I think I have once before spoken of her voice,--an organ more often
cultivated by my fair country-women for singing than for speaking,
which, considering that much of our practical relations with the sex are
carried on without the aid of an opera score, seems a mistaken notion of
theirs,--and of its sweetness, gentle inflexion, and musical emphasis.
She had the advantage of having been trained in a musical language, and
came of a race with whom catarrhs and sore throats were rare. So that
in a few brief phrases she sang the Senator into acquiescence as she
imparted the plain libretto of her business,--namely, a "desire to see
some of his rare engravings."
Now the engravings in question were certain etchings of the early Great
Apprentices of the art, and were, I am happy to believe, extremely rare.
From my unprofessional view they were exceedingly bad,--showing the mere
genesis of something since perfected, but dear, of course, to the
true collector's soul. I don't believe that Carmen really admired them
either.
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