Strange, limpid notes rang out from under the
fingers of her right hand, and darted off in an alarming flight,
swaying and rocking and beating against one another like a swarm of
frightened birds. And in the dark background the low notes sang in
measured, harmonious cadence like the waves of the sea exhausted by
the storm. Some one cried out, a loud, agitated, woeful cry of
rebellion, questioned and appealed in impotent anguish, and, losing
hope, grew silent; and then again sang his rueful plaints, now
resonant and clear, now subdued and dejected. In response to this
song came the thick waves of dark sound, broad and resonant,
indifferent and hopeless. They drowned by their depth and force the
swarm of ringing wails; questions, appeals, groans blended in the
alarming song. At times the music seemed to take a desperate upward
flight, sobbing and lamenting, and again precipitated itself, crept
low, swung hither and thither on the dense, vibratory current of
bass notes, foundered, and disappeared in them; and once more
breaking through to an even cadence, in a hopeless, calm rumble, it
grew in volume, pealed forth, and melted and dissolved in the broad
flourish of humid notes--which continued to sigh with equal force
and calmness, never wearying.
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