:..*’;q.‘~— .-v , .

E1?

FOR perhaps the tenth time Signor Tu- rano, now. gaunt and unhappy, tapped the music- stand, raised his arms with a commanding gesture, prepared to signal the beat. Things were going quite badly. For one reason or another the orchestra seemed unable to achieve precisely the shading of tone which the maestro so assiduously demanded.

The celebrated conductor glared at his men and damned them in mellifluous Neapolitan, a tongue ad- mirably suited in aflairs involving one’s enemies. In liquid but subdued tones he called for the immediate visitation upon the orchestra of various malignant dis- eases, notably one said to have been originally con- tracted by members of the crew of the Santa Maria in the West Indies some four and a half centuries ago.

Somewhat relieved, he gave the signal and at his pantomimed behest the orchestra played once more. Under his eloquent hands the music grew in volume, billowed, while beneath the echoing majesty of the

I