our music is new and very difficult."

"But it is written, is it not?" asked Dennis, with a smile.

Christine looked at him in silent wonder. What would he not do next?
But she was sorry that he had spoken, for she foresaw only mortification
for him.

"Oh, give him the music by all means," said Miss Brown, expecting to
enjoy his blundering attempts to sing what was far beyond him. "There,
I will play the accompaniment. It's not the tune of Old Hundred that
you are to sing now, young man, remember."

Dennis glanced over the music, and she began to play a loud, difficult
piece.

He turned to Miss Ludolph, and said: "I fear you have given me the
wrong music. Miss Brown is playing something not written here."

They exchanged significant glances, and Miss Winthrop said, "Play the
right music, Miss Brown."

She struck into the music that Dennis held, but played it so out of
time that no one could sing it. Dennis laid down his sheets on the
piano and said quietly, though with flushed face: "I did not mean to
be obtrusive. You all seemed greatly disappointed at Mr. Archer's
absence and the results, and I thought that in view of the emergency
it would not be presumption to offer my services. But it seems that
I am mistaken."