Rubinstein's Death Compact


A pupil of Anton Rubinstein, the great pianist and composer (1829-1894),

tells this story. It may be found in Harper's Magazine for December,

1912, under the title A Girl's Recollections of Rubinstein, by Lillian

Nichia.



"One wild, blustery night I found myself at dinner with Rubinstein, the

weather being terrific even for St. Petersburg. The winds were howling

round the house and Rubinstein, who liked to
ask questions, inquired of

me what they represented to my mind. I replied, 'The moaning of lost

souls.' From this a theological discussion followed.



"'There may be a future,' he said.



"'There is a future,' I cried, 'a great and beautiful future. If I die

first I shall come to you and prove this.'



"He turned to me with great solemnity.



"'Good, Liloscha, that is a bargain; and I will come to you.'



"Six years later in Paris I woke one night with a cry of agony and

despair ringing in my ears, such as I hope may never be duplicated in

my lifetime. Rubinstein's face was close to mine, a countenance

distorted by every phase of fear, despair, agony, remorse and anger. I

started up, turned on all the lights, and stood for a moment shaking in

every limb, till I put fear from me and decided it was merely a dream. I

had for the moment completely forgotten our compact. News is always late

in Paris, and it was in Le Petit Journal, published in the afternoon,

that had the first account of his sudden death.



"Four years later, Teresa Carreno, who had just come from Russia and was

touring America--I had met her in St. Petersburg frequently at

Rubinstein's dinner-table--told me that Rubinstein died with a cry of

agony impossible of description. I knew then that even in death

Rubinstein had kept, as he always did, his word."



Here again, we are at liberty to accept the testimony regarding the

remarkable and complex coincidence, and to disregard what is really an

expression of opinion in the last sentence. Whether Rubinstein

remembered his compact in his dying hour, or the impression produced

upon his far-away pupil was automatically produced by some obscure

telepathic process, the dying man having in his mind no conscious

thought of his promise, or some intervening tertium quid produced the

impression, could never be determined by this incident alone.



More

;