Finding her own sensations exactly like those described in the book as symptoms of the direst diseases, she put it by in alarm, and took up a novel, which was free from the fault she had found in the lectures, inasmuch as none of the emotions it described in the least resembled any she had ever experienced.
After a brief interval, she consulted a fashionable teacher of singing as to whether her voice was strong enough for the operatic stage.

He recommended her to study with him for six years, assuring her that at the end of that period--if she followed his directions--she should be the greatest singer in the world.

To this there was, in her mind, the conclusive objection that in six years she should be an old woman.

So she resolved to try privately whether she could not get on more quickly by herself.

Meanwhile, with a view to the drama in case her operatic scheme should fail, she took lessons in elocution and gymnastics.
Practice in these improved her health and spirits so much that her previous aspirations seemed too limited.