nce of the symphony proceeded. To me, who am not a
performer, it sounded excessively brilliant and incomprehensible. Mr
Colclough stretched his right hand to turn over the page, and fumbled
it. Another stoppage.

'Damn you, Ol!' Mr Brindley exploded. 'I wish you wouldn't make
yourself so confoundedly busy. Leave the turning to me. It takes a
great artist to turn over, and you're only a blooming chauffeur. We'll
begin again.'

'Sackcloth!' Mr Colclough whispered.

I could not estimate the length of the symphony; but my impression was
one of extreme length. Halfway through it the players both took their
coats off. There was no other surcease.

'What dost think of it, Bob?' asked Mr Colclough in the weird silence
that reigned after they had finished. They were standing up and putting
on their coats and wiping their faces.

'I think what I thought before,' said Mr Brindley. 'It's childish.'

'It isn't childish,' the other protested. 'It's ugly, but it isn't
childish.'

'It's childishly clever,' Mr Brindley modified his description. He did
not ask my opinion.

'Coffee's cold,' said Mrs Brindley.

'I don't want any coffee. Give me some Chartreuse, please. Have a drop
o' green, Ol?'

'A split soda 'ud be more in my line. Besides, I'm just going to have
my supper. Never mind, I'll have a drop, missis, and chance it. I've
never tried Chartreuse as an appetizer.'

At this point commenced a sanguinary conflict of wills to settle
whether or not I also should indulge in green Chartreuse. I was
defeated. Besides the Chartreuse, I accepted a cigar. Never before or
since have I been such a buck.

'I must hook it,' said Mr Colclough, picking up his dust-coat.

'Not yet you don't,' said Mr Brindley. 'I've got to get the taste of
that infernal Strauss out of my mouth. We'll play the first movement of
the G minor? La-la-la--la-la-la--la-la-la-ta.' He whistled a phrase.

Mr Colclough obediently sat down again to the piano.

The Mozart was like an idyll after a farcical melodrama. They played it
with an astounding delicacy. Through the latter half of the movement I
could hear Mr Brindley breathing regularly and heavily through his
nose, exactly as though he were being hypnotized. I had a tickling
sensation in the small of my back, a sure sign of emotion in me. The
atmosphere was changed.

'What a heavenly thing!' I exclaimed enthusiastically, when they had
finished.

Mr Brindley looked at me sharply, and just nodded in