er--

DOMINIE. If she had not played at all? That I can't tell exactly, as I
said yesterday. Well, you are satisfied now with Emma's state of health?

MRS. S. It is of no use to advise such people as you.

DOMINIE. I have always devoted myself to my business as a teacher, and
have daily taken counsel with myself about the education of my
daughters, and of other pupils whom I have formed for artists; and, it
must be acknowledged, I have done so with some ability.

MRS. S. (_not attending to him, but turning to Emma_). But does it not
make your fingers ache to play such difficult music?

DOMINIE. Only when her teacher raps her on the knuckles, and that I
never do.

(_Emma looks at the parrot which is hanging in the parlor, and
strokes the great bull-dog._)

JOHN SPRIGGINS (_entering with his daughter Lizzie_). Herr Dominie, will
you be so good as to hear our daughter Lizzie play, and advise us
whether to continue in the same course. Music is, in fact, hereditary in
our family. My wife played a little, too, in her youth, and I once
played on the violin; but my teacher told me I had no talent for it, no
ear, and no idea of time, and that I scraped too much.

DOMINIE. Very curious! He must have been mistaken!

JOHN S. But I always was devotedly fond of music. My father and my
grandfather, on our estate, often used to play the organ for the
organist in church, and the tenants always knew when they were playing.
My father used often to tell that story at table. Ha, ha! It was very
droll!

DOMINIE. Curious!

JOHN S. Well, to return to my violin. I gave it up after a year, because
it seemed rather scratchy to me, too.

DOMINIE. Curious! Probably your ear and your taste had become more
cultivated.

JOHN S. Afterwards, when I accepted an office, my wife said to me, "My
dear, what a pity it is about your violin." So I had it restrung, and
took a teacher. It seems as if it were only yesterday.

DOMINIE (_casting down his eyes,--the servant brings ice_). That was very
curious!

JOHN S. But the government horn-player thought he could not get on in
duets with me.

DOMINIE. Curious! So you were obliged to play only solos? But to return
to your daughter. Will you be good enough to play me something, Miss
Lizzie?

MRS. S. (_condescendingly, in a low voice_). She is a little timid and
embarrassed at playing before your daughter Emma.

EMMA. You really need not be so.

MRS. S. Bring "Les Graces" by Herz,