Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 3.djvu/74

 Casamassima. I remember the last time,' said the old man. 'It was to get some money from a lady at whose party I had been playing—for a dance.'

'You must bring your fiddle, sometime, and play to us. Of course I don't mean for money,' the Princess rejoined.

'I will do it with pleasure, or anything else that will gratify you. But my ability is very small. I only know vulgar music—things that are played at theatres.'

'I don't believe that; there must be things you play for yourself, in your room, alone.'

For a moment the old man made no reply; then he said, 'Now that I see you, that I hear you, it helps me to understand.'

'I don't think you do see me!' cried the Princess, kindly, laughing; while the fiddler went on to ask whether there were any danger of Hyacinth's coming in while he was there. The Princess replied that he only came, unless by prearrangement, in the evening, and Mr. Vetch made a request that she would not let their young friend know that he himself had been with her. 'It doesn't matter; he will guess it, he will know it by instinct, as soon as he comes in. He is terribly subtle,' said the Princess; and she added that she had never been able to hide anything from him. Perhaps it served her right, for attempting to make a mystery of things that were not worth it.

'How well you know him!' Mr. Vetch murmured, with his eyes wandering again to Madame Grandoni, who paid no attention to him as she sat staring at the fire. He delayed, visibly, to say what he had come for, and his hesitation could only be connected with the presence of the old lady. He said to himself that the Princess might have