On wings of song by Mary Burchell Read Free Book Online Page A

provided no such disappointment the next morning. She flushed with pleasure when Caroline reported the great conductor's comment on her own teaching powers.
    *Why, Caroline,' she exclaimed, *you must have been in splendid form to make that impression! Thank you for doing me such credit, dear. Oscar Warrender to say I was a good teacher! Just fancy that!'
    *A very good teacher was what he said,' amended Caroline. *And then later—though I'm not taking this too seriously—^he said to my boss on the phone that I—I had very unusual potential.'
    'So you have, my dear,' Miss Curtis said warmly. 'I've always thought so—only you're too much under the shadow of that cousin of yours. What did your boss—^your employer—say to that?'
    'I think he was as surprised as I was,' Caroline confessed. 'But he asked about you and was impressed. Oh, and—I know this sounds a bit as though I'm making it up but, you know, there are some occasions when surprises seem to pile on each other in the strangest way—what impressed him most was that you'd known Sophie Lander. She's his godmother.'
    'His godmother? She can't be!'
    'Yes, she is. Though I do agree it seems such an improbable relationship for a rather aggressive businessman. He never saw her on the stage

    himself because she retired before he was bom. She must be very old.''
    *No older than I am,' replied Miss Curtis primly. 'She was hardly thirty when she retired. She married a Dutch millionaire—at least, we all thought he was a millionaire. Anyway, he was immensely rich and insisted on her leaving the stage on her marriage. Such a pity, because he didn't live more than about a year after that. But at least he left her all his money—which is always a help.'
    'She could have gone back to the stage then if she'd wanted to, couldn't she?' said Caroline curiously.
    'I suppose she could—but she never did. I don't think the stage meant much to her. I mean, she wasn't a dedicated artist or anything like that. Fancy her being anybody's godmother!' Miss Curtis laughed reminiscently. 'Well, I suppose if you're the widow of a millionaire parents tend to think it would be nice to have you take an interest in their offspring.'
    *I suppose they do,' agreed Caroline with a laugh. Then she added tentatively, 'I just might be meeting her at a concert on Thursday. If I do shall I mention you to her?'
    'If you like.' Again Miss Curtis gave that reminiscent little laugh. 'We got on very well when we were young. She used to call me into her dressing-room and we used to laugh and gossip together. That was how I knew about Van Kroll before anyone else did. But of course it's all years and years ago. She wouldn't remember me now. Not after all the important people she would have known since.'

    But Miss Curtis was quite wrong.
    On the following Tuesday, in the middle of some important dictation, Kennedy Marshall said,
    *Oh, I saw Sophie last night—my godmother, you know—and she remembers your Miss Curtis perfectly. She says she was a pretty, lively little thing with a great sense of fun, and that she had a lovely light soprano voice. Apparently she had lots of admirers '
    'Miss Curtis did? I can't believe it! Nowadays she's very quiet and almost mousy. Terribly nice, of course, but '
    *My dear girl, this was all about forty years ago, I suppose. We all change a bit in forty years, you know. Though you may not,' he added quite unexpectedly. 'Your facial bone structure is very good.'
    'Thank you. But tell me some more about Miss Curtis. She'll be entranced to be remembered like this! She said your godmother couldn't possibly remember her after all these years and all the important people she had met.'
    'It isn't always the important people one remembers, Caroline,' said her employer quite seriously. 'Anyway, they were girls together, I suppose, and apparently giggled about their respective beaux in their dressing-rooms. Your Miss Curtis was against Sophie marrying Van KroU. She thought she was only