I sang “My ain kind dearie.” I heard afterwards that it was that song that had made Sir Arthur [Sullivan] my friend, for he mentioned it to Signor Randegger, and referred amusingly to the hoarse voice in which I sang it. The hoarse voice, alas, is mine still, and on the day of the competition it was even more like a raucous bass than it is now, for I had hardly recovered from a really dreadful cough from which I had been suffering all the winter.

I was trembling as I finished playing and singing the last notes, and felt really giddy with excitement.