And so they went down stairs and out of the house.  Just as they stood on the steps, looking for a hansom, a young lad came forward and shook hands with Lavender, glancing rather nervously at Sheila.

“Well, Mosenberg,” said Lavender, “you’ve come back from Leipsic at last?  We got your card when we came home this morning from Brighton.  Let me introduce you to my wife.”

The boy looked at the beautiful face before him with something of distant wonder and reverence in his regard.  Sheila had heard of the lad before—­of the Mendelssohn that was to be—­and liked his appearance at first sight.  He was a rather handsome boy of fourteen or fifteen, of the fair Jew type, with large, dark, expressive eyes, and long, wavy, light-brown hair.  He spoke English fluently and well:  his slight German accent was, indeed, scarcely so distinct as Sheila’s Highland one, the chief peculiarity of his speaking being a preference for short sentences, as if he were afraid to adventure upon elaborate English.  He had not addressed a dozen sentences to Sheila before she had begun to have a liking for the lad, perhaps on account of his soft and musical voice, perhaps on account of the respectful and almost wondering admiration that dwelt in his eyes.  He spoke to her as if she were some saint, who had but to smile to charm and bewilder the humble worshiper at her shrine.

“I was intending to call upon Mrs. Lavender, madame,” he said.  “I heard that she was ill.  Perhaps you can tell me if she is better.”

“She seems to be very well to-day, and in very good spirits,” Sheila answered.

“Then I will not go in.  Did you propose to take a walk in the Park, madame?”

Lavender inwardly laughed at the magnificent audacity of the lad, and, seeing that Sheila hesitated, humored him by saying, “Well, we were thinking of calling on one or two people before going home to dinner.  But I haven’t seen you for a long time, Mosenberg, and I want you to tell me how you succeeded at the Conservatoire.  If you like to walk with us for a bit, we can give you something to eat at seven.”

“That would be very pleasant for me,” said the boy, blushing somewhat, “if it does not incommode you, madame.”

“Oh no:  I hope you will come,” said Sheila most heartily; and so they set out for a walk through Kensington Gardens northward.

Precious little did Lavender learn about Leipsic during that walk.  The boy devoted himself wholly to Sheila.  He had heard frequently of her, and he knew of her coming from the wild and romantic Hebrides; and he began to tell her of all the experiments that composers had made in representing the sound of seas and storms and winds howling through caverns washed by the waves.  Lavender liked music well enough, and could himself play and sing a little, but this enthusiasm rather bored him.  He wanted to know if the yellow wine was still as cool and clear as ever down in the twilight of Auerbach’s cellar, what burlesques had lately been played at the theatre, and whether such and such a beer-garden was still to the fore; whereas he heard only analyses of overtures, and descriptions of the uses of particular musical instruments, and a wild rhapsody about moonlit seas, the sweetness of French horns, the King of Thule, and a dozen other matters.