Miss Celeste's part in the "olio" was to sing a ballad; and as no one knew anything about her, she was placed almost at the end of the list of entertainers. When she came to talk with Frank Palmer, the musical director of the company, he asked her what song she had chosen. She told him, and then he wanted to know what she was going to give as an encore.
"You know," said Miss Celeste, in telling me the story, "I wasn't very old, and I wasn't very big, and I was terribly nervous, and just a little frightened. I knew what I intended to sing, but it took all the courage I had to murmur gently, 'I'd like to sing, "Coming Thro' the Rye."'
"Never shall I forget the expression of disgust on Mr. Palmer's face.
"'I'll rehearse you, anyway,' was all he said.
"But I didn't tell him that I had taken a little advantage of him. As a matter of fact, I had sung 'Coming Thro' the Rye' in Halifax, in a part which required a song, and in which the old melody seemed appropriate. I knew I could make a success of it.
"We went on with the rehearsals,—Mr. Palmer and I,—and he was very kind and considerate after he heard me sing, transposed the music to a higher register, so as to show my voice to better advantage, and gave me any number of little points. When it was all arranged, he said:—
"'Now promise me one thing. Promise that you won't tell any one in the company what you are going to sing.'
"I promised. I suppose he was afraid that some one of them would make fun of me.
"'And you won't flunk, will you?' he added.
"'No,' I said, 'I won't flunk.'