Vous êtes très aimable, M. Morhange, mais ce n'est point à moi que vous devez addresser vos louanges,

& she gestured toward the piano.

C'est mon élève que vous venez d'entendre,

& she introduced me to a twelve-year-old boy who bowed without speaking.

I stammered something, bowed & left - just after me the boy burst from the house & ran down the street - & now Chopin's fourth Ballade came again from the house - but I could not go back.

The following week I received a note from Mlle Matsumoto asking me to take on Murakami as a pupil.

Excerpted from Some Trick by Helen deWitt. Copyright © 2018 by Helen deWitt. Excerpted by permission of New Directions Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.