more upon the piano an air which had lodged in his head during the evening. The piano was reopened, the air played, and the student rose to go. He noticed the stringed instruments in their cases placed in the corner of the room, and learned that the gentlemen who played them had asked permission to leave them till the morning; the instruments were valuable ones and the cases were opened for him to see. Thus it chanced that the piano, the violins, and the violoncello were all again uncovered, and what is more important to us,

for otherwise our account would have been through by this time, they were left so, although it was very careless on the part of all concerned.

The student shut the door of the house behind him and stood upon the step outside, buttoning his great-coat about him. The moon was touching the fringe of heavy clouds and just setting out over the blue sea of sky. He stopped as he was closing the upper buttonhole of his coat and looked up at the witching sight. The passage, which had been repeated to him just now lingered in his brain, and he remembered its connection in the music. It had come out clear and lovely from a dark mass of sound, flowing along with liquid mel

ody. It was like the moon above him, and as he recalled other effects in the same piece, it seemed to him as if there were nothing in creation so wonderful as sound.

"How subtle it is!" said he. "It steals so into the brain and holds such power over one. There surely is nothing so penetrating and which yet can swell to such compass. Sound, methinks, must have a life of its own -a personality; it is so human, it must have its sympathy and antipathy like mortals. What exquisite sensibility, then, it must possess, finer far than that of the most sensuous poet. It must have a most tremulous, airy susceptibility. It is without doubt the most delicate essence of soul. In such a guise one might discover the secrets of soul-life. that I might for once be a sound!"

Now the reason why we do not always get what we wish for is, that we do not wish so hard as to believe that we have it; this was not the case with the student. He had become so entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the delightful nature of sound, as he stood thus watching the moon, that when he suddenly and fervently uttered this wish, he had his wish granted. No sooner had he spoken the word than he was conscious of a remark

able change. His soul, so to speak, undressed itself, casting off the body, and he would have been in a very destitute condition if the change had stopped here, since it is not expedient here to be without a body, even in travelling, as some do contrariwise affirm; but at the same time the sound which had lingered in his brain began to swell. It penetrated his soul like moisture, until he was, as it were, absorbed in the sound; but that did not prevent him from using his faculties so far as they could be used when the senses were gone, with this addition, however, that he was now like a well tuned music-box playing an air with nobody to listen to it.

Sound easily moves, as we all know; it is very much governed by attraction also, and accordingly the student, leaving his body upright upon the door-step, was drawn involuntarily through the key-hole of the outer door, and thus by the hall back into the room where the music had been given; for there were other sounds possessing attractive power. Iudeed, when the student-sound entered the room, a great number of notes, some from the violins, some from the violoncello, and some from the piano, were hovering about; they were of every variety of character, and when they came from

the music-writer's brain and found life through the medium of his instrument, they were like a great multitude of people, each with a separate temperament. But the student was only dimly conscious of their presence, since he also was a sound, and like them had existence without sense. He differed from them in this, however, that in him sound was associated with soul; if he could only find some sort of a body now suitable to his state, he would have excellent advantages.

It seems strange that when the student was so entirely musical as at this moment, he should bethink himself of a large picture which hung upon the wall, and which was more interesting as a historical picture than as a work of art. It was the Death-bed of Calvin and contained many figures. Of this picture the student thought, just at the moment when he was most embarrassed by the absence of his body which he had left upon the door-step. An odd fancy crossed his mind. "How would one of the figures in the picture answer as a substitute for my body ?" When a soul that is so refined as to be for the greater part a sound, has any wish, it does not need to express it earnestly; the mere suggestion is enough, and thus instantly the student had the

satisfaction of taking possession of the body, such as it was, of one of the figures in the picture.

"I must confess," said he, naturally fastidious and rendered more so by his musical nature, that this is not the most fitting abode for me; my face is not very beautiful, neither is my dress, especially this ruffled collar, nor is it pleasant to be so near a sick-bed. I will get a little farther off;" and he moved into the person at the end of the room - the syndic, so proud of his handsome leg. He proceeded to make the most of his situation. Naturally he tried the ears first of his new body, and though they were quite disproportionate to his delicate organization, they were of some use; just as a fine musician may draw sweet sounds from a wretched instrument. His eyes were next attended to; here he had the misfortune to be obliged to look through the glazing of the picture; thus it was like always being upon the outside of a window; but, that too, was only a partial hindrance. His nose he found to be quite stopped up with dust, but he was not sorry for it when he remembered that he was in a sick-room. His eyes and ears were, in fact, all that he was particular about, especially as he considered