Owen thought that this was the moment to mention the fact that Evelyn was the daughter of the famous Madame Innes.
Monsieur Savelli raised his bushy eyebrows.
"I knew your mother, mademoiselle. If you have a voice like hers—"
"In a year, if she will remain with me, she will have twice the voice her mother had. Mademoiselle must go into the opera class at once."
"I thought you said that such a thing could not be; that no pupil of yours had ever gone straight into the opera class?"
Madame Savelli's grey eyes laughed.
"Ah! I was mistaken.... I had forgotten that all the other classes are full. There is no room for Miss Innes in the other classes. It is against all precedence; it will create much jealousy, but it can't be helped. She must go straight into the opera class. When will mademoiselle begin? The sooner the better."
"Next Monday. Will that be soon enough?"
"On Monday I'll begin to teach her the rôle of Marguerite. Such a thing was never heard of; but then mademoiselle's voice is one such as one never hears."
Turning to her husband, she said—