Nancy laughed. "It is as if you said: 'Beware of being a rose-bud lest you never be an apple!' I am content that she should bloom unhindered, and be what she is. Why should she not be allowed to play Bach like an angel to-day, lest she should not be able to play him like Joachim ten years hence?"
"Yes, why not!" piped up Anne-Marie, who had paid no attention to the conversation, but who liked to say "Why not?" on general principles.
The stern man turned to her. "Bach, my dear child——" he began.
Anne-Marie gave a little laugh. "Oh, I know!" she said cheerfully.
"What do you know?" asked the gentleman severely.
"You are going to say, 'Always play Bach; nothing else is worthy,'" said Anne-Marie, regretting that she had joined in the conversation.
"I was not going to say anything of the kind," said the stern man.
"Oh, then you were going to say the other thing: 'Do not attempt to play Bach—no child can understand him.' Professors always say one or the other of those two things. Much stupid things are said about music."
"It is so," said the gentleman severely. "You cannot possibly understand Bach."
Anne-Marie suddenly grasped him by the sleeve.