Litchfield enquirer., 1869-06-03
.-. From Every Saturday A VERY SINGULAR STORY.

seems to me that in an acc onnt of this sort i 1t Is better t0setate that at once, and then 1t avoids all worrying as to who that per 'petualy recurring ''I'' may be. They are unfortunate initials, IS you may perhaps E observe, and have led tO my being apos-
 trop!iiZed as Rat by an impertinent ! younger brother, who Is, am thankfnI to 1 say, generally at school We, that Is, my mother, my brother, my two sisters fand myself, live in Byransten Square. We have
 no country house, and consequently are in
 town great part of the time. when l, for one, would sooner be anywhere else; not that that melancholy fact has anything to do with my story. except so far as it ac- counts for our being in London one nasty {, day ill November, when something hap pened which was the remote cause of my writing this; the cause, in fact, of my lssv- ing this to write I had q headache. Now l don t mean to say wrote this story be-
 cause hadsa headache: think that per haps, would have been a reason for not writing if. but will explain in a minute what my headache had to do with 1t. IL was the 18th, 1 think, and was sitting in the drawingroom while my sister Agnes had her uA1sic lesson. I could speak Ger
 man with tolerable fluency. having spent i the last winter in Vienna with some friends, but Agues hardly understood single word. Herr Blume could, however, speak little English, and they might, in reality, have got on very well, had 1t not been for tne extreme excitability of the little man $ temperament. h the event of wrong chord, his conversation, though fluent, be. came totally incomprehensible, and of such
 striking nature that, my mother declared that must always remain in the room to ! translate. It was great bore being tied to one spot twice q week at exactly the same hour, and I heartily wished Agnes
 would learn German herself. Lessons had been talked of, but the idea had been giv. en mp. - ..-. .. Rachel, dear,I don't think it's any use ;
 my mother had said to me; .'she hasn't the
 least talent for languages. aud though the
 lessons may not be very expensive, yet you
 know, my dear child. all these things make a difference" .-at' -A'"t.tf -.n Poor dear mamma! I made the sacrifice
 with better gracey knowing as did how
 many of "all those things" sine would glad l ly have had, but denied herself for our sakes.b ..... , ..-.5.... .....f,.
 1 And so it came to pass that the 18th of November found me at my usual post in a corner of the sofa, awaiting the arrival of Herr Blume. In he came, as the clock struck eleven, in the midst of fran tic rush
 on poor Agnes part through an immense
 pile of music to find her piece. 1 think that put him out, for he stood watching her with an unnatafals interest. which felt sure could only be the effect of almost supel human efforts of self coutrol. He
 wus as short hay-coiored man with spact.s- cIts, extraordinarily Fouhu eyes, aud aH
 immenre quantity of distraeted-looking
 hair. through which he was constantly run
 nlng his fingers ln manner quite pecu.
 liar to himse.f. At last the piece was founl Agnes began to play, and 1 established my self more snugly in my corner. Alas! the
 peace which followed was of short dllra-
 tiou. A selies of small disturbances began,
 the immediate cause of winch was tue nl-
 auo: now tue piano was d hired one, and 1 and not particularly good. Under d sue
 cessful course of our treatmentit had ar-
 rived at q blissfal state of in difference con
 cerning the pedal, keeping up a perpetual rumble wLich sounded like mild thunder;
 this peculiafity appeared to have atmost lr-
 ritat ng effect on the unfortunate music
 master, and once o. twice he had given
 vent to hls feelings by u violent castgatlon
 of the wretched instrument. This, how ever, as one may imagine, only tended to 1 increase the evil, and matters had arrlye.i
 at crisis, when this morning my mother
 entered the room as he was engaged in iu- ficttng upon us succession of tre nen.
 dous minor crashes that were trulyk terri.
 ble. ,.....,.-..,, IF
 With bound which would not have disgrl. ced Leotard, he leaped from tiie m musi:-stool
 and stood before her. After the dsna lcompliments. he asked if it might be.allow
 ed to him ito make to madame one >smal
 representation. .,....4 ..; se ...,,,
 This little inquiry was accompanied by g smile intended to be insinuating, but was simply sardonic. .saItund9 ,sg98ol
 My mother of course assured him tha
 she would be most happy to listen to any
 suggestion: upon which he declared, run
 ming his fingers through his hair, that though it inflicted upon him much sorrow
 he felt it his duty to instruct her that tn, fpedal was much disordered, and was very inoxiousl to him. !" For myself,s he pro ceeded, with grand heroism, s'for myself
 I care not little bit. but for these yoqns Y messes"-here he indicated with theatfi cad flourish Agnes and myself f-s'it is a ia ''J tai story" .@1smazgs' q21 la aoIs@.W ! :, "It is only hired piano. Herr Blume, said my mother, ''and think really mus : change it; know it is very bad.
 s 8a'' Ach P he said, e 'geriy, " why does o Q one have. her own splendid instrument et Madame will perhaps reflect this what Ehave said"
 n He then suddenly closed his lips. an,
 with, a piroastte aud another bound seate 3 himself again, commencing on the spot suc an illustration of that llttle weakness ol \ the part of the pedal of which he had spo l, ken, that my poor mother fled the room I . remained. .Ssorely against myswill bat trie, ' to find consolation in pile of ou shions My head ached, could not read, and IAsa
 listlessy turning over a photograph book :. book, until suppose | must have gone oi
 iuto dozs. I was suddenly ronsed b
 Herr Blume'ss voice, raised to posltiy
 shriek "Langsamer Alang -samer. lang
 lsa-a-mer-ra"7cI got up, and rushed toward t the piano; poor Agnes was as white as, sheet, and on Herr B. nme's forehead st0o ,fl great drops of precipitation, " :a9 ]. EIb'' Slower. FAgnes. slower; that isl wha
 Herr Blnme means," I said. Pour child j. she made one more effort, but her finger
 ttrembed 50 that she could hardly strike . note, and the next moment she burst int Il tears.5 sab as1 yf.nHfanaoo zsI3 ie3 es srr1ft :. There was nothing more to be done tbs
 morning by either of them, I plainly saw : as for him. lie had been in a vile tempe from the beginning.1 CT aosse7I sZ-IL nt