Alpha Book

"But if you insist, then you had better get a clerk to explain the
details to you at first."
"Do you not understand them? Can you not teach me?" asked Orsino,
displeased with the idea of employing a third person.
"Oh yes--I have been a clerk myself. I should be too much honoured
but--the fact is, my spare time--"
He hesitated and seemed reluctant to explain.
"What do you do with your spare time?" asked Orsino, suspecting some
love affair.
"The fact is--I play a second violin at one of the theatres--and I give
lessons on the mandolin, and sometimes I do copying work for my uncle
who is a clerk in the Treasury. You see, he is old, and his eyes are not
as good as they were."
Orsino began to think that his partner was a very odd person. He could
not help smiling at the enumeration of his architect's secondary
occupations.
"You are very fond of music, then?" he asked.
"Eh--yes--as one can be, without talent--a little by necessity. To be an
architect one must have houses to build.


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