At the close, all exclaimed in admiration save Miss Brown, who bit her lip in ill-concealed vexation, and said, with a half-sneer, "Really, Mr. What-is-your-name, you are almost equal to Blind Tom."
"You do Blind Tom great injustice," said Dennis. "I read my music."
"But how did you learn to read music in that style?" asked Christine.
"Of course it took me years to do so. But no one could join our musical club at college who could not read anything placed before him."
"It must have been small and select, then."
"It was."
"How often had you sung that piece before?" asked Miss Brown.
"I never saw it before," answered Dennis.
"Why, it is just out," said Christine.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, our troubles are over at last," said Miss
Winthrop. "Mr. Fleet seems a good genius—equal to any emergency. If
he can sing that difficult passage, he can sing anything else we have.
We had better run over our parts, and then to our toilets."