I remember, when we first came out here, you had no other wish
but to be like her--your mother, I mean. Like her! I would rather see
you dead!"

Eliza muttered the last words under her breath, and Caroline only heard
the question.

"Yes, I know. Everything seemed so bright then--she brightest of all;
but I was getting to shrink from it before we went up to that dear
little villa, and since then it has seemed like death. Oh! tell her
this, Eliza, and beg of her to let me be as I am."

"But shall I tell her all, and say that is the reason?"

"No, no, no! You may think it. Mr. Brown may think it. That is like
myself having a secret; but do not tell her for the whole world."

"Tell her! Well, well, I aint likely to; but if she is set upon it, what
can I say? Madame is not a woman to give up her plans, and you have got
_such a voice_! Sometimes I think it would be splendid to see you taking
the wind out of her sails."

"But it would kill me!"

"Poor thing! Well, never mind--I will stand by you, right or wrong; but
this will be a tough battle. Tell me, though, did that young fellow have
anything to do with setting you against the profession?"

"There it is, Eliza. He never knew that I thought of it, and used to
speak of female performers with such careless contempt, as if they were
ten thousand degrees beneath him."

"And he only a teacher!" said Eliza, lifting her head in the air.

"And he only a teacher; but so proud, so sensitive, so regal in all he
said or did. Oh! Eliza, if he knew that Olympia, grand, beautiful, and
worshipped as she is, were my mother, I fear he would never care for me
again."

"Why, how on earth could you help that?"

"I could not, and it would be wicked to desire it. But, Eliza, I ought
to have had the courage to tell him, and I put it off. Every day I said
to myself, the very next time he comes, and at last you know how it was.
I had no chance, and now I may never see him again. He will always think
me Mr. Brown's daughter, and I shall feel like an impostor. I cannot
help this; but to go on the stage, when he has said so much against it,
that I will not do, unless forced there by my mother's authority."

"Well, as I said before, I will stand by you, right or wrong; and so
will Mr. Brown, I know. I only wish he was your father."

"He could not be kinder if he was," said Caroline.

Just then the door opened, and Olympia's French maid looked through.

"Madame is in the drawing-room,