"Excellent." Catherine quickly clung on to the sparkle of positivity. "We shall hear you sing." She got up. "I sing, but not very well. I play better. Come. There's a piano in the parlor. I shall play and you shall sing." She gave the younger girl an encouraging smile, before directing her to the door - the normal door this time, to a normal corridor.

Well, not normal to Ellie for sure. There was marble in places that really didn't require it and statues and vases that had no other function than to show off. The central staircase by which Catherine led her new project downstairs was equally opulent.

The excitement of having a pupil to impress and instruct had brought breath to her lungs and colour to her cheeks and Catherine managed to make it downstairs without fainting. "This way." She led Ellie into a light, airy parlour that looked on the drive. There were comfortable chairs and little tables, flowers, paintings, vases, fans and clever little trinkets from all over the world. At the far end of the room against the wall, just far away enough from the tall windows to be out of direct sunlight, stood an upright piano, its wooden panels carved with an elaborate flowery pattern. Catherine swept up her skirt and sat down in front of it. "Tell me a few hymns you know and I'll see which ones I can play."