They seemed to glow with a
kind of inward fire under the wide brow revealed beneath the sweep of
her dark hair.
"So thees ees your wonder-pupil, Signor," she said, her smile radiating
kindness and good-humour. "Mademoiselle, I weesh you all the success
that I know Signor Baroni hopes for you."
She talked very rapidly, with a strong foreign accent, and her gesture
was so expressive that one felt it was almost superfluous to add speech
to the quick, controlled movement. Hands, face, shoulders--she seemed
to speak with her whole body, yet without conveying any impression of
restlessness. There was not a single meaningless movement; each added
point to the rapid flow of speech, throwing it into vivid relief like
the shading of a picture.
While she was still chatting to Diana, a slender man with bright hair
tossed back over a finely shaped head came into the artistes' room,
carrying in his hand a violin-case which he deposited on the table with
as much care as though it were a baby. He shook hands with Olga
Lermontof, and then Baroni swept him into his net.
"Kirolski, let me present you to Miss Quentin. She will one day stand
amongst singers where you stand amongst the world's violinists."
Kirolski bowed, and glanced smilingly from Baroni to Diana.
"I've no doubt Miss Quentin will do more than that," he said. "A
friend of mine heard her sing at Miss de Gervais' reception not long
ago, and he has talked of nothing else ever since.
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