"I should like to go very much," she said. "I have read in fashionable
novels of fancy fairs, but I have never seen one. Are you going, Sir
Edgar?"

"Lady Thesiger has asked my assistance, and I have promised it. We shall
make up a party. If you wish to go, Coralie, you shall."

She thanked me, and when I had finished my coffee, rang the bell and
ordered it to be cleared away.

"I am going to sing to you," she said. "I know you are tired. Throw your
head back, shut your eyes and listen. Do not speak, because I am going
to weave a charm for you."

I declare before Heaven that when I remember the magic of that charm my
heart beats even now with fear!

Are you keenly sensitive to music, reader? If so, you will understand.
I could neither sing nor play, but I loved music with a perfect passion.
There was not a nerve or pulse in my body, not a thrill in my heart,
that did not answer it. Listening to beautiful music, sweet, soothing
and sad, this world fell from me. I was in an ideal life, with vague,
glorious fancies floating round me, beautiful, lofty dreams filling my
whole soul.

In this higher world Coralie's music wrapped me; then I came to myself
with a sudden start, for there was Coralie half kneeling by my side,
covering my hand with kisses and tears.