Ingred felt too scared to begin, and yet she was too much afraid of her master to refuse, so the bigger fright prevailed, and--as a cat will swim to escape an enemy--she dashed at the "Nocturne." Once restarted, it went magnificently: afterwards, she always declared that Dr.Linton must have hypnotized her, she was sure her unaided efforts could never have rendered it in such style.

He behaved as if he were conducting an orchestra, soothing the _piano_ passages and spurring her on to _fortissimo_ efforts, even humming the melody in his eccentric fashion, quite unmindful of the audience.

The enthusiastic applause at the end was so evidently for both master and pupil that he bowed instinctively in response.
Ingred, remembering, now the ordeal was over, that she was nervous, melted from the platform, and left him to receive the laurels.

He did a characteristic but very kind act, looked round for his pupil, and then, perceiving that she had beaten a retreat, sat down to the piano himself, and, unasked, gave an encore for her.

A solo from Dr.Linton was an unexpected treat, especially as he was in the mood for music, and played with a sort of rapture that carried his listeners into an ethereal world of delicate sounds.