"Do I love music? Yes, some music, I hope. Some kinds of music,
I hope."
These moderate, chastened words restored the boy's confidence and
completely captured his friendship. Now he felt sure of his comrade,
and he put to him a more searching question:
"Do _you_ know anything about the cathedral?"
The man smiled guiltily.
"A little. I know a little about the cathedral," he admitted.
There was a moment of tense, anxious silence. And now the whole secret
came out:
"Do you know how boys get into the cathedral choir school?"
The man did not answer. He stood looking down at the lad, in whose eyes
all at once a great baffled desire told its story. Then he pulled out
his watch and merely said:
"I must be going. Good morning." He turned his way across the rock.
Disappointment darkened the lad's face when he saw that he was to
receive no answer; withering blight dried up its joy. But he recovered
himself quickly.
"Well, I must be going, too," he said bravely and sweetly. "Good
morning." He turned his way across the rock. But he had had a good time
talking with this stranger, and, after all, he _was_ a Southerner; and
so, as his head was about to disappear below the cliff, he called back
in his frank human gallant way:
"I'm glad I met you, Mister.
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