nd of his fame sped from city to city, from province to
province, until there was no musician in all the Russias who could play
as Velasco, no instrument like his with the gift of tears and of
laughter as well, all the range of human emotions hidden within its
slender, resinous body.

So the people said as they gossiped together on the steps: "The great
Velasco! The wonderful Velasco!" And now he was on his way to
Germany. It was his last concert, his "farewell."

The announcement had been blazoned about on red and yellow handbills
for weeks. One Salle after the other had offered itself, each more
commodious than the last; but they were as nothing to the demands of
the box-office. The list grew longer, the clamourings louder; and at
last the unprecedented happened. At the request of a titled committee
under the signature of the Grand-Duke Stepan himself, the Mariinski,
largest and most beautiful of theatres, had opened its doors to the
young god; and the price of tickets went up in leaps like a barometer
after a storm;--fifteen roubles for a seat, twenty--twenty-five--and
finally no seat at all, not even standing-room.

The crowd melted away gradually; the doors of the foyer closed; the
harsh cries of the speculators died in the distance. Behind the
Theatre the ice on the canal glimmered and sparkled. The moon climbed
higher and the bells of the Nikolski Church rang out clearly,
resonantly above the tree-tops.

Scarcely had the last stroke sounded when a black sleigh, drawn by a
pair of splendid bays, dashed out of a side street and crossed the
Pozeluief bridge at a gallop. At the same moment a troika, with three
horses abreast, turned sharply into the Glinki and the two collided
with a crash, the occupants flung out on the snow, the frightened
animals plunging and rearing in a tangled, inextricable heap.

The drivers rushed to the horses' heads.

"A pest on you, son of a goat!" screamed the one, "Have you eyes in the
back of your head that you can't see a yard in front of you?"

"Viper!" retorted the other furiously, "Damnation on you and your bad
driving! Call the police! Arrest the shark of an anarchist!"

Meanwhile the master of the black sleigh, a heavily built, elderly man,
had picked himself out of a drift with the assistance of his lackey and
was brushing the snow from his long fur cloak. A fur cap, pulled down
over his eyes, hid his face, but his gestures were angry, and his voice
was high