and if by chance
she is in a bad mood--well, she is charming still. Of course, if she
were plain--"

"Exactly! She reigns in a kingdom of chance, and by no merit of her
own. Doesn't that seem rather hard on the unfortunates who start with a
handicap--a restless, unsatisfied nature, for example--a nature which
longs for the affection and appreciation which it seems fated never to
receive; which suffers and struggles, and honestly sees no reason why
life should be harder for it than for another? Yet there it is--the
inequality, the handicap from the beginning. Jean has beauty and charm,
but even these don't weigh so heavily in the balance as happiness; the
aura of happiness and content which radiates from Miggles and her kind--
the Mark Tapleys of the world, who triumph over every sort of physical
and material difficulty. You smile! Are you thinking of some one you
know, some particular person who is included in this happy category?"

"Yes; of a man I met only the other day--a man over thirty, with eyes
like a child; clear, and unclouded, and happy. Yet he had known many
anxieties; in a worldly sense I suppose he would be counted a failure,
but, as you say, one _felt_ it, the aura of radiant happiness and
content."

"Lucky beggar! The world which counts him a failure would think me a
success, because I have plenty of money, and was born to a decent
position; but looking back over my life I can't remember one single
occasion when I have been really _content_. There has always seemed
something wanting, a final touch of completeness floating out of reach.
Yet I give you my word, if at this moment a wish would bring me anything
I chose, I should not know what to ask!"

Vanna looked at him searchingly, noting the lean cheeks, the hollow
brow, the deep lines around eyes and mouth.

"Isn't that partly physical, don't you think? You don't look strong.
The body affects the mind."

Her voice involuntarily took a softer tone, the feminine tribute to
weakness in any form; but Piers Rendall would not accept the excuse.

"On the contrary, it's my mind that affects my body. I'm strong enough.
My body was born free of microbes--the poison was in my mind. That
seems a hard theory, but it's true. Have you never noticed how one
child in a family seems to have inherited all the weaknesses and
failings, while the others get off scot free? He is plain, while they
are handsome; sullen, where they are genial; underhand, w