duet. After this trial he communicated his opinion to Signor Sapio, which was that "Miss Hayes possesses all the qualities to make a good singer.… I am certain she will end by becoming a perfect vocalist in every sense of the word."
During this interview with Lablache in Dublin, he urged her to go and see Grisi and Mario in Norma the following evening. She had never witnessed great acting before, and when the Druid priestess, personated by the Queen of Italian song, received an ovation at the close of the performance, and was covered with wreaths and bouquets, her spirit was stirred within her. Tame indeed did the applause of the concert-room appear to such a triumph as this. She at once resolved that she, too, would be an opera singer. After a private concert given for her by the Countess of St. Germains, she went to see her friends at Limerick. They all dissuaded her from going on the stage, but she held firm to her determination and made up her mind to go to Paris and study under Emmanuel Garcia, who educated Mahbran for the operatic stage. So feverishly anxious was she to waste no time, that she would not even wait for a family who were going to Paris in two months, but started alone—rather a formidable undertaking for a timid girl of 17, sixty years ago.
