brightly lit and full of people: from behind, one looked across a sea
of heads. On the platform at the other end, a girl in red was playing
a sonata; a master sat by her side, and leant forward, at regular
intervals, to turn the leaves of the music. Dove and Maurice
remained standing at the back, under the gallery, among a portion of
the audience which shifted continuously: those about them wandered in
and out of the hall at pleasure, now inside, head in hand, critically
intent, now out in the vestibule, stretching their legs, lounging in
easy chat. In the pause that followed the sonata, Dove went towards
the front, to join some ladies who beckoned him, and, while some one
sang a noisy aria, Maurice gave himself up to his own thoughts. They
all led to the same point: how he should contrive to see her again,
how he should learn her name, and, beside them, everything else seemed
remote, unreal; he saw the people next him as if from a distance. But
in a wait that was longer than usual, he was awakened to his
surroundings: a stir ran over the audience, like a gust of wind over
still water; the heads in the seats before him inclined one to
another, wagged and nodded; there was a gentle buzz of voices. Behind
him, the doors opened and shut, letting in all who were outside: they
pressed forward expectantly. On his left, a row of girls tried to
start a round of applause and tittered nervously at their failure.
Schilsky had come down the platform and commenced tuning. He bent his
long, thin body as he pressed his violin to his knee, and his reddish
hair fell over his face. The accompanist, his hands on the keys,
waited for the signal to begin.

Maurice drew a deep breath of anticipation. But the first shrill,
sweet notes had hardly cut the silence, when, the door opening once
more, some one entered and pushed through the standing crowd. He
looked round, uneasy at the disturbance, and found that it was she: