go along with it.'
'Ohj thank you!' She smiled at him as though he had offered her the Koh-i-noor, which was perhaps what prompted him to reply provocatively,
*Until you're sufficiently experienced for us to rely on your unsupported judgment I'm afraid you'll have to put up with my company at a good many performances. Do you think you can bear that?'
*ril try,' she retorted lightly. And then, as she thought that soimded churlish after he had been so willing to co-operate over her plans, she put out her hand and just touched his as it lay there on the desk between them.
*Thank you,' she said again, and her tone was warm and friendly.
He turned his hand and for a moment his long, strong fingers closed roimd hers. Then he said almost curtly, 'You're a good child,' and dismissed her with a nod.
Back in her own office Caroline looked at her hand as though something quite imusual had happened to it. She remembered reading somewhere—^though she could not recall where—that *touch is the strongest and most primitive form of communication and should be used sparingly'.
'Well, I don't often hold hands with him!' she told herself with a laugh, and turned to other matters.
Half an hour later the telephone rang, and she was summarily bidden to the Warrender presence that very evening, to discuss and arrange her initial programme.
When she arrived in his studio she was not much surprised to find that there was little discussion, in the sense of querying anything he had to say. But the amount which he had already set in motion astounded her. Apparently it had been arranged that she should attend three or four times a week a well-known Opera Studio, where less than a dozen students received intensive and highly professional training.
'You'll be behind most of them in some respects,' Sir Oscar told her, 'but vocally you'll be on a respectable level of competition. Presently I shall be able to tell in which branches you are really deficient and in which you can rely to a certain extent on what you have learned in your rather sketchy development to date. In addition I shall want you here for personal study once a week, whenever I'm in this coimtry. You understand?'
Caroline said she understood, and then broached the subject of the suggested rearrangement at her office.
'So long as both you and Marshall understand that the demands of your musical training take precedence over anything else, I have no objection. Any other question?'
'Yes. Mrs Van Kroll is in favour of my entering for a contest organised by the Carruthers Trust in six months' time. But you said you were not much in favour of pubhc contests.'
'In general I'm not. But in your particular circumstances it might be one way of testing your weaknesses and your strengths, and it would give you an extra incentive to work hard. Mrs Van Kroll is being very generous at the moment, but
even the kindest of patronage can be a tricky thing and can cease at any moment.'
'i^yway, I don't want to lean on her generosity any more than is strictly necessary/ Caroline explained earnestly. 'I'm not a natural sponger. Sir Oscar, and I want to be independent as soon as ever possible.'
'I'm glad to hear it.' He smiled faintly. 'So, provided you work steadily, without pinning all your hopes on the pot of gold at the end of the Carruthers rainbow, I expect I shall let you enter when the time comes.'
'Just one more thing,' she said quickly, as she saw he was preparing to dismiss her. 'You do understand. Sir Osc^r, don't you, that although Mr Marshall is co-operating over the new arrangements with his office, he has no idea that it's his godmother—that it's Mrs Van Kroll— who's financing me. It's very important that he shouldn't know.'
'I think you may rely on my discretion,' said the conductor gravely. 'It has been tested quite often in the course of my career. Now confirm your arrangements with Marshall as speedily as you can. I want you to report at the Opera Studio on the first of
'Ohj thank you!' She smiled at him as though he had offered her the Koh-i-noor, which was perhaps what prompted him to reply provocatively,
*Until you're sufficiently experienced for us to rely on your unsupported judgment I'm afraid you'll have to put up with my company at a good many performances. Do you think you can bear that?'
*ril try,' she retorted lightly. And then, as she thought that soimded churlish after he had been so willing to co-operate over her plans, she put out her hand and just touched his as it lay there on the desk between them.
*Thank you,' she said again, and her tone was warm and friendly.
He turned his hand and for a moment his long, strong fingers closed roimd hers. Then he said almost curtly, 'You're a good child,' and dismissed her with a nod.
Back in her own office Caroline looked at her hand as though something quite imusual had happened to it. She remembered reading somewhere—^though she could not recall where—that *touch is the strongest and most primitive form of communication and should be used sparingly'.
'Well, I don't often hold hands with him!' she told herself with a laugh, and turned to other matters.
Half an hour later the telephone rang, and she was summarily bidden to the Warrender presence that very evening, to discuss and arrange her initial programme.
When she arrived in his studio she was not much surprised to find that there was little discussion, in the sense of querying anything he had to say. But the amount which he had already set in motion astounded her. Apparently it had been arranged that she should attend three or four times a week a well-known Opera Studio, where less than a dozen students received intensive and highly professional training.
'You'll be behind most of them in some respects,' Sir Oscar told her, 'but vocally you'll be on a respectable level of competition. Presently I shall be able to tell in which branches you are really deficient and in which you can rely to a certain extent on what you have learned in your rather sketchy development to date. In addition I shall want you here for personal study once a week, whenever I'm in this coimtry. You understand?'
Caroline said she understood, and then broached the subject of the suggested rearrangement at her office.
'So long as both you and Marshall understand that the demands of your musical training take precedence over anything else, I have no objection. Any other question?'
'Yes. Mrs Van Kroll is in favour of my entering for a contest organised by the Carruthers Trust in six months' time. But you said you were not much in favour of pubhc contests.'
'In general I'm not. But in your particular circumstances it might be one way of testing your weaknesses and your strengths, and it would give you an extra incentive to work hard. Mrs Van Kroll is being very generous at the moment, but
even the kindest of patronage can be a tricky thing and can cease at any moment.'
'i^yway, I don't want to lean on her generosity any more than is strictly necessary/ Caroline explained earnestly. 'I'm not a natural sponger. Sir Oscar, and I want to be independent as soon as ever possible.'
'I'm glad to hear it.' He smiled faintly. 'So, provided you work steadily, without pinning all your hopes on the pot of gold at the end of the Carruthers rainbow, I expect I shall let you enter when the time comes.'
'Just one more thing,' she said quickly, as she saw he was preparing to dismiss her. 'You do understand. Sir Osc^r, don't you, that although Mr Marshall is co-operating over the new arrangements with his office, he has no idea that it's his godmother—that it's Mrs Van Kroll— who's financing me. It's very important that he shouldn't know.'
'I think you may rely on my discretion,' said the conductor gravely. 'It has been tested quite often in the course of my career. Now confirm your arrangements with Marshall as speedily as you can. I want you to report at the Opera Studio on the first of
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