slippers toss away this pair and the other as clumsy; but there went an
apprenticeship to the making of them. Excuse me: you could not at present teach
one of those actresses; but there is certainly much that she could teach you.
For example, she can pitch her voice so as to be heard: ten to one you could not
do it till after many trials. Merely to stand and move on the stage is an art -
requires practice. It is understood that we are not now talking of a comparse in
a petty theatre who earns the wages of a needlewoman. That is out of the
question for you.«
    »Of course I must earn more than that,« said Gwendolen, with a sense of
wincing rather than of being refuted; »but I think I could soon learn to do
tolerably well all those little things you have mentioned. I am not so very
stupid. And even in Paris I am sure I saw two actresses playing important
ladies' parts who were not at all ladies and quite ugly. I suppose I have no
particular talent, but I must think it is an advantage, even on the stage, to be
a lady and not a perfect fright.«
    »Ah, let us understand each other,« said Klesmer, with a flash of new
meaning. »I was speaking of what you would have to go through if you aimed at
becoming a real artist - if you took music and the drama as a higher vocation in
which you would strive after excellence. On that head, what I have said stands
fast. You would find - after your education in doing things slackly for
one-and-twenty years - great difficulties in study: you would find
mortifications in the treatment you would get when you presented yourself on the
footing of skill. You would be subjected to tests; people would no longer feign
not to see your blunders. You would at first only be accepted on trial. You
would have to bear what I may call a glaring insignificance: any success must be
won by the utmost patience. You would have to keep your place in a crowd, and
after all it is likely you would lose it and get out of sight. If you determine
to face these hardships and still try, you will have the dignity of a high
purpose, even though you may have chosen unfortunately. You will have some
merit, though you may win no prize. You have asked my judgment on your chances
of winning. I don't pretend to speak absolutely; but measuring probabilities, my
judgment is: - you will