his work. She questioned him, too, about

When he came to her, tired and inclined to be lonely, she seated him
in a corner of the sofa, and did not ask him to say much until she
made tea. Then, when the cups were steaming in front of them, she
discussed sympathetically with him the progress of his work. She
questioned him, too, about his home and family, and he read her parts
of his mother's letters, which arrived without fail every Tuesday
morning. She also drew from him a more detailed account of his
previous life; and, in this connection, they had several animated
discussions about teaching, a calling to which Madeleine looked
composedly forward to returning, while Maurice, in strong superlative,
declared he had rather force a flock of sheep to walk in line.
She told him, too, some of the gossip the musical quarter of the town
was rife with, about those in high places; and, in particular, of the
bitter rivalry that had grown up with the years between Schwarz and
Bendel, the chief masters of the piano. If these two met in the
street, they passed each other with a stony stare; if, at an
ABENDUNTERHALTUNG, a pupil of one was to play, the other rose
ostentatiously and left the hall. She also hinted that in order to
obtain all you wanted at the Conservatorium, to be favoured above your
fellows, it was only necessary flagrantly to bribe one of the clerks,
Kleefeld by name, who was open to receive anything, being wretchedly
impecunious and the father of a large family.

Finding, too, that Maurice was bent on learning German, she, who spoke
the language fluently, proposed that they should read it together; and
soon it became their custom to work through a few pages of QUINTUS
FIXLEIN, a scene or two of Schiller, some lyrics of Heine. They also
began to play duets, symphonies old and new, and Madeleine took care