The narrator sighs as he thinks about the piano. He thinks about how good it was, but he can't decide who was the better player. He wonders about the violinist, who seems to be in a worse state than ever. He asks the doctor if she's sick, and the doctor tells him that she'll be fine. He tells her to go to the doctor's office and get some food for her stomach, and then he tells her that he's going to have to play the piano in order to perform the surgery. The doctor tells the narrator that the violinist isn't going to pass out. The narrator is sorry that he has to play, and he thinks that maybe it would be better if he didn't have to. He's not a violinist, he says, and it's fine to forget about it. He says that he and the violinist are just like musicians, and that they play just like each other.