At the beginning of this century there lived in Warsaw a young man, an engineer by profession, who earned his living as a specialist in hydro-technology, but whose real passion was the construction of violins.

His days were passed in a city office, where he concerned himself with the sinking of wells and the drainage of marshes; but his long and sleepless nights were spent in obsessive efforts to unravel the secrets of the seventeenth-century Italian masters in the craft of violin-making. The studio where he lived and worked was filled with all manner of oddly shaped metal implements and curious small curved saws, as well as sketches, mathematical diagrams, chemical formulae, pieces of carefully chosen mature wood, instruments in various stages of construction and, in due course, some beautiful finished violins of his own design.

He was a lean, rather aristocratic-looking man of medium height with chestnut hair and a trim moustache, his small grey eyes, somewhat short-sighted, often half-hidden behind a pair of pince-nez. He dressed smartly, with infinite care over the neatness of his appearance, and was thought to be handsome. Yet he avoided social life, never making any contact with his neighbours. As they passed his door, mystified by the strange smells of lacquer and glue, hearing the sound of the saw, seeing his lights burning all night, they cast increasingly suspicious glances in his direction – concluding, maybe, that he was involved in some sort of mediaeval alchemy.

One morning he was surprised by a visit from an elegant middle-aged woman, who had been given his address by a famous Warsaw teacher of the violin, Professor Isidor Lotto. She had heard that he constructed excellent violins and wondered if he would consider letting her purchase one for her daughter.

The young man was flattered to discover that his instruments were becoming known; but at the same time he was almost hurt that anyone should imagine that his interest was commercial. He answered that he was not a salesman, that he was engaged in serious scientific research, and that he constructed his models for that purpose alone.