"Will you take off your hat for a minute or two, my dear boy?" he asked, before he did anything else.
I laid the beaver upon the oval table.
"Now, tell me, can you sing at all?"
"Yes sir."
"From notes, or by ear?"
"A great deal by ear, but pretty well by notes."
"From notes," he said, correctingly, and I laughed.
He then handed me a little book of chorales, which he fetched from some out-of-the-way hole beneath the instrument. They were all German: I knew some of them well enough.
"Oh, yes, I can sing these, I think."
"Try 'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott.'[5] Can you sing alto?"