"Caro nome" from "Rigoletto," or anything else that he could suggest;
and her runs and shakes and scale passages were delivered with a freedom
and precision that again and again called forth his applause.

"And you have never sung in public, Nina?" he asked.

"At one concert, yes, in Naples," the young lady made answer. "And at
two or three _matinées_" And then she turned to him, with a bright look.
"You know this, Leo?--I am offered--no--I was offered--an engagement to
sing in opera; oh, yes; it was the _impresario_ from Malta--he comes to
Naples--Pandiani makes us all sing to him--then will I go to Malta, to
the opera there? No!"

"Why not, Nina? Surely that was a good opening," he said.

She turned away from him again, and her fingers wandered lightly over
the keys of the piano.

"I always say to me, 'Some day I am in England; the English give much
money at concerts; perhaps that is better.'"

"So you've come over to England to get a series of concert-room
engagements; is that it, Nina?"

She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly.

"Perhaps. One must wait and see. It is not my ambition. No. The light
opera, that is--popular?--is it right?"

"Yes, yes."