Susanna was still for a moment and then she said,
“I understand what you are saying to me, but it will be hard, very hard, and I am not likely to find anyone to help me amongst Mama’s friends.”
Miss Harding thought the same thing, but she knew that it would be disloyal to say so.
Instead she replied,
“You have to believe in yourself, Susanna. You have to find your own way, choose your own direction and, because I know you so well, I know that eventually you will not fail yourself.”
“Or you,” Susanna added quietly.
“I shall be thinking of you,” Miss Harding said, “and let me tell you, I have never had a pupil whom I have loved more or of whom I have had such high hopes.”
Her words brought the tears into Susanna’s eyes again, but now they were not tears of despair but of delight becau
