CHAPTER XXVI.
"THE WIDTH OF A WORLD BETWEEN" Nan gave a final touch to Penelope's hair, drawing the gold fillet which bound it a little lower down on to the broad brow, then stood back and regarded the effect with critical eyes.
"That'll do," she declared.

"You look a duck, Penelope! I hope you'll get a splendid reception.

You will if you smile at the audience as prettily as you're smiling now! Won't she, Ralph ?" "I hope so," answered Fenton seriously.

"It would be a waste of a perfectly good smile if she doesn't." And amid laughter and good wishes the Fentons departed for the concert, Peter Mallory accompanying them downstairs to speed them on their way.
Meanwhile Nan, left alone for the moment, became suddenly conscious of an overpowering nervousness at the prospect of spending the evening alone with Peter.

There was so much--so much that lay behind them that they must either restrict their conversation to the merest trivialities, avoiding all reference to the past, or find themselves plunged into dangerous depths.