fingers did not falter. Hester drew
a long breath.

"Oh, how quick you've learned 'em!" she exclaimed.

Her daughter hesitated a tempted moment.

"Well--I--I learned the notes in school," she finally acknowledged,
looking sidewise at her mother.

But even this admission did not lessen for Hester the halo of glory about
Penelope's head. She drew another long breath.

"But what else did Miss Gale say? Tell me everything--every single
thing," she reiterated hungrily.

That was not only Penelope's first lesson, but Hester's. The child,
flushed and important with her sudden promotion from pupil to teacher,
scrupulously repeated each point in the lesson, and the woman, humble and
earnestly attentive, listened with bated breath. Then, Penelope, still
airily consequential, practiced for almost an hour.

Monday, when the children were at school, Hester stole into the parlor
and timidly seated herself at the piano.

"I think--I am almost sure I could do it," she whispered, studying with
eager eyes the open book on the music rack. "I--I'm going to try,
anyhow!" she finished resolutely.

And Hester did try, not only then, but on Tuesday, Wednesday, and thus
until Saturday--that Saturday which brought with it a second lesson.

The weeks passed swiftly after that. Hester's tasks seemed lighter and
her burdens less grievous since there was now that ever-present
refuge--the piano. It was marvelous what a multitude of headaches and
heartaches five minutes of scales, even, could banish; and when actual
presence at the piano was impossible, there were yet memory and
anticipation left her.

For two of these weeks Penelope practiced her allotted hour with a
patience born of the novelty of the experience. The third week the
"hour" dwindled perceptibly, and the fourth week it was scarcely thirty
minutes long.

"Come, dearie, don't forget your practice," Hester sometimes cautioned
anxiously.

"Oh, dear me suz!" Penelope would sigh, and Hester would watch her with
puzzled eyes as she disconsolately pulled out the piano stool.

"Penelope," she threatened one day, "I shall certainly stop your
lessons--you don't half appreciate them." But she was shocked and
frightened at the relief that so quickly showed in her young daughter's
eyes. Hester never made that threat again, for if Penelope's lessons
stopped--

As the weeks lengthened into months, bits of harmony and snatches of
melody became more and more frequent in P