I shall not weary you, my dear Edward, by recounting similar experiences which occurred on nearly every occasion that the young men met in the evenings for music.

The repetition of the phenomenon had accustomed them to expect it.

Both professed to be quite satisfied that it was to be attributed to acoustical affinities of vibration between the wicker-work and certain of the piano wires, and indeed this seemed the only explanation possible.

But, at the same time, the resemblance of the noises to those caused by a person sitting down in or rising from a chair was so marked, that even their frequent recurrence never failed to make a strange impression on them.

They felt a reluctance to mention the matter to their friends, partly from a fear of being themselves laughed at, and partly to spare from ridicule a circumstance to which each perhaps, in spite of himself, attached some degree of importance.
Experience soon convinced them that the first noise as of one sitting down never occurred unless the _Gagliarda_ of the "Areopagita" was played, and that this noise being once heard, the second only followed it when they ceased playing for the evening.