"Very well, uncle; I understand," said Juliet demurely, but her little foot as it tapped the ground would have betrayed her impatience to a keen observer. She felt that it would be unseemly to argue the question now, when her uncle was behaving so generously to her. She could only acquiesce; but if Mr. Tracy imagined Juliet's acquiescence to mean that she had renounced her cherished desire, he was making a great mistake.
That very afternoon, a visit was paid to Signor Lombardi at his rooms in Argyle Place. Fortunately he was "at home," and at liberty to see them for "three minutes only," as he was careful to explain.
The signor was a big, flabby-looking Italian, with fine dark eyes and very courtly manners. At first, it appeared that his time was so completely filled up that it was quite impossible he could take another pupil. But when he had tested Juliet's voice his manner became more expansive, and it then seemed just possible that he might be able to find half an hour for her in his busy week. He went so far as to admit that Juliet's voice was good, though so untrained that he was unable to say how it would develop.
Mr. Tracy hastened to explain that his niece was to study merely as an amateur. The signor bowed gravely, and said that this was a pity, since such a voice had great possibilities. He was then persuaded to name his terms, which were so high as rather to stagger Mr. Tracy.
But Juliet's pleading eyes were not to be resisted. He could not go back from his word. So the fees were paid, and Juliet's name was enrolled as one of Signor Lombardi's pupils. Juliet went away convinced that the signor had thought her voice a remarkable one, that he had been no less struck with her personal appearance, and that he thought it an immense pity that her uncle's old-fashioned prejudices should prevent her from winning the renown she would be certain to achieve if she made her début as a public singer.
When Juliet, on reaching home that evening, told gleefully the story of her uncle's latest act of kindness to her, Hannah looked across the tea-table at Salome with eyes which plainly said, "I told you so."
[CHAPTER X]
A PERILOUS PATH
JULIET had now her own way to an extent of which a little while before she could hardly have dreamed as possible.
She should have been very happy, one might think. But human happiness does not consist of anything external, and it will not come even with the realisation of all one's desires. And Juliet would have said that she was far indeed from such an attainment. No acquisition satisfied her. She was ever reaching after something beyond. Her uncle's indulgence had the effect of making her more of a spoilt child than ever. Restless, petulant, and perverse, she was constantly working herself into a fever over something or other. She continually destroyed the peace of the household by her irritability and impatience.