He was present at a small private entertainment, and a violinist who should have played being absent, the host asked for a volunteer to take his place.

My friend, then a boy in his teens, offered himself, and actually stood up with the violin in his hands, as if to play.

But he could not even hold the instrument properly--he had never been taught the violin.

He told me he never knew what possessed him to get up and make a fool of himself before a roomful of people; but he was certain that ten thousand imps possessed him and tormented him for years and years after if only he remembered the incident.
My friend's confession was such a consolation to me that I could not help thinking I might do some other poor wretch a world of good by offering him my company and that of my friend in his misery.

For if it took me a long time to find out that I was a vain fool, the corollary did not escape me: there must be other vain fools..