“Oh, yes; I've studied singing several years, and I've had a year or two of church work, besides a little concert practice of a mild sort.”
“Have you begun here, yet?”
“Y-yes, I've had my voice tried.”
Billy sat erect with eager interest.
“They liked it, of course?”
Arkwright laughed.
“I'm not saying that.”
“No, but I am,” declared Billy, with conviction. “They couldn't help liking it.”
Arkwright laughed again. Just how well they had “liked it” he did not intend to say. Their remarks had been quite too flattering to repeat even to this very plainly interested young woman—delightful and heart-warming as was this same show of interest, to himself.
“Thank you,” was all he said.