"How old are you ?" "That is a rude question," said his host, laughing.

"But I will improvise a piece of music for you." He took his violin, and stood up before the broken pier-glass.

Then he laid the bow over the strings and struck a chord.

"What is that ?" he asked, sustaining the sound.
"The common chord of A minor," answered Nino immediately.
"You have a good ear," said Benoni, still playing the same notes, so that the constant monotony of them buzzed like a vexatious insect in Nino's hearing.

Still the old man sawed the bow over the same strings without change.