“Oh, by the way, how clever you were about the Ellen Rhodes thing. Who would have thought it? And according to everyone you worked it all out.”

“Just luck,” I said, quietly.

“I’m sure it was more than that. You know I went over to Maryland to see her yesterday.”

“Who? Ellen?”

“Certainly. I was always very fond of her. I thought I’d go and console her … nasty girl.”

“What did she do?”

“Do! She barked at me and pretended she was a dog!” Ellen Victrix, I thought … the ending was not so unhappy after all. I pitied the younger doctors.

But then Hermione, wearing a black velvet bow decorated with seed pearls, was led past us. Mrs. Goldmountain gave her a parting hug.

There was loud applause when she appeared on stage with her accompanist.

A moment later the piano broke into one of the very grandest arias from Norma and Hermione’s voice, unearthly and loud, floated in the air.

Her subsequent stardom in nine movies is known to all; after the ninth she lost her voice and was forced to make personal appearances until the grim reaper laid her low. Her Town Hall debut was a public relations success though artistically her press was mixed. Virgil Thomson in the Herald Tribune summed up the general view when he said that her voice was a small one and not well trained; nevertheless, despite her unreadiness, he found her stage presence utterly beguiling and her graciousness, especially during the curtain calls, remarkable.