The Adventures of a Modest Man

by Robert W. Chambers

"And now?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"The moon," he said, unsteadily, "ought to be about—there!"

"Where?" She turned her eyes inquiringly skyward.

But his heart had him by the throat again, and he was past all speech.

"Well, monsieur?" She waited in sweetest patience. Presently: "Have you finished your astronomical calculations? And may I descend?" He tried to speak, but was so long about it that she said very kindly: "You are trying to locate the moon, are you not?"

"No, madame—only a shadow."

"A shadow, monsieur?"—laughing.

"A shadow—a silhouette."

"Of what?"