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of frenzy, above which, like the detonations of pistol shots, was heard the consecutive bursting of
the four strings stretched upon the sound-board of that bewitched violin.
* * *
When the theatre was emptied of the last man of the audience, the terrified manager rushed on
the stage in search of the unfortunate performer. He was found dead and already stiff, behind the
footlights, twisted up into the most unnatural of postures, with the catguts wound curiously
around his neck, and his violin shattered into a thousand fragments . . .
When it became publicly known that the unfortunate would-be rival of Nicolo Paganini had not
left a cent to pay for his funeral or his hotel bill, the Genoese, his proverbial meanness
notwithstanding, settled the hotel-bill and had poor Stenio buried at his own expense.
He claimed, however, in exchange, the fragments of the Stradivarius as a memento of the
strange event.
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