take my money? Heaven only knows you've worked hard enough for it! Your efforts to instill your ideas into my head deserve far greater recognition than mere money payment." "No, no! I have not worked. It has been so great a pleasure. No, decidedly there has been no work! I do not feel myself entitled to take, until you show some progress." Von Barwig felt himself on terra firma again. "All that is begging the question, my dear Maestro! Whether your work affords you pleasure or no, it is still your work. Teaching is your means of livelihood, is it not?" "Not altogether; I play at--" and then he thought of the Dime Museum and was silent. He looked at her; she was regarding him quite seriously, and he was afraid he had offended her. There was a pause during which he tried to think out a course of action calculated to offset his mistake. Helene broke the silence. "You left your own country, where I understand you were well known and successful, and you came over here, where, pardon my saying so, you are not known and where you--" Helene hesitated slightly, "where you are not so prosperous. When I bring you a pupil you refuse to take money for his tuition. When I take lessons from you myself, you refuse to take money from me. Now, my dear Herr Von Barwig, I confess that I cannot understand! You must explain." There was a dead silence. "What does it mean?" demanded Helene. Von Barwig looked at her helplessly. He had no explanation, or, rather, he realised that the one he had was insufficient. "Why do you take so much interest in me?" she asked. "At first for a likeness, a likeness to some one I knew," replied Von Barwig, in a low voice. "You resemble a memory I have known, a memory that gives me so much happiness. She is gone, and now you--pardon the liberty--you take her place. I take interest because it was she--and it is now--you--you--a fresh young girl that will never grow old! You have taken the place of--of--" Von Barwig could not go on. He knew what he meant, but he could not express it. "As I said before, Herr Von Barwig," and Helene spoke now with less show of wounded dignity, "I do not unders
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140  
141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Barwig
 

Helene

 

refuse

 

pleasure

 

likeness

 
silence
 
interest
 

looked

 
worked
 

pardon


understand

 

memory

 
confess
 

explain

 
hesitated
 

country

 
lessons
 
tuition
 

prosperous

 

slightly


successful

 

express

 

wounded

 

dignity

 

unders

 

insufficient

 

realised

 

demanded

 

helplessly

 

explanation


replied

 
liberty
 

happiness

 

resemble

 

deserve

 
greater
 

refused

 
efforts
 

instill

 
recognition

decidedly
 

entitled

 
payment
 
reasons
 

Surely

 

children

 
devoted
 

classification

 
Heaven
 

accept