dreamy mystery to the gayest allegretto, [Footnote: Allegretto: lively,
a musical term to denote the tempo of a composition.] and in whose
proudest tempo di Marcia [Footnote: Tempo di Marcia: marching time.]
there sounded an unmistakable undertone of resignation. And in the
tenderer pieces of the repertoire, where the melody, muffled and
staggering like a cracked old human voice, groped its way amongst the
rusty pipes of the treble, then there was a trembling in the bass like
suppressed sobs. Now and then the voice of the tired organ failed it
completely, and then the old man would resignedly turn the handle during
some bars of rest more touching in their eloquent silence than any
music.

True, the instrument was itself very expressive, but the old man had
surely his share in the sensation of melancholy which came over me
whenever I heard his music. He had his beat in the poor quarter behind
the Jardin des Plantes, [Footnote: Jardin des Plantes: the botanical
garden.] and many times during my solitary rambles up there had I
stopped and taken my place among the scanty audience of ragged street
boys which surrounded him.

It was not difficult to see that times were hard--the old man's clothes
were doubtful, and the pallor of poverty lay over his withered features,
where I read the story of a long life of failure. He came from the
mountains around Monte Cassino, [Footnote: Monte Cassino: a monastery on
a hill near Cassino, Italy, about forty-five miles from Naples.] so he
informed me, but where the monkey hailed from I never quite got to know.

Thus we met from time to time during my rambles in the poor quarters.
Had I a moment to spare I stopped for a while to listen to a tune or
two, as I saw that it gratified the old man, and since I always carried