The Moon out of Reach

irmly in one hand. Now and again she gave the fire a tr

t à celui qui sait attendre'! Where on earth is there

ove some sewing lifted itself, and a pa

proverbs with quotations from the Script

asn't through any lack of faith that my prayers weren't answered. On the contrary, I was enormously astonish

self with the fact that 'everything come

it do

aig reflect

demanded, with a significant li

y, I don't want one any longer. I tell you, Penny"-tapping an emphatic forefin

three-and-twenty"-drily. "It's a

can enjoy them-lots of money, and amusement, and happi

er than poverty-much. And I can imagine amusement and happin

enant g

bserved, "are a highl

y dear? You're always ki

you real

up the chimney. Nan stretched out her hand for the matches and lit a

Adding whimsically: "I believe

garded her

er," she returned. "During the

ard," interpolate

r's eyes

rotation, to take you anywhere and everywhere. You felt you were working for them and they knew they were fighting for you, and the whole four years was just one pulsing, throbbing rush. Oh, I know! You were c

m in the fas

smiled

ly shirking work nowadays. And you're as bad as anyone. You've n

expect," temporise

Penelope's face

to play than to work," she

e of a pair of appealing blue eyes to bear on

ded the other

hort, curved upper lip, widened

, do you? Don't be so fearfully precise, Penny! I can't run my

th a twinkle: "Even I'm not q

down her sewing and stretche

use adjourned for tea. Nan, it's your

peared into the kitchen regions, while Penelope, curling

y five years, had already been before the public as a singer for some considerable time. With the outbreak of the war, they had both thrown themselves heartily into war work of various kinds, reserving only a certain porti

his, the two girls might have found it difficult to weather the profitless intervals which punctuated their professional engagements. But with this addition

Edenhall Mansions with creditable success. Whereas Nan Davenant, flung at her parents' death from the shelter of a home where wealth and reckless expenditure had prevailed, knew less than nothing of the elaborate art of cutting one

life had slipped along with its measure of work and play, its quiet family loves and losses, entirely devoid of th

behind the actions of humanity, into the secret, temperamental places whence those acti

ided affection of his flock, she had inherited a spice of humorous philosophy, and this, combined with a very practical sense of justice, enabled her to ac

complexities-complexities of temperament which both baffled the unf

man four generations ago, in the person of Nan's great-grandmother, had only added to the temperamental burden of the race. She had been a stra

ourt-baffling, elusive, but irresistible-was hers, and the soul of the artist, with its restless imaginat

ignificance beside the riot of her visions for Nan's future. Nevertheless, she was sometimes conscious of an undercurrent o

kitchen premises indicated unusual domestic activity on Nan's part, and fin

yfully. "I've made a burnt off

ope s

" she returned. "I sometimes

t are you brooding over so darkly? Cease those philosophical reflections in which

ed and began t

ng a scone from the golden-brown pyramid on the plate and carefully avoid

he teapot arres

im!" she commented dril

elo

peron, Penny," murmu

u and Maryon are so nearly engaged that you would

nty showed in Nan's eyes. One migh

ashed back swiftly. "I thought there was a p

y away when he comes?

iving a singing-lesson at half-past five, that's all." After a pause she ad

ask me that, Penny, as you love me! I couldn't w

t if you chose! You're simply throwing away your chances! Ho

-just now when I was in

It's a setting to tho

d you and I wit

sorry Scheme o

shatter it to

arer to the He

duty and the appropriateness of the words str

ling minor melody grew beneath them-unsatisfied, asking, with now and then an ecstasy of joyous chords that only died

her hands on the girl's shoulders, t

this wonderful talent-a real gift of

her bead so that all Penelope cou

't," s

at last composition, for instance, and get it published? Surely"-

nt said to me? . . . 'You have ambition-great ambitio

racted into a frown and she

ry word of it,

hands from Nan's sho

he said. Adding in a lighter tone: "I'm going out now. If

left alone, strolled restlessly over

"Dear old Penny! She doesn't know the proba

have been pointed had not old Dame Nature changed her mind at the last moment and elected to put a provoking little cleft there. Nor could even the merciless light of a wintry sun find a flaw in her skin. It was one of those rare, creamy sk

her arms to her sides, she stood motionless, like a bird poised for flight. Then, with a little impatient s

d a trifle breathlessl

dly expe

r hands in his

I expected anything," he a

sm

grammatic on the very doorstep. Tea? Or coffee? I

your conversation-wi

beside me singing in

he loaf and-the et ceteras," observed Nan cynically. "There's

ween what a man wants and wha

t," she answered. "You're wel

ly, "your eyes are exactly like blue

u some day," she replied

if you're

arly thirties, his reputation, particularly as a painter of women's portraits, had begun to be noised abroad. His feet were on the lower rungs of the ladder, and it was generally prophesied that he would ultimately reach the top. His

ing his eyes and using one of his most frequent names for her.

ed invol

tidotes to each other! She's just been giving me a lecture on the error

s the

waste of opportunities

urious eyes-hazel brown, with a misleading softness in them that appealed to every woman

half-please

overrate my c

ho have your technique, and fewer still

. Heaps. And they'v

tha

to hold the

t? You who ca

ke in e

an play to a few people and hold them.

ettable-did he not know how unforgettable!-she yet lacked the tremendous force of magnetic personality which penetrates through a whole

t animal magnetism! Yours is a more elusive, more-how shall I put it?-an attract

endu

one is away from it-apart-one is free. Until the next meeting! B

Like a visitor who never k

e sm

ch me off the main the

spra

said quickly, "and I'll play yo

sunshine and laughter, and though a sob ran through it, it was smothered by the ove

as meant for a sad song. As it stands, it's merely fli

the surfac

iven me some encouragement instead of crushing m

ife, a superfluity. But for the moment he was genuinely moved. The poseur'

t's in you to do something really big. And you must do it.

you prof

given you the golden gift-the creative faculty. An

let" eyes held

ous few, in fact! And if you don't use it, it will poison eve

ke worshipped, it was probably the only altar at which he ever would worship co

d. "It's a setting to some word

he words were written and his eyes ran sw

TY

sky, high ov

dth of a wo

sails like

reamer's ey

s are out-stre

hing eye

break that cr

r Moon ou

God on His gre

from the He

the hands th

lous Star

t it had an appealing quality-the heart-touching quality of the mezzo-soprano-while through the music ran the same unsatisfied

aying Maryon Roo

if he takes the one he wants the most-he loses all the rest. Fame and love and life-the great god Circumstance a

Nan felt as though a door had been shut in her face. This man

stand," she sa

red steadily. "He's seen 'the far Moon' with the Dreamer's eyes, and that's prob

h had knocked at her heart, when Penelope had assumed that there was a definite understanding between herself and Rooke, knocked ag

his shoulde

ways odious!" he f

ling nervously with the pages of an album

not loo

"I'm going away. I lea

s as the album suddenly pitched f

t he leaned towards her a

hoarsely, "Na

moment he had

the use of drawing a boundary

e was very low-"where

n he gestured a line with his han

he said

before she could make any a

no earthly right to grumble. . . . After all, I'm only one amongst your many friends." He reclaimed her

. He released himself very gen

arewell, S

ely by the clang of the iron grille as the lift-boy dragged it across. It seemed to her as though a curious note of finality sounded in the metal

lasping her hands tightly together. She sat there, v

ound her. She was startled by the

sharply. "Nan! Wh

fretfully from one

nswered dully. "

er face. Very deliberately she divested

he said practically.

Nan's face, and the painfully

miling a little. "

"-with an accent of reproof-"s

d her with a fain

t not-to have refuse

nswered wi

ly, and you ought to have choked him off months ago if you only m

to laugh h

're beginning to restore my self-respect. If you were mistaken in him,

nation in Penelope's honest brown eyes.

ry him. I've not refused him. He-he didn't give me the opportunity." Her voice shook a lit

"There's a mistake somewhere. I'm absolutely sure

consider his art. He can't hamper himself by marriage with an impecunious musician who isn't able to pull wires and

chair and came and s

again, Penny. What one

of the world which alw

p' has foundere