“And so,” he concluded, “the true psychic factor of music took nearly three thousand years to impress itself on the Western mind. Debussy more nearly attains the idea-engendering and suggestive serenity — say of the time of Pythagoras — than any of his fore-runners — ”

Here, Paula put a pause in his summary by beckoning over Terrence and Aaron from their battlefield in the windowseat.

“Yes, and what of it?” Terrence was demanding, as they came up side by side. “I defy you, Aaron, I defy you, to get one thought out of Bergson on music that is more lucid than any thought he ever uttered in his ‘Philosophy of Laughter,’ which is not lucid at all.”

“Oh! — listen!” Paula cried, with sparkling eyes.