so that she might not be late for dinner when she entered the hotel she came suddenly upon on the he was sitting there engaged in conversation with an elderly woman � a woman of about fifty who catching sight of her whispered something to him this is lady sir has been telling me miss what madame said about your voice i do not know how to congratulate you i suppose such a thing has not happened before and her small grey eyes gazed in envious as if seeking to understand how such extraordinary good fortune should have befallen the tall fair girl who stood blushing and embarrassed in her happiness drew a chair forward sit down you look tired no i m not tired but i walked from the arc de walked why did you walk � did not answer and lady said � sir tells me that you ll surely succeed in � that i shall be converted lady is a no my dear i m not a for i recognise the greatness of the music and i could hear it with pleasure if it were confined to the but i can find no pleasure in listening to a voice trying to accompany a hundred instruments i heard last season i was in mrs s box � a charming woman � her husband is an american but he never comes to london i presented her at the last drawing room she had a supper party afterwards and when she asked me what i d have to eat i said nothing with wings oh that swan her grey hair was drawn up and arranged and noticed three diamond rings and an ring on her fat white fingers there had been moments she said when she had thought the people on the stage were making fun of them � such � they had all shouted themselves hoarse � such wandering from key to key hoping i suppose that in the end they d hit off the right ones and that trick of going up in and then they go up in on the half notes i said if they do that again i ll leave the theatre could see that liked lady and her conversation which at first might have seemed extravagant and a little foolish was illuminated with knowledge and a vague sense of humour which was her story of how she had met in her early youth and the praise he had bestowed on her voice and his intention of writing an opera for her seemed fanciful enough but every now and then some slight detail inspired the suspicion that there was perhaps more in what she was saying than appeared at first hearing why did he not write the opera olive it was as he was ill when he lived in and he said he was afraid he was not equal to writing down so many notes poor old man i can still see him sitting in his she seemed to have been on terms of friendship with the most celebrated men of the time her little book entitled of some great was alluded to and mentioned that at that time she was the great beauty but instead of going on the stage i married lord and this early mistake she seemed to consider as sufficient explanation for all subsequent misfortunes wandered what these might be and said � the most celebrated singers are glad to sing at lady s no reputation is considered complete till it has received her sanction that is going too f but it is true that nearly all the great singers have been heard at my house begged to get ready for dinner and as she stood waiting for the lift she saw him resume confidential conversation with lady they were she knew making preparations for her future life and this was the woman she was going to live with for the next few years the thought gave her pause she dried her hands and hastened downstairs they were still talking in the just as she had left them signed to the coachman and told him to drive to s they were dining in a private room and during dinner the conversation constantly back to the success that had achieved that afternoon told the story in well turned sentences his eyes were generally fixed on lady and sat listening and feeling as intended she should feel like the heroine of a fairy tale she laughed nervously when madame s accent he described how she had said if you ll stop with me for a year i ll make something wonderful of you lady leaned across the table glancing from time to time at as if to assure herself that she was still in the presence of this extraordinary person and murmured something about having the honour of assisting at what she was sure would be a great career noticed that seemed and did not respond very eagerly to lady s advances he wondered if she suspected him of having been lady s lover was thinking entirely of lady herself trying to divine the real woman that was behind all this talk of great men and social one phrase let drop seemed to let in some light on the mystery talking of her lady said that it was only necessary to know what road we wanted to walk in to succeed and instantly lady appeared to her as one who had never selected a road she seemed to have walked a little way on all roads and her face expressed a life of many wanderings from place to place there was nothing as she said worth doing that she had not done but she had clearly accomplished nothing as she watched her she feared though she could not say what she feared at bottom it was a suspicion of the influence that lady would exercise must exercise upon her � for were they 