"A little! What does that exactly mean?"
"It means too much for drawing-room music, and not enough for the stage."
"You are not thinking of that, are you?"
"Why that voice of scorn? Have I hit upon one of your prejudices?"
"I am dreadfully old-fashioned about some things—publicity, for instance."
"It depends upon the kind, doesn't it? But you will never hear of me on the concert stage. Leschetizky says I have not the poise I might have had. He is very clever. There was a shock, he says, to the nerve centres. They will never again be quite under control. It is true. At this moment I am shivering within me because I must say good-by to one I might have had all my life for a friend. Is it so?"
"My dear, if you mean me, I love you!"
"Call me Helen, then. You said 'my dear' before you knew me."
"Before I meant it."
* * * * *