Mary Ann and Miss Mozart by Ann Turnbull Read Free Book Online Page B

three about Mrs. Corelli having been on the stage. “I said so to you, did I not, Lucy? I said, ‘You can see from the way she moves that she is an actress.’”
    “But you haven’t been inside her room,” said Phoebe enviously. “You haven’t seen the portrait of Mr. Corelli.”
    “No… We must find a way to be invited, all of us.”
    “Lose our voices?” joked Lucy.
    They laughed. But they were jealous. Mary Ann knew it was not a good time to share with them her idea of singing to raise money for her fees. She had thought, at first, about a concert organized by the four of them, but she soon foresaw the difficulty of finding either an audience who would pay or a place to stage it. Even if it were allowed, it would be humiliating to perform at school and let everyone know that her parents could not afford the fees. She realized that she needed to do this by herself. She remembered the ballad singers she always liked to hear in the streets of London. Those women would have a hat on the ground, or an assistant who went in amongst the crowd asking for money. They must do well on market days.
    But ballad singing was unthinkable. She was a merchant’s daughter. She could not stand in the street and sing.
    It was the next day, when she glanced out of the window during a Geography lesson, and saw Jenny hanging out washing in the garden, that the answer came to her. Surely Jenny would help! She sang in a tavern; she’d even sung at Ranelagh, with her cousin.
    She waited until the next time she saw Jenny going into the laundry room alone, then followed her in and closed the door.
    “Oh, Miss!” Jenny turned round. “You startled me!”
    She’d had a slightly guilty manner ever since the affair of the pillowcases.
    Mary Ann spoke quietly. “Jenny, I need your help. Will you be singing – performing – again soon?”
    “Oh, yes, Miss!” Jenny’s face cleared. “I’m going with my cousin to Ranelagh on Saturday week.”
    “To Ranelagh!” This was even better than Mary Ann could have hoped. Surely at Ranelagh, among so many wealthy people, she would earn enough money to keep her here at least one more term?
    “It’s a masquerade night,” Jenny explained. “Everyone will be masked, even the stallholders.”
    “Masks!” Mary Ann was enthralled. “Will you wear a mask?”
    “Oh, yes – to blend in! It should be a good night: dancing and all sorts of entertainments going on till the small hours of the morning.”
    “Take me with you!” Mary Ann begged. “Let me sing too!”
    “ You , Miss?” Jenny looked horrified. “Oh – I couldn’t – no, not you. It’s not suitable… I’d be in trouble. And Nick, my cousin – he’d never agree.”
    “Please, Jenny, please ! You know why. I need eight guineas for next term. There’s no other way for me to earn it.”
    “You’d never get eight guineas, Miss.”
    “But I’d get something! It would be a start. And it would be secret. The masks. We’d be disguised.” It seemed a chance she could not forgo.
    “No.” Jenny’s face was set. “No, I daren’t do it. I’m sorry.”
    “I helped you ,” Mary Ann said. “I never told anyone what I saw. Those pillowcases…”
    She hated herself even as she spoke. It was wrong: blackmail. But it worked. Jenny looked wary.
    “I’ll ask Nick,” she said. “I’ll see him on Sunday. But it’ll be up to him, Miss, and I reckon he’ll say no. Indeed, I’m sure he will.”
    Mary Ann waited. She was in a fever of impatience for the rest of the week, and could not attend to her lessons or to the gossip of her friends. But when she went for her next singing lesson with Mrs. Corelli she managed to put her anxiety aside and worked hard at the songs. These were important. Mrs. Corelli had told her that she must be ready at all times, and she was determined she would be: ready for Ranelagh. Mrs. Corelli was surprised and pleased, and praised her.
    On Sunday Mary Ann was restless, biting her nails in church,