think that. On the contrary, if a woman should consent
to give herself to me, I should consider the benevolence entirely on her
side. Can't say I crave such a charity just at present, though,' he added
in comic haste, stretching his long arms as if to waive the bequest. 'The
fact is, Hal, I've never seen the girl I want. Being hard upon forty, it
stands to reason I never shall see her: I fear she died young. May I
trouble you to play Beethoven's Funeral March in respect to her memory?'

"And so the subject dropped.

"Timothy was no woman-hater, you understand. Indeed, he admired the whole
sex, but in a collective way, as you might admire the Galaxy without
preferring any individual star. Young ladies were to him nebulous and
mysterious creations, to be reverenced from a distance: he never lavished
upon one of them a tithe of the attentions he lavished upon me. I had
terrible headaches in those days, and I shall never forget how patiently
he would sit making passes over my head till the pain yielded to his
touch, as it was sure to do sooner or later. He had more magnetism than
any other man I knew. Detesting a dress-coat and white kids as he detested
the machinations of the Evil One, he seldom went into society, but he was
always ready for lectures and concerts, marching off to the hall with me
on his arm as proudly as if I had been the most bewitching damsel.
Excepting on Saturday, when I was usually engaged at the choir rehearsal,
we were rarely separated of an evening.

"We had gone on in this David-and-Jonathan style perhaps a year, when Miss
Sparrow came to St. Luke's as soprano singer. I remember her first
appearance in our dim old gallery that last Sunday in Lent--how she seemed
to brighten and glorify the place like a ray from heaven. And then her
voice! It set you thinking of angels. Moreover, she had the complexion
peculiar to that family, and the blue eyes and golden hair. For the life
of me, I couldn't help twisting my neck to look at her, at the imminent
risk of spoiling my accompaniment.

"That noon Timothy electrified me by appearing in the organ-loft while it
still echoed with the benediction, though heretofore he had invariably
waited for me after service in the vestibule. I happened just then to be
congratulating the new soprano on being in such capital voice that
morning, and as the tenor stepped across to shake hands with Timothy, I
went on talking with her till she left. When I turned the singers w