"Confound it all!" he said, rather rudely. "Surely there is some
difference between the bellows-blower and the organist."

"Absolutely none," she answered; "merely a variation of the original
theme!"

As she spoke she knocked at the door of the chalet, and asked the old
dame to give them some milk. They sat in the _Stube_, and the little
girl looked about, and admired the spinning-wheel and the quaint chairs
and the queer old jugs and the pictures on the walls.

"Ah, but you shall see the other room," the old peasant woman said; and
she led them into a small apartment which was evidently intended for a
study. It bore evidences of unusual taste and care, and one could see
that some loving hand had been trying to make it a real sanctum of
refinement. There was even a small piano. A carved book-rack was
fastened to the wall.

The old dame did not speak at first; she gave her guests time to recover
from the astonishment which she felt they must be experiencing; then she
pointed proudly to the piano.

"I bought that for my daughters," she said, with a strange mixture of
sadness and triumph. "I wanted to keep them at home with me, and I saved
and saved, and got enough money to buy the piano. They had always wanted
to have one, and I thought they would then stay with me. They liked
music and books, and I knew they would be glad to have a room of their
own where they might read and play and study; and so I gave them this
corner."