No, it is not enough; but then I began to sing at musical
evenings, in the fashionable private houses, and also to give lessons in
the daytime; and then it was I began to know the kindness of that
people, their consideration, their benignitance to a stranger, their
good-humor, and good wishes to you. Oh, a little brusque sometimes, the
father of a family, perhaps; the lady of the house and her
daughters--never! More than once a lady has said to me, 'What, are you
all alone in this big town?--my daughters will call for you to-morrow
and take you to the Botanic Gardens; and after you will come back to
tea.' Or, again, they have shown me photographs of a beautiful large
house--like a castle, almost--on the side of a hill, among trees; and
they say, 'That is our house in the summer; it is by the sea; if you are
here in the summer, you must come and stay with us, and you will play
lawn-tennis with the girls and go boating with them and fishing all day;
then every evening we will have a little concert--'"
"I beg your pardon," interposed the blunt-tongued doctor, "but do you
call that Scotch hospitality, Miss Ross?--to invite a professional
singer to their houses and get her services for nothing?"
"Ah, no, no, you mistake," said Nina, putting up the palm of her right
hand for a second.
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