"
She turned her eyes to his, quickly, as if grieved. And in his eyes she
saw the shadow of hopelessness which was there to see, and could not be
hidden from a clear gaze.
"I'm sorry," she said simply. "I don't know how I could have lived
without mine. I walk in its light, as if in a path. But yours must be
somewhere in the sky, and you can find it if you want to very much."
He could have found two in her eyes just then, but such stars were not
for him. "Perhaps I don't deserve a star," he said.
"I'm sure you do. You are the kind that does," the girl comforted him.
"Do have a star!"
"It would only make me unhappy, because I mightn't be able to walk in
its light, as you do."
"It would make you very happy, as mine does me. I'm always happy,
because the light helps me to do things. It helped me to dance: it
helped me to succeed."
"Tell me about your dancing," said Stephen, vaguely anxious to change
the subject, and escape from thoughts of Margot, the only star of his
future. "I should like to hear how you began, if you don't mind."
"That's kind of you," replied Victoria, gratefully.
He laughed. "Kind!"
"Why, it's nothing of a story. Luckily, I'd always danced. So when I was
fourteen, and began to think I should never have any money of my own
after all, I saw that dancing would be my best way of earning it, as
that was the one thing I could do very well. Afterwards I worked in real
earnest--always up in the attic, where I used to study the Arabic
language too; study it very hard.
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