space of months, to a degree of perfection which it cost others--which
it had cost even the quick Maltravers--years to obtain. But we learn so
rapidly when our teachers are those we love: and it may be observed that
the less our knowledge, the less perhaps our genius in other things, the
more facile are our attainments in music, which is a very jealous
mistress of the mind. Mrs. Leslie resolved to have her perfected in
this art, and so enable her to become a teacher to others. In the town
of C------, about thirty miles from Mrs. Leslie's house, though in the
same county, there was no inconsiderable circle of wealthy and
intelligent persons; for it was a cathedral town, and the resident
clergy drew around them a kind of provincial aristocracy. Here, as in
most rural towns in England, music was much cultivated, both among the
higher and middle classes. There were amateur concerts, and glee-clubs,
and subscriptions for sacred music; and once every five years there was
the great C------ Festival. In this town Mrs. Leslie established Alice:
she placed her under the roof of a /ci-devant/ music-master, who, having
retired from his profession, was no longer jealous of rivals, but who,
by handsome terms, was induced to complete the education of Alice. It
was an eligible and comfortable abode, and the music-master and his wife
were a good-natured easy old couple.

Three months of resolute and unceasing perseverance, combined with the
singular ductility and native gifts of Alice, sufficed to render her the
most promising pupil the good musician had ever accomplished; and in
three months more, introduced by Mrs. Leslie to many of the families in
the place, Alice was established in a home of her own; and, what with
regular lessons, and occasional assistance at musical parties, she was
fairly earning what her tutor reasonably pronounced to be "a very
genteel independence."