I know if I don't marry by a certain age that will be my fate. Mother
was perfectly honest about it--before Cheneston came along; now I am her
dear little daughter, she looks at me in pleased bewilderment sometimes,
as if wondering how so homely a hunter could have achieved such a
sensational capture.
They have never tried to equip me in any way. I was never given the
opportunity to acquire any accomplishments. Old Giovanni taught me to
sing--for love of his art.
Mother laughed when she heard he was teaching me--she laughed because he
was a funny, broken-down old Italian singer, and the boys used to pay
him five shillings a night out of mess funds to come up and play to them
in the evening when the regiment was stationed at Gilesworth and there
was nothing on earth to do.
Giovanni was a great teacher, and to him I owe to-night.