"It was all like a revelation to me. I had never realized before how
absolutely necessary it was to act out the character I attempted. So I
sang _I Puritani_, with as much success as could have been expected of a
young singer with so little experience. Something awoke in me at that
moment. From that night I was never called a 'Broken Tenor' again. I
made a regular engagement at two thousand lire a month. Out of this I
paid regularly to Vergine the twenty-five per cent which he always
demanded. He was somewhat reconciled to me when he saw that I had a real
engagement and was making a substantial sum, though he still insisted
that I would lose my voice in a few years. But time passes and I am
still singing.