(whom he had presented to them
as a young _virtuoso_) were invited to go and take chocolate with the
sisters that evening.

"'When the time came, we walked slowly and solemnly up the stairs
accordingly. We both felt very queer: somewhat as if we were going
forward to undertake some rather perilous adventure, for which we were
by no means adequately prepared.

"After my uncle, who had carefully prepared himself beforehand, had
spoken much and learnedly about music--(nobody understood a word he
said, neither he himself, nor we others)--after I had burnt my tongue,
three times, terribly with the scalding chocolate smiling at my
tortures with the stoicism of a Scaevola--Lauretta said she would sing
something. Teresina took the guitar tuned it, and struck two or three
handfuls of chords. I had never heard the instrument before, and was
much impressed by the strange, mysterious effect of its hollow
vibrations.

"'Lauretta commenced a note, very _piano_, swelled it out to a ringing
_fortissimo_, and then broke out into a bold warbling _cadenza_,
extending over an octave and a half. I remember the words of the
beginning of her aria:--

"Sento l'amica speme."

"'My blood seemed to pause in my veins! I never had had an idea that
there could be anything like this, and as Lauretta soared on her
bright pinions of song, higher and higher, and as the beams of those
beautiful tones shone brighter and brighter upon me, all the music within
me--dead and dormant hitherto--caught fire, and blazed on high in
glorious and mighty flames.

"'Ah! that was the first time in my life that I ever heard _music_!
Next the sisters sang together, some of those earnest, quiet,
deep-drawn duets of Abbate Steffani'e. Teresina's rich, exquisitely
beautiful contralto stirred the depths of my soul. I could not keep
back my tears, they rolled down my cheeks. My uncle blew his nose a
great deal, and cast reproachful looks at me. It was no use; I couldn't
control myself. This seemed to please the sisters; they asked about my
musical studies. I felt utterly disgusted with all I had done, and
declared, in my enthusiasm, that I had never heard music before.

"'"_Il buon fanciullo!_" said Lauretta, very sweetly and tenderly.

"'When I got home I felt almost out of my mind. I seized all the
_toccatas_ and _fugues_ which I had so laboriously carpentered together
(as well as forty-five Variations on a Thema in Canon, which the
organist had comp