spark. To make it a flame he must work, always work.
You must send him to Dresden, under Auer."

"Dresden!" echoed Molly Brandeis faintly, and put one hand on the table
that held the fancy cups and saucers, and they jingled a little.

"A year, perhaps, first, in New York with Wolfsohn."

Wolfsohn! New York! Dresden! It was too much even for Molly Brandeis'
well-balanced brain. She was conscious of feeling a little dizzy. At
that moment Pearl approached apologetically. "Pardon me, Mis' Brandeis,
but Mrs. Trost wants to know if you'll send the boiler special this
afternoon. She wants it for the washing early to-morrow morning."

That served to steady her.

"Tell Mrs. Trost I'll send it before six to-night." Her eyes rested on
Theodore's face, flushed now, and glowing. Then she turned and faced
Schabelitz squarely. "Perhaps you do not know that this store is our
support. I earn a living here for myself and my two children. You see
what it is--just a novelty and notion store in a country town. I speak
of this because it is the important thing. I have known for a long
time that Theodore's playing was not the playing of the average boy,
musically gifted. So what you tell me does not altogether surprise me.
But when you say Dresden--well, from Brandeis' Bazaar in Winnebago,
Wisconsin, to Auer, in Dresden, Germany, is a long journey for one
afternoon."

"But of course you must have time to think it over. It must be brought
about, somehow."

"Somehow----" Mrs. Brandeis stared straight ahead, and you could almost
hear that indomitable will of hers working, crashing over obstacles,
plowing through difficulties. Theodore watched her, breathless, as
though expecting an immediate solution. His mother's eyes met his own
intent ones, and at that her mobile mouth quirked in a sudden smile.
"You look as if you expected pearls to pop out of my mouth, son. And,
by the way, if you're going to a concert this evening don't you think
it would be a good idea to squander an hour on study this afternoon? You
may be a musical prodigy, but geometry's geometry."

"Oh, Mother! Please!"

"I want to talk to Mr. Schabelitz and Mr. Bauer, alone." She patted his
shoulder, and the last pat ended in a gentle push. "Run along."

"I'll work, Mother. You know perfectly well I'll work." But he looked
so startlingly like his father as he said it that Mrs. Brandeis felt a
clutching at her heart.

Theodore out of the way, they seemed to find very lit