The Moon out of Reach

introduce

gathering of sympathetic souls, the majority of who

was chatting with Ralph Fenton, the well-known baritone, and a couple of members of Parliament. Each of them had cut a niche of his own in the world, f

is partly French blood was the explanation of his unusual colouring-black brows and lashes contrasting so oddly with the kinky fair hair which, despite the bar

be in the Fates' good books to-night. What v

suggested Nan, smiling. "Unless you can recall any partic

ner-Penelope appropriately paired off with Fenton, whom she had come to know fairly well in the course of her professional work. Although, a

im, on you, too?" remarked M

er. I let her take the

one, I imagine," h

that one day I shall do something which will make the burden too heavy to be

nd, to give you a hand with it

I've always had the idea that sometime or other I shall get myself into an awf

er voice. It was so pronounced that the sense

ust such disaster on the current of the thought. Be sure-quite, quite

t you mightn't know I was in

s know if you were in t

d laid no stress on the word "you," yet Nan was conscious in every nerve of her that there was an emphatic i

escue, even if I were struggling

eliberately, "whether you

charged with a curious

remarked

Charity Conce

e?" exclaimed

Abbencombe, you don't suppose I was going to

of your being the

ood in your veins, I can understand w

was

glish elem

sm

served then?"

e eyes smile

of a musician. He must

le. The man's perc

pursued. "We English aren't dra

ed Nan. "That hardly a

ways," he returned quickly. Adding, with a good-h

him out of sheer

y not?" sh

o please her. It's an example of the charming inconsistency of women. My mother loves the English; she chooses an

t in the inspirations of the chef. Yet she knew intuitively that he was alertly conscious of the quiet perfection of it all.

oing to play to

o-if Kitty

t of those to whom she gives the p

in his voice as he spoke of Kitty,

say 'no' to her. But I don't care for it

on of his. "The chosen few and the

now?" she ask

and the 'where' of things

luence you, too

dly. But I'm not a wom

at the mercy of

ant tenderness that preserved it from being critical in any hostile sense. Na

tand women," she com

so, though I haven't got the

own at her inte

r, to forget that you'v

d you of it

or the second time that evening the vivid personal

a reply. Mallory drew her chair aside and, as he handed her the cambric web of a handkerchie

o gossip and we men are condemned to the society of one another! I'm afraid even I'm

s and involves a picking up of the threads-not always successfully accomplished-when the men at last rejoin the feminine portion of the party. And what is

Kitty, "how do

n't know he was a l

never realise that the human Zoo bo

laug

ogetically, "so how could I kno

says will be the book of the year-Lindl

at was by G.

mate friends know it, though, as he detests

read this new b

s temperament I've ever come across. . . . Goodness k

oze a

f person?" she asked coldly. "He

east like that. He's a

eyes t

ed ground, Kitty. Marri

il, after a brief hum and stir, congenial spirits sought and found each other and settled down into little groups of twos and threes. Somewhat to Nan's surprise-and, although she would not h

g time, Miss Davenant. How's

e replied gaily. "More ha'penc

etty deep for the win

ertain aspects of a musician's life which repelled

nded indi

The ha'pence are due to an avuncular relative who h

unexpected windfall isn't going to keep

distaste for playing i

er write music

dislike the publicity? The fascin

s for the endless farewell concerts a d

o give vent to such an acid little speech. He could not know, of course, that Kitty's light-hearted remark concerning

mitted gently. "You pianists have a great advantage over the singer,

mpathies respo

ly. "What you say is dreadfully true. It's the saddest part of a singer's

miled do

on you, then, w

laug

ll cumbering the ground. And now, tell

our. Would you be goo

it. What are yo

d I proposed t

tty-to claim your

htfully together, while Nan's slight, musician's fingers thread

e song, the restrained, well-bred applause broke out, Peter Mallory's shar

the girl half rose from the music-seat. "

crossed the room so that, as he stood leaning with one elbow on the chimney-piece, he faced the player, on whose aureole of dusky hair one of the lights still bur

of warning, the first low muttering of impending woe. Gradually the simple melody began to lose itself in a chaos of calamity, bent and swayed by wailing minor cadences through whose torrent of hurrying sound it could be heard vainly and fitfully trying to

y a queer gift of intuition he had comprehended the whole inner meaning of what she had been playing. Most people would have thought that it was a magnificent bit of

hough an unwarrantable intrusion had been made upon her privacy, and her annoyance showed itself in the quick compressi

d. "And forgive me

his eyes-eyes that were irresistibly kind and f

uring not to smile-"in high dudgeon. It's always seeme

man's whimsical charm and sa

eside her. "I couldn't help it, you know," he s

you

ld hadn't bee

was already a breach in her privacy; for this one eveni

th averted head, "how-how

tinised her

ally wi

, re

hen he spoke slowly, as t

and you want the thing you can't have-want it rather

she said

p his mind to hit hard, as a surgeon might

wasn't

start. Recovering herself quic

know him-

I kno

ly our seco

sure-that you wouldn't give unasked. You're too proud

or although Maryon Rooke had never actually asked her to marry

son," she said at last, slowl

st tout pardonner,"

fe

eed pardon?

ly, "You're not the wom

ical, too cold-

sician?"-in

woman-so far, no. You're too introspective to surrender blindly. Artiste

no

slowly. "I belie

bable you'll fail to achieve the triumph of your womanhood." He paused, then added: "You're not one of th

answered reflective

the times-the primeval instinc

o her feet w

e vivisected one moment

ou ought to be

like-so long a

remembrance of the day when you took

aking no move to go, since Kitty had offered to send them home in her car "at

ling?" he asked with one of his odd lapses into a q

e shall be

with a slight b

e else had gone, the S

round the fire for a

ty's latest lion?" asked B

d Penelope warmly. "I liked hi

inary faculty for read

riously at a tiny g

trade, of course," replied Ba

one with a desire to have one's soul care

ope l

I think he's a d

nk I'm frightened of people who mak

an

opinion of the real 'you' underneath it all. Why, one might just as well have no preten

meets," interpolated Barry. "He was badly taken in once. His wife was o

r, then!" excl

his head r

's cupboard. Celia Mallory is very much alive and ha

was frantically jealous of it-wanted him to be dancing attendance on her all day long. And when his work interfered with the process, as of course it was bound to do, she made endless

as never come back

ast of a woman I know, and cares for nothing on earth except enjoyment. She's spoiled Peter's life fo

ger hash of his life than she can do when she's away. She was spoiling his work as well as hi

nd of course he's writi

indley's Wife i

y married came upon her as a shock. She felt stunned. Above all, she was conscious of a curious sense of loss, as though th

lope found Nan an unwontedly silent companion. She responded to Penny's remarks in

the engine, she could hear a

Peter's

that in her mind he was alre