Catherine started when Ellie began to sing before Catherine could play an introduction, but her trained fingers soon caught up. Compared to some of the classical pieces she knew, it was easy to play a few chords to accompany the carol and after one round she could focus on listening to Ellie. Her voice was pleasant enough, but her way of singing vulgar. It was evident that Ellie had only ever sung in church, or school, or in whatever public setting, where her voice was one among many. She had not been taught to sing in a parlor. There was no technique, no effort to enchant. But Ellie could not be blamed for that. It was merely a lack of education. Catherine would be happy to enlighten her.

After the third verse, Catherine stopped playing and folded her hands in her lap. "You have a pleasant voice," she declared, turning to her pupil. "We shall work with that. In fact, my sister is taking singing lesson. Perhaps we can work something out for you. Do you get any nights off at all?"