hoped that her heart was not becoming hardened.

Could he have seen her ascending the stairs at that moment with the tears
running down her face, he might have realized that that fear at least was
groundless.



CHAPTER IX

THE TICKET OF LEAVE


Seated at the schoolroom piano, Piers was thoroughly in his element. He
had a marvellous gift for making music, and his audience listened
spell-bound. His own love for it amounted to a passion, inherited, so it
was said, from his Italian grandmother. He threw his whole soul into the
instrument under his hands, and played as one inspired.

Jeanie, from her sofa, drank in the music with shining eyes. She had
never heard anything to compare with it before, and it stirred her to
the depths.

It stirred Avery also, but in a different way. The personality of the
player forced itself upon her with a curious insistence, and she had an
odd feeling that he did it by deliberate intention. Every chord he struck
seemed to speak to her directly, compelling her attention, dominating her
will. He was playing to her alone, and, though she chose to ignore the
fact, she was none the less aware of it. By his music he enthralled her,
making her see the things he saw, making her feel the fiery unrest that