Perhaps--"
Of what possibilities will not a young girl dream at the dictation
of her heart? And as she saw the sharp lines of her profile softening
into loveliness, the color fluctuating in her cheeks even at her
thoughts, her thin, feeble arms growing white and firm, and the
rounded grace of womanhood appearing in all her form, she began to
hope that she could endure comparison with Miss Wildmere, even on
her lower plane of material beauty. But Madge had too much mind to
be content with Miss Wildmere's standard. She coveted outward
attractiveness chiefly that the casket might secure attention to its
gems. The days of languid, desultory reading and study were over, and
she determined to know at least a few things well.
It was to music, however, that she gave her chief attention, since she
believed that for this art she had some positive talent A German in
the pursuit of health had drifted to the remote southern city. He was
past middle age, but had retained through numberless disappointments
and discouragements the one enthusiasm of his life; and in Madge he
found a pupil after his own heart. While his voice had lost much of
its freshness and power, his taste was pure and refined. He kindled
in the young girl's mind something of his own love and reverence for
music on its own account.
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