“Why?” he could not help asking.
She stared at him surprised.
“Wouldn’t you like to look like both your parents, if they were the two finest people in the world?”
Here Mrs. Willers cut short the conversation by asking Mariposa to sing. The girl rose and went directly to the piano. For days this moment had been looming before her in nightmare proportions. She was feverishly anxious to do her best and sickeningly fearful of failure. Now her confidence was unshaken. Something—impossible to say just what—had reassured her. Her hands were trembling a little as she struck the keys, and her first notes showed the oscillation of nervousness, but soon the powerful voice began to come more under her control, and she poured it out exultantly. She never sang better. Her voice, much too large for the small space, was almost painful in its resonant force.
Of the two men the elder was without musical knowledge of any kind. He was amazed and delighted at what seemed to him an astonishing performance. But Essex knew that with the proper training and guidance there were possibilities of a brilliant future for this handsome and penniless young woman. He had lived much among professional singers, and he knew that Mariposa Moreau possessed an unusual voice. For reasons of his own he did not desire her to know her own power, and he was secretly irritated that she had sung so well.
She continued, Shackleton requesting another, and yet another song. Only the clock chiming four roused him to the fact that he must go. He was living at his country place at Menlo Park and had to catch a train. He left them with assurances of his delight in the performance. To Mariposa, as he pressed her hand in farewell, he said:
“I’ll see you again. You’ve a wonderful voice, there’s no mistake about that. It’s a gift, a great gift, and it must have its chance.”
The girl, carried away with the triumph of the afternoon, said gaily:
“I’ll sing for you whenever you like. Could you never come up to our cottage on Pine Street and meet my mother? I know she would like to see you.”
The slightest possible look of surprise passed over his face, gone almost as soon as it had come. Mariposa saw it, however, and felt embarrassed. She evidently had been too forward, and looked down, blushing and uncomfortable. He recovered himself immediately, and said: