2:29
`` I ca n't play the Tschaikowski piece . '' `` Never mind , '' said the other . `` Let us wait for him in silence . '' The hands of the clock pointed to 2:29 . Each girl drew a quick breath , and then the one at the piano began to sing softly , almost inaudibly , `` les Rameaux '' in a transcription for tenor of Fauré 's great song . When it was ended , she played and sang the _ encore _ . Then , with her fingers touching the keys so softly that they awakened only an echo-like sound , she ran over the numbers that intervened between the first tenor solo and the second .