Alas! ere long it was sure again to make itself felt.

We had all seen the Stradivarius violin; indeed it was impossible for my brother longer to conceal it from us, as he now played continually on it.

He did not recount to us the story of its discovery, contenting himself with saying that he had become possessed of it at Oxford.

We imagined naturally that he had purchased it; and for this I was sorry, as I feared Mr.Thoresby, his guardian, who had given him some years previously an excellent violin by Pressenda, might feel hurt at seeing his present so unceremoniously laid aside.

None of us were at all intimately acquainted with the fancies of fiddle-collectors, and were consequently quite ignorant of the enormous value that fashion attached to so splendid an instrument.