"No," she replied. "I shall not even try, but I should like to have it. He was a great musician. I will keep his violin in memory of the one great talent God gave him, of which he never made anything but a perfectly good use."
"You are a good woman, Gwendolen!" Ralph said, with admiration. "It's just like you to have a pretty idea of that kind. It will help me a bit, too," he added reflectively. "I find it none too easy to forget about—all that, and I should like to remember only what was good about him. His music was exquisite."
And so in the old Manor House at Fairbridge the Amati, from whose strings Melville drew harmonies that thrilled the soul of all who heard them, remains as a perpetual reminder of the one thing he did supremely well. The magic spell it wove when it spoke in response to his command was as nothing to the spell it weaves by its silence now, helping them to forget all his sinfulness, and reminding them only of the one great talent God gave him of which he never made aught but a perfectly good use.
WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED, LONDON, NEW YORK, AND MELBOURNE.