e he is not losing his temper already."

But she waited quietly till the sounds ceased. Then came the soft sweet
notes of a melody which she knew well, played by Herr Wildermann alone;
and a few minutes after she saw among the trees the tall thin figure of
the young German, laden with but two violins this time as he made his
way down the avenue.

She waited a minute or two to see if Basil would come to her. Then, as
he did not, she returned to the morning room where he had had his
lesson. He was still there, standing by the window, but she was pleased
to hear as she went in that he was humming to himself the air that Ulric
had played last.

"Well, Basil?" she said, "and how did you get on?"

The boy turned round--there was a mixture of expressions on his face. A
rather dewy look about his eyes made his mother wonder for a moment if
he had been crying. But when he spoke it was so cheerfully that she
thought she must have been mistaken.

"He plays _so_ beautifully, mother," he said.

"Yes," she replied. "I knew he did. I heard him one day at Mrs.
Marchcote's, and I listened this morning."

"You listened, mother?" he said. "Did you hear how awfully it squeaked
with me?"

"Of course," said Lady Iltyd, in a matter-of-fact way; "it is always so
at first."

Basil seemed relieved.

"Yes," he said, "_he_ said so too. But I don't mind. He says I shall
very soon be able to make it sound prettily--to get nice _sounds_, you
know, even before I can play tunes, if----" and Basil hesitated.

"If what?"

"If I practise a lot. But I think I shall. It's rather fun after all,
and I do so like to have that ducky little violin in my arms. It does
feel so jolly," and he turned with sparkling eyes again to the dainty
little case containing his new treasure.

His mother was pleased. The first brunt of disappointment which she was
sure Basil had felt, whether he owned to it or not, had passed off
better than she had expected.

[Illustration: BASIL'S VIOLIN

"----In the pantry, when he took it into his head to pay a visit to the
footmen." P. 101]

And for some days his energy continued. At all hours, when the boy was
at home, unearthly squeaks and shrieks were to be heard in various parts
of the house, for it was not at all Basil's way to confine his
practisings to his own quarters. Anywhere that came handy--on the
staircase, in the pantry, when he took it into his head to pay a visit
to the footmen, the boy and his violin w