"Or is it," she asked, "because the taste has moved from dramatic
singing to _il bel canto?_ In a few years nobody will want to hear
me, so I must make hay while the sun shines."
Her next concert succeeded hardly better than the Glasgow concert;
Hull, Leeds, Birmingham were tried, but only with moderate success,
and Evelyn returned to London with very little money for the
convent, and still less for her poor people.
"It is a disappointment to me, dear Mother?"
"My dear child, you've brought us a great deal of money, much more
than we expected."
"But, Mother, I thought I should be able to bring you three thousand
pounds, and pay off a great part of your mortgage."
"God, my child, seems to have thought differently."
The door opened.
"Now who is this? Ah! Sister Mary John."
"May I come in, dear Mother?"
"Certainly."
"You see, I was so anxious to see Miss Innes, to hear about the
concert tour--"
"Which wasn't a success at all, Sister Mary John. Oh, not at all a
success."
"Not a success?"
"Well, from an artistic point of view it was; I brought you some of
the notices," and Evelyn took out of her pocket some hundreds of
cuttings from newspapers.
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