CHAPTER XX

THE MYSTIC MOON Softly the musicians played behind a bank of palms. Softly shone the mystic moon outside, brighter even than the lights of the ballroom, for they had been turned low, since it was not yet the hour to trip the light fantastic. The melody came only in haunting strains, a ripple from the piano as the player tried the keys in some snatch of a onestep, the half-sobbing voice of the violin in a haunting, dreamy waltz, the mellow trill of the flute, and the more military sound of the French horn. The music…