Read Online Bella Poldark by Winston Graham - Free Book Online Page A

supremely good voice the world is open.'
    Caroline said: 'You refer to ladies. How many of your present ten pupils are in fact ladies?' (Only Caroline would have asked that, Demelza thought.)
    'Er - three, no, four. The other six come from relatively humble backgrounds.'
    'And these high fees you charge? Are all your pupils charged the same?'
    'I have awarded two girls scholarships because their parents are quite unable to find any money at all. They have great promise, and I feel I am paying my own debt to society by giving them free tuition. Only one of these is a singer, the other is a student of the piano. Miss Poldark, if she comes, will no doubt make their acquaintance.'
    After a thoughtful pause Demelza said: 'Lieutenant Havergal will have told you we live in Cornwall. It is many miles from London. I think about three hundred. It takes two to three days by coach, and you cannot be certain sure by sea, sometimes shorter, often longer. My daughter is not yet seventeen. She goes to Mrs Hemple's School in Truro and is taught singing by a local teacher, Mrs Hodgson. May I ask the - the ages of your other pupils?'
    'Seventeen to thirty-one.'
    'My husband and I are not - not anxious to stand in Bella's way. If she really has such a fine voice we do not wish to prevent her from developing it. But in our view she is still so young, and although she boards with Mrs Hemple during the week she has never lived anywhere else but at home--'
    'Oh, Mama,' said Bella. 'I have lived in Paris!'
    'Yes, yes, but then that was our home. When you -- if you were to live in London you would have to face it alone - or nearly alone. Do you board girls in the house?'
    'Yes, my lady. We have accommodation for four, but all these bedrooms are taken at present. Mrs Fredericks would I think be able to recommend someone nearby.'
    'I do not think that will be necessary,' said Caroline. 'I think my aunt would be willing to accommodate her, and a groom would escort her daily.'
    'I had not thought of such a thing,' said Demelza, in surprise, pleasure and panic. She felt she was on a slope which was getting steeper and on which it was difficult to call a halt. She would dearly have loved Ross to be there to offer some more common-sense observations. Or did she mean objections?
    'Mozart,' said Christopher. 'I think--' The piano upstairs was suddenly clearer, as if someone had opened a door.
    'It's a sonata,' he said, 'but I'm not sure which one.'
    'Number One in C,' said Fredericks approvingly.
    'Do you play the piano, Christopher?' Caroline asked.
    'Alas, no.'
    'I believe that Miss Poldark does,' said Fredericks.
    'Well, a little.'
    'That is something you must do if you come here. There must be many rests from singing so that you do not strain or tire your voice. And breathing lessons - that before you ever begin. And languages. You must know three or more languages at least well enough to understand them and to pronounce them. And deportment. And acting Demelza looked at her daughter, sturdy and slender at the same time, her eager expression, her clear blue eyes, her luxuriant hair. There were two standards to be passed,not one. If indeed she had an exceptional voice, had she the mental stamina, the determination, the resolution to develop under some stern taskmaster? Had she any real idea what she might be undertaking? Aware of her gaze, Bella looked at her mother and winked. This was the same young lady who during their flight from Paris had charmed a potentially dangerous group of Polish dragoons by playing an old harpsichord and singing the 'Marseillaise' in an old inn in France. It was equally easy to underestimate her. At that inn in St Quentin Demelza had watched her through the bars of the landing stairs, furious at her recklessness and half beside herself with anxiety as to what Bella might have plunged herself into. In long retrospect some of the fury had turned into pride. That her daughter, not yet fourteen, had had the courage to do such a