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The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner
page 11 of 153 (07%)
cannot dispel that something has been sitting listening to us all this
time, and that now when the concert is ended it has got up and gone."
There was a spirit of raillery in his words, but his tone was not so
light as it would ordinarily have been, and he was evidently ill at
ease.

"Let us try the _Gagliarda_ again," said my brother; "it is the
vibration of the opening notes which affects the wicker-work, and we
shall see if the noise is repeated." But Mr. Gaskell excused himself
from trying the experiment, and after some desultory conversation, to
which it was evident that neither was giving any serious attention, he
took his leave and returned to New College.




CHAPTER II


I shall not weary you, my dear Edward, by recounting similar experiences
which occurred on nearly every occasion that the young men met in the
evenings for music. The repetition of the phenomenon had accustomed them
to expect it. Both professed to be quite satisfied that it was to be
attributed to acoustical affinities of vibration between the wicker-work
and certain of the piano wires, and indeed this seemed the only
explanation possible. But, at the same time, the resemblance of the
noises to those caused by a person sitting down in or rising from a
chair was so marked, that even their frequent recurrence never failed to
make a strange impression on them. They felt a reluctance to mention the
matter to their friends, partly from a fear of being themselves laughed
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