out of the house like a flash of lightning.

"As soon as he was gone, I eagerly begged the Professor to tell me all
about those violins, and more especially about Antonia.

"'Ah,' said the Professor, 'Krespel is an extraordinary man; he studies
fiddle-making in a peculiar fashion of his own.'

"'Fiddle-making?' cried I in amazement.

"'Yes,' said the Professor; 'connoisseurs consider that Krespel's
violin-making is unapproachable at the present day. Formerly, when he
turned out any special _chef d'[oe]uvre_, he would allow other people
to play upon it; but now he lets no one touch them but himself. When he
has finished a fiddle, he plays upon it for an hour or two (he plays
magnificently, with a power and an amount of feeling and expression
which the greatest professional violinists rarely equal, let alone
surpass), then he hangs it up on the wall beside the others, and never
touches it again, nor lets anyone else lay hands upon it.'

"'And Antonia?' I eagerly asked.

"'Well, _that_,' said the Professor, 'is an affair which would make me
have a very shady opinion of Krespel, if I didn't know what a
thoroughly good fellow he is; so that I feel convinced there is some
mystery about it which we don't at present fathom. When he first came
here some years ago, he lived like a hermit, with an old housekeeper,
in a gloomy house in ----Street. His eccentricities soon attracted
people's attention, and, when he saw this, he soon sought and made
acquaintances. Just as was the case in _my_ house, people got so
accustomed to him that they couldn't get on without him. In spite of
his rough exterior even the children got fond of him, though they were
never troublesome to him, but always looked upon him with a certain
amount of awe which prevented over-familiarity. You have seen how he
attracts children by all sorts of ingenious tricks. Everybody looked
upon him as a regular old bachelor and woman-hater, and he gave no sign
to the contrary; but after he had been here some time, he went off on
some excursion or other, no one knew where, and it was some months
before he came back. The second evening after his return, his windows
were lighted up in an unusual way--and that was enough to attract the
neighbours' attention. Presently, a most extraordinarily beautiful
female voice was heard singing to a pianoforte accompaniment. Soon the
tones of a violin were heard joining in, responding to the voice in
brilliant, fiery emulation. It w