small for him to save anything, and so the poor widow was left
without a franc. Of course, they must give her a benefit concert. M.
Urso heard of it, and on talking it over with Felix Simon they decided
to prepare Camilla to take part in the charity concert for the benefit
of the widow of the Bassoon. So it happened that she took up the "_air
varie_" as her first piece.

It takes a long time to do anything in Europe. Here we would decide to
give a concert, advertise it, and hire the hall all in the same day, and
have it all over within a week. In Nantes it took six weeks to arrange
everything, see who would offer to play, and to properly announce the
event. This slow and deliberate way of doing things was an advantage to
Camilla as it gave her plenty of time to study the piece and to commit
it to memory past forgetting.

They collected a grand orchestra. Mdlle. Masson, who was quite a fine
artist volunteered to sing, and the little Camilla would play the
famous "_Seventh air varie_" from De Beriot.

The excitement was tremendous. Everybody wanted to go. The Italian opera
company, the French opera company, the dramatic company, all the grand
families, every musician in town, bought tickets. There was not a seat
or standing place in the Hotel de Ville to be had, and the Bassoon's
widow received a most remarkable benefit. All the friends of the Urso
family were there to encourage the child, and all her father's enemies
were on hand ready to laugh at her failure.

She was expected to fail. She might be able to struggle through the
piece without really breaking down, but of course she would stand
awkwardly, handle her bow like a stick, and do everything else that was
bad and inelegant. They might assert that she would play like an
artist--she could not do it. And so they waited to see Salvatore Urso's
silly experiment come to a wretched end.

How amiable in them! We can forgive them. There was nothing else to talk
about in Nantes, and it was certainly a very bold thing to bring out the
six year old girl in this public manner. She must be a truly wonderful
child, or her father and teacher had quite lost their heads.

The concert began and went on very much as concerts do everywhere. The
orchestra played and the artists sang, and then there was a little
rustle and hush of expectation as they brought in a box or platform for
the child to stand upon so that all could see her. The piano was rolled
out into a convenient plac