“What! not for me!” said he, laughing.  “Not for your own husband!  Come now, Dexie, have I found a cause to be jealous already?”

Dexie’s arms were around his neck in a moment.

“Do not say such words, dearest, not even in jest; you do not know how it hurts me.  Do you think I would have refused to play that piece for papa for a slight reason, Guy?”

“No, but tell me the reason, wifie.  Come, no secrets from your hubby, mind,” looking into her eyes with a teasing glance.  “You know you told me you only played it when you were sentimentally inclined, and you must only be ‘sentimentally inclined’ in my direction now, so what is the secret?” kissing the lips so temptingly near.

“You are welcome to the secret, dearest, if I can put it into words, but not to the music, I fear, unless you will stand where I shall not see that you are watching me.  There are some things hard to explain, and the effect of that piece of music upon me is one of them.  Had I played it for papa, it would have grieved instead of pleased him, for it generally makes me cry; though why it has such power over me I do not quite understand.  I have only played it before one person, and he understood it; so I did not mind.”

“Now you have made me more curious than ever, little wife.  You have played it for one person, and that person a gentleman, and yet you cannot play it for me.  Now, Dexie, how could you break my heart by such a confession!” said he, laughing.

“It was only Lancy Gurney, so don’t be foolish,” leaning her head confidingly on his shoulder.

“Only Lancy Gurney!  Worse and worse!” laughing gaily, as he held up her face to meet his gaze.  “Don’t tell me you are ‘sentimentally inclined’ in his direction yet, or I shall do something desperate.”

“How can I tell you about it, if you laugh?  I am afraid you will not understand it, if you look at it seriously!”

“Well, try me, anyway,” and he drew her on to his knee.

“I fear it needs a musician’s heart to understand it.  I do not mean that the piece is so very difficult, but it has such strange, peculiar chords, which sound so exquisitely sweet, that it makes the tears come, no matter how hard I try to repress them.  It affected Lancy the same way, so I did not mind playing it before him, but you see I could not give any reasonable explanation for my tears had I played it for you at papa’s request.”

“Say no more, little wife.  I’ll not tease you about it again; but let me confess a little sin.  I listened to you one night through the open window when you were playing that piece, and I saw you in tears, too, but I did not rightly guess the cause of them.”

“But I have not told you all yet!  What will you say when I tell you that I gave Lancy Gurney one promise which I have not been able to break!  Possibly, Lancy and I were ‘sentimentally inclined’ when he exacted it of me, but we agreed not to play that piece for other people, and I doubt if he finds that promise any easier to break than I do, for he would not care to let others see his emotion.  I have often wondered what was in the heart of the composer, for it touches my heart like no other piece of music has power to do.  I fear I have not made it very plain to you, dear, but I wish you understood it as Lancy did.”