IV.
THE VIOLIN
I.
I AM unable to say exactly why I bought it. I suspect that the purchase had a certain connection with the price. Three-and-sixpence for a "Full-sized violin, splendid instrument; rich tone; in perfect condition; best bow" did not strike me as extravagant. In fact, it tickled me. The shop looked liked a marine-store dealer's. There were old books, old boots, old bottles and jampots, cheek by jowl with that "fine violin." Had it—that "splendid instrument"!—been the last resource of a street musician, I wondered.
The proprietor of the shop appeared to be a lady. She was very dirty and very fat. I asked to see the fiddle. Taking it from the window, without a word she placed it in my hands. I am not a judge of violins. I should not know an Amati if I saw one. As to Straduarius, Ernest told me the other day that violins—posthumous violins—of his manufacture are being turned out by the dozen, cheap, at a little town in Germany. I know very little more about Straduarius than that. But Ernest does; he is a musician. And I thought it would amuse him if
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