Star Carol for Celeste Read Online Free Page B

thoughts and their playing. The others, red-faced to the man, swiveled in their chairs. Bart turned his head in her direction and put his hands in his lap.
    “We forgot it was Thursday, lads,” Jasper moaned. “Miss Celeste always comes on Thursdays.”
    “Getting the piano for Bart must have driven that right out of our heads,” Toby said glumly.
    “Clean out,” Tim agreed.
    “And now she knows our secret,” Duncan sighed.
    “Why wouldn’t you want me to know you were musicians?” Celeste cried, coming to stand before them. “You sound wonderful!”
    The four string players traded glances. “’Cause you told us you once studied music at a fancy school,” Duncan said at last. “We just kind of scrape away at it.”
    “What I heard was not scraping,” Celeste argued, not sure whether to be annoyed or amused at her friends. She looked over them at the silent Bart. “Bart, that was beautiful. Where did you learn to play?”
    “I took lessons from my father when I was a boy,” he said. “He was quite talented, but it wasn’t the same after he died. I really didn’t want to study with anyone else, but I continued to play for my own amusement, even though my step-father thought playing the piano was unmanly. There were no end of rows when my mother insisted my younger brother also study music. He was the one with the real talent. The fighting got too much and when I was old enough I left and eventually joined the Army.”
    “’e told us that last week,” Toby told Celeste. “And since we all had our own instruments, it didn’t seem right for ‘im not to have one. So we rented ‘him a piano. It wasn’t the prettiest one in the shop, but the clerk swore it was a good one.”
    “It is, Toby,” Bart assured him. “And since I can’t see it, it doesn’t matter what it looks like. It sounds recently tuned to my ear. And—”a droll expression crossed his face and he wiggled his eyebrows. “Since I have perfect pitch, I can assure you, it sounds quite fine, as do we all. Wouldn’t you agree, Miss Celeste?”
    “Oh, my goodness.” A sudden thought set Celeste’s skin tingling with excitement and she had to grip the back of Toby’s chair. “Would you gentlemen consider playing for the new children’s choir at Saint Alban’s?” And she told them what Headmaster Dobbins had done. “We’re probably only going to sing a traditional carol, but to have a quintet play with us would be wonderful!”
    “Is this contest important?” Jasper asked.
    “It’s one of the most important in London,” Celeste said. She did not add that one of the judges was a positive ogre.
    “You don’t want to find some real musicians?” Tim added his own question. “We wouldn’t want to mess it up for you and those children of yours, Miss Celeste. What we do here at Hope House is like Bart says, for our own amusement, not like we was professionals.”Tim’s grammar isn’t always correct, so I’d like to leave it as.
    The others, Bart included, nodded and a wave of affection brought tears to Celeste’s eyes. “I’d be proud to have you play for the choir,” she said, fighting against the wobble in her voice. “I don’t want anyone but you.”
    “Then we’ll do it,” Duncan said. “Just tell us what you need us to learn. How long do we have?”
    “Several weeks,” Celeste said, relief replacing the worry she had carried since Headmaster announced his scheme.
“Then let’s have our tea and talk about it,” Duncan suggested. “I’ve made a chocolate cake with walnuts to go along with the pasties and sliced ham.”
    The men stood and Celeste guided Bart into the kitchen. Once they were seated and Duncan had served them, she asked, “So musical talent runs in your family, Bart?”
    “Yes. My younger brother was brilliant, particularly at the organ.” Bart’s usual wistful expression relaxed into a smile. “Years after I left home, I heard a rumor he won a scholarship to some academy in Kent,