I always find my hands steadier when I’m performing for someone. How dull to make art in an empty room, a symphony gone unheard. And you’re one of the few who I believe may actually appreciate the gravity of what I do here. The rest of them”—he gestured to the sleeping baron, whose eye was now padded with cotton—“are perfectly content just to get what they want. They pay their fee, and the deed is done. No curiosity.
