must tell me how you are getting on with
Bowers. Andor will want to know all about it."

"I guess I get on more or less. But I don't like my work very well. It
never seems serious as my work with Mr. Harsanyi did. I play Bowers's
accompaniments in the afternoons, you know. I thought I would learn a
good deal from the people who work with him, but I don't think I get
much."

Mrs. Harsanyi looked at her inquiringly. Thea took out a carefully
folded handkerchief from the bosom of her dress and began to draw the
corners apart. "Singing doesn't seem to be a very brainy profession,
Mrs. Harsanyi," she said slowly. "The people I see now are not a bit
like the ones I used to meet here. Mr. Harsanyi's pupils, even the dumb
ones, had more--well, more of everything, it seems to me. The people I
have to play accompaniments for are discouraging. The professionals,
like Katharine Priest and Miles Murdstone, are worst of all. If I have
to play 'The Messiah' much longer for Mrs. Priest, I'll go out of my
mind!" Thea brought her foot down sharply on the bare floor.

Mrs. Harsanyi looked down at the foot in perplexity. "You mustn't wear
such high heels, my dear. They will spoil your walk and make you mince
along. Can't you at least learn to avoid what you dislike in these
singers? I was never able to care for Mrs. Priest's singing."

Thea was sitting with her chin lowered. Without moving her head she
looked up at Mrs. Harsanyi and smiled; a smile much too cold and
desperate to be seen on a young face, Mrs. Harsanyi felt. "Mrs.
Harsanyi, it seems to me that what I learn is just TO DISLIKE. I dislike
so much and so hard that it tires me out. I've got no heart for
anything." She threw up her head suddenly and sat in defiance, her hand
clenched on the arm of the chair. "Mr. Harsanyi couldn't stand these
people an hour, I know he couldn't. He'd put them right out of the
window there, frizzes and feathers and all. Now, take that new soprano
they're all making such a fuss about, Jessie Darcey. She's going on tour
with a symphony orchestra and she's working up her repertory with
Bowers. She's singing some Schumann songs Mr. Harsanyi used to go over
with me. Well, I don't know what he WOULD do if he heard her."

"But if your own work goes well, and you know these people are wrong,
why do you let them discourage you?"

Thea shook her head. "That's just what I don't understand myself. Only,
after I've heard them all afternoon, I come out froz