was still
there, but the absence of that mental power left only the automatic
rhythm and swing, sans heart, sans soul, sans feeling. The beat was the
beat of the finely trained academic conductor, but the genius of it was
gone. The ghost of a departed Von Barwig was beating time for the Von
Barwig that had lived and died that night.

Perhaps the audience did not feel this as much as the men did, for they
applauded heartily at the end of the opening number. They did notice
that Von Barwig did not acknowledge their applause and seemed to be
oblivious of their presence. The fact that an ultra-fashionable audience
was present, including a prince and princess of the Royal Family, and the
_elite_ of Leipsic, to say nothing of the American Ambassador, Mr.
Cruger, apparently did not affect Von Barwig in the least. This appealed
very much to the democratic instinct of Mr. Cruger, and at the end of the
first part he asked his friend, Prince Holberg-Meckstein, to present him
to the conductor.

"I will present him to _you_," said his highness, carefully readjusting
the pronouns; and he sent for Von Barwig.

"A curious personality!" remarked Mr. Cruger to the prince as Von Barwig
bowed himself out of the box a few minutes later.

"Yes, and a fine musician," said the prince. "But he's not at his best
to-night."

As Von Barwig passed through the artists' room, Poons approached him.
Anton motioned him away as if to say, "Don't speak to me," and Poons
walked sadly away.

The second part of the programme was to begin with Von Barwig's latest
work.

"Quick, put the score of the symphony on my desk," he said to the
librarian, who happened to be passing at the moment. "I intended to
conduct it from memory; but I have forgotten."

As the librarian placed the score on the conductor's desk, he thought it
strange that a man who had been rehearsing from memory for weeks should
so suddenly forget.

Von Barwig opened the score a few moments later, raised his baton, and
the wood wind began the new work. He conducted as mechanically as
before, for his dead heart could pump no enthusiasm into his work, and
the audience suddenly felt a sense of disappointment. But after the
first few passages had been played the leader lost his self-consciousness
and forgot his surroundings. He began to feel the music, to compose it
again, and the mechanism of the conductor was lost in the inspiration of
the composer. It was a beautiful movemen