“Dat iss it—dat iss it! You catch my idea exactly. Do you t’ink you vill be able to accomplish many of those impossible t’ings?”
“I shall perform every task you set for me, no matter how long or how hard I have to try.”
“Ah, now, dat iss de proper spirit. If all young ladies vere like you vhat a beautiful time de moosic teachers vould have.”
“They would, Herr?”
“Oh, yes; dey vould be so overjoyed dat dey vould be avay on a vacation most of de time.”
“I suppose you have all sorts of pupils, Herr?” said Aunt Betty, who had been an interested listener to the conversation between the girl and the professor.
“Yes; mostly young girls, madame, und to say dat dey are a big trouble iss but expressing it mildly. In fact, dey are de greatest of my troubles. Dey pay me vell, yes, but vhat iss pay vhen you must labor with dem hour after hour to get an idea t’rough their heads? Vy, for example I vill show you. A lady pupil vill valk into my studio, t’row off her t’ings und prepare for a lesson. Vhen I say now you do dis or dat, she vill reply, ‘Oh, Herr, you should not ask of me de impossible!’ Und I try to explain dat it iss only by practice dat she vill ever make a great musician. Den perhaps she vill reply: ‘Vell, if I had known it vass such hard vork maybe I vould not have tried to play,’ und den she heaves such a sigh dat for a moment I really feel ashamed of myself for making her vork so hard. Oh, madame, it iss awful! Sometimes I almost go crazy in my head.” He turned again to Dorothy. “But, come, young lady, back to de lesson, und ve vill soon be t’rough.”
Dorothy nodded her willingness, which caused the Herr professor to smile and nod delightedly at Aunt Betty.
“Dat iss de proper spirit,” he kept repeating, half aloud.
Scale after scale the girl ran over, repeating dozens of times the same notes, until Herr Deichenberg would nod his head that she had played it to his satisfaction. Then on to another and the same performance over again.