Then, turning to Lord Ashden, he held out his hand. The latter was smiling in spite of himself, as he said, trying to speak seriously:
“And what about the teacher for the boy, of whom you spoke?”
The old music teacher smiled a little grimly.
“My friend,” he said, “I will take the boy myself, provided you will consent to his living in my house, so that he may give me all his time for the practice he so much needs. No, no thanks. Think it over, and when you have decided send the boy to me.”
And so it was arranged that Philip was to be left behind in Milan for a year while Lord Ashden went to Egypt with some friends, but not before he had assured himself that the boy would be quite happy in the household of Signor Marini, who, in spite of his peculiarities, had a very kind and generous nature, while his fat and rather stupid wife was overflowing with good-nature. They promised to do all in their power to make Philip as happy and comfortable as he could be under such altered conditions, and they kept their word; it must be confessed, however, that the boy suffered a great deal for the first month or two from that most unbearable of all complaints, homesickness; but after that he did not have much time to think of his friends in England, or indeed of anything else, for he soon became completely absorbed in conquering the difficulties of exercises and studies.
Signor Marini was a stern taskmaster, and it was a peculiarity of his that he seldom praised or encouraged his pupils; sometimes, however, when Philip had conquered a difficult passage, his teacher would give expression to his satisfaction in a kind of grunt which Philip soon grew to look for and to value as the highest kind of praise. Nor did his teacher make much reply to Lord Ashden’s frequent letters of inquiry concerning his pupil’s progress.
“You know I told you that I did not believe much in precocious children,” he wrote once, “but Philip I believe is something more than that. If I did not believe that he had a future before him, I should certainly not be spending so much time upon his training.”
And with this assurance Lord Ashden was obliged to be content, and although the year of separation from Philip was harder for him than for the boy, he waited patiently, believing the life in Milan to be just what his young charge needed.