The Reason a Piano Tuner Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Three Snapped Strings

I lifted the lid and looked down into the case.

The three lowest strings were gone.

They were the longest wound strings in the instrument, copper over steel, and I had hung them myself in the first week of June.

At each pin there was a short stub with a neat end.

At the other end, by the hitch pins, the same.

I touched one stub with my fingernail.

It was flat across.

A string that snaps does not do that.

It breaks ragged, and it curls back on itself like a spring and flies, and it leaves the whole length of itself on the floor.

I got down on my knees and looked under the case.

There was dust, and a dead moth, and the old gleam of the boards.

There was no wire anywhere.

Somebody had cut three strings and taken the pieces away.

I sat back on my heels.

I did not cry, because I do not, but I put my hand flat over my mouth for a time.

Then I went to find my father.

He was at the breakfast table with the duke, who had come down early for once.

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