For to-day Mrs. Czepanek hoped to satisfy her lord and his palate.
At the clatter of the plates on the table, the door to the parlour opened, and papa's dark curly head, about which the evening sunlight cast a halo, appeared in the bright opening.
"The deuce, supper already?" he said, and his eyes wandered with a peculiar, confused gaze.
"In ten minutes," the mother replied, joy at the surprise in store for him playing about her parched, chapped lips like secret bliss.
He entered the room, took a few deep breaths, and said with the air of a man to whom speech comes hard:
"I've just noticed that one of the straps of my hand-bag is torn."
"One's hand-bag must always be kept in readiness," he answered, his eyes continuing to rove about the room. "Suppose I were suddenly to be called to act as substitute somewhere. I must have my bag ready."
As a matter of fact, he had been called upon the previous winter to take the place of a Berlin virtuoso, who had undertaken to "do" the towns in eastern Germany and whose train had been snow-bound near Bromberg. The committee telegraphed to papa requesting him to play in his stead. But now, in midsummer, when the concert season was dead, such an emergency was scarcely within the realm of the possible.
"I'll tell Minna to take it to the saddler's right after supper," said mama, who took good care not to contradict her choleric husband.
He nodded meditatively and walked into his bedroom, while the mother ran to the kitchen to do the final honours in her own person to the titbit she had prepared for him.
A few minutes later he returned with the bag in his hand. It looked rather bulgy. He stopped before the linen chest.
"Lilly, dear," he said, "I wonder whether the score would go into the grip crosswise? In case I am called to a concert, you know--"
The score of the Song of Songs was kept in the linen chest, so that, should fire break out during papa's absence, anyone in the family might easily get at this greatest of treasures.
Lilly looked for the keys, but could not find them.
"No, no," he cried hastily, and a shiver went through his body, such as Lilly had often noticed when mother was mentioned to him. "I'll first take this old thing to the saddler."