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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13497-0.txt b/13497-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcca590 --- /dev/null +++ b/13497-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18030 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13497 *** + +GREATHEART + +by + +ETHEL M. DELL + +Author of the Hundredth Chance, The Lamp in the Desert, +The Swindler, etc. + +1918 + + + + + + + +"NOW MR. GREATHEART WAS A STRONG MAN." +--_The Pilgrims Progress_. + + + +I Dedicate This Book to A. G. C. + +Friend of My Heart and to the Memory of All the Happy Days We have Spent +Together. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + + I. The Wanderer + II. The Looker-On + III. The Search + IV. The Magician + V. Apollo + VI. Cinderella + VII. The Broken Spell + VIII. Mr. Greatheart + IX. The Runaway Colt. + X. The House of Bondage + XI. Olympus + XII. The Wine of the Gods + XIII. Friendship in the Desert + XIV. The Purple Empress + XV. The Mountain Crest + XVI. The Second Draught + XVII. The Unknown Force + XVIII. The Escape of the Prisoner + XIX. The Cup of Bitterness + XX. The Vision of Greatheart + XXI. The Return + XXII. The Valley of the Shadow + XXIII. The Way Back + XXIV. The Lights of a City + XXV. The True Gold + XXVI. The Call of Apollo + XXVII. The Golden Maze + XXVIII. The Lesson + XXIX. The Captive + XXX. The Second Summons + + +PART II + + I. Cinderella's Prince + II. Wedding Arrangements + III. Despair + IV. The New Home + V. The Watcher + VI. The Wrong Road + VII. Doubting Castle + VIII. THE VICTORY + IX. THE BURDEN + X. THE HOURS OF DARKNESS + XI. THE NET + XII. THE DIVINE SPARK + XIII. THE BROKEN HEART + XIV. THE WRATH OF THE GODS + XV. THE SAPPHIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP + XVI. THE OPEN DOOR + XVII. THE LION IN THE PATH + XVIII. THE TRUTH + XIX. THE FURNACE + XX. THE COMING OF GREATHEART + XXI. THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION + XXII. SPOKEN IN JEST + XXIII. THE KNIGHT IN DISGUISE + XXIV. THE MOUNTAIN SIDE + XXV. THE TRUSTY FRIEND + XXVI. THE LAST SUMMONS + XXVII. THE MOUNTAIN-TOP + XXVIII. CONSOLATION + XXIX. THE SEVENTH HEAVEN + + + + +PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WANDERER. + + +Biddy Maloney stood at the window of her mistress's bedroom, and surveyed +the world with eyes of stern disapproval. There was nothing of the smart +lady's maid about Biddy. She abominated smart lady's maids. A flyaway +French cap and an apron barely reaching to the knees were to her the very +essence of flighty impropriety. There was just such a creature in +attendance upon Lady Grace de Vigne who occupied the best suite of rooms +in the hotel, and Biddy very strongly resented her existence. In her own +mind she despised her as a shameless hussy wholly devoid of all ideas of +"dacency." Her resentment was partly due to the fact that the indecent +one belonged to the party in possession of the best suite, which they had +occupied some three weeks before Biddy and her party had appeared on the +scene. + +It was all Master Scott's fault, of course. He ought to have written to +engage rooms sooner, but then to be sure the decision to migrate to this +winter paradise in the Alps had been a sudden one. That had been Sir +Eustace's fault. He was always so sudden in his ways. + +Biddy sighed impatiently. Sir Eustace had always been hard to manage. She +had never really conquered him even in the days when she had made him +stand in the corner and go without sugar in his tea. She well remembered +the shocking occasion on which he had flung sugar and basin together into +the fire so that the others might be made to share his enforced +abstinence. She believed he was equal to committing a similar act of +violence if baulked even now. But he never was baulked. At thirty-five he +reigned supreme in his own world. No one ever crossed him, unless it were +Master Scott, and of course no one could be seriously angry with him, +poor dear young man! He was so gentle and kind. A faint, maternal smile +relaxed Biddy's grim lips. She became aware that the white world below +was a-flood with sunshine. + +The snowy mountains that rose against the vivid blue were dream-like in +their beauty. Where the sun shone upon them, their purity was almost too +dazzling to behold. It was a relief to rest the eyes upon the great +patches of pine-woods that clothed some of the slopes. + +"I wonder if Miss Isabel will be happy here," mused Biddy. + +That to her mind was the only thing on earth that really mattered, +practically the only thing for which she ever troubled her Maker. Her own +wants were all amalgamated in this one great desire of her heart--that +her darling's poor torn spirit should be made happy. She had wholly +ceased to remember that she had ever wanted anything else. It was for +Miss Isabel that she desired the best rooms, the best carriages, +the best of everything. Even her love for Master Scott--poor dear young +man!--depended largely upon the faculty he possessed for consoling and +interesting Miss Isabel. Anyone who did that earned Biddy's undying +respect and gratitude. Of the rest of the world--save for a passing +disapproval--she was scarcely aware. Nothing else mattered in the same +way. In fact nothing else really mattered at all. + +Ah! A movement from the bed at last! Her quick ears, ever on the alert, +warned her on the instant. She turned from the window with such +mother-love shining in her old brown face under its severe white cap as +made it as beautiful in its way as the paradise without. + +"Why, Miss Isabel darlint, how you've slept then!" she said, in the soft, +crooning voice which was kept for this one beloved being alone. + +Two white arms were stretched wide outside the bed. Two dark eyes, +mysteriously shadowed and sunken, looked up to hers. + +"Has he gone already, Biddy?" a low voice asked. + +"Only a little way, darlint. He's just round the corner," said Biddy +tenderly. "Will ye wait a minute while I give ye your tay?" + +There was a spirit-kettle singing merrily in the room. She busied herself +about it, her withered face intent over the task. + +The white arms fell upon the blue travelling-rug that Biddy had spread +with loving care outside the bed the night before to add to her +mistress's comfort. "When did he go, Biddy?" the low voice asked, and +there was a furtive quality in the question as if it were designed for +none but Biddy's ears. "Did he--did he leave no message?" + +"Ah, to be sure!" said Biddy, turning her face for a moment. "And the +likes of me to have forgotten it! He sent ye his best love, darlint, and +ye were to eat a fine breakfast before ye went out." + +The sad eyes smiled at her from the bed, half-gratified, +half-incredulous, like the eyes of a lonely child who listens to a +fairy-tale. "It was like him to think of that, Biddy. But--I wish he had +stayed a little longer. I must get up and go and find him." + +"Hasn't he been with ye through the night?" asked Biddy, bent again to +her task. + +"Nearly all night long!" The answer came on a note of triumph, yet there +was also a note of challenge in it also. + +"Then what more would ye have?" said Biddy wisely. "Leave him alone for a +bit, darlint! Husbands are better without their wives sometimes." + +A low laugh came from the bed. "Oh, Biddy, I must tell him that! He would +love your _bon-mots_. Did he--did he say when he would be back?" + +"That he did not," said Biddy, still absorbed over the kettle. "But +there's nothing in that at all. Ye can't be always expecting a man to +give account of himself. Now, mavourneen, I'll give ye your tay, and +ye'll be able to get up when ye feel like it. Ah! There's Master Scott! +And would ye like him to come in and have a cup with ye?" + +Three soft knocks had sounded on the door. The woman in the bed raised +herself, and her hair fell in glory around her, hair that at twenty-five +had been raven-black, hair that at thirty-two was white as the snow +outside the window. + +"Is that you, Stumpy dear? Come in! Come in!" she called. + +Her voice was hollow and deep. She turned her face to the door--a +beautiful, wasted face with hungry eyes that watched and waited +perpetually. + +The door opened very quietly and unobtrusively, and a small, +insignificant man came in. He was about the size of the average schoolboy +of fifteen, and he walked with a slight limp, one leg being a trifle +shorter than the other. Notwithstanding this defect, his general +appearance was one of extreme neatness, from his colourless but carefully +trained moustache and small trim beard to his well-shod feet. His +clothes---like his beard--fitted him perfectly. + +His close-cropped hair was also colourless and grew somewhat far back on +his forehead. His pale grey eyes had a tired expression, as if they had +looked too long or too earnestly upon the turmoil of life. + +He came to the bedside and took the thin white hand outstretched to him +on which a wedding ring hung loose. He walked without awkwardness; there +was even dignity in his carriage. + +He bent to kiss the uplifted face. "Have you slept well, dear?" + +Her arms reached up and clasped his neck. "Oh, Stumpy, yes! I have had a +lovely night. Basil has been with me. He has gone out now; but I am going +to look for him presently." + +"Many happy returns of the day to ye, Master Scott!" put in Biddy rather +pointedly. + +"Ah yes. It is your birthday. I had forgotten. Forgive me, Stumpy +darling! You know I wish you always the very, very best." The clinging +arms held him more closely, + +"Thank you, Isabel." Scott's voice was as tired as his eyes, and yet it +had a certain quality of strength. "Of course it's a very important +occasion. How are we going to celebrate it?" + +"I have a present for you somewhere. Biddy, where is it?" Isabel's voice +had a note of impatience in it. + +"It's here, darlint! It's here!" Biddy bustled up to the bed with a +parcel. + +Isabel took it from her and turned to Scott. "It's only a silly old +cigarette-case, dear, but I thought of it all myself. How old are you +now, Stumpy?" + +"I am thirty," he answered, smiling. "Thank you very much, dear. It's +just the thing I wanted--only too good!" + +"As if anything could be too good for you!" his sister said tenderly. +"Has Eustace remembered?" + +"Oh yes. Eustace has given me a saddle, but as he didn't think I should +want it here, it is to be presented when we get home again." He sat down +on the side of the bed, still inspecting the birthday offering. + +"Haven't you had anything from anyone else?" Isabel asked, after a +moment. + +He shook his head. "Who else is there to bother about a minnow like me?" + +"You're not a minnow, Scott. And didn't--didn't Basil give you anything?" + +Scott's tired eyes looked at her with a sudden fixity. He said nothing; +but a piteous look came into Isabel's face under his steady gaze, and she +dropped her own as if ashamed. + +"Whisht, Master Scott darlint, for the Lord's sake, don't ye go upsetting +her!" warned Biddy in a sibilant whisper. "I had trouble enough last +night. If it hadn't been for the draught, she wouldn't have slept at all, +at all." + +Scott did not look at her. "You should have called me," he said, and +leaning forward took his sister's hand. "Isabel, wouldn't you like to +come out and see the skaters? There is some wonderful luging going on +too." + +She did not raise her eyes; her whole demeanour had changed. She seemed +to droop as if all animation had gone; "I don't know," she said +listlessly. "I think I would almost as soon stay here." + +"Have your tay, darlint!" coaxed Biddy, on her other side. + +"Eustace will be coming to look for you if you don't," said Scott. + +She started at that, and gave a quick shiver. "Oh no, I don't want +Eustace! Don't let him come here, Stumpy, will you?" + +"Shall I go and tell him you are coming then?" asked Scott, his eyes +still steadily watching her. + +She nodded. "Yes, yes. But I don't want to be made. Basil never made me +do things." + +Scott rose. "I will wait for you downstairs. Thank you, Biddy. Yes, I'll +drink that first. No tea in the world ever tastes like your brew." + +"Get along with your blarney, Master Scott!" protested Biddy. "And you +and Sir Eustace mustn't tire Miss Isabel out. Remember, she's just come a +long journey, and it's not wonderful at all that she don't feel like +exerting herself." + +A red fire of resentment smouldered in the old woman's eyes, but Scott +paid no attention to it. "You'd better get some sleep yourself, Biddy, if +you can," he said. "No more, thanks. You will be out in an hour then, +Isabel?" + +"Perhaps," she said. + +He paused, standing beside her. "If you are not out in an hour I shall +come and fetch you," he said. + +She put forth an appealing hand like a child. "I will come out, Stumpy. I +will come out," she said tremulously. + +He pressed the hand for a moment. "In an hour then, I want to show you +everything. There is plenty to be seen." + +He turned to the door, looked back with a parting smile, and went out. + +Isabel did not see the smile. She was staring moodily downwards with eyes +that only looked within. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LOOKER-ON + + +Down on the skating-rink below the hotel, a crowd of people were making +merry. The ice was in splendid condition. It sparkled in the sun like a +sheet of frosted glass, and over it the skaters glided with much mirth +and laughter. + +Scott stood on the road above and watched them. There were a good many +accomplished performers among them, and there were also several +beginners. But all seemed alike infected with the gaiety of the place. +There was not one face that did not wear a smile. + +It was an invigorating scene. From a slope of the white mountain-side +beyond the rink the shouts and laughter of higers came through the +crystal air. A string of luges was shooting down the run, and even as +Scott caught sight of it the foremost came to grief, and a dozen people +rolled ignominiously in the snow. He smiled involuntarily. He seemed to +have stepped into an atmosphere of irresponsible youth. The air was full +of the magic fluid. It stirred his pulses like a draught of champagne. + +Then his eyes returned to the rink, and almost immediately singled out +the best skater there. A man in a white sweater, dark, handsome, +magnificently made, supremely sure of himself, darted with the swift +grace of a swallow through the throng. His absolute confidence and +splendid physique made him conspicuous. He executed elaborate figures +with such perfect ease and certainty of movement that many turned to look +at him in astonished admiration. + +"Great Scott!" said a cracked voice at Scott's shoulder. + +He turned sharply, and met the frank regard of a rosy-faced schoolboy a +little shorter than himself. + +"Look at that bloomin' swell!" said the new-comer in tones of deep +disgust. "He seems to have sprouted in the night. I've no use for these +star skaters myself. They're all so beastly sidey." + +He addressed Scott as an equal, and as an equal Scott made reply. "P'raps +when you're a star skater yourself, you'll change your mind about 'em." + +The boy grinned. "Ah! P'raps! You're a new chum, aren't you?" + +"Very new," said Scott. + +"Can you skate?" asked the lad. "But of course you can. I suppose you're +another dark horse. It's too bad, you know; just as Dinah and I are +beginning to fancy ourselves at it. We began right at the beginning too." + +"Consider yourself lucky!" said Scott rather briefly. + +"What do you mean?" The boy's eyes flashed over him intelligently, green +eyes humorously alert. + +Scott glanced downwards. "I mean my legs are not a pair, so I can't even +begin." + +"Oh, bad luck, sir!" The equality vanished from the boy's voice. He +became suddenly almost deferential, and Scott realized that he was no +longer regarded as a comrade. "Still"--he hesitated--"you can luge, I +suppose?" + +"I don't quite see myself," said Scott, looking across once more to the +merry group on the distant run. + +"Any idiot can do that," the boy protested, then turned suddenly a deep +red. "Oh, lor, I didn't mean that! Hi, Dinah!" He turned to cover his +embarrassment and sent a deafening yell at the sun-bathed _façade_ of the +hotel. "Are you never coming, you cuckoo? Half the morning's gone +already!" + +"Coming, Billy!" at once a clear gay voice made answer, and the merriest +face that Scott had ever seen made a sudden appearance at an open window. +"Darling Billy, do keep your hair on for just two minutes longer! Yvonne +has been trying on my fancy dress, but she's nearly done." + +The neck and shoulders below the laughing face were bare and a bare arm +waved in a propitiatory fashion ere it vanished. + +"Looks as if the fancy dress is a minus quantity," observed Billy to his +companion with a grin. "I didn't see any of it, did you?" + +Scott tried not to laugh. "Your sister?" he asked. + +Billy nodded affirmation. "She ain't a bad urchin," he observed, "as +sisters go. We're staying here along with the de Vignes. Ever met 'em? +Lady Grace is a holy terror. Her husband is a horrible stuck-up bore of +an Anglo-Indian,--thinks himself everybody, and tells the most awful +howlers. Rose--that's the daughter--is by way of being very beautiful. +There she goes now; see? That golden-haired girl in red! She's another of +your beastly star skaters. I'll bet she'll have that big bounder cutting +capers with her before the day's out." + +"Think so?" said Scott. + +Billy nodded again. "I suppose he's a prince at least. My word, doesn't +he fancy himself? Look at that now? Side--sheer side!" + +The skater under discussion had just executed a most intricate figure not +far from them. Having accomplished it with that unerring and somewhat +blatant confidence that so revolted Billy's schoolboy soul, he +straightened his tall figure, and darted in a straight line for the end +of the rink above which they stood. His hands were in his pockets. His +bearing was superb. He described a complete circle below them before he +brought himself to a stand. Then he lifted his dark arrogant face. He +wore a short clipped moustache which by no means hid the strength of a +well-modelled though slightly sneering mouth. His eyes were somewhat +deeply set, and shone extraordinarily blue under straight black brows +that met. The man's whole expression was one of dominant self-assertion. +He bore himself like a king. + +"Well, Stumpy," he said, "where's Isabel?" + +Scott's companion jumped, and beat a swift retreat. Scott smiled a little +as he made reply. + +"I have been up to see her. She will be out presently. Biddy had to give +her a sleeping-draught last night." + +"Damn!" said the other in a fierce undertone. "Did she call you first?" + +"No." + +"Then why the devil didn't she? I shall sack that woman. Isabel hasn't a +chance to get well with a mischievous old hag like that always with her." + +"I think Isabel would probably die without her," Stumpy responded in his +quiet voice which presented a vivid contrast to his brother's stormy +utterance. "And Biddy would probably die too--if she consented to go, +which I doubt." + +"Oh, damn Biddy! The sooner she dies the better. She's nothing but a +perpetual nuisance. What is Isabel like this morning?" + +Scott hesitated, and his brother frowned. + +"That's enough. What else could any one expect? Look here, Scott! This +thing has got to end. I shall take that sleeping-stuff away." + +"If you can get hold of it," put in Scott drily. + +"You must get hold of it. You have ample opportunity. It's all very well +to preach patience, but she has been taking slow poison for seven years. +I am certain of it. It's ridiculous! It's monstrous! It's got to end." He +spoke with impatient finality, his blue eyes challenging remonstrance. + +Scott made none. Only after a moment he said, "If you take away one prop, +old chap, you must provide another. A broken thing can't stand alone. But +need we discuss it now? As I told you, she is coming out presently, and +this glorious air is bound to make a difference to her. It tastes like +wine." + +It was at this point that the golden-haired girl in red suddenly glided +up and sat down on the bank a few yards away to adjust a skate. + +Sir Eustace turned his head, and a sparkle came into his eyes. He watched +her for a moment, then left his brother without further words. + +"Can I do that for you?" he asked. + +She lifted a flushed face. "Oh, how kind of you! But I have just managed +it. How lovely the ice is this morning!" + +She rose with the words, balancing herself with a grace as finished as +his own, and threw him a dazzling smile of gratitude. Scott, from his +post of observation on the bank, decided that she certainly was +beautiful. Her face was almost faultless. And yet it seemed to him that +there was infinitely more of witchery in the face that had laughed from +the window a few minutes before. Almost unconsciously he was waiting to +see the owner of that face emerge. + +He watched the inevitable exchange of commonplaces between his brother +and the beautiful Miss de Vigne whose graciousness plainly indicated her +willingness for a nearer acquaintance, and presently he saw them move +away side by side. + +"What did I tell you?" said Billy's voice at his shoulder. "But you might +have said that chap belonged to you. How was I to know?" + +"Oh, quite so," said Scott. "Pray don't apologize! He doesn't belong to +me either. It is I who belong to him." + +Billy's green eyes twinkled appreciatively. "You're his brother, aren't +you?" + +Scott looked at him. "Now how on earth did you know that?" + +He looked back with his frank, engaging grin. "Oh, there's the same hang +about you. I can't tell you what it is. Dinah would know directly. You'd +better ask her." + +"I don't happen to have the pleasure of your sister's acquaintance," +observed Scott, with his quiet smile. + +"Oh, I'll soon introduce you if that's what you want," said Billy. "Come +along! There she is now, just crossing the road. By the way, I don't +think you told me your name." + +"My name is Studley--Scott Studley, Stumpy to my friends," said Scott, in +his whimsical, rather weary fashion. + +Billy laughed. "You're a sport," he said. "When I know you a bit better, +I shall remember that. Hi, Dinah! What a deuce of a time you've been. +This is Mr. Studley, and he saw you at the window without anything on." + +"I'm sure he didn't! Billy, how dare you?" Dinah's brown face burned an +indignant red; she looked at Scott with instant hostility. + +"Oh, please!" he protested mildly. "That's not quite fair on me." + +"Serves you right," declared Billy with malicious delight. "You played me +a shabby trick, you know." + +Dinah's brow cleared. She smiled upon Scott. "Isn't he a horrid little +pig? How do you do? Isn't it a ripping day? It makes you want to climb, +doesn't it? I wish I'd got an alpenstock." + +"Can't you get one anywhere?" asked Scott. "I thought they were always to +be had." + +"Yes, but they cost money," sighed Dinah. "And I haven't got any. It +doesn't really matter though. There are lots of other things to do. Are +you keen on luging? I am." + +Her bright eyes smiled into his with the utmost friendliness, and he knew +that she would not commit Billy's mistake and ask him if he skated. + +Her smile was infectious. The charm of it lingered after it had passed. +Her eyes were green like Billy's, only softer. They had a great deal of +sweetness in them, and a spice--just a spice of devilry as well. The rest +of the face would have been quite unremarkable, but the laughter-loving +mouth and pointed chin wholly redeemed it from the commonplace. She was a +little brown thing like a woodland creature, and her dainty air and quick +ways put Scott irresistibly in mind of a pert robin. + +In reply to her question he told her that he had arrived only the night +before. "And I am quite a tyro," he added. "I have been watching the +luging on that slope, and thanking all the stars that control my destiny +that I wasn't there." + +She laughed, showing a row of small white teeth. "Oh, you'd love it once +you started. It's a heavenly sport if the run isn't bumpy. Isn't this a +glorious atmosphere? It makes one feel so happy." + +She came and stood by his side to watch the skaters. Billy was seated on +the bank, impatiently changing his boots. + +"I'm not going to wait for you any longer, Dinah," he said. "I'm fed up." + +"Don't then!" she retorted. "I never asked you to." + +"What a lie!" said Billy, with all a brother's gallantry. + +She threw him a sister's look of scorn and deigned no rejoinder. But in a +moment the incident was forgotten. "Oh, look there!" she suddenly +exclaimed. "Isn't that just like Rose de Vigne? She's always sure to +appropriate the most handsome man within sight. I've been watching that +man from my window. He is a perfect Apollo, and skates divinely. And now +she's got him!" + +Deep disgust was audible in her voice. Billy looked up with a sideways +grin. "You don't suppose he'd look at a sparrow like you, do you?" he +said. "He prefers a swan, you bet." + +"Be quiet, Billy!" commanded Dinah, making an ineffectual dig at him with +her foot. "I don't want him to look at me. I hate men. But it is too bad +the way Rose always chooses the best. It's just the same with everything. +And I long--oh, I do long sometimes--to cut her out!" + +"I should myself," said Scott unexpectedly. "But why don't you. I'm sure +you could." + +She threw him a whimsical smile. "I!" she said. "Why that's about as +likely as--" she stopped short in some confusion. + +He laughed a little. "You mean I might as soon hope to cut out Apollo? +But the cases are not parallel, I assure you. Besides, Apollo happens to +be my brother, which makes a difference." + +"Oh, is he your brother? What a good thing you told me!" laughed Dinah. +"I might have said something rude about him in a minute." + +"Like me!" said Billy, stumbling to his feet. "I made a most horrific +blunder, didn't I, Mr. Studley? I called him a bounder!" + +Dinah looked at him witheringly. "You would!" she said. "Well, I hope you +apologized." + +Billy stuck out his tongue at her. "I didn't then!" he returned, and +skated elegantly away on one leg. + +"Billy," remarked Dinah dispassionately, "is not really such a horrid +little beast as he seems." + +Scott smiled his courteous smile. "I had already gathered that," he said. + +Her green eyes darted him a swift look, as if to ascertain if he were in +earnest. Then: "That was very nice of you," she said. "I wonder how you +knew." + +He still smiled, but without much mirth. "A looker-on sees a good many +things, you know," he said. + +Dinah's eyes flashed understanding. She said no more. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE SEARCH + + +When Isabel came slowly forth at length from the hotel door whither Biddy +had conducted her, Scott was sitting alone on a bench in the sunshine. + +He rose at once to join her. "Why, how quick you have been! Or else the +time flies here. Eustace is still skating. I had no idea he was so +accomplished. See, there he is!" + +But Isabel set her haggard face towards the mountain-road that wound up +beyond the hotel. "I am going to look for Basil," she said. + +"It is waste of time," said Scott quietly. + +But he did not attempt to withstand her. They turned side by side up the +hard, snowy track. + +For some time they walked in silence. At a short distance from the hotel, +the road ascended steeply through a pine-wood, dark and mysterious as an +enchanted forest, through which there rose the sound of a rushing stream. + +Scott paused to listen, but instantly his sister laid an imperious hand +upon him. + +"I can't wait," she said. "I am sure he is just round the corner. I heard +him whistle." + +He moved on in response to her insistence. "I heard that whistle too," he +said. "But it was a mountain-boy." + +He was right. At a curve in the road, they met a young Swiss lad who went +by them with a smile and salute, and fell to whistling again when he had +passed. + +Isabel pressed on in silence. She had started in feverish haste, but her +speed was gradually slackening. She looked neither to right nor left; her +eyes perpetually strained forward as though they sought for something +just beyond their range of vision. For a while Scott limped beside her +without speaking, but at last as they sighted the end of the pine-wood he +gently broke the silence. + +"Isabel dear, I think we must turn back very soon." + +"Oh, why?" she said. "Why? You always say that when--" There came a break +in her voice, and she ceased to speak. + +Her pace quickened so that he had some difficulty in keeping up with her, +but he made no protest. With the utmost patience he also pressed on. + +But it was not long before her strength began to fail. She stumbled once +or twice, and he put a supporting hand under her elbow. As they neared +the edge of the pines it became evident that the road dwindled to a mere +mountain-path winding steeply upwards through the snow. The sun shone +dazzlingly upon the great waste of whiteness. + +Very suddenly Isabel stopped. "He can't have gone this way after all," +she said, and turned to her brother with eyes of tragic hopelessness. +"Stumpy, Stumpy, what shall I do?" + +He drew her hand very gently through his arm. "We will go back, dear," he +said. + +A low sob escaped her, but she did not weep. "If I only had the strength +to go on and on and on!" she said. "I know I should find him some day +then." + +"You will find him some day," he answered with grave assurance. "But not +yet." + +They went back to the turn in the road where the sound of the stream rose +like fairy music from an unseen glen. The snow lay pure and untrodden +under the trees. + +Scott paused again, and this time Isabel made no remonstrance. They stood +together listening to the rush of the torrent. + +"How beautiful this place must be in springtime!" he said. + +She gave a sharp shiver. "It is like a dead world now." + +"A world that will very soon rise again," he answered. + +She looked at him with vague eyes. "You are always talking of the +resurrection," she said. + +"When I am with you, I am often thinking of it," he said with simplicity. + +A haunted look came into her face. "But that implies--death," she said, +her voice very low. + +"And what is Death?" said Scott gently, as if he reasoned with a child. +"Do you think it is more than a step further into Life? The passing of a +boundary, that is all." + +"But there is no returning!" she protested piteously. "It must be more +than that." + +"My dear, there is never any returning," he said gravely. "None of us can +go backwards. Yesterday is but a step away, but can we retrace that step? +No, not one of us." + +She made a sudden, almost fierce gesture. "Oh, to go back!" she cried. +"Oh, to go back! Why should we be forced blindly forward when we only +want to go back?" + +"That is the universal law," said Scott. "That is God's Will." + +"It is cruel! It is cruel!" she wailed. + +"No, it is merciful. So long as there is Death in the world we must go +on. We have got to get past Death." + +She turned her tragic eyes upon him. "And what then? What then?" + +Scott was gazing steadfastly into her face of ravaged beauty. "Then--the +resurrection," he said. "There are millions of people in the world, +Isabel, who are living out their lives solely for the sake of that, +because they know that if they only keep on, the Resurrection will give +back to them all that they have lost. My dear, it is not going back that +could help anyone. The past is past, the present is passing; there is +only the future that can restore all things. We are bound to go forward, +and thank God for it!" + +Her eyes fell slowly before his. She did not speak, but after a moment +gave him her hand with a shadowy smile. They continued the descent side +by side. + +Another curve of the road brought them within sight of the hotel. + +Scott broke the silence. "Here is Eustace coming to meet us!" + +She looked up with a start, and into her face came a curious, veiled +expression, half furtive, half afraid. + +"Don't tell him, Stumpy!" she said quickly. + +"What, dear?" + +"Don't tell him I have been looking for Basil this morning. He--he +wouldn't understand. And--and--you know--I must look for him sometimes. I +shall lose him altogether if I don't." + +"Shall we pretend we are enjoying ourselves?" said Scott with a smile. + +She answered him with feverish earnestness. "Yes--yes! Let us do that! +And, Stumpy, Stumpy dear, you are good, you can pray. I can't, you know. +Will you--will you pray sometimes--that I may find him?" + +"I shall pray that your eyes may be opened, Isabel," he answered, "so +that you may know you have never really lost him." + +She smiled again, her fleeting, phantom smile. "Don't pray for the +impossible, Stumpy!" she said. "I--I think that would be a mistake." + +"Is anything impossible?" said Scott. + +He raised his hand before she could make any answer, and sent a cheery +holloa down to his brother who waved a swift response. They quickened +their steps to meet him. + +Eustace was striding up the hill with the easy swing of a giant. He held +out both hands to Isabel as he drew near. She pulled herself free from +Scott, and went to him as one drawn by an unseen force. + +"Ah, that's right," he said, and bent to kiss her. "I'm glad you've been +for a walk. But you might have come and spoken to me first. I was only on +the rink." + +"I didn't want to see a lot of people," said Isabel, shrinking a little. +"I--I don't like so many strangers, Eustace." + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said lightly. "You have been buried too long. It's +time you came out of your shell. I shan't take you home again till you +have quite got over that." + +His tone was kindly but it held authority. Isabel attempted no protest. +Only she looked away over the sparkling world of white and blue with +something near akin to despair in her eyes. + +Scott took out his cigarette-case, and handed it to his brother. +"Isabel's birthday present to me!" he said. + +Eustace examined it with a smile. "Very nice! Did you think of it all by +yourself, Isabel?" + +"No," she said with dreary listlessness. "Biddy reminded me." + +Eustace's face changed. He frowned slightly and gave the case back to his +brother. + +"Have a cigarette!" said Scott. + +He took one absently, and Scott did the same. + +"How did you get on with the lady in red?" he asked. + +Eustace threw him a glance half-humorous, half-malicious. "If it comes to +that, how did you get on with the little brown girl?" + +"Oh, very nicely," smiled Scott. "Her name is Dinah. Your lady's name is +Rose de Vigne, if you care to know." + +"Really?" said Eustace. "And who told you that?" + +"Dinah, of course, or Dinah's brother. I forget which. They belong to the +same party." + +"I should think that little snub-nosed person feels somewhat in the +shade," observed Eustace. + +"I expect she does. But she has plenty of wits to make up for it. She +seems to find life quite an interesting entertainment." + +"She can't skate a bit," said Eustace. + +"Can't she? You'll have to give her a hint or two. I am sure she would be +very grateful." + +"Did she tell you so?" + +"I'm not going to tell you what she told me. It wouldn't be fair." + +Eustace laughed with easy tolerance. "Oh, I've no objection to giving her +a hand now and then if she's amusing, and doesn't become a nuisance. I'm +not going to let myself be bored by anybody this trip. I'm out for sport +only." + +"It's a lovely place," observed Scott. + +"Oh, perfect. I'm going to ski this afternoon. How do you like it, +Isabel?" + +Abruptly the elder brother accosted her. She was walking between them as +one in a dream. She started at the sound of her name. + +"I don't know yet," she said. "It is rather cold, isn't it? I--I am not +sure that I shall be able to sleep here." + +Eustace's eyes held hers for a moment. "Oh, no one expects to sleep +here," he said lightly. "You skate all day and dance all night. That's +the programme." + +Her lips parted a little. "I--dance!" she said. + +"Why not?" said Eustace. + +She made a gesture that was almost expressive of horror. "When I dance," +she said, in her deep voice, "you may put me under lock and key for good +and all, for I shall be mad indeed." + +"Don't be silly!" he said sharply. + +She shrank as if at a blow, and on the instant very quietly Scott +intervened. "Isabel and I prefer to look on," he said, drawing her hand +gently through his arm. "I fancy it suits us both best." + +His eyes met his brother's quick frown deliberately, with the utmost +steadiness, and for a few electric seconds there was undoubted tension +between them. Isabel was aware of it, and gripped the supporting arm very +closely. + +Then with a shrug Eustace turned from the contest. "Oh, go your own way! +It's all one to me. You're one of the slow coaches that never get +anywhere." + +Scott said nothing whatever. He smoked his cigarette without a sign of +perturbation. Save for a certain steeliness in his pale eyes, his +habitually placid expression remained unaltered. + +He walked in silence for a few moments, then without effort began to talk +in a general strain of their journey of the previous day. Had Isabel +cared about the sleigh-ride? If so, they would go again one day. + +She lighted up in response with an animation which she had not displayed +during the whole walk. Her eyes shone a little, as with a far-off fire of +gratitude. + +"I should like it if you would, Stumpy," she said. + +"Then we will certainly go," he said. "I should enjoy it very much." + +Eustace came out of a somewhat sullen silence to throw a glance of +half-reluctant approval towards his brother. He plainly regarded Scott's +move as an achievement of some importance. + +"Yes, go by all means!" he said. "Enjoy yourselves. That's all I ask." + +Isabel's faint smile flitted across her tired face, but she said nothing. + +Only as they reached and entered the hotel, she pressed Scott's hand for +a moment in both her own. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAGICIAN + + +"Well, Dinah, my dear, are you ready?" + +Rose de Vigne, very slim and graceful, with her beautiful hair mounted +high above her white forehead and falling in a shower of golden ringlets +behind after the style of a hundred years ago, stood on the threshold of +Dinah's room, awaiting permission to enter. Her dress was of palest green +satin brocade, a genuine Court dress of a century old. Her arms and neck +gleamed with a snowy whiteness. She looked as if she had just stepped out +of an ancient picture. + +There came an impatient cry from within the room. "Oh, come in! Come in! +I'm not nearly ready,--never shall be, I think. Where is Yvonne? Couldn't +she spare me a single moment?" + +The beautiful lady entered with a smile. She could afford to smile, being +complete to the last detail and quite sure of taking the ballroom by +storm. She found Dinah scurrying barefooted about the room with her hair +in a loose bunch on her neck, her attire of the scantiest description, +her expression one of wild desperation. + +"I've lost my stockings. Where can they be? I know I had them this +morning. Can Yvonne have taken them by mistake? She put everything ready +for me,--or said she had." + +The bed was littered with articles of clothing all flung together in +hopeless confusion. Rose came forward. "Surely Yvonne didn't leave your +things like this?" she said. + +"No. I've been hunting through everything for the stockings. Where can +they be? I shall have to go without them, that's all." + +"My dear child, they can't be far away. You had better get on with your +hair while I look for them. I am afraid you will not be able to count on +any help from Yvonne to-night. She has only just finished dressing me, +and has gone now to help Mother. You know what that means." + +"Oh, goodness, yes!" said Dinah. "I wish I'd never gone in for this +stupid fancy dress at all. I shall never be done." + +Rose smiled in her indulgent way. She was always kind to Dinah. "Well, I +can help you for a few minutes. I can't think how you come to be so late. +I thought you came in long ago." + +"Yes, but Billy wanted some buttons sewn on, and that hindered me." Dinah +was dragging at her hair with impatient fingers. "What a swell you look, +Rose! I'm sure no one will dare to ask you for any but square dances." + +"Do you think so, dear?" said Rose, looking at herself complacently in +the glass over Dinah's head. + +Dinah made a sudden and hideous grimace. "Oh, drat my hair! I can't do +anything with it. I believe I shall cut it all off, put on just a +pinafore, and go as a piccaninny." + +"That sounds a little vulgar," observed Rose. "There are your stockings +under the bed. You must have dropped them under. I should think the more +simply you do your hair the better if you are going to wear a coloured +kerchief over it. You have natural ringlets in front, and that is the +only part that will show." + +"And they will hang down over my eyes," retorted Dinah, "unless I fasten +them back with a comb, which I haven't got. Oh, don't stay, Rose! I know +you are wanting to go, and you can't help me. I shall manage somehow." + +"Are you quite sure?" said Rose turning again to survey herself. + +"Quite--quite! I shall get on best alone. I'm in a bad temper too, and I +want to use language--horrid language," said Dinah, tugging viciously at +her dark hair. + +Rose lowered her stately gaze and watched her for a moment. Then as +Dinah's green eyes suddenly flashed resentful enquiry upon her she +lightly touched the girl's flushed cheek, and turned away. "Poor little +Dinah!" she said. + +The door closed upon her graceful figure in its old-world, sweeping robe +and Dinah whizzed round from the glass like a naughty fairy in a rage. +"Rose de Vigne, I hate you!" she said aloud, and stamped her unshod foot +upon the floor. + +A period of uninterrupted misfortune followed this outburst. Everything +went wrong. The costume which the French maid had so deftly fitted upon +her that morning refused to be adjusted properly. The fastenings baffled +her, and finally a hook at the back took firm hold of the lawn of her +sleeve and maliciously refused to be disentangled therefrom. + +Dinah struggled for freedom for some minutes till the lawn began to tear, +and then at last she became desperate. "Billy must do it," she said, and +almost in tears she threw open the door and ran down the passage. + +Billy's room was round a corner, and this end of the corridor was dim. As +she turned it, she almost collided with a figure coming in the opposite +direction--a boyish-looking figure in evening dress which she instantly +took for Billy. + +"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed. "Do come along and help me like a +saint! I'm in such a fix." + +There was an instant's pause before she discovered her mistake, and then +in the same moment a man's voice answered her. + +"Of course I will help you with pleasure. What is wrong?" + +Dinah started back, as if she would flee in dismay. But perhaps it was +the kindness of his response, or possibly only the extremity of her +need--something held her there. She stood her ground as it were in spite +of herself. + +"Oh, it is you! I do beg your pardon. I thought it was Billy. I've got my +sleeve caught up at the back, and I want him to undo it." + +"I'll undo it if you will allow me," said Scott. + +"Oh, would you? How awfully kind! My arm is nearly broken with trying to +get free. You can't see here though," said Dinah. "There's a light by my +door." + +"Let us go to it then!" said Scott. "I know what it is to have things go +wrong at a critical time." + +He accompanied her back again with the utmost simplicity, stopped by the +light, and proceeded with considerable deftness to remedy the mischief. + +"Oh, thank you!" said Dinah, with heart-felt gratitude as he freed her at +last. "Billy would have torn the stuff in all directions. I'm dressing +against time, you see, and I've no one to help me." + +"Do you want any more help?" asked Scott, looking at her with a quizzical +light in his eyes. + +She laughed, albeit she was still not far from tears. "Yes, I want +someone to pin a handkerchief on my head in the proper Italian fashion. I +don't look much like a _contadina_ yet, do I?" + +He surveyed her more critically. "It's not a bad get-up. You look very +nice anyhow. If you like to bring me the handkerchief, I will see what I +can do. I know a little about it from the point of view of an amateur +artist. You want some earrings. Have you got any?" + +Dinah shook her head. "Of course not." + +"I believe my sister has," said Scott. "I'll go and see." + +"Oh no, no! What will she think?" cried Dinah in distress. + +He uttered his quiet laugh. "I will present you to her by-and-bye if I +may. I am sure she will be interested and pleased. You finish off as +quickly as you can! I shall be back directly." + +He limped away again down the passage, moving more quickly than was his +wont, and Dinah hastened back into her room wondering if this informality +would be regarded by her chaperon as a great breach of etiquette. + +"Rose thinks I'm vulgar," she murmured to herself. "I wonder if I really +am. But really--he is such a dear little man. How could I possibly help +it?" + +The dear little man's return put an end to her speculations. He came back +in an incredibly short time, armed with a leather jewel-case which he +deposited on the threshold. + +Dinah came light-footed to join him, all her grievances forgotten. Her +hair, notwithstanding its waywardness, clustered very prettily about her +face. There was a bewitching dimple near one corner of her mouth. + +"You can come in if you like," she said. "I'm quite dressed--all except +the handkerchief." + +"Thank you; but I won't come in," he answered. "We mustn't shock anybody. +If you could bring a chair out, I could manage quite well." + +She fetched the chair. "If anyone comes down the passage, they'll wonder +what on earth we are doing," she remarked. + +"They will take us for old friends," said Scott in a matter of-fact tone +as he opened the jewel-case. + +She laughed delightedly. There was a peculiarly happy quality about her +laugh. Most people smiled quite involuntarily when they heard it, though +Billy compared it to the neigh of a cheery colt. + +"Now," said Scott, looking at her quizzically, "are you going to sit in +the chair, or am I going to stand on it?" + +"Oh, I'll sit," she said. "Here's the handkerchief! You will fasten it so +that it doesn't flop, won't you? May I hold that case? I won't touch +anything." + +He put it open into her lap. "There is a chain of coral there. Perhaps +you can find it. I think it would look well with your costume." + +Dinah pored over the jewels with sparkling eyes. "But are you sure--quite +sure--your sister doesn't mind?" + +"Quite sure," said Scott, beginning to drape the handkerchief adroitly +over her bent head. + +"How very sweet of her--of you both!" said Dinah. "I feel like Cinderella +being dressed for the ball. Oh, what lovely pearls! I never saw anything +so exquisite." + +She had opened an inner case and was literally revelling in its contents. + +"They were--her husband's wedding present to her," said Scott in his +rather monotonous voice. + +"How lovely it must be to be married!" said Dinah, with a little sigh. + +"Do you think so?" said Scott. + +She turned in her chair to regard him. "Don't you?" + +"I can't quite imagine it," he said. + +"Oh, can't I!" said Dinah. "To have someone in love with you, wanting no +one but you, thinking there's no one else in the world like you. Have you +never dreamt that such a thing has happened? I have. And then waked up to +find everything very flat and uninteresting." + +Scott was intent upon fastening an old gold brooch in the red kerchief +above her forehead. He did not meet the questioning of her bright eyes. + +"No," he said. "I don't think I ever cajoled myself, either waking or +sleeping, into imagining that anybody would ever fall in love with me to +that extent." + +Dinah laughed, her upturned face a-brim with merriment. "If any woman +ever wants to marry you, she'll have to do her own proposing, won't she?" +she said. + +"I think she will," said Scott. + +"I wish Rose de Vigne would fall in love with you then," declared Dinah. +"Men are always proposing to her, she leads them on till they make +perfect idiots of themselves. I think it's simply horrid of her to do it. +But she says she can't help being beautiful. Oh, how I wish--" Dinah +broke off. + +"What do you wish?" said Scott. + +She turned her face away to hide a blush. "You must think me very silly +and childish. So I am, but I'm not generally so. I think it's in the air +here. I was going to say, how I wished I could outshine her for just one +night! Isn't that piggy of me? But I am so tired of being always in the +shade. She called me 'Poor little Dinah!' only to-night. How would you +like to be called that?" + +"Most people call me Stumpy," observed Scott, with his whimsical little +smile. + +"How rude of them! How horrid of them!" said Dinah. "And do you actually +put up with it?" + +He bent with her over the jewel-case, and picked out the coral chain. "I +don't care the toss of a halfpenny," he said. + +She gave him a quick, searching glance. "Not really? Not in your secret +heart?" + +"Not in the deepest depth of my unfathomable soul," he declared. + +"Then you're a great man," said Dinah, with conviction. + +Scott's laugh was one of genuine amusement. "Oh, does that follow? I've +never seen myself in that light before." + +But Dinah was absolutely serious and remained so. There was even a touch +of reverence in her look. "You evidently don't know yourself in the +least," she said. "Anyhow, you've made me feel a downright toad." + +"I don't know why," said Scott. "You don't look like one if that's any +comfort." He stooped to fasten the necklace. "Now for the earrings, and +you are complete." + +"It is good of you," she said gratefully. "I am longing to go and look at +myself. But can you fasten them first? I'm sure I can't." + +He complied with his almost feminine dexterity, and in a few moments a +sparkling and glorified Dinah rose and skipped into her room to see the +general effect of her transformation. + +Scott lingered to close the jewel-case. Frankly, he had enjoyed himself +during the last ten minutes. Moreover he was sure she would be pleased +with the result of his labours. But he was hardly prepared for the cry of +delight that reached him as he turned to depart. + +He paused as he heard it, and in a moment Dinah flashed out again like a +radiant butterfly and gave him both her hands. + +"You--magician!" she cried. "How did you do it? How can I thank you? I've +never been so nearly pretty in my life!" + +He bowed in courtly fashion over the little brown hands. "Then you have +never seen yourself with the eyes of others," he said. "I congratulate +you on doing so to-night." + +She laughed her merry laugh. "Thank you! Thank you a hundred times! I've +only one thing left to wish for." + +"What is that?" he said. + +She told him with a touch of shyness. "That--Apollo--will dance with me!" + +Scott laughed and let her go. "Oh, is that all? Then I will certainly see +that he does." + +"Oh, but don't tell him!" pleaded Dinah. + +"I never repeat confidences," declared Scott. "Good-bye, _Signorina_!" + +And with another bow, he left her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +APOLLO + + +The _salon_ was a blaze of lights and many shifting colours. The +fantastic crowd that trooped thither from the _salle-à -manger_ was like a +host of tropical flowers. The talking and laughter nearly drowned the +efforts of the string band in the far corner. + +Scott in ordinary evening-dress stood near the door talking to an immense +Roman Emperor, looking by contrast even smaller and more insignificant +than usual. Yet a closer observation would have shown that the same +instinctive dignity of bearing characterized them both. Utterly unlike +though they were, yet in this respect it was not difficult to trace their +brotherhood. Though moulded upon lines so completely dissimilar, they +bore the same indelible stamp--the stamp of good birth which can never be +attained by such as have it not. Sir Eustace Studley was the handsomest +man in the room. His imperial costume suited his somewhat arrogant +carriage. He looked like a man born to command. His keen eyes glanced +hither and thither with an eagle-like intensity that missed nothing. He +seemed to be on the watch for someone. + +"Who is it?" asked Scott, with a smile. "The lady of the rink?" + +The black brows went up haughtily for a moment, then descended in an +answering smile. "She is the only woman I've seen here yet that's worth +looking at," he observed. + +"Don't you be too sure of that!" said Scott. "I can show you a little +Italian peasant girl who is well worth your august consideration. I think +you ought to bestow a little favour on her as you have each chosen to +assume the same nationality." + +Sir Eustace laughed. "A _protégée_ of yours, eh? That little brown girl, +I suppose? Charming no doubt, my dear fellow; but ordinary--distinctly +ordinary." + +"You haven't seen her yet," said Scott. "You had your back to her in the +_salle-à -manger._" + +"Where is she then? You had better find her before the beautiful Miss de +Vigne makes her appearance. I don't mind giving her a dance or two, but +you must take her off my hands if we don't get on." + +"I will certainly do that," said Scott in his quiet voice that seemed to +veil a touch of irony. "I believe she is in the vestibule now. No, here +she is!" + +Dinah, with laughing lips and sparkling eyes, had just ventured to the +door with Billy. "We'll just peep," she said to her brother in the gay +young tones that penetrated so much further than she realized. "But I +shall never dare to dance. Why, I've never even seen the inside of a +ballroom before. And as to dancing with a real live man--" She broke off +as she caught sight of the two brothers standing together near the +entrance. + +Eustace turned his restless eyes upon her, gave her a swift, critical +glance and muttered something to Scott. + +The latter at once stepped forward, receiving a smile so radiant that +even Eustace was momentarily dazzled. The little brown girl certainly had +points. + +"May I introduce my brother?" said Scott. "Sir Eustace Studley--Miss--I +am afraid I don't know your surname." + +"Sketchy," murmured Eustace, as he bowed. + +But Dinah only laughed her ringing, merry laugh. "Of course you don't +know. How could you? Our name is Bathurst. I'm Dinah and this is Billy. I +am years older than he is, of course." She gave Eustace a shy glance. +"How do you do?" + +"She's just thirty," announced Billy, in shrill, cracked tones. "She's +just pretending to be young to-night, but she ain't young really. You +should see her without her warpaint." + +The music became somewhat more audible at this point. Eustace bent +slightly, looking down at the girl with eyes that were suddenly soft as +velvet. "They are beginning to dance," he said. "May I have the pleasure? +It's a pity to lose time." + +Her red lips smiled delighted assent. She laid her hand with a feathery +touch upon the arm he offered. "Oh, how lovely!" she said, and slid into +his hold like a giddy little water-fowl taking to its own beloved +element. + +"Well, I'm jiggered!" said Billy. "And she's never danced with a +man--except of course me--before!" + +"Live and learn!" said Scott. + +He watched the couple go up the great room, and he saw that, as he had +suspected, Dinah was an exquisite dancer. Her whole being was merged in +movement. She was as an instrument in the hand of a skilled player. + +Sir Eustace Studley was an excellent dancer too, though he did not +often trouble himself to dance as perfectly as he was dancing now. It +was not often that he had a partner worthy of his best, and it was a +semi-conscious habit of his never voluntarily to give better than he +received. + +But this little gipsy-girl of Scott's discovery called forth all his +talent. She did not want to talk. She only wanted to dance, to spend +herself in a passion of dancing that was an ecstasy beyond all speech. +She was as sensitive as a harp-string to his touch; she was music, she +was poetry, she was charm. The witchery of her began to possess him. Her +instant response to his mood, her almost uncanny interpretation thereof, +became like a spell to his senses. From wonder he passed to delight, and +from delight to an almost feverish desire for more. He swayed her to his +will with a well-nigh savage exultation, and she gave herself up to it so +completely, so freely, so unerringly, that it was as if her very +individuality had melted in some subtle fashion and become part of his. +And to the man there came a moment of sheer intoxication, as though he +drank and drank of a sparkling, inspiriting wine that lured him, that +thrilled him, that enslaved him. + +It was just when the sensation had reached its height that the music +suddenly quickened for the finish. That brought him very effectually to +earth. He ceased to dance and led her aside. + +She turned her bright face to him for a moment, in her eyes the dazed, +incredulous look of one awaking from an enthralling dream. "Oh, can't we +dance it out?" she said, as if she pleaded against being aroused. + +He shook his head. "I never dance to a finish. It's too much like the +clown's turn after the transformation scene. It is bathos on the top of +the superb. At least it would be in this case. Who in wonder taught you +to dance like that?" + +Dinah opened her eyes a little wider and gave him the Homage of shy +admiration; but she met a look in return that amazed her, that sent the +blood in a wild unreasoning race to her heart. For those eyes of burning, +ardent blue had suddenly told her something, something that no eyes had +ever told her before. It was incredible but true. Homage had met homage, +aye, and more than homage. There was mastery in his look; but there was +also wonder and a curious species of half-grudging reverence. She had +amazed him, this witch with the sparkling eyes that shone so alluringly +under the scarlet kerchief. She had swept him as it were with a fan of +flame. She had made him live. And he had pronounced her ordinary! + +"I have always loved to dance," she said in answer to his almost +involuntary question. "Do you like my dancing? I'm so glad." + +"Like it!" He laughed with an odd shamefacedness. "I could dance with you +the whole evening. But I should probably end by making a fool of myself +like a man who has had too much champagne." + +Dinah laughed. She had an exhilarating sense of having achieved a +conquest undreamed of. She also was feeling a little giddy, a little +uncertain of the ground under her feet. + +"Do you know," she said, dropping her eyes instinctively before the fiery +intensity of his, "I've never danced with a man before? I--I was a little +afraid just at first lest you should find me--gawky." + +"Ye gods!" said Sir Eustace. "And you have really never danced with a man +before! Tell me! How did you like it?" + +"It was--heavenly!" said Dinah, drawing a deep breath. + +"Will you dance with me again?" he asked. + +She nodded. "Yes." + +"The very next dance?" + +She nodded again. "Yes." + +"And again after that?" said Sir Eustace. + +She threw him a glance half-shy, half-daring. "Don't you think it might +be too much for you?" + +He laughed. "I'll risk it if you will." + +She turned towards him with a small, confidential gesture. "What about +Rose de Vigne?" she said. "Don't you want to dance with her?" + +"Oh, presently," he said. "She'll keep." + +Dinah broke into her high, sweet laugh. "And what about--all my other +partners?" she said, with more assurance. + +He bent to her. "They must keep too. Seriously, you don't want to dance +with any other fellow, do you?" + +"I'm not a bit serious," said Dinah. + +"Do you?" he insisted. + +She lifted her eyes momentarily. + +"You don't?" he insinuated. + +She surrendered without conditions. "Of course I don't." + +"Then you mustn't," he said. "Consider yourself booked to me for +to-night, and when you're not dancing with me, you can rest. Sit out with +Scott if you like! Will you do that?" + +"Why?" whispered Dinah. + +Again her heart was beating very fast; she wondered why. + +He answered her with an impetuosity that seemed to carry her along with +it. "Because your dancing is superb, magnificent, and I want to keep it +for myself. It may not be the same when you've danced with another man. A +flower fresh plucked is always sweeter than one that someone else has +worn." + +Dinah's hands clasped each other unconsciously. She had never dreamed +that Apollo could so stoop to favour her. + +"I will do as you like," she murmured after a moment. "But I don't +suppose for an instant that anyone else would want to dance with me. I +don't know anyone else." + +He smiled. "I'm glad of that. It would be sheer sacrilege for you to +dance with a young oaf who didn't know how. It's a bargain then. I'll +give you all I can. You mustn't tell, of course." + +"Oh, I won't tell," laughed Dinah. + +He gave her his arm. "They are tuning up. We won't lose a minute. I +always like a clear floor, before the rabble begin." + +He led her to the top of the room, stood for a moment; then, as the music +began, caught her to him, and they floated once more into the shining, +enchanted mazes of their dreamland. + +And Dinah danced as one inspired, for it seemed to her that her feet +moved upon air as though winged. Apollo had drawn her up to Olympus, and +she drifted in his arm in spheres unknown, far above the clouds. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CINDERELLA + + +"Come and sit down!" said Scott. + +Dinah gave a little start. She was standing close to him, but she had not +seen him. She looked at him for a second with far-away eyes, as if she +did not know him. + +Then recognition flashed into them. She smiled an eager greeting. "Oh, +Mr. Studley, I want to thank you for the very happiest evening of my +life." + +He smiled also as he sat down beside her. "You are enjoying yourself?" + +"Oh yes, indeed I am!" she assured him. "Thank you a hundred million +times!" + +"Why thank me?" questioned Scott. + +She drew a long, long breath. "Because you were the magician who pulled +the strings. I should never have got dressed in the first place but for +you." + +He gave a laugh of amused protest. "Oh, surely! I don't feel I deserve +that!" + +She laughed with him. "You did it anyhow. And in the second place you got +me out of a villainous bad temper and turned an ugly goblin into a very +happy butterfly. I'm downright ashamed of myself for being so horrid +about Rose de Vigne. She isn't at all a bad sort though she is so +impossibly beautiful. Your brother is going to dance with her now. See! +There they go!" + +She looked after them with a smile of complete content. + +"You're feeling generous," remarked Scott. + +She turned to him again, flushed and radiant. "I can afford to--though +it's for the first time in my life. I've never had such a happy +time,--never, never, never! Isn't your brother wonderful? His dancing +is--" Words failed her. She raised her hands and let them fall with a +gesture expressive of unbounded admiration. + +"You mustn't let him monopolize you," said Scott. "He has plenty to +choose from, you know. Others haven't." + +She laughed. "He says--I wonder if it's true!--he says I am the best +dancer he has ever met!" + +Scott smiled at her beaming face. "That is very nice--for him," he +observed. "I thought you seemed to be getting on very well." + +Her eyes travelled across the room again to her late partner and the +beautiful Miss de Vigne. She watched them intently for a few seconds. + +"Poor Rose!" she said suddenly. + +Scott was watching her. "Isn't she a good dancer?" he asked. + +She turned back to him. "Oh yes, I believe she is. She always has plenty +of partners anyway. At least I've always heard so. Is your sister +dancing? I don't think I can have seen her yet." + +"No. She is in her sitting-room upstairs. I wanted her to come down, but +she wouldn't be persuaded. She--" Scott hesitated a moment--"is not fond +of gaiety." + +"Then I shan't see her!" said Dinah in tones of genuine disappointment. +"I did so want to thank her for lending me these lovely things." + +"I can take you to her if you'll come," said Scott. + +"Oh, can you? Yes, I'll come. I can come now. But are you sure she will +like it?" Dinah's bright eyes met his with frank directness. "I don't +want to intrude on her, you know," she said. + +He smiled a little. "I am sure you won't intrude. Shall we go then? Are +you sure there is no one else you want to dance with here?" + +"Oh, quite sure." Again momentarily Dinah's look sought her late partner; +then briskly she stood up. + +Scott rose also, and gave her his arm. She bestowed a small, friendly +squeeze upon it. "I've never enjoyed myself so much before," she said. +"And it's all your doing." + +"Oh, not really!" he said. + +She nodded vigorously. "But it is! I should never have been presentable +but for you. And I should certainly never have danced with your brother. +He has actually promised to help me with my skating to-morrow. Isn't it +kind of him?" + +"I wonder," said Scott. + +"What do you wonder?" Dinah looked at him curiously. + +But he only smiled a baffling smile, and turned the subject. "Wouldn't +you like something to drink before we go up?" + +Dinah declined. She was not in the least thirsty. She did not feel as if +she would ever want to eat or drink again. + +"Only to dance!" said Scott. "Well, I mustn't keep you long then. Who is +that lady making signs to you? Hadn't you better go and speak to her?" + +"Oh, bother!" said Dinah. "You come too, then. It's only Lady +Grace--Rose's mother. I'm sure it can't be anything important." + +Scott piloted her across the vestibule to the couch on which Lady Grace +sat. She was a large, fair woman with limpid eyes and drawling speech. +She extended a plump white hand to the girl. + +"Dinah, my dear, I think you have had almost enough for to-night. And +they were so very behind time in starting. Your mother would not like you +to stay up late, I feel sure. You had better go to bed when this dance is +over. You are not accustomed to dissipation, remember." + +A swift cloud came over Dinah's bright face. "Oh, but, Lady Grace, I'm +not in the least tired. And I'm not a baby, you know. I'm nearly twenty. +I really couldn't go yet." + +"You will have plenty more opportunities, dear," said Lady Grace, quite +unruffled. "Rose has decided to retire after this dance, and I shall do +the same. The Colonel is suffering with dyspepsia, and he does not wish +us to be late." + +Dinah bit her lip. "Oh, very well," she said somewhat shortly; and to +Scott, "We had better go at once then." + +He led her away obediently. They ascended the stairs together. + +As they reached the top of the flight Dinah's indignation burst its +bounds. "Isn't it too bad? Why should I go to bed just because the +Colonel's got dyspepsia? I don't believe it's that at all really. It's +Rose who can't bear to think that I am having as good a time--or +Better--than she is." + +"May I say what I think?" asked Scott politely. + +She stopped, facing him. "Yes, do!" + +He was smiling somewhat whimsically. "I think that--like Cinderella--you +may break the spell if you stay too long." + +"But isn't it too bad?" protested Dinah. "Your brother too--I can't +disappoint him." + +Scott's smile became a laugh. "Oh, believe me, it would do him good, Miss +Bathurst. He gets his own way much too often." + +She smiled, but not very willingly. "It does seem such a shame. He has +been--so awfully nice to me." + +"That's nothing," said Scott airily. "We can all be nice when we are +enjoying ourselves." + +Dinah looked at him with sudden attention. "Are you pointing a moral?" +she asked severely. + +"Trying to," said Scott. + +She tried to frown upon him, but very abruptly and completely failed. Her +pointed chin went up in a gay laugh. "You do it very nicely," she said. +"Thank you, Mr. Studley. I won't be grumpy any more. It would be a pity +to break the spell, as you say. Will you explain to the prince?" + +"Certainly," he said, leading her on again. "I shall make it quite clear +to him that Cinderella was not to blame. Here is our sitting-room at the +end of this passage!" + +He stopped at the door and would have opened it, but Dinah, smitten with +sudden shyness, drew back. + +"Hadn't you better go in first and--and explain?" she said. + +"Oh no, quite unnecessary," he said, and turned the handle. + +At once a woman's voice accosted him. "For the Lord's sake, Master +Stumpy, come in quick and shut the door behind ye! The racket downstairs +is sending Miss Isabel nearly crazy, poor lamb. And it's meself that's +wondering what we'll do to-night, for there's no peace at all in this +wooden shanty of a place." + +"Be quiet, Biddy!" Scott's voice made calm, undaunted answer. "You can go +if you like. I've come to sit with Miss Isabel for a while. And I've +brought her a visitor. Isabel, my dear, I've brought you a visitor." + +Dinah moved forward in response to his gentle insistence, but her shyness +went with her. She was aware of something intangible in the atmosphere +that startled, that almost frightened, her. + +The gaunt figure of a woman clad in a long, white robe sat at a table in +the middle of the room with a sheaf of letters littered before her. Her +emaciated arms were flung wide over them, her white head was bowed. + +But at Scott's quiet announcement, it was raised with the suddenness of +eager expectancy. For the fraction of a second Dinah saw dark, sunken +eyes ablaze with a hope that was almost terrible in its intensity. + +It was gone on the instant. They looked at her with a species of dull +wonder. "Are you a friend of Scott's? I am very pleased to meet you," a +hollow voice said. + +A thin hand was extended to her, and as Dinah clasped it a sudden great +pity surged through her, dispelling her doubt. Something in her responded +swiftly, even passionately, to the hunger of those eyes. The moment's +shock passed from her like a cloud. + +"My sister Mrs. Everard," said Scott's voice at her shoulder. "Isabel, +this is Miss Bathurst of whom I was telling you." + +"You lent me your jewels," said Dinah, looking into the wasted face with +a sympathy at her heart that was almost too poignant to be borne. "Thank +you so very, very much for them! It was so very kind of you to lend them +to a total stranger like me." + +The strange eyes were gazing at her with a curious, growing interest. A +faint, faint smile was in their depths. "Are we strangers, child?" the +low voice asked. "I feel as if we had met before. Why do you look at me +so kindly? Most people only stare." + +Dinah was suddenly conscious of a hot sensation at the throat that made +her want to cry. "It is you who have been kind," she said, and her little +hand closed with confidence upon the limp, cold fingers. "I am wearing +your things still, and I have had such a lovely time. Thank you again for +letting me have them. I am going to return them now." + +"You need not do that." Isabel spoke with her eyes still fixed upon the +girlish face. "Keep them if you like them! I shall never wear them again. +They tell me--they tell me--I am a widow." + +"Miss Isabel darlint!" Biddy spoke sibilantly from the background. "Don't +be talking to the young lady of such things! Won't ye sit down then, +miss? And maybe I can get ye a cup o' tay." + +"Ah, do, Biddy!" Scott put in his quiet word. "There is no tea like +yours. Isabel, Miss Bathurst is a keen dancer. She and Eustace have been +most energetic. It was a pity you couldn't come down and see the fun." + +"Oh! Did you enjoy it?" Isabel still looked into the brown, piquant face +as though loth to turn her eyes away. + +"I loved it," said Dinah. + +"Was Eustace kind to you?" + +"Oh, most kind." Dinah spoke with candid enthusiasm. + +"I am glad of that," Isabel's voice held a note of satisfaction. "But I +should think everyone is kind to you, child," she said, with her faint, +glimmering smile. "How beautiful you are!" + +"Me!" Dinah opened her eyes in genuine astonishment. "Oh you wouldn't +think so if you saw me in my ordinary dress," she said. "I'm nothing at +all to look at really. It's just a case of 'Fine feathers,'--nothing +else." + +"My dear," Isabel said, "I am not looking at your dress. I seldom notice +outer things. I am looking through your eyes into your soul. It is that +that makes you beautiful. I think it is the loveliest thing that I have +ever seen." + +"Oh, you wouldn't say so if you knew me!" cried Dinah, +conscience-stricken. "I have horrid thoughts often--very often." + +The dark, watching eyes still smiled in their far-off way. "I should like +to know you, dear child," Isabel said. "You have helped me--you could +help me in a way that probably you will never understand. Won't you sit +down? I will put my letters away, and we will talk." + +She began to collect the litter before her, laying the letters together +one by one with reverent care. + +"Can I help?" asked Dinah timidly. + +But she shook her head. "No, child, your hands must not touch them. They +are the ashes of my life." + +An open box stood on the table. She drew it to her, and laid the letters +within it. Then she rose, and drew her guest to a lounge. + +"We will sit here," she said. "Stumpy, why don't you smoke? Ah, the music +has stopped at last. It has been racking me all the evening. Yes, you +love it, of course. That is natural. I loved it once. It is always sweet +to those who dance. But to those who sit out--those who sit out--" Her +voice sank, and she said no more. + +Dinah's hand slipped softly into hers. "I like sitting out too +sometimes," she said. "At least I like it now." + +Isabel's eyes were upon her again. They looked at her with a kind of +incredulous wonder. After a moment she sighed. + +"You would not like it for long, child. I am a prisoner. I sit in chains +while the world goes by. They are all hurrying forward so eager to get +on. But there is never any going on for me. I sit and watch--and watch." + +"Surely we must all go forward somehow," said Dinah shyly. + +"Surely," said Scott. + +But Isabel only shook her head with dreary conviction. "Not the +prisoners," she said. "They die by the wayside." + +There fell a brief silence, then impetuously Dinah spoke, urged by the +fulness of her heart. "I think we all feel like that sometimes. I know at +home it's just like being in a cage. Nothing ever happens worth +mentioning. And then quite suddenly the door is opened and out we come. +That's partly why I am enjoying everything so much," she explained. "But +it won't be a bit nice going back." + +"What about your mother?" said Scott. + +Dinah's bright face clouded again. "Yes, of course, there's Mother," she +agreed. + +She looked across at Scott as if she would say more; but he passed +quietly on. "Where is your home, Miss Bathurst?" + +"Right in the very heart of the Midlands. It is pretty country, but oh, +so dull. The de Vignes are the rich people of the place. They belong to +the County. We don't," said Dinah, with a sigh. + +Scott laughed, and she looked momentarily hurt. + +"I don't see what there is funny in that. The County people and the shop +people are the only ones that get any fun. It's horrid to be between the +two." + +"Forgive me!" Scott said. "I quite see your point. But if you only knew +it, the people who call themselves County are often the dullest of the +dull." + +"You say that because you belong to them, I expect," retorted Dinah. "But +if you were me, and lived always under the shadow of the de Vignes, you +wouldn't think it a bit funny." + +"Who are the de Vignes?" asked Isabel suddenly. + +Dinah turned to her. "We are staying here with them, Billy and I. My +father persuaded the Colonel to have us. He knew how dreadfully we wanted +to go. The Colonel is rather good-natured over some things, and he and +Dad are friends. But I don't think Lady Grace wanted us much. You see, +she and Rose are so very smart." + +"I see," said Scott. + +"Rose has been presented at Court," pursued Dinah. "They always go up for +the season. They have a house in town. We always say that Rose is waiting +to marry a marquis; but he hasn't turned up yet. You see, she really is +much too beautiful to marry an ordinary person, isn't she?" + +"Oh, much," said Scott. + +Dinah heaved another little sigh; then suddenly she laughed. "But your +brother has promised to help me with my skating to-morrow anyhow," she +said. "So she won't have him all the time." + +"Perhaps the marquis will come along to-morrow," suggested Scott. + +"I wish he would," said Dinah, with fervour. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BROKEN SPELL + + +Biddy was in the act of handing round the tea when there came the sound +of a step outside, and an impatient hand thrust open the door. + +"Hullo, Stumpy!" said a voice. "Are you here? What have you done with +Miss Bathurst? She's engaged to me for the next dance." Eustace entered +with the words, but stopped short on the threshold. "Hullo! You are here! +I thought you had given me the slip." + +Dinah looked up at him with merry eyes. "So I have--practically. I am on +my way to bed." + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said, with his easy imperiousness. "I can't spare you +yet. I must have one more dance just to soothe my nerves. I've been +dancing with a faultless automaton who didn't understand me in the least. +Now I want the real thing again." + +"Have some tea!" said Scott. + +"Thanks!" Sir Eustace sat down on the edge of the table, facing his +sister and Dinah. "You're not going to let me down, now are you?" he +said. "I'm counting on that dance, and I haven't enjoyed myself at all +since I saw you last. That girl is machine-made. There isn't a flaw in +her. She's been turned out of a mould; I'm certain of it. Miss Bathurst, +why are you laughing?" + +"Because I'm pleased," said Dinah. + +"Pleased? I thought you'd be sorry for me. You're going to take pity on +me anyway, I hope. The beautiful automaton has gone back to her band-box +for the night, so we can enjoy ourselves quite unhindered. Is that for +me? Thanks, Biddy! I'm needing refreshment badly." + +"You would have preferred coffee," observed Isabel. + +It was the first time she had spoken since his entrance. He gave her a +keen, intent look. "Oh, this'll do, thanks," he said. "It is all nectar +to-night. Why haven't you been down to the ballroom, Isabel? You would +have enjoyed it." + +Her lips twisted a little. "I have been listening to the music upstairs," +she said. + +"You ought to have come down," he said imperiously. "I shall expect you +next time." His hand inadvertently touched the box on the table and he +looked sharply downwards. "Here, Biddy! Take this thing away!" he ordered +with a frown. + +Isabel leaned swiftly forward. "Give it to me!" she said. + +His hand closed upon it. "No. Let Biddy take it!" + +"Let me!" said Dinah suddenly, and sprang to her feet. + +She took it from him before he had time to protest, and gave it forthwith +into Isabel's outstretched hands. + +Eustace took up his cup in heavy silence, and drained it. + +Then he rose. "Come along, Miss Bathurst!" + +But Dinah remained seated. "I am very sorry," she said. "But I can't." + +"Oh, nonsense!" He smiled very suddenly and winningly upon her. "Surely +you won't disappoint me!" + +She shook her head. Her eyes were wistful. "I'm disappointing myself +quite as much. But I mustn't. The Colonel has gone to bed with dyspepsia, +and Lady Grace and Rose have gone too by this time. I can't come down +again." + +"Nonsense!" he said again. "You want to. You know you do. No one pays any +attention to Mrs. Grundy out here. She simply doesn't exist. Scott can +come and play propriety. He's staid enough to chaperon a whole girls' +school." + +"Thanks, old chap," said Scott. "But I'm not coming down again, either." + +Eustace looked over his head. "Then you must, Isabel. Come along! Just to +oblige Miss Bathurst! It won't hurt you to sit in a safe corner for one +dance." + +Isabel looked up at him with a startled expression, as of one trapped. +"Oh, don't ask me!" she said. "I couldn't!" + +"No, don't!" said Dinah. "It isn't, fair to bother anyone else on my +account! I'm dreadfully sorry to have to refuse. But--in any case--I +ought not to come." + +"What of that?" said Eustace lightly. "Do you always do what you ought? +What a dull programme!" + +Dinah flushed. "Dull but respectable," she said, with a touch of spirit. + +He laughed. "But I'm not asking you to do anything very outrageous, and I +shouldn't ask it at all if I didn't know you wanted to do it. Besides, +you promised. It's generally considered the respectable thing to do to +keep one's promises." + +That reached Dinah. She wavered perceptibly. "Lady Grace will be so +vexed," she murmured. + +He snapped his fingers in careless disdain. + +She turned appealingly to Scott. "I think I might go--just for one dance, +don't you?" + +Scott's pale eyes met hers with steady comradeship. "I think I +shouldn't," he said. + +Eustace turned as if he had not heard and strolled to the door. He opened +it, and at once the room was filled with the plaintive alluring strains +of waltz-music. He stood and looked back. Dinah met the look, and +suddenly she was on her feet. + +He held out his hand to her with a smile half-mocking, half-persuasive. +The music swung on with a subtle enchantment. Dinah uttered a little +quivering laugh, and went to him. + +In another moment the door closed, and they stood alone in the passage. + +"I knew you wanted to," said Eustace, smiling down into her eyes with the +arrogance of the conqueror. + +Dinah was panting a little as one who had suffered a sudden strain. "Of +course I wanted to," she returned. "But that doesn't make it right." + +He pressed her hand to his heart for a moment, and she caught again a +glimpse of that fire in his eyes that had so thrilled her. She could not +meet it. She stood in palpitating silence. + +"Where is the use of fighting against fate?" he asked her softly. "A gift +of the gods is never offered twice." + +She did not understand him, but her heart was beating wildly, +tumultuously, and an inner voice urged her to be gone. + +She slipped her hand free. "Aren't we--wasting time?" she whispered. + +He laughed again in that subtle, half-mocking note, but he met her wish +instantly. They went downstairs to the _salon_. + +There were not so many dancers now. The de Vignes had evidently retired. +One rapid glance told Dinah this, and she dismissed them therewith from +her mind. The rhythm and lure of the music caught her. She slid into the +dance with delicious abandonment. The wonder and romance of it had got +into her veins. No stolen pleasure was ever more keenly enjoyed than was +that last perfect dance. Her very blood was a-fire with the strange, +intoxicating joy of life. She wanted to go on for ever. + +But it ended at length. She came to earth after her rapturous flight, and +found herself standing with her partner in a curtained recess of the +ballroom from which a glass door led on to the verandah that ran round +the hotel. + +"Just a glimpse of the moonlight on the mountains," he said, "before we +say good-night!" + +She went with him without a moment's thought. She was as one caught in +the meshes of a great enchantment. He opened the door, and she passed +through on to the verandah. + +The music throbbed into silence behind them. Before them lay a +fairy-world of dazzling silver and deepest, darkest sapphire. The +mountains stood in solemn grandeur, domes of white mystery. The great +vault of the sky was alight with stars, and a wonderful moon hung like a +silver shield almost in the zenith. + +"How--beautiful!" breathed Dinah. + +The air was crystal clear, cold but not piercing. The absolute stillness +held her spell-bound. + +"It is like a dream-world," she whispered. + +"In which you reign supreme," he murmured back. + +She glanced at him with uncomprehending eyes. Her veins were still +throbbing with the ecstasy of the dance. + +"Oh, how I wish I had wings!" she suddenly said. "To swim through that +glorious ether right above the mountain-tops as one swims through the +sea! Don't you think flying must be very like swimming?" + +"With variations," said Eustace. + +His eyes dwelt upon her. They were fierily blue in that great flood of +moonlight. His hand still rested upon her waist. + +"But what a mistake to want the impossible!" he said, after a moment. + +"I always do," said Dinah. "At least," she glanced up at him again, "I +always have--until to-night." + +"And to-night?" he questioned, dropping his voice. + +"Oh, I am quite happy to-night," she said, with a little laugh, "even +without the wings. If I hadn't thought of them, I should have nothing +left to wish for." + +"I wish I could say the same," said Sir Eustace, with the faint mocking +smile at the corners of his lips. + +"What can you want more?" asked Dinah innocently. + +He leaned to her. "A big thing--a small thing! Would you give it to me, +my elf of the mountains, if I dared to tell you what it was?" + +Her eyes fluttered and fell before the flaming ardour of his. "I--I don't +know," she faltered, in sudden confusion. "I expect so--if I could." + +His arm slipped round her. "Would you?" he whispered. "Would you?" + +She gave a little gasp, caught unawares like a butterfly on the wing. All +the magic of the night seemed suddenly to be concentrated upon her like +fairy batteries. Her first feeling was dismay, followed instantly by the +wonder if she could be dreaming. And then, as she felt the drawing of his +arm, something vehement, something almost fierce, awoke within her, +clamouring wildly for freedom. + +It was a blind instinct, but she obeyed it without question. She had no +choice. + +"Oh no!" she cried. "Oh no! I couldn't!" and wrested herself from him in +a panic. + +He let her go, and she heard him laugh as she broke away. But she did not +wait for more. To linger was unthinkable. Urged by that imperative, inner +prompting she turned and fled, not pausing for a moment's thought. + +The glass door closed behind her. She burst impetuously into the deserted +ballroom. And here, on the point of entering the small recess from which +she was escaping, she came suddenly face to face with Scott. + +So headlong was her flight that she actually ran into him. He put out a +steadying hand. + +"I was just coming to look for you," he said in his quiet, composed +fashion. + +She stopped unwillingly. "Oh, were you? How kind! I--I think I ought to +go up now. It's getting late, isn't it? Good-night!" + +He did not seek to detain her. She wondered with a burning sense of shame +what he could have thought of her wild rush. But she was too agitated to +attempt any excuse, too agitated to check her retreat. Without a backward +glance she hastened away like Cinderella overtaken by fate; the spell was +broken, the glamour gone. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MR. GREATHEART + + +It was a very meek and subdued Dinah who made her appearance in the +_salle-à -manger_ on the following morning. + +She and Billy were generally in the best of spirits, and the room usually +rang with their young laughter. But that morning even Billy was +decorously quiet, and his sister scarcely spoke or raised her eyes. + +Colonel de Vigne, white-moustached and martial, sat at the table with +them, but neither Lady Grace nor Rose was present. The Colonel's face was +stern. He occupied himself with letters with scarcely so much as a glance +for the boy and girl on either side of him. + +There was a letter by Dinah's plate also, but she had not opened it. Her +downcast face was very pale. She ate but little, and that little only +when urged thereto by Billy, whose appetite was rampant notwithstanding +the decorum of his behaviour. + +Scott, breakfasting with his brother at a table only a few yards distant, +observed the trio with unobtrusive interest. + +He had made acquaintance with the Colonel on the previous evening, and +after a time the latter caught his eye and threw him a brief greeting. +Most people were polite to Scott. But the Colonel's whole aspect was +forbidding that morning, and his courtesy went no further. + +Sir Eustace did not display the smallest interest in anyone. His black +brows were drawn, and he looked even more haughtily unapproachable than +the Colonel. + +He conversed with his brother in low tones on the subject of the +morning's mail which lay at Scott's elbow and which he was investigating +while he ate. Now and then he gave concise and somewhat peremptory +instructions, which Scott jotted down in a note-book with business-like +rapidity. No casual observer would have taken them for brothers that +morning. They were employer and secretary. + +Only when the last letter had been discussed and laid aside did the elder +abruptly abandon his aloof attitude to ask a question upon a more +intimate matter. + +"Did Isabel go without a sleeping-draught last night?" + +Scott shook his head. + +Eustace's frown became even more pronounced. "Did Biddy administer it on +her own?" + +"No. I authorized it." Scott's voice was low. He met his brother's look +with level directness. + +Eustace leaned towards him across the table. "I won't have it, Stumpy," +he said very decidedly. "I told you so yesterday." + +"I know." Very steadily Scott made answer. "But last night there was no +alternative. It is impossible to do the thing suddenly. She has hardly +got over the journey yet." + +"Rubbish!" said Eustace curtly. + +Scott slightly raised his shoulders, and said no more. + +"It comes to this," Eustace said, speaking with stern insistence. "If you +can't--or won't--assert your authority, I shall assert mine. It is all a +question of influence." + +"Or forcible persuasion," said Scott, with a touch of irony. + +"Very well. Call it that! It is in a good cause. If you haven't the +strength of mind, I have; and I shall exercise it. These drugs must be +taken away. Can't you see it's the only possible thing to do?" + +"Not yet," Scott said. He was still facing his brother's grim regard very +gravely and unflinchingly. "I tell you, man, it is too soon. She is +better than she used to be. She is calmer, more reasonable. We must do +the thing gradually, if at all. To interfere forcibly would do infinitely +more harm than good. I know what I am saying. I know her far better than +you do now. I am in closer touch with her. You are out of sympathy. You +only startle her when you try to persuade her to anything. You must leave +her to me. I understand her. I know how to help her." + +"You haven't achieved much in the last seven years," Eustace observed. + +"But I have achieved something." Scott's answer was wholly free from +resentment. He spoke with quiet confidence. "I know it's a slow process. +But she is moving in the right direction. Give her time, old chap! I +firmly believe that she will come back to us by slow degrees." + +"Damnably slow," commented Eustace. "You're so infernally deliberate +always. You talk as if it were your life-work." + +Scott's eyes shone with a whimsical light. "I begin to think it is," he +said. "Have you finished? Suppose we go." He gathered up the sheaf of +papers at his elbow and rose. "I will attend to these at once." + +Eustace strode down the long room looking neither to right nor left, +moving with a free, British arrogance that served to emphasize somewhat +cruelly the meagreness and infirmity of the man behind him. Yet it was +upon the latter's slight, halting figure that Dinah's eyes dwelt till it +finally limped out of sight, and in her look were wonder and a vagrant +admiration. There was an undeniable attraction about Scott that affected +her very curiously, but wherein it lay she could not possibly have said. +She was furious when a murmured comment and laugh from some girls at the +next table reached her. + +"What a dear little lap-dog!" said one. + +"Yes, I've been wanting to pat its head for a long time," said another. + +"Warranted not to bite," laughed a third. "Can it really be full-grown?" + +"Oh, no doubt, my dear! Look at its pretty little whiskers! It's just a +toy, you know, nothing but a toy." + +Dinah turned in her chair, and gazed scathingly upon the group of +critics. Then, aware of the Colonel's eyes upon her, she turned back and +gave him a swift look of apology. + +He shook his head at her repressively, his whole air magisterial and +condemnatory. "You may go if you wish," he said, in the tone of one +dismissing an offender. "But be good enough to bear in mind what I have +said to you!" + +Billy leapt to his feet. "Can I go too, sir?" he asked eagerly. + +The Colonel signified majestic assent. His mood was very far from genial +that morning, and he had not the smallest desire to detain either of +them. In fact, if he could have dismissed his two young charges +altogether, he would have done so with alacrity. But that unfortunately +was out of the question--unless by their behaviour they provoked him to +fulfil the very definite threat that he had pronounced to Dinah in the +privacy of his wife's room an hour before. + +He was very seriously displeased with Dinah, more displeased than he had +been with anyone since his soldiering days, and he had expressed himself +with corresponding severity. If she could not conduct herself becomingly +and obediently, he would take them both straight home again and thus put +a summary end to temptation. His own daughter had never given him any +cause for uneasiness, and he did not see why he should be burdened with +the escapades of anyone else's troublesome offspring. It was too much to +expect at his time of life. + +So a severe reprimand had been Dinah's portion, to which she, very meek +and crestfallen, shorn of all the previous evening's glories, had +listened with a humility that had slightly mollified her judge though he +had been careful not to let her know it. She had been wild and flighty, +and he was determined that she should feel the rod of discipline pretty +smartly. + +But when he finally rose from the table and stalked out of the room, it +was a little disconcerting to find the culprit awaiting him in the +vestibule to slip a shy hand inside his arm and whisper, "Do forgive me! +I'm so sorry." + +He looked down into her quivering face, saw the pleading eyes swimming in +tears, and abruptly found that his displeasure had evaporated so +completely that he could not even pretend to be angry any longer. He had +never taken much notice of Dinah before, treating her, as did his wife +and daughter, as a mere child and of no account. But now he suddenly +realized that she was an engaging minx after all. + +"Ashamed of yourself?" he asked gruffly, his white moustache twitching a +little. + +Dinah nodded mutely. + +"Then don't do it again!" he said, and grasped the little brown hand for +a moment with quite unwonted kindness. + +It was a tacit forgiveness, and as such Dinah treated it. She smiled +thankfully through her tears, and slipped away to recover her composure. + +Nearly an hour later, Scott, having finished his letters, came upon her +sitting somewhat disconsolately in the verandah. He paused on his way +out. + +"Good morning, Miss Bathurst! Aren't you going to skate this morning?" + +She turned to him with a little movement of pleasure. "Good morning, Mr. +Studley! I have been waiting here for you. I have brought down your +sister's trinkets. Here they are!" She held out a neat little paper +parcel to him. "Please will you thank her again for them very, very much? +I do hope she didn't think me very rude last night,--though I'm afraid I +was." + +Her look was wistful. He took the packet from her with a smile. + +"Of course she didn't. She was delighted with you. When are you coming to +see her again?" + +"I don't know," said Dinah. + +"Come to tea!" suggested Scott. + +Dinah hesitated, flushing. + +"You've something else to do?" he asked in his cheery way. "Well, come +another time if it won't bore you!" + +"Oh, it isn't that!" said Dinah, and her flush deepened. "I--I would love +to come. Only--" She glanced round at an elderly couple who had just come +out, and stopped. + +"I'm going down to the village with my letters," said Scott. "Will you +come too?" + +She welcomed the idea. "Oh yes, I should like to. It's such a glorious +morning again, isn't it? It's a shame not to go out." + +"Sure you're not wanting to skate?" he questioned. + +"Yes, quite sure. I--I'm rather tired this morning, but a walk will do me +good." + +They passed the rink without pausing, though Scott glanced across to see +his brother skimming along in the distance with a red-clad figure beside +him. He made no comment upon the sight, and Dinah was silent also. Her +gay animation that morning was wholly a minus quantity. + +They went on down the hill, talking but little. Speech in Scott's society +was never a necessity. His silences were so obviously friendly. He had a +shrewd suspicion on this occasion that the girl beside him had something +to say, and he waited for it with a courteous patience, abstaining from +interrupting her very evident preoccupation. + +They walked between fields of snow, all glistening in the sunshine. The +blue of the sky was no longer sapphire but glorious turquoise. The very +air sparkled, diamond-clear in the crystal splendour of the day. + +Suddenly Dinah spoke. "I suppose one always feels horrid the next +morning." + +"Are you feeling the reaction?" asked Scott. + +"Oh, it isn't only that, I'm feeling--ashamed," said Dinah, blushing very +deeply. + +He did not look at her. "I don't see why," he said gently, after a +moment. + +"Oh, but you do!" she said impatiently. "At least you can if you try. You +knew I was wrong to go down again for that last dance, just as well as I +did. Why, you tried to stop me!" + +"Which was very presumptuous of me," said Scott. + +"No, it wasn't. It was kind. And I--I was a perfect pig not to listen. I +want you to know that, Mr. Studley. I want you to know that I'm very, +very sorry I didn't listen." She spoke with trembling vehemence. + +Scott smiled a little. He was looking tired that morning. There were +weary lines about his eyes. "I don't know why you should be so very +penitent, Miss Bathurst," he said. "It was quite a small thing." + +"It got me into bad trouble anyway," said Dinah. "I've had a tremendous +wigging from the Colonel this morning, and if--if I ever do anything so +bad again, we're to be sent home." + +"I call that unreasonable," said Scott with decision. "It was not such a +serious matter as all that. If you want my opinion, I think it was a +mistake--a small mistake--on your part; nothing more." + +"But that wasn't all," said Dinah, looking away from him and quickening +her pace, "I--I have offended your brother too." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott. "And is that serious too?" + +"Don't laugh!" protested Dinah. "Of course it's serious. He--he won't +even look at me this morning." The sound of tears came suddenly into +her voice. "I was waiting for you on the verandah a little while ago, +and--and he went by with Rose and never glanced my way. All +because--because--oh, I am a little fool!" she declared, with an angry +stamp of the foot as she walked. + +"He's the fool!" said Scott rather shortly. "I shouldn't bother myself +over that if I were you." + +"I can't help it," said Dinah, her voice squeaking on a note +half-indignant, half-piteous. "I--I behaved so idiotically, just like a +raw schoolgirl. And I hate myself for it now!" + +Scott looked at her for the first time since the beginning of her +confidences. "Do you know, Miss Bathurst," he said, "I have a suspicion +that you are much too hard on yourself. Of course I don't know what +happened, but I do know that my brother is much more likely to have been +in the wrong than you were. The best thing you can do is simply to +dismiss the matter from your mind. Behave as if nothing had happened! Cut +him next time! It's far the best way of treating him." + +Dinah smiled woefully. "And he will spread himself at Rose's feet like +all the rest, and never come near me again." + +Scott frowned a little. "Miss de Vigne won't have the monopoly, I can +assure you." + +"She will," protested Dinah. "She knows how to flirt without being +caught. I don't." + +"Thank the gods for that!" said Scott with fervour. "So he tried to +flirt, did he? And you objected. Was that it?" + +"Something like that," murmured Dinah, with hot face averted. + +"Then in heaven's name, continue to object!" he said, with unusual +vehemence. "You did the right thing, child. Don't be drawn into doing +what others do! Strike out a straight line for yourself, and stick to it! +Above all, don't be ashamed of sticking to it! No woman was ever yet the +better or the more attractive for cultivating her talent for flirting. +Don't you know that it is your very genuineness and straightforwardness +that is your charm?" + +Dinah looked at him in sheer surprise. "I haven't got any charm," she +said. "That's just the trouble. It was only my dancing that made your +brother fancy I had last night." + +Scott's frown deepened, became almost formidable, then suddenly vanished +in a laugh. "That's just your point of view," he said. "Perhaps it's a +pity to open your eyes. But whatever you do, don't try to humour my +brother's whims! It would be very bad for him, and you certainly wouldn't +gain anything by it. Put up with me for a change, and come to tea +instead!" + +A flash of gaiety gleamed for a moment in Dinah's eyes. It was the first +he had seen that morning. "I'll come," she said, "if Lady Grace will let +me. But I think I had better ask first, don't you?" + +"Perhaps it would be safer," agreed Scott. "Tell her my sister is an +invalid! I don't think she will object. I made the acquaintance of the +doughty Colonel last night." + +"You know he isn't a bad sort," said Dinah. "He is much nicer than Lady +Grace or Rose. Of course he's rather stuck up, but that's only natural. +He's lived so long in India, and now he's a J.P. into the bargain. It +would be rather wonderful if he were anything else. Billy can't bear him, +but then Billy's a boy." + +"I like Billy," observed Scott. + +"Yes, and Billy likes you," she answered warmly. "He's quite an +intelligent boy." + +"Evidently," agreed Scott, with a smile. "Now here is the village! Where +do I post my letters?" + +Dinah directed him with cheerful alacrity. She was feeling much happier; +her tottering self-respect was almost restored. + +"He is a dear little man!" she said to herself with enthusiasm, as she +waited for him to purchase some stamps. + +"You've done me no end of good," she said frankly to the man himself as +they turned back. + +"I am very pleased to hear it," said Scott. "And it is extremely kind of +you to say so." + +"It's the truth," she maintained. "And, oh, you haven't been smoking all +this time. Don't you want to?" + +He stopped at once, and took out his cigarette-case. "Now you mention it, +I think I do. But I mustn't dawdle. I have got to get back to Isabel." + +Dinah waited while the cigarette kindled. Then, with a touch of shyness, +she spoke. + +"Mr. Studley, has--has your sister been an invalid for long?" + +He looked at her. "Do you want to hear about her?" + +"Yes, please," said Dinah. "If you don't mind." + +He began to walk on. It was evident that the hill was something of a +difficulty to him. He moved slowly, and his limp became more pronounced. +"No, I should like to tell you about her," he said. "You were so good +yesterday, and I hadn't prepared you in the least. I hope it didn't give +you a shock." + +"Of course it didn't," Dinah answered. "I'm not such a donkey as that. I +was only very, very sorry." + +"Thank you," he said, as if she had expressed direct sympathy with +himself. "It's hard to believe, isn't it, that seven years ago she +was--even lovelier than the beautiful Miss de Vigne, only in a very +different style?" + +"Not in the least," Dinah assured him. "She is far lovelier than Rose +now. She must have been--beautiful." + +"She was," said Scott. "She was like Eustace, except that she was always +much softer than he is. You would scarcely believe either that she is +three years younger than he is, would you?" + +"I certainly shouldn't," Dinah admitted. "But then, she must have come +through years of suffering." + +"Yes," Scott spoke with slight constraint, as though he could not bear to +dwell on the subject. "She was a girl of intensely vivid feelings, very +passionate and warmhearted. She and Eustace were inseparable in the old +days. They did everything together. He thought more of her than of anyone +else in the world. He does still." + +"He wasn't very nice to her last night," Dinah ventured. + +"No. He is often like that, and she is afraid of him. But the reason of +it is that he feels her trouble so horribly, and whenever he sees her in +that mood it hurts him intolerably. He is quite a good chap underneath, +Miss Bathurst. Like Isabel, he feels certain things intensely. Of course +he is five years older than I am, and we have never been pals in the +sense that he and she were pals. I was always a slow-goer, and they went +like the wind. But I know him. I know what his feelings are, and what +this thing has been to him. And though I am now much more to Isabel than +he will probably ever be again, he has never resented it or been anything +but generous and willing to give place to me. That, you know, indicates +greatness. With all his faults, he is great." + +"He shouldn't make her afraid of him," Dinah said. + +"I am afraid that is inevitable. He is strong, and she has lost her +strength. Her marriage too alienated them in the first place. She had +refused so many before Basil Everard came along, and I suppose he had +begun to think that she was not the marrying sort. But Everard caught her +almost in a day. They met in India. Eustace and she were touring there +one winter. Everard was a senior subaltern in a Ghurka regiment--an +awfully taking chap evidently. They practically fell in love with one +another at sight. Poor old Eustace!" Scott paused, faintly smiling. "He +meant her to marry well if she married at all, and Basil was no more than +the son of a country parson without a penny to his name. However, the +thing was past remedy. I saw that when they came home, and Isabel told me +about it. I was at Oxford then. She came down alone for a night, and +begged me to try and talk Eustace over. It was the beginning of a barrier +between them even then. It has grown high since. Eustace is a difficult +man to move, you know. I did my level best with him, but I wasn't very +successful. In the end of course the inevitable happened. Isabel lost +patience and broke away. She was on her way out again before either of us +knew. Eustace--of course Eustace was furious." Scott paused again. + +Dinah's silence denoted keen interest. Her expression was absorbed. + +He went on, the touch of constraint again apparent in his manner. It was +evident that the narration stirred up deep feelings. "We three had always +hung together. The family tie meant a good deal to us for the simple +reason that we were practically the only Studleys left. My father had +died six years before, my mother at my birth. Eustace was the head of the +family, and he and Isabel had been all in all to each other. He felt her +going more than I can possibly tell you, and scarcely a week after the +news came he got his things together and went off in the yacht to South +America to get over it by himself. I stayed on at Oxford, but I made up +my mind to go out to her in the vacation. A few days after his going, I +had a cable to say they were married. A week after that, there came +another cable to say that Everard was dead." + +"Oh!" Dinah drew a short, hard breath. "Poor Isabel!" she whispered. + +"Yes." Scott's pale eyes were gazing straight ahead. "He was killed two +days after the marriage. They had gone up to the Hills, to a place he +knew of right in the wilds on the side of a mountain, and pitched camp +there. There were only themselves, a handful of Pathan coolies with +mules, and a _shikari_. The day after they got there, he took her up the +mountain to show her some of the beauties of the place, and they lunched +on a ledge about a couple of hundred feet above a great lonely tarn. It +was a wonderful place but very savage, horribly desolate. They rested +after the meal, and then, Isabel being still tired, he left her to bask +in the sunshine while he went a little further. He told her to wait for +him. He was only going round the corner. There was a great bastion of +rock jutting on to the ledge. He wanted to have a look round the other +side of it. He went,--and he never came back." + +"He fell?" Dinah turned a shocked face upon him. "Oh, how dreadful!" + +"He must have fallen. The ledge dwindled on the other side of the rock to +little more than four feet in width for about six yards. There was a +sheer drop below into the pool. A man of steady nerve, accustomed to +mountaineering, would make nothing of it; and, from what Isabel has told +me of him, I gather he was that sort of man. But on that particular +afternoon something must have happened. Perhaps his happiness had +unsteadied him a bit, for they were absolutely happy together. Or it may +have been the heat. Anyhow he fell, he must have fallen. And no one +ever knew any more than that." + +"How dreadful!" Dinah whispered again. "And she was left--all alone?" + +"Quite alone except for the natives, and they didn't find her till the +day after. She was pacing up and down the ledge then, up and down, up and +down eternally, and she refused--flatly refused--to leave it till he +should come back. She had spent the whole night there alone, waiting, +getting more and more distraught, and they could do nothing with her. +They were afraid of her. Never from that day to this has she admitted for +a moment that he must have been killed, though in her heart she knows it, +poor girl, just as she knew it from the very beginning." + +"But what happened?" breathed Dinah. "What did they do? They couldn't +leave her there." + +"They didn't know what to do. The _shikari_ was the only one with any +ideas among them, and he wasn't especially brilliant. But after another +day and night he hit on the notion of sending one of the coolies back +with the news while he and the other men waited and watched. They kept +her supplied with food. She must have eaten almost mechanically. But she +never left that ledge. And yet--and yet--she was kept from taking the one +step that would have ended it all. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't +have been better--more merciful--" He broke off. + +"Perhaps God was watching her," murmured Dinah shyly. + +"Yes, I tell myself that. But even so, I can't help wondering sometimes." +Scott's voice was very sad. "She was left so terribly desolate," he said. +"Those letters that you saw last night are all she has of him. He has +gone, and taken the mainspring of her life with him. I hate to think of +what followed. They sent up a doctor from the nearest station, and she +was taken away,--taken by force. When I got to her three weeks later, she +was mad, raving mad, with brain fever. I had the old nurse Biddy with me. +We nursed her between us. We brought her back to what she is now. Some +day, please God, we shall get her quite back again; but whether it will +be for her happiness He only knows." + +Scott ceased to speak. His brows were drawn as the brows of a man in +pain. + +Dinah's eyes were full of tears. "Oh, thank you for telling me! Thank +you!" she murmured. "I do hope you will get her quite back, as you say." + +He looked at her, saw her tears, and put out a gentle hand that rested +for a moment upon her arm. "I am afraid I have made you unhappy. Forgive +me! You are so sympathetic, and I have taken advantage of it. I think we +shall get her back. She is coming very, very gradually. She has never +before taken such an interest in anyone as she took in you last night. +She was talking of you again this morning. She has taken a fancy to you. +I hope you don't mind." + +"Mind!" Dinah choked a little and smiled a quivering smile. "I am +proud--very proud. I only wish I deserved it. What--what made you bring +her here?" + +"That was my brother's idea. Since we brought her home she has never been +away, except once on the yacht; and then she was so miserable that we +were afraid to keep her there. But he thought a thorough change--mountain +air--might do her good. The doctor was not against it. So we came." + +"And do you never leave her?" questioned Dinah. + +"Practically never. Ever since that awful time in India she has been very +dependent upon me. Biddy of course is quite indispensable to her. And I +am nearly so." + +"You have given yourself up to her in fact?" Quick admiration was in +Dinah's tone. + +He smiled. "It didn't mean so much to me as it would have meant to some +men, Miss Bathurst,--as it would have meant to Eustace, for instance. I'm +not much of a man. To give up my college career and settle down at home +wasn't such a great wrench. I'm not especially clever. I act as my +brother's secretary, and we find it answers very well. He is a rich man, +and there is a good deal of business in connection with the estate, and +so on. I am a poor man. By my father's will nearly everything was left to +him and to Isabel. I was something of an offence to him, being the cause +of my mother's death and misshapen into the bargain." + +"What a wicked shame!" broke from Dinah. + +"No, no! Some people are like that. They are made so. I don't feel in the +least bitter about it. He left me enough to live upon, though as a matter +of fact neither he nor anyone else expected me to grow up at the time +that will was made. It was solely due to Biddy's devotion, I believe, +that I managed to do so." He uttered his quiet laugh. "I am talking +rather much about myself. It's kind of you not to be bored." + +"Bored!" echoed Dinah, with shining eyes. "I think you are simply +wonderful. I hope--I hope Sir Eustace realizes it." + +"I hope he does," agreed Scott with a twinkle. "He has ample +opportunities for doing so. Ah, there he is! He is actually skating +alone. What has become of the beautiful Miss de Vigne, I wonder." + +They walked on, nearing the rink. "I'm not going to be horrid about her +any more," said Dinah suddenly. "You must have thought me a perfect +little cat. And so I was!" + +"Oh, please!" protested Scott. "I didn't!" + +She laughed. "That just shows how kind you are. It doesn't make me feel +the least bit better. I was a cat. There! Oh, your brother is calling +you. I think I'll go." + +She blushed very deeply and quickened her steps. Sir Eustace had come to +the edge of the rink. + +"Stumpy!" he called. "Stumpy!" + +"How dare he call you that?" said Dinah. "I can't think how you can put +up with it." + +Scott raised his shoulders slightly, philosophically. "Doesn't the cap +fit?" he said. + +"Not a bit," Dinah declared with emphasis. "I have another name for you +that suits you far better." + +"Oh! What is that?" he looked at her with smiling curiosity. + +Dinah's blush deepened from carmine to crimson. "I call you--Mr. +Greatheart," she said, her voice very low. "Because you help everybody." + +A gleam of surprise crossed his face. He flushed also; but she saw that +though embarrassed, he was not displeased. + +He put a hand to his cap. "Thank you, Miss Bathurst," he said simply, and +turned without further words to answer his brother's summons. + +Dinah walked quickly on. That stroll with Scott had quite lifted her out +of her depression. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RUNAWAY COLT + + +"It really is very tiresome," complained Lady Grace. "I knew that child +was going to be a nuisance from the very outset." + +"What has she done now?" growled the Colonel. + +He was lounging in the easiest chair in the room, smoking an excellent +cigar, preparatory to indulging in his afternoon nap. His wife reclined +upon a sofa with a French novel which she had not begun to read. Through +the great windows that opened on to the balcony the sunshine streamed in +a flood of golden light. Rose was seated on the balcony enjoying the +warmth. Lady Grace's eyes rested upon her slim figure in its scarlet coat +as she made reply. + +"These people--these Studleys--won't leave her alone. Or else she runs +after them. I can't quite make out which. Probably the latter. Anyhow the +sister--who, I believe is what is termed slightly mental--has asked her +to go to tea in their private sitting-room. I have told her she must +decline." + +"Quite right," said the Colonel. "What did she say?" + +Lady Grace uttered a little laugh. "Oh, she was very ridiculous and +high-flown, as you may imagine. But, as I told her, I am directly +responsible to her mother for any friendships she may make out here, and +I am not disposed to take any risks. We all know what Mrs. Bathurst can +be like if she considers herself an injured party." + +"A perfect she-dragon!" agreed the Colonel. "I fancy the child herself is +still kept in order with the rod. Why, even Bathurst--great hulking +ox--is afraid of her. Billy isn't, but then Billy apparently can do no +wrong." + +"She certainly loves no one else," said Lady Grace. "I never met anyone +with such an absolutely vixenish and uncontrolled temper. I am sorry for +Dinah. I have always pitied her, for she certainly works hard, and gets +little praise for it. But at the same time, I can't let her run wild now +she is off the rein for a little. It wouldn't be right. And these people +are total strangers." + +"I believe they are of very good family," said the Colonel. "The title is +an old one, and Sir Eustace is evidently a rich man. I had the +opportunity for a little talk with the brother yesterday evening. A very +courteous little chap--quite unusually so. I think we may regard them as +quite passable." His eyes also wandered to the graceful, lounging figure +on the balcony. "At the same time I shouldn't let Dinah accept +hospitality from them, anyhow at this stage. She is full young. She must +be content to stay in the background--at least for the present." + +"Just what I say," said Lady Grace. "Of course if the younger brother +should take a fancy to her--and he certainly seems to be attracted--it +might be a very excellent thing for her. Her mother can't hope to keep +her as maid of all work for ever. But I can't have her pushing herself +forward. I was very glad to hear you reprimand her so severely this +morning." + +"She deserved it," said the Colonel judicially. "But at the same time if +there is any chance of what you suggest coming to pass, I have no wish to +stand in the child's way. I have a fancy that she will find the bondage +at home considerably more irksome after this taste of freedom. It might, +as you say, be a good thing for her if the little chap did fall in love +with her. Her mother can't expect much of a match for her." + +"Oh, if that really happened, her mother would be charmed," said Lady +Grace. "She is a queer, ill-balanced creature, and I don't believe she +has ever had the smallest affection for her. She would be delighted to +get her off her hands, I should say. But things mustn't move too quickly, +or they may go in the wrong direction." Again her eyes sought her +daughter's graceful outline. "You say Sir Eustace is rich?" she asked, +after a moment. + +"Extremely rich, I should say. He has his own yacht, a house in town as +well as a large place in the country, and he will probably get a seat in +Parliament at the next election. I'm not greatly taken with the man +myself," declared Colonel de Vigne. "He is too overbearing. At the same +time," again his eyes followed his wife's, "he would no doubt be a +considerable catch." + +"I don't mean Dinah to have Sir Eustace," said Lady Grace very decidedly. +"It would be most unsuitable. Yes, what is it?" as a low knock came at +the door. "Come in!" + +It opened, and Dinah, looking flushed and rather uncertain, made her +appearance. + +"I wish you would have the consideration not to disturb us at this hour, +my dear Dinah," said Lady Grace peevishly. "What is it you want now?" + +"I am sorry," said Dinah meekly. "But I heard your voices, so I knew you +weren't asleep. I just came in to say that Billy and I are going luging +if you don't mind." + +"What next?" said Lady Grace, still fretful. "Of course I don't mind so +long as you don't get up to mischief." + +"Dinah, come here!" said the Colonel suddenly. + +Dinah, on the point of beating a swift retreat, stood still with obvious +reluctance. + +"Come here!" he repeated. + +She went to him hesitatingly. + +He reached up a hand and grasped her by the arm. "Were you eavesdropping +just now?" he demanded. + +Dinah started as if stung. "I--I--of course I wasn't!" she declared, with +vehemence. "How can you suggest such a thing?" + +"Quite sure?" said the Colonel, still holding her. + +She wrenched herself from him in a sudden fury. "Colonel de Vigne, +you--you insult me! I am not the sort that listens outside closed doors. +How dare you? How dare you?" + +She stamped her foot with the words, gazing down at him with blazing +eyes. + +The Colonel stiffened slightly, but he kept his temper. "If I have done +you an injustice, I apologize," he said. "You may go." + +And Dinah went like a whirlwind, banging the door behind her. + +"Well, really!" protested Lady Grace in genuine displeasure. + +Her husband smiled somewhat grimly. "A vixen's daughter, my dear! What +can you expect?" + +"She behaves like a fishwife's daughter," said Lady Grace. "And if she +wasn't actually eavesdropping I am convinced she heard what I said." + +"So am I," said the Colonel drily. "I was about to tax her with it. Hence +her masterly retreat. But she was not deliberately eavesdropping or she +would not have given herself away so openly. I quite agree with you, my +dear. A match between her and Sir Eustace would not be suitable. And I +also think Sir Eustace would be the first to see it. Anyhow, I shall take +an early opportunity of letting him know that her birth is by no means a +high one, and that her presence here is simply due to our kindness. At +the same time, should the rather ludicrous little younger brother take it +into his head to follow her up, so far as family goes he is of course too +good for her, but I am sorry for the child and I shall put no obstacle in +the way." + +"All the same she shall not go to tea there unless Rose is invited too," +said Lady Grace firmly. + +"There," said the Colonel pompously, "I think that you are right." + +Lady Grace simpered a little, and opened her novel. "It really wouldn't +surprise me to find that she is a born fortune-hunter," she said. "I am +certain the mother is avaricious." + +"The mother," said Colonel de Vigne with the deliberation of one arrived +at an unalterable decision, "is the most disagreeable, vulgar, and wholly +objectionable person that I have ever met." + +"Oh, quite," said Lady Grace. "If she were in our set, she would be +altogether intolerable. But--thank heaven--she is not! Now, dear, if you +don't mind, I am going to read myself to sleep. I have promised Rose to +go to the ice carnival to-night, and I need a little relaxation first." + +"I suppose Dinah is going?" said the Colonel. + +"Oh, yes. But she is nothing of a skater." Lady Grace suddenly broke into +a little laugh. "I wonder if the redoubtable Mrs. Bathurst does really +beat her when she is naughty. It would be excellent treatment for her, +you know." + +"I haven't a doubt of it," said the Colonel. "She is absolutely under her +mother's control. That great raw-boned woman would have a heavy hand too, +I'll be bound." + +"Oh, there is no doubt Dinah stands very much in awe of her. I never knew +she had any will of her own till she came here. I always took her for the +meekest little creature imaginable." + +"There is a good deal more in Miss Dinah than jumps to the eye," said the +Colonel. "In fact, if you ask me, I should say she is something of a dark +horse. She is just beginning to feel her feet and she'll surprise us all +one of these days by turning into a runaway colt." + +"Not, I do hope, while she is in my charge," said Lady Grace. + +"We will hope not," agreed the Colonel. "But all the same, I rather think +that her mother will find her considerably less tame and tractable when +she sees her again than she has ever been before. Liberty, you know, is a +dangerous joy for the young." + +"Then we must be more strict with her ourselves," said Lady Grace. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE + + +Dinah ran swiftly down the corridor to her own room. + +As a matter of fact, she had intruded upon the Colonel and Lady Grace in +the secret hope of finding a propitious moment for once again pressing +her request to be allowed to accept Scott's invitation to tea. Her +failure to do so added fuel to the flame, arousing in her an almost +irresistible impulse to rebel openly. + +The fear of consequences alone restrained her, for to be escorted home in +disgrace after only a week in this Alpine paradise was more than she +could face. All her life the dread of her mother's wrath had overhung +Dinah like a cloud, sometimes near, sometimes distant, but always +present. She had been brought up to fear her from her cradle. All through +her childhood her punishments had been bitterly severe. She winced still +at the bare thought of them; and she was as fully convinced as was Lady +Grace that her mother had never really loved her. To come under the ban +of her displeasure meant days of harsh treatment, nor, now that her +childhood was over, had the discipline been relaxed. She never attempted +to rebel openly. Her fear of her mother had become an integral part of +herself. Her spirit shrank before her fits of violence. But for her +father and Billy she sometimes thought that home would be an impossible +place. + +But her affection for her father was of a very intense order. Lazy, +self-indulgent, supremely easy-going, yet possessed of a fascination that +had held her from babyhood, such was Guy Bathurst. Despised at least +outwardly by his wife and adored by his daughter, he went his indifferent +way, enjoying life as he found it and quite impervious to snubs. + +"I never interfere with your mother," was a very frequent sentence on his +lips, and by that axiom he ruled his life, looking negligently on while +Dinah was bent without mercy to the wheel of tyranny. + +He was fond of Dinah,--her devotion to him made that inevitable--but he +never obtruded his fondness to the point of interference on her behalf; +for both of them were secretly aware that the harshness meted out to her +had much of its being in a deep, unreasoning jealousy of that very +selfish fondness. They kept their affection as it were for strictly +private consumption, and it was that alone that made life at home +tolerable to Dinah. + +For upon one point her father was insistent. He would not part with her +unless she married. He did not object to her working at home for his +comfort, but the idea of her working elsewhere and making her living was +one which he refused to consider. With rare self-assertion, he would not +hear of it, and when he really asserted himself, which was seldom, his +wife was wont to yield, albeit ungraciously enough, to his behest. + +Besides Dinah was undoubtedly useful at home, and would certainly grow +out of hand if she left her. + +Not very willingly had she agreed to let her go upon this Alpine jaunt +with the de Vignes, but Billy had been so keen, and the invitation would +scarcely have been extended to him alone. + +The whole idea had originated between the heads of the two families, +riding home together after a day's hunting. Dinah had chanced to come +into the conversation, and the Colonel, comparing her with that of his +own daughter and being stirred to pity, had suggested that the two +children might like to join them on their forthcoming expedition. +Bathurst had at once accepted the tentative proposal, and had blurted +forth the whole matter to his assembled family on his return with the +result that Billy's instant and eager delight had made it virtually +impossible for his mother to oppose the suggestion. + +Dinah had been delighted too, almost deliriously so; but she had kept her +pleasure to herself, not daring to show it in her mother's presence till +the actual arrival of the last day. Then indeed she had lost her head, +had sung and danced and made merry, till some trifling accident had +provoked her mother's untempered wrath and a sound boxing of ears had +quite sobered her enthusiasm. She had fared forth finally upon the +adventure with tearful eyes and drooping heart, her mother's frigid kiss +of farewell hurting her more poignantly than her drastic punishment of an +hour before. For Dinah was intensely sensitive, keenly susceptible to +rebuke and coldness, and her warm heart shrank from unkindness with a +shrinking that was actual pain. + +She knew that the little social world of Perrythorpe looked down upon her +mother though not actually refusing to associate with her. Bathurst had +married a circus-girl in his green Oxford days; so the story went,--a +hard, handsome woman older than himself, and fiercely, intensely +ambitious. Lack of funds had prevented her climbing very high, and +bitterly she resented her failure. He had never done a day's work in his +life, but, unlike his wife, he had plenty of friends. He was well-bred, a +good rider, a straight shot, and an entertaining guest. He knew everyone +within a radius of twenty miles, and was upon terms of easy intimacy with +the de Vignes and many others who received him with pleasure, but very +seldom went out of their way to encounter his wife. + +Dinah shrewdly suspected that this fact accounted for much of the +bitterness of her mother's outlook. Her ambition had apparently died of +starvation long since, but her resentment remained. Her hand was against +practically all the world, including her daughter, whose fairy-like +daintiness and piquancy were so obvious a contrast to the somewhat coarse +and flashy beauty that had once been hers. For all that Dinah inherited +from her mother was her gipsy darkness. Mrs. Bathurst was not flashy now, +and any attempt at personal adornment on Dinah's part was always very +sternly repressed. She had met and writhed under the eye of scornful +criticism too often, and she distrusted her own taste. She was determined +that Dinah should never be subjected to the same humiliation. + +She humiliated her often enough herself. It was the only means she knew +of asserting her authority; for she had no intention of ever being the +object of her daughter's contempt. She was harsh to the point of +brutality, so that the girl's heart was wont to quicken apprehensively +whenever she heard her step. She scolded, she punished, she coerced. But +from an outsider, the bare thought of a snub was unendurable, and the +possibility that Dinah might by any means lay herself open to one was +enough to bring down the vials of wrath upon her head. Dinah remembered +still with shivering vividness the whipping she had received on one +occasion for demeaning herself by running after the de Vignes's carriage +to deliver a message. Her mother's whippings had always been very +terrible, vindictively thorough. The indignity of them lashed her soul +even more cruelly than the unsparing thong her body. Because of them she +went in daily trepidation, submissive almost to the point of abjectness, +lest this hateful and demoralizing form of punishment should be inflicted +upon her. For some time now, by great wariness and circumspection she had +evaded it, and she had begun to entertain the trembling hope that she was +at last considered to have passed the age for such childish correction. +But her mother's outbreak of violence on the day of their departure had +been a painful disillusion, and she knew well what it would mean to +return home in disgrace with the de Vignes. Her cheeks burned and tingled +still with the shame of the discovery. She felt that another of the old +dreadful chastisements would overwhelm her utterly. And yet that she +would most certainly have to endure it if she were unruly now was +conviction that pressed like a cold weight upon her heart. Had not the +letter she had received from her mother only that morning contained a +stern injunction to her to behave herself, as though she had been a +naughty, wayward child? + +"It would kill me!" she told herself passionately. "Oh, why, why, why +can't I grow up quick and marry? But I never shall grow up at home. +That's the horrible, horrible part of it. And I shall never have a chance +of marrying with mother looking on. I'm just a slave--a slave. Other +girls can have a good time, do as they like, flirt when they like. But +I--never--never!" + +Her fit of rebellion lasted long. The emancipation from the home bondage +was beginning to work within her as the Colonel had predicted. Seen from +a distance, the old tyranny seemed outrageous and impossible, to go back +into it monstrous. And yet, so far as she could see, there was no way of +escape. She was not apparently to be allowed to make any friends outside +her own sphere. The freedom she had begun to enjoy so feverishly had very +suddenly been circumscribed, and if she dared to overstep the bounds +marked out for her, she knew what to expect. + +And yet she longed for freedom as she had never longed in her life +before. She was nearly desperate with longing, so sweet had been the +first, intoxicating taste thereof. For the first time she had seen life +from the standpoint of the ordinary, happy girl, and the contrast to the +life she knew had temporarily upset her equilibrium. Her mother's +treatment, harsh before, seemed unendurable now. Her cheeks burned afresh +with a fierce, intolerable shame. No, no! She could never face it again. +She could not! She could not! Already her brief emancipation had begun to +cost her dear. She must--she must--find a way of escape ere she went back +into thraldom. For she knew her mother's strength so terribly well. It +would conquer all resistance by sheer, overwhelming weight. She could not +remember a single occasion upon which she had ever in the smallest degree +held her own against it. Her will had been broken to her mother's so +often that the very thought of prolonged resistance seemed absurd. She +knew herself to be incapable of it. She was bound to crumple under the +strain, bound to be humbled to the dust long ere the faintest hope of +outmatching her mother's iron will had begun to dawn in her soul. The +very thought made her feel puny and contemptible. If she resisted to the +very uttermost of her strength, yet would she be crushed in the end, and +that end would be more horribly painful than she dared to contemplate. +All her childhood it had been the same. She had been conquered ere she +had passed the threshold of rebellion. She had never been permitted to +exercise a will of her own, and the discovery that she possessed one had +been something of a surprise to Dinah. + +It was partly this discovery that made her long so passionately for +freedom. She wanted to grow, to develop, to get beyond the stultifying +influence of that unvarying despotism. She longed to get away from the +perpetual dread of consequences that so haunted her. She wanted to +breathe her own atmosphere, live her own life, be herself. + +"I believe I could do lots of things if I only had the chance," she +murmured to herself; and then she was suddenly plunged into the memory of +another occasion when she had received summary and austere punishment for +omitting scales from her practising. But then no one ever liked doing +what they must, and she had never had any real taste for music; or if she +had had, it had vanished long since under the uninspiring goad of +compulsion. + +All her morning depression came back while these bitter meditations +racked her brain. Oh, if only--if only--her father had chosen a lady for +his wife! It was disloyal, she knew, to indulge such a thought, but her +mood was black and her soul was in revolt. She was sure--quite sure--that +marriage presented the only possibility of deliverance, and deliverance +was beginning to seem imperative. Her whole individuality, which this +past week of giddy liberty had done so much to develop, cried aloud for +it. + +She went to the window. Billy had grown tired of waiting and gone off +without her. She fancied she could see his sturdy figure on the further +slope. Her eyes took in the whole lovely scene, and suddenly, +effervescently, her spirits began to rise. The inherent gaiety of her +bubbled to the surface. What a waste of time to stay here grizzling while +that paradise lay awaiting her! The sweetness of her nature began to +assert itself once more, and an almost fevered determination to live in +the present, to be happy while she could, entered into her. With +impetuous energy she pushed the evil thoughts away. She would be happy. +She would! She would! And happiness was not difficult to Dinah. It +bubbled in her, a natural spring, that ever flowed again even after the +worst storms had forced it from its course. + +She even laughed to herself as she prepared to join Billy. Life was +good,--oh yes, life was good! And home and the trials thereof were many +miles away. Who could be unhappy for long in such a world as this, where +the air sparkled like champagne, and the magic of it ran riot in the +blood? + +The black mood passed away from her spirit like a cloud. She threw on cap +and coat and ran to join the merry-makers. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OLYMPUS + + +All through that afternoon Dinah and Billy played like cubs in the snow. +They were very inexperienced in the art of luging, but they took their +spills with much heartiness and a total disregard of dignity that made +for complete enjoyment. + +When the sun went down they forsook the sport, and joined in a +snowballing match with a dozen or more of their fellow-visitors. But +Dinah proved herself so adroit and impartial at this game that she +presently became a general target, and found it advisable to retreat +before she was routed. This she did with considerable skill and no small +strategy, finally darting flushed and breathless into the hotel, covered +with snow from head to foot, but game to the last. + +"Well done!" commented a lazy voice behind her. "Now raise the drawbridge +and lower the portcullis, and the honours of war are assured." + +She turned with the flashing movement of a bird upon the wing, and found +herself face to face with Sir Eustace. + +His blue eyes met hers with deliberate nonchalance. "Sit down," he said, +"while I fetch you some tea!" + +Her heart gave an odd little leap that was half of pleasure and half of +dread. She stammered incoherently that he must not take the trouble. + +But he was evidently bent upon so doing, for he pressed her into the seat +which he had just vacated. "Keep the place in the corner for me!" he +commanded, and lounged away upon his errand with imperial leisureliness. + +Dinah watched his tall figure out of sight. The encounter both astounded +and thrilled her. She wondered if she were cheapening herself by meekly +obeying his behest, wondered what Rose--that practised coquette--would +have done under such circumstances; but to depart seemed so wholly out of +the question that she dismissed the wonder as futile. She could only wait +for the play to develop, and trust to her own particular luck, which had +so favoured her the night before, to give her a cue. + +He returned with tea and cake which he set before her on a little table +that he had apparently secured beforehand for the purpose. "I am sure you +must be ravenous," he said, in those high-bred, somewhat insolent accents +of his. + +"I am," Dinah admitted frankly. + +"Then let me see you satisfy your hunger!" he said, seating himself in +the corner he had reserved. + +"Oh, but not alone!" she protested. "You--you must have some too." + +He laughed. "No. I am going to smoke--with your permission. It will do me +more good." + +"Oh, pray do!" said Dinah, embarrassed still but strangely elated. "It +makes me feel rather greedy, that's all." + +"I am greedy too," he told her, his blue eyes still upon her vivid, +sparkling face. "And--always with your permission--I am going to indulge +my greed." + +She did not understand him, but prudence restrained her from telling him +so. Seated as she was he was the only person in the vestibule whom she +could see, her back being turned to all beside. She wondered, again with +that delightful yet half-startled thrill, if his meaning were in any way +connected with this fact. He certainly absorbed the whole of her +attention, if that were what he wanted. Her hunger faded completely into +the background. + +He lighted a cigarette and began to smoke. The space beyond them was full +of moving figures and laughing voices; but the turmoil scarcely reached +Dinah. An invisible barrier seemed to shut them off from all the rest. +They were not merely aloof; they were alone, and a curiously intimate +touch pervaded their solitude. She felt her spirit start in quivering +response to the call of his, just as the night before when she had +floated with him above the clouds. What was happening to her she had not +the least idea, but the consciousness of his near presence pulsed +magnetically through and through her. Scott's brief advice of the morning +was scattered from her memory like feathers before the wind. She had no +memory. She lived only in this burning splendid ardour of a moment. + +She drank her tea mechanically, finding nothing enigmatic in his silence. +The direct look of his blue eyes discomfited her strangely, but it was a +sublime discomfiture--the discomfiture of the moth around the flame. She +longed to meet it, but did not wholly dare. With veiled glances she +yielded to the attraction, not yet bold enough for complete surrender. + +He spoke at last, and she started. + +"Well? Am I forgiven?" + +The nonchalant enquiry sent the blood in another hot wave to her cheeks. +Had she ever presumed to be angry with this godlike person? + +"For what?" she asked, her voice very low. + +He leaned towards her. "Did I only fancy that by some evil chance I had +offended you?" + +She kept her eyes lowered. "I thought you were the offended one," she +said. + +"I?" She caught the note of surprise in his voice, and it sent a very +curious little sense of shame through her. + +With an effort she raised her eyes. "Yes. I thought you were offended. +You went by me this morning without seeing me." + +His look was very intent, almost as if he were searching for something; +but it did not disconcert her as she had half-expected to be +disconcerted. His eyes were more caressing than dominant just then. + +"What if I didn't see you because I didn't dare?" he said. + +That gave her confidence. "I should think you couldn't be so silly as +that," she said with decision. + +He smiled a little. "Thank you, _miladi_. Then wasn't it--almost equally +silly--your word, not mine!--of you to be afraid of me last night?" + +She felt the thrust in a moment, and went white, conscious of the weak +sick feeling that so often came over her at the sound of her mother's +step when she was in disgrace. + +He saw her distress, but he allowed several moments to elapse before he +came to the rescue; Then lightly, "Pray don't let the matter disturb +you!" he said. "Only--for your peace of mind--let me tell you that you +really have nothing to fear. Out here we live in fairyland, and no one +is in earnest. We just enjoy ourselves, and Mrs. Grundy simply doesn't +exist. We are not ashamed of being frivolous, and we do whatever we like. +And there are no consequences. Always remember that, Miss Bathurst! There +are never any consequences in fairyland." + +His eyes suddenly laughed at her, and Dinah was vastly reassured. Her +dismay vanished, leaving a blithe sense of irresponsibility in its place. + +"I shall remember that," she said, with her gay little nod. "I dreamt +last night that we were in Olympus." + +"We?" he said softly. + +She nodded again, flushed and laughing, confident that she had received +her cue. "And you--were Apollo." + +She saw his eyes change magically, flashing into swift life, and dropped +her own before the mastery that dawned there. + +"And you," he questioned under his breath, "were Daphne?" + +"Perhaps," she said enigmatically. After all, flirting was not such a +difficult art, and since he had declared that there could be no +consequences, she did not see why she should bury this new-found talent +of hers. + +"What a charming dream!" he commented lazily. "But you know what happened +to Daphne when she ran away, don't you?" + +She flung him a laughing challenge. "He didn't catch her anyway." + +"True!" smiled Sir Eustace. "But have you never wondered whether it +wouldn't have been more sport for her if he had? It wouldn't be very +exciting, you know, to lead the life of a vegetable." + +"It isn't!" declared Dinah, with abrupt sincerity. + +"Oh, you know something about it, do you?" he said. "Then the modern +Daphne ought to have too much sense to run away." + +She laughed with a touch of wistfulness. "I wonder how she felt about it +afterwards." + +"I wonder," he agreed, tipping the ash off his cigarette. "It didn't +matter so much to Apollo, you see. He had plenty to choose from." + +Dinah's wistfulness vanished in a swift breath of indignation. "Really!" +she said. + +He looked at her. "Yes, really," he told her, with deliberation. "And he +didn't need to run after them either. But, possibly," his gaze softened +again, "possibly that was what made him want Daphne the most. Elusiveness +is quite a fascinating quality if it isn't carried too far. Still--" he +smiled--"I expect he got over it in the end, you know; but in her case I +am not quite so sure." + +"I don't suppose he did get ever it," maintained Dinah with spirit. "All +the rest must have seemed very cheap afterwards." + +"Perhaps he was more at home with the cheap variety," he suggested +carelessly. + +His eyes had wandered to the buzzing throng behind her, and she saw a +glint of criticism--or was it merely easy contempt?--dispel the smile +with which he had regarded her. His mouth wore a faint but unmistakable +sneer. + +But in a moment his look returned to her, kindled upon her. "Are you for +the ice carnival to-night?" he asked. + +She drew a quick, eager breath. "Oh, I do want to come! But I don't +know--yet--if I shall be allowed." + +"Why ask?" he questioned. + +She hesitated, then ingenuously she told him her difficulty. "I got into +trouble last night for dancing so late with you. And--and--I may be sent +to bed early to make up for it." + +He frowned. "Do you mean to say you'd go?" + +She coloured vividly. "I'm only nineteen, and I have to do as I'm told." + +"Heavens above!" he said. "You belong to the generation before the last +evidently. No girl ever does as she is told now-a-days. It isn't the +thing." + +"I do," whispered Dinah, in dire confusion. "At least--generally." + +"And what happens if you don't?" he queried. "Do they whip you and put +you to bed?" + +She clenched her hands hard. "Don't!" she said. "You're only joking, I +know. But--I hate it!" + +His manner changed in a moment, became half-quizzical, half-caressing. +"Poor little brown elf, what a shame! Well, come if you can! I shall look +out for you. I may have something to show you." + +"May you? Oh, what?" cried Dinah, all eagerness in a moment. + +He laughed. There was a provoking hint of mystery in his manner. "Ah! +That lies in the future, _miladi_." + +"But tell me!" she persisted. + +"Will you come then?" he asked. + +"Perhaps," she said. "If I can!" + +"Ah! And perhaps not!" he said. "What then?" + +Dinah's mouth grew suddenly firm. "I will come," she said. + +"You will?" His keen eyes held hers with smiling compulsion. + +"Yes, I will." + +He made a gesture as if he would take her hand, but restrained himself, +and paused to tip the ash once more off his cigarette. + +"Now tell me!" commanded Dinah. + +"I don't think I will," he said deliberately. + +"But you must!" said Dinah. + +His eyes sought hers again with that look which she found it impossible +to meet. She bent over her cup. + +"What will you show me?" she persisted. "Tell me!" + +"I didn't say I would show you anything," he pointed out. "I said I +might." + +"Tell me what it was anyhow!" she said. + +He leaned nearer to her, and suddenly it seemed to her that they were +quite alone, very far removed from the rest of the world. "It may not be +to-night," he murmured. "Or even to-morrow. But some day--in this land +where there are no consequences--I will show you--when the fates are +propitious, not before--some of the things that Daphne missed when she +ran away." + +He ceased to speak. Dinah's face was burning. She could not look at him. +She felt as if a magic flame had wrapped her round. Her whole body was +tingling, her heart wildly a-quiver. There was a rapture in that moment +that was almost too intense, too poignant, to be borne. + +He was the first to move. Calmly he leaned back, and resumed his +cigarette. Through the aromatic smoke his voice came to her again. + +"Are you angry?" + +Her whole being stirred in response. She uttered a little quivering laugh +that was near akin to tears. + +"No--of course--no! But I--I think I ought to go and dress! It's getting +late, isn't it? Thank you for giving me tea!" She rose, her movements +quick and dainty as the flight of a robin. "Good-bye!" she murmured +shyly. + +He rose also with a sweeping bow. "_A bientôt_,--Daphne!" he said. + +She gave him a single swift glance from under fluttering lashes, and +turned away in silence. + +She went up the stairs with the speed of a bird on the wing, but she +could not outpace the wonder and the wild delight at her heart. As she +entered her own room at length, she laughed, a breathless, rippling +laugh. How amazing--and how gorgeous--was this new life! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WINE OF THE GODS + + +The rink was ablaze with fairy-lights under the starry sky. Rose de +Vigne, exquisitely fair in ruby velvet and ermine furs paused on the +verandah, looking pensively forth. + +Very beautiful she looked standing there, and Captain Brent of the +Sappers striding forth with his skates jingling in his hand stopped as +one compelled. + +"Are you waiting for someone, Miss de Vigne? Or may I escort you?" + +She looked at him with a faint smile as if in pity for his +disappointment. "Too late, I am afraid, Captain Brent. I have promised +Sir Eustace to skate with him." + +"Who?" Brent glanced towards the rink. "Why, he's down there already +dancing about with your little cousin. That's her laugh. Don't you hear +it?" + +Dinah's laugh, clear and ringing, came to them on the still air. Rose's +slim figure stiffened very slightly, barely perceptibly, at the sound. +"Sir Eustace has forgotten his engagement," she said icily. "Yes, Captain +Brent, I will come with you." + +"Good business!" he said heartily. "It's a glorious night. Somebody said +there was a change coming; but I don't believe it. Maddening if a thaw +comes before the luging competition. The run is just perfection now. I'm +going up there presently. It's glorious by moonlight." + +He chattered inconsequently on, happy in the fact that he had secured the +prettiest girl in the hotel for his partner, and not in the least +disturbed by any lack of response on her part. To skate with her hand in +hand was the utmost height of his ambition just then, his brain not being +of a particularly aspiring order. + +Down on the rink all was gaiety and laughter. The lights shone ruby, +emerald, and sapphire, upon the darting figures. The undernote of the +rushing skates made magic music everywhere. The whole scene was +fantastic--a glittering fairyland of colour and enchantment. + +"Each evening seems more splendid than the last," declared Dinah. + +"They always will if you spend them in my company," said Sir Eustace. "Do +you know I could very soon teach you to skate as perfectly as you dance?" + +"I believe you could teach me anything," she answered happily. + +"Given a free hand I believe I could," he said. "But the gift is yours, +not mine. You have the most wonderful knack of divining a mood. You adapt +yourself instinctively. I never knew anyone respond so perfectly to the +unspoken wish. How is it, I wonder?" + +"I don't know," she answered shyly. "But I can't help understanding what +you want." + +"Does that mean that we are kindred spirits?" he asked, and suddenly the +clasp of his hands was close and intimate. + +"I expect it does," said Dinah; but she said it with a touch of +uneasiness. The voice that had spoken within her the night before, +warning her, urging her to be gone, was beginning to murmur again, +bidding her to beware. + +She turned from the subject with ready versatility, obedient to the +danger-signal. "Oh, there is Rose! I am afraid I ran away from her after +dinner. They went upstairs for coffee, but I was so dreadfully afraid of +being stopped that I hung behind and escaped. I do hope the Colonel won't +be in a wax again. But I don't see that there was anything wicked in it; +for Lady Grace herself is coming to look on presently." + +"I skated with Miss de Vigne nearly all the afternoon," observed Sir +Eustace. "But she is a regular ice-maiden. I couldn't get any enthusiasm +out of her. Tell me, is she like that all through? Or is it just a pose?" + +"Oh, I don't know," Dinah said. "I've never got through the outer crust. +But then of course I'm far beneath her." + +"How so?" asked Sir Eustace. + +She laughed up at him with the happy confidence of a child. "Can't you +see it for yourself? I--I am a mere guttersnipe compared to the de +Vignes. They live in a great house with lots of servants and cars. They +never do a thing for themselves. I don't suppose Rose could do her hair +to save her life. While we--we live in a tumble-down, ramshackle old +place, and do all the work ourselves. I've never been away from home in +my life before. You see, we're poor, and Billy's schooling takes up a lot +of money. I had to leave school when he first went as a boarder. And that +is three years ago now. So I have forgotten all I ever learnt." + +"Except dancing," he suggested. + +"Oh, well, that's born in me. I couldn't very well forget that. My +mother--" Dinah hesitated momentarily--"my mother was a dancer before she +married." + +"And she taught you?" asked Sir Eustace. + +"No, no! She never taught me anything except useful things--like cooking +and sewing and house-work. And I detest them all," said Dinah frankly. "I +like sweeping the garden and digging the potatoes far better." + +"She keeps you busy then," commented Sir Eustace, with semi-humorous +interest. + +"Busy isn't the word for it," declared Dinah. "I'm going from morning +till night. We do the washing at home too. I get up at five and go to bed +at nine. I make nearly all my own clothes too. That's why I haven't got +any," she ended naively. + +He laughed. "Not really! But what makes you work so hard as that? You're +wasting all your best time. You'll never be so young again, you know." + +"I know!" cried Dinah, and suddenly a wild gust of rebellion went +through her. "It's hateful! I never knew how hateful till I came here. +Going back will be--too horrible for words. But--" her voice fell +abruptly flat--"what am I to do?" + +"I should go on strike," he said lightly. "Tell your good mother that she +must find someone else to do the work! You are going to take it easy and +enjoy yourself." + +Dinah uttered a short, painful laugh. + +"Wouldn't that do?" he asked. + +"No." + +"Why not?" he questioned with indolent amusement. "Surely you're not +afraid of the broomstick!" + +Dinah gave a great start, and suddenly, as they skated, pressed close to +him with the action of some small, terrified creature seeking shelter. +"Oh, don't--don't let us spoil this perfect night by talking of my home +affairs!" she pleaded, her voice quick and passionate. "I want to put +everything right away. I want to forget there is such a place as home." + +His arm was around her in a moment. He held her caught to him. "I can +soon make you forget that, my Daphne," he said. "I can lead you through +such a wonderland as will dazzle you into complete forgetfulness of +everything else. But you must trust me, you know. You mustn't be afraid." + +He was drawing her away from the glare of coloured lights as he spoke, +drawing her to the further end of the rink where stood a tiny, rustic +pavilion. + +She went with him with a breathless sense of high adventure, skimming the +ice in time with his rhythmic movements, mesmerized into an enchanted +quiescence. + +They reached the pavilion, and he paused. The other skaters were left +behind. They stood as it were in a magic circle all their own. And only +the moon looked on. + +"Ah, Daphne!" he said, and took her in his arms. + +There came to Dinah then a wild and desperate sense of fear, fear that +was coupled with a wholly unreasoning and instinctive shame. She strained +back from him. "Oh no! Oh no!" she gasped. "I mustn't! I'm sure it's +wrong!" + +But he mastered her very slowly, wholly without violence, yet wholly +irresistibly. His dark face with its blue, compelling eyes dominated her, +conquered her. And all her life resistance had been quelled in her. Her +will wavered and was down. + +"Why should it be wrong?" he whispered. "I tell you that nothing +matters--nothing matters. We take our pleasures, and we tell no one. It +is no one's business but our own, sweetheart. And nothing is wrong, if no +harm is done to anyone." + +Subtle, alluring, half-laughing, half-relentless, he drew her closer yet, +he bent and pressed his lips upon her upturned face. But she quivered +still and shrank, though unresisting. She could not give her lips to his. +His kiss burned through and through her, so that she longed to flee away +and hide. + +For though that kiss sent a thrill of wild ecstasy through her, there was +anguish mingled therewith. Even while she exulted over her unexpected +victory, she was smitten with the thought that it had cost her too dear. +Had she told him too much about herself that he held her thus cheaply? +Would he--however urgent his desire to do so--would he have dreamed of +treating Rose thus? Or any other girl of his own standing? + +The thought went through her like a dagger. She bent herself back over +his arm avoiding his lips a second time. That one kiss had opened her +eyes. + +"Oh, let me go!" she said, her voice muffled and tremulous. "You +mustn't--ever--do it again." + +"Why not?" he whispered softly. "What does it matter? This is the land of +no consequences." + +"I can't help it," she whispered back. "It may not mean anything to you. +But--but--it makes me feel--wicked." + +He laughed at her with tender ridicule. His arms still held her, but no +longer closely. + +"Don't be afraid, my elf of the mountains!" he said. "I won't do it +again--yet. But there is nothing in it I tell you. And what does it +matter if no one knows? Why shouldn't you have all the fun you can get?" + +Dinah straightened herself, and passed her hands over her face with an +oddly childish gesture. He behaved as though he had conferred a favour +upon her; but yet the horrible feeling of shame lingered. Her mother's +most drastic punishments had never humbled her more completely. + +She drew herself from his hold. "I feel it does matter," she said, her +voice pathetically small and shy. "But--I know you didn't mean to--to +offend me. So let's forget it, please! Let's go back!" + +She gave him her hand with a timid gesture, and he took it with a smile +that held arrogance as well as amusement. "We will go back certainly," he +said. "But we shall not forget. We have tasted the wine of the gods, my +Daphne, and there is magic in the draught. Those who drink once are bound +to come again for more." + +"Oh no! Oh no!" said Dinah. + +But even as she said it, she felt herself to be battling against destiny. + +In that moment she knew beyond all doubting that by some means of which +she had no understanding he had caught her will and made it captive. +Elude him though she might for a time, she was bound to be his helpless +prisoner at the last. + +Yet his magnetism was such that she yielded herself to him almost +mechanically as they went back into the giddy vortex of the carnival. +Even in the midst of her dismay and uncertainty, she was strangely, +almost deliriously happy. + +Romance with gold-tipped wings unfurled had suddenly descended from the +high heavens and flitted before her, luring her on. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FRIENDSHIP IN THE DESERT + + +On the edge of the rink immediately below the hotel, a slight figure was +standing, patient as the Sphinx, awaiting them. + +Sir Eustace's keen eyes lighted upon it from afar. "There is my brother," +he said. "We will go and speak to him if you have no objection." + +Dinah received the suggestion with eagerness. She was possessed for the +moment by an urgent desire to get back to the commonplace. She had been +whirled off her feet, and albeit the flight had held rapture, she had a +desperate longing to tread solid ground once more. + +Possibly her companion shared something of this feeling. The game was +his, but there was no more to be won from her that night. The time had +come to descend from the heights to the dull and banal levels. He divined +her wish to return to earth, and he had no reason for thwarting it. With +a careless laugh he put on speed and rushed her dizzily through the +throng. + +To Dinah it was as a rapid fall through space. She felt as if she had +been suddenly shot from the gates of Olympus. She reached Scott, flushed +and breathless and quivering still with the wonder of it. + +He greeted her courteously. "Are you having a good time, Miss Bathurst?" + +She answered him gaspingly. Somehow it was an immense relief to find +herself by his side. "Yes; a glorious time. But I am coming off now. Have +you--have you seen anything of Lady Grace or the Colonel?" + +"I have just had the pleasure of making Lady Grace's acquaintance," he +said. "Are you really coming off now? Have you had enough?" + +She passed over his last question, for the wonder pierced her if she had +not had too much. "Yes, really. I am going to change my boots. I left +them somewhere here. I wonder where they are. Ah, there they are against +the railing! No, please don't! I can manage quite well. I would rather." + +She sat down on the bank, and bent her hot face over her task. + +The two brothers remained near her. Scott was apparently waiting for her. +They exchanged a few low words. + +"I'll do my level best, old chap," she heard Scott say. "But if I don't +succeed, it can't be helped. Rome wasn't built in a day." + +Eustace made an impatient sound, and muttered something in a whisper. + +"No," Scott said in answer. "Not that! Never with my consent. It wouldn't +do, man! I tell you it wouldn't do. Can't you take my word for it?" + +"You're as obstinate as a mule, Stumpy," his brother said, in tones of +irritation. "It'll come to it sooner or later. You're only prolonging the +agony." + +"I am doing my best," Scott said gravely. "Give me credit for that at +least!" + +Sir Eustace clapped a sudden hand on his shoulder. "No one doubts that, +my boy. You're true gold. But it's sheer foolishness to go on in the same +old way that's proved a failure a hundred times. In heaven's name, now +that we've hauled her out of that infernal groove, don't let idiotic +sentimentality spoil everything! Don't shy at the consequences! I'll be +responsible for them." + +Dinah glanced up. She saw that for the moment she was forgotten. The +light was shining upon Scott's face, and she read in it undeniable +perplexity, but the eyes were steadfast and wholly calm. + +He even smiled a little as he said, "My dear chap, have you ever +considered the consequences of anything--counted the cost before you came +to pay? No, never!" + +"Don't preach to me!" Eustace said sharply. + +"No. I won't. But don't you talk in that airy way about responsibility +to me! Because--" Scott's smile broadened and became openly +affectionate--"it just won't go down, dear fellow! I can't swallow +camels--never could." + +"You can strain at gnats though," commented Sir Eustace, pivoting round +on his skates. "Well, you know my sentiments. I haven't put my foot down +yet. But I'm going to--pretty soon. It's got to be done. And if you can't +bring yourself to it,--well, I shall, that's all." + +He was gone with the words, swift as an arrow, leaving behind him a space +so empty that Dinah felt a sudden queer little pang of desolation. + +Scott remained motionless, deep in thought, for the passage of several +seconds. Then abruptly the consciousness of her presence came upon him, +and he turned to her. She was sitting on the bank looking up at him with +frank interest. Their eyes met. + +And then a very curious thing happened to Dinah. She flinched under his +look, flinched and averted her own. A great shyness suddenly surged +through her, a quivering, overmastering sense of embarrassment. For in +that moment she viewed the flight to Olympus as he would have viewed it, +and was horribly, overwhelmingly ashamed. She could not break the +silence. She had no words to utter--no possible means at hand by which to +cover her discomfiture. + +It was he who spoke, in his voice a tinge of restraint. "I was going to +ask if it would bore you to come and see my sister again this evening. I +have obtained Lady Grace's permission for you to do so." + +She sprang to her feet. "Of course--of course I would love to!" she said +rather incoherently. "How could it bore me? I--I should like it--more +than anything." + +He smiled faintly, and held out his hand for the boots she had just +discarded. "That is more than kind of you," he said. "My sister was +afraid you might not want to come." + +"Of course I want to come!" maintained Dinah. "Oh no, thank you; I +couldn't let you carry my boots. How clever of you to tackle Lady Grace! +What did she say?" + +"Neither she nor the Colonel made any difficulty about it at all," Scott +said. "I told them my sister was an invalid. Lady Grace said that I must +not keep you after ten, and I promised I wouldn't." + +His manner was kindly and quizzical, and Dinah's embarrassment began to +pass. But he discomfited her afresh as they walked across the road by +saying, "You have made it up with my brother, I see." + +Dinah's cheeks burned again. "Yes," she said, after a moment. "We made it +up this afternoon." + +"That was very lucky--for him," observed Scott rather dryly. + +Dinah made a swift leap for the commonplace. "I hate being cross with +people," she said, "or to have them cross with me; don't you?" + +"I think it is sometimes unavoidable," said Scott gravely. + +"Oh, surely you are never cross!" said Dinah impetuously. "I can't +imagine it." + +"Wait till you see it!" said Scott, with a smile. + +They entered the hotel together. Dinah was tingling with excitement. She +had managed to escape from her discomfiture, but she still felt that any +prolonged intercourse with the man beside her would bring it back. She +was beginning to know Scott as one who would not hesitate to say exactly +what he thought, and not for all she possessed in the world would she +have had him know what had passed in that far corner of the rink so short +a time before. + +She chattered inconsequently upon ordinary topics as they ascended the +stairs together, but when they reached the door of Isabel's sitting-room +she became suddenly shy again. + +"Hadn't I better run and take off my things?" she whispered. "I feel so +untidy." + +He looked at her. She was clad in the white woollen cap and coat that she +had worn in the day. Her eyes were alight and sparkling, her brown face +flushed. She looked the very incarnation of youth. + +"I think she will like to see you as you are," said Scott. + +He knocked upon the door three times as before, and in a moment opened +it. + +"Go in, won't you?" he said, standing back. + +Dinah entered. + +"Ah! She has come!" A hollow voice said, and in a moment her shyness was +gone. + +She moved forward eagerly, saw Isabel seated in a low chair, and +impulsively went to her. "How kind you are to ask me to come again!" she +said. + +And then all in a moment Isabel's arms came out to her, and she slipped +down upon her knees beside her into their close embrace. + +"How kind of you to come, dear child!" Isabel murmured. "I am afraid it +is a visit to the desert for you." + +"But I love to come!" Dinah told her with warm lips raised. "I can't tell +you how much. I was never so happy before. Each day seems lovelier than +the last." + +Isabel kissed her lingeringly, tenderly. "My dear, you have a happy +heart," she said. "Tell me what you have been doing since I saw you +last!" + +She would have let her go, but Dinah clung to her still, her cheek +against her shoulder. "I have been very frivolous, dear Mrs. Everard," +she said. "I have done lots of things. This afternoon we were luging, and +now I have just come from the carnival, I wish you could have been there. +Some people are wearing the most horrible masks. Billy--my brother--has a +beauty. He made it himself. I rather wanted it to wear, but he wouldn't +part with it." + +"You could never wear a mask, sweetheart," Isabel said, clasping the +small brown hand in hers. "Your face is too sweet a thing to hide." + +Dinah hugged her in naïve delight. "I always thought I was ugly before," +she said. + +Isabel's face wore a wan smile. She stroked the girl's soft cheek. "My +dear, no one with a heart like yours could have an ugly face. How did you +enjoy your dance with Eustace last night?" + +Dinah bent her head a little, wishing earnestly that Scott were not in +the room. "I loved it," she said in a low voice. + +"And afterwards?" questioned Isabel. "No one was vexed with you, I hope?" + +Dinah hesitated. "Colonel de Vigne wasn't best pleased, I'm afraid," she +said, after a moment. + +"He scolded you!" said Isabel, swift regret in her voice. "I am so sorry, +dear child. I ought to have gone to look after you. I was selfish." + +"Oh no--indeed!" Dinah protested. "It was entirely my own fault. He would +have been cross in any case. They are like that." + +Isabel uttered a sigh. "I shall have to try to meet them. Naturally they +will not let you come to total strangers. Stumpy, remind me in the +morning! I must manage somehow to meet this child's guardians." + +"Of course, dear," said Scott. + +Dinah, glancing towards him, saw him exchange a swift look with the old +nurse in the background, but his voice held neither surprise nor +gratification. He took out a cigarette and began to smoke. + +Isabel leaned back in her chair with abrupt weariness as if in reaction +from the strain of a sudden unwonted exertion. "Let me see! Do I know +your Christian name? Ah yes,--Dinah! What a pretty gipsy name! I think +you are a little gipsy, are you not? You have the charm of the woods +about you. Won't you sit in that chair, dear? You can't be comfortable on +the floor." + +But Dinah preferred to sit down against her knee, still holding the +slender, inert hand. + +"Tell me about your home!" Isabel said, closing languid eyes. "I can't +talk much more, but I can listen. It does not tire me to listen." + +Dinah hesitated somewhat. "I don't think you would find it very +interesting," she said. + +"But I am interested," Isabel said. "You live in the country, I think you +said." + +"At a place called Perrythorpe," Dinah said. "It's a great hunting +country. My father hunts a lot and shoots too." + +"Do you hunt?" asked Isabel. + +"Oh no, never! There's never any time. I go for rambles sometimes on +Sundays. Other days I am always busy. Fancy me hunting!" said Dinah, with +a little laugh. + +"I used to," said Isabel. "They always said I should end with a broken +neck. But I never did." + +"Are you very fond of riding?" asked Dinah. + +"Not now, dear. I am not fond of anything now. Tell me some more, won't +you? What makes you so busy that you never have time for any fun?" + +Again Dinah hesitated. "You see, we're poor," she said. "My mother and I +do all the work of the house and garden too." + +"And your father is able to hunt?" Isabel's eyes opened. Her hand closed +upon Dinah's caressingly. + +"Oh yes, he has always hunted," Dinah said. "I don't think he could do +without it. He would find it so dull." + +"I see," said Isabel. "But he can't afford pleasures for you." + +There was no perceptible sarcasm in her voice, but Dinah coloured a +little and went at once to her father's defence. + +"He sends Billy to a public school. Of course I--being only a girl--don't +count. And he has sent us out here, which was very good of him--the +sweetest thing he has ever done. He had a lucky speculation the other +day, and he has spent it nearly all on us. Wasn't that kind of him?" + +"Very kind, dear," said Isabel gently. "How long are you to have out +here?" + +"Only three weeks, and half the time is gone already," sighed Dinah. "The +de Vignes are not staying longer. The Colonel is a J.P., and much too +important to stay away for long. And they are going to have a large +house-party. There isn't much more than a week left now." She sighed +again. + +"And then you will have no more fun at all?" asked Isabel. + +"Not a scrap--nothing but work." Dinah's voice quivered a little. "I +don't suppose it has been very good for me coming out here," she said. +"I--I believe I'm much too fond of gaiety really." + +Isabel's hand touched her cheek. "Poor little girl!" she said. "But you +wouldn't like to leave your mother to do all the drudgery alone." + +"Oh yes, I should," said Dinah, with a touch of recklessness. "I'd never +go back if I could help it. I love Dad of course; but--" She paused. + +"You don't love your mother?" supplemented Isabel. + +Dinah leaned her face suddenly against the caressing hand. "Not much, I'm +afraid," she whispered. + +"Poor little girl!" Isabel murmured again compassionately. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PURPLE EMPRESS + + +Colonel De Vigne once more wore his most magisterial air when after +breakfast on the following morning he drew Dinah aside. + +She looked at him with swift apprehension, even with a tinge of guilt. +His lecture of the previous morning was still fresh in her mind. Could he +have seen her on the ice with Sir Eustace on the previous night, she +asked herself? Surely, surely not! + +Apparently he had, however; for his first words were admonitory. + +"Look here, young lady, you're making yourself conspicuous with that +three-volume-novel baronet: You don't want to be conspicuous, I suppose?" + +Her face burned crimson at the question. Then he had seen, or at least he +must know, something! She stood before him, too overwhelmed for speech. + +"You don't, eh?" he insisted, surveying her confusion with grim +relentlessness. + +"Of course not!" she whispered at last. + +He put a hand on her shoulder. "Very well then! Don't let there be any +more of it! You've been a good girl up till now but the last two days +seem to have turned your head. I shan't be able to give a good report to +your mother when we get home if this sort of thing goes on." + +Dinah's heart sank still lower. The thought of the return home had begun +to dog her like an evil dream. + +With a great effort she met the Colonel's stern gaze. "I am very sorry," +she faltered. "But--but Lady Grace did say I might go and see Mrs. +Everard--the invalid sister--yesterday." + +"I know she did. She thought you had been flirting with Sir Eustace long +enough." + +Dinah's sky began to clear a little. "Then you don't mind my going to see +her?" she said. + +"So long as you are not there too often," conceded the Colonel. "The +younger brother is a nice little chap. There is no danger of your getting +up to mischief with him." + +Dinah's face burned afresh at the suggestion. He evidently did not +actually know; but he suspected very strongly. Still it was a great +relief to know that all intercourse with these wonderful new friends of +hers was not to be barred. + +"There was some talk of a sleigh-drive this afternoon," she ventured, +after a moment. "Mr. Studley is taking his sister and she asked me to go +too. May I?" + +"You accepted, I suppose?" demanded the Colonel. + +"I said I thought I might," Dinah admitted. And then very suddenly she +caught a kindly gleam in his eyes, and summoned courage for entreaty. "Do +please--please--let me go!" she begged, clasping his arm. "I shan't ever +have any fun again when this is over." + +"How do you know that?" said the Colonel gruffly. "Yes, you can +go--you can go. But behave yourself soberly, there's a good girl. And +remember--no running after the other fellow to-night! I won't have it. +Is that understood?" + +Dinah, too rejoiced over this concession to trouble about future +prohibitions, gave cheerful acquiescence to the fiat. Perhaps she was +beginning to realize that she would see quite as much of Sir Eustace as +was at all advisable or even to be desired, without running after him. In +fact, so shy had the previous night's flight with him made her, that she +did not feel the slightest wish to encounter him again at present. To go +out sleigh-driving with Scott and his sister was all that she asked of +life that day. + +It was a glorious morning despite all prophecies of a coming change, and +she spent it joyously luging with Billy. Sir Eustace had gone ski-ing +with Captain Brent, and the only glimpse she had of him was a very far +one, so far that she knew him only by the magnificence of his physique as +he descended the mountain-side as one borne upon wings. + +She recalled the brief conversation that the brothers had held in her +hearing the night before, and marvelled at the memory of Scott's attitude +towards him. + +"He isn't a bit afraid of him," she reflected. "In fact he behaves +exactly as if he were the bigger of the two." + +This phenomenon puzzled her very considerably, for Scott was wholly +lacking in the pomposity that characterizes many little men. She wondered +what had been the subject of their discussion. It had been connected with +Isabel, she felt sure. She was glad to think that she had Scott to +protect her, for there was something of tyranny about the elder brother +from which she shrank instinctively, his magnetism notwithstanding, and +the thought of poor, tragic Isabel being coerced by it was intolerable. + +The memory of the latter's resolution to make the acquaintance of the de +Vignes recurred to her as she and Billy returned for luncheon. Would she +carry it out? She wondered. The look that Scott had flung at the old +nurse dwelt in her mind. It would evidently be an extraordinary move if +she did. + +They reached the hotel, Rose and another girl had just come up from the +rink together. A little knot of people were gathered on the verandah. +Dinah and Billy kept behind Rose and her companion; but in a moment Dinah +heard her name. + +The group parted, and she saw Isabel Everard, very tall and stately in a +deep purple coat, standing with Lady Grace de Vigne. + +Billy gave her a push. "Go on! They're calling you." + +And Dinah found the strange sad eyes upon her, alight with a smile of +welcome. She went forward impetuously, and in a moment Isabel's cold +hands were clasped upon her warm ones. + +"I have been waiting for you, dear child," the low voice said. "What have +you been doing?" + +Dinah suddenly felt as if she were standing in the presence of a +princess. Isabel in public bore herself with a haughtiness fully equal to +that displayed by Sir Eustace, and she knew that Lady Grace was impressed +by it. + +"I would have come back sooner if I had known," she said, closely holding +the long, slender fingers. + +"My dear, you are woefully untidy now you have come," murmured Lady +Grace. + +But Isabel gently freed one hand to put her arm about the girl. "To me +she is--just right," she said, and in her voice there sounded the music +of a great tenderness. "Youth is never tidy, Lady Grace; but there is +nothing in the world like it." + +Lady Grace's eyes went to her daughter whose faultless apparel and +perfection of line were in vivid contrast to Dinah's harum-scarum +appearance. + +"I do not altogether agree with you in that respect, Mrs. Everard," she +said, with a smile. "I think young girls should always aim at being +presentable. But I quite admit that it is more difficult for some than +for others. Dinah, my dear, Mrs. Everard has been kind enough to ask you +to lunch in her sitting-room with her, and to go for a sleigh-drive +afterward; so you had better run and get respectable as quickly as you +can." + +"Oh, how kind you are!" Dinah said, with earnest eyes uplifted. "You know +how I shall love to come, don't you?" + +"I thought you might, dear," Isabel said. "Scott is coming to keep us +company. He has arranged for a sleigh to be here in an hour. We are going +for a twelve-mile round, so we must not be late starting. It gets so cold +after sundown." + +"I had better go then, hadn't I?" said Dinah. + +"I am coming too," Isabel said. Her arm was still about her. It remained +so as she turned to go. "Good-bye, Lady Grace! I will take great care of +the child. Thank you for allowing her to come." + +She bowed with regal graciousness and moved away, taking Dinah with her. + +"Exit Purple Empress!" murmured a man in the background close to Rose. +"Who on earth is she? I haven't seen her anywhere before." + +Rose uttered her soft, artificial laugh. "She is Sir Eustace Studley's +sister. Rather peculiar, I believe, even eccentric. But I understand they +are of very good birth." + +"That covers a multitude of sins," he commented. "She's been a mighty +handsome woman in her day. She must be many years older than Sir Eustace. +She looks more like his mother than his sister." + +"I believe she is actually younger," Rose said. "They say she has never +recovered from the sudden death of her husband some years ago, but I know +nothing of the circumstances." + +"A very charming woman," said Lady Grace, joining them. "We have had +quite a long chat together. Yes, her manner is a little strange, slightly +abstracted, as if she were waiting for something or someone. But a very +easy companion on the whole. I think you will like her, Rose dear." + +"She's dead nuts on Dinah," observed Billy with a chuckle. "She don't +look at anyone else when she's got Dinah." + +Lady Grace smiled over his head and took no verbal notice of the remark. + +"They are a distinguished-looking family," she said. "Run and wash your +hands, Billy. Are you thinking of ski-ing this afternoon, Rose?" + +"You bet!" murmured Billy, under his breath. He too had seen the distant +figure of Sir Eustace on the mountain-side. + +"It depends," said Rose, non-committally. + +"Captain Brent and Sir Eustace have been on skis all the morning," said +her mother. "We must see what they say about it." + +Billy spun a coin into the air behind her back. "Heads Sir Eustace and +tails Captain Brent," he muttered to the man who had commented upon +Isabel's beauty. "Heads it is!" + +Lady Grace turned round with a touch of sharpness at the sound of his +companion's laugh. "Billy! Did I not tell you to go and wash your hands?" + +Billy's green eyes smiled impudent acknowledgment. "You did, Lady Grace. +And I'm going. Good-bye!" + +He pocketed the coin, winked at his friend, and departed whistling. + +"A very unmannerly little boy!" observed Lady Grace, with severity. +"Come, my dear Rose! We must go in." + +"I don't like either the one or the other," said Rose, with a very +unusual touch of petulance. "They are always in the way." + +"I fully agree with you," said Lady Grace acidly. "But it is for the +first and last time in their lives. I have already told the Colonel so. +He will never ask them to accompany us again." + +"Thank goodness for that!" said Rose, with restored amiability. "Of +course I am sorry for poor little Dinah; but there is a limit." + +"Which is very nearly reached," said Lady Grace. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MOUNTAIN CREST + + +That sleigh-drive was to Dinah the acme of delight, and for ever after +the jingle of horse-bells was to recall it to her mind. The sight of the +gay red trappings, the trot of the muffled hoofs, the easy motion of the +sleigh slipping over the white road, and above all, Isabel, clad in +purple and seated beside her, a figure of royal distinction, made a +picture in her mind that she was never to forget. She rode in a magic +chariot through wonderland. + +She longed to delay the precious moments as they flew, like a child +chasing butterflies in the sunshine; but they only seemed to fly the +faster. She chattered almost incessantly for the first few miles, and +occasionally Isabel smiled and answered her; but for the most part it was +Scott, seated opposite, who responded to her raptures,--Scott, +unfailingly attentive and courteous, but ever watchful of his sister's +face. + +She gazed straight ahead when she was not looking at anything to which +Dinah called her attention. Her eyes had the intense look of one who +watches perpetually for something just out of sight. + +Quiet but alert, he marked her attitude, marked also the emaciation which +was so painfully apparent in the strong sunshine and formed so piteous a +contrast to the vivid youth of the girl beside her. Presently Dinah came +out of her rhapsodies and observed his vigilance. She watched him +covertly for a time while she still chatted on. And she noted that there +were very weary lines about his eyes, lines of anxiety, lines of +sleeplessness, that filled her warm heart with quick sympathy and a +longing to help. + +The road was one of wild beauty. It wound up a desolate mountain pass +along which great black boulders were scattered haphazard like the mighty +toys of a giant. The glittering snow lay all around them, making their +nakedness the more apparent. And far, far above, the white crags shone +with a dazzling purity in the sunlit air. + +Below them the snow lay untrodden, exquisitely pure, piled here in great +drifts, falling away there in wonderful curves and hollows, but always +showing a surface perfect and undesecrated by any human touch. And ever +the sleigh ran smoothly on over the white road till it seemed to Dinah as +if they moved in a dream. She fell silent, charmed by the swift motion, +and by the splendour around her. + +"You are quite warm, I hope?" Scott said, after an interval. + +She was wrapped in a fur cloak belonging to Isabel. She smiled an +affirmative, but she saw him as through a veil. The mystery and the +wonder of creation filled her soul. + +"I feel," she said, "I feel as if we were being taken up into heaven." + +"Oh, that we were!" said Isabel, speaking suddenly with a force that had +in it something terrible. "Do you see those golden peaks, sweetheart? +That is where I would be. That is where the gates of Heaven open--where +the lost are found." + +Dinah's hand was clasped in hers under the fur rug, and she felt the thin +fingers close with a convulsive hold. + +Scott leaned forward. "Heaven is nearer to us than that, Isabel," he said +gently. + +She looked at him for a moment, but her eyes at once passed beyond. "No, +no, Stumpy! You never understand," she said restlessly. "I must reach the +mountain-tops or die. I am tired--I am tired of my prison. And I stifle +in the valley--I who have watched the sun rise and set from the very edge +of the world. Why did they take me away? If I had only waited a little +longer--a little longer--as he told me to wait!" Her voice suddenly +vibrated with a craving that was passionate. "He would have come with the +next sunrise. I always knew that the dawn would bring him back to me. +But"--dull despair took the place of longing--"they took me away, and the +sun has never shone since." + +"Isabel!" Scott's voice was very grave and quiet. "Miss Bathurst will +wonder what you mean. Don't forget her!" + +Dinah pressed close to her friend's side. "Oh, but I do understand!" she +said softly. "And, dear Mrs. Everard, I wish I could help you. But I +think Mr. Studley must be right. It is easier to get to heaven than to +climb those mountain-peaks. They are so very steep and far away." + +"So is Heaven, child," said Isabel, with a sigh of great weariness. + +As it were with reluctance, she again met the steady gaze of Scott's +eyes, and gradually her mood seemed to change. Her brief animation +dropped away from her; she became again passive, inert, save that she +still seemed to be watching. + +Scott broke the silence, kindly and practically. "We ought to reach the +_châlet_ at the head of the pass soon," he said. "You will be glad of +some tea." + +"Oh, are we going to stop for tea?" said Dinah. + +"That's the idea," said Scott. "And then back by another way. We ought to +get a good view of the sunset. I hope it won't be misty, but they say a +change is coming." + +"I hope it won't come yet," said Dinah fervently. "The last few days have +been so perfect. And there is so little time left." + +Scott smiled. "That is the worst of perfection," he said. "It never +lasts." + +Dinah's eyes were wistful. "It will go on being perfect here long after +we have left," she said. "Isn't it dreadful to think of all the good +things--all the beauty--one misses just because one isn't there?" + +"It would be if there were nothing else to think of," said Scott. "But +there is beauty everywhere--if we know how to look for it." + +She looked at him uncertainly. "I never knew what it meant before I came +here," she told him shyly. "There is no time for beautiful things in my +life. It's very, very drab and ugly. And I am very discontented. I have +never been anything else." + +Her voice quivered a little as she made the confession. Scott's eyes were +so kind, so full of friendly understanding. Isabel had dropped out of +their intercourse as completely as though her presence had been +withdrawn. She lay back against her cushions, but her eyes were still +watching, watching incessantly. + +"I think the very dullest life can be made beautiful," Scott said, after +a moment. "Even the desert sand is gold when the sun shines on it. The +trouble is,--" he laughed a little--"to get the sun to shine." + +Dinah leaned forward eagerly, confidentially. "Yes?" she questioned. + +He looked her suddenly straight in the eyes. "There is a great store of +sunshine in you," he said. "One can't come near you without feeling it. +Isabel will tell you the same. Do you keep it only for the Alps? If +so,--" he paused. + +Dinah's face flushed suddenly under his look. "If so?" she asked, under +her breath. + +He smiled. "Well, it seems a pity, that's all," he said. "Rather a waste +too when you come to think of it." + +Dinah's eyes caught the reflection of his smile. "I shall remember that, +Mr. Greatheart," she said. + +"Forgive me for preaching!" said Scott. + +She put out a hand to him quickly, spontaneously. "You don't preach--and +it does me good," she said somewhat incoherently. "Please--always--say +what you like to me!" + +"At risk of hurting you?" said Scott. He held the small, impulsive hand a +moment and let it go. + +"You could never hurt me," Dinah answered. "You are far too kind." + +"I think the kindness is on your side," he answered gravely. "Most people +of my acquaintance would think me a bore--if nothing worse." + +"Most people have never really met you, Stumpy," said Isabel +unexpectedly. "Dinah is one of the privileged few, and I am glad she +appreciates it." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott, flushing a deep red. "Spare me, Isabel!" + +Dinah broke into her gay, infectious laugh. "Please--please don't be +upset about it! I'm glad I'm one of the few. I've felt you were a prince +in disguise all along." + +"Very much in disguise!" protested Scott. "Remove that, and there would +be nothing left." + +"Except a man," said Isabel, "You can't get away, Stumpy. You're caught." + +A fleeting smile crossed her face like a gleam of light and was gone. She +turned her look upon Dinah, and became silent again. + +Scott, much disconcerted, hunted in every pocket for his cigarette-case. +"You don't mind my smoking, I hope?" he murmured. + +"I like it," said Dinah. "Let me help you light up!" + +She made a screen with her hands, and guarded the flame from the draught. + +He thanked her courteously, recovering his composure with a smile that +was not without self-ridicule, and in a moment they were talking again +upon impersonal matters. But the episode, slight though it was, dwelt in +Dinah's mind thereafter with an odd persistence. She felt as if Isabel +had given her a flashlight glimpse of something which otherwise she would +scarcely have realized. In that single fleeting moment of revelation she +had seen that which no vision of knight in shining armour could have +surpassed. + +They reached the _châlet_ at the top of the pass, and descended for tea. +The windows looked right down the snow-clad valley up which they had +come. The sun had begun to sink, and the greater part of it lay in +shadow. + +Far away, rising out of the shadows, all golden amid floating mists, was +a mighty mountain crest, higher than all around. The sun-rays lighted up +its wondrous peaks. The glory of it was unearthly, almost more than the +eye could bear. + +Dinah stood on the little wooden verandah of the _châlet_ and gazed and +gazed till the splendour nearly blinded her. + +"Still watching the Delectable Mountains?" said Scott's voice at her +shoulder. + +She made a little gesture in response. She could not take her eyes off +the wonder. + +He came and stood beside her in mute sympathy while he finished his +cigarette. There was a certain depression in his attitude of which +presently she became aware. She summoned her resolution and turned +herself from the great vision that so drew her. + +He was leaning against a post of the verandah, and she read again in his +attitude the weariness that she had marked earlier in the afternoon. + +"Are you--troubled about your sister?" she asked him diffidently. + +He threw away the end of his cigarette and straightened himself. "Yes, I +am troubled," he said, in a low voice. "I am afraid it was a mistake to +bring her here." + +"I thought her looking better this morning," Dinah ventured. + +His grey eyes met hers. "Did you? I thought it a good sign that she +should make the effort to speak to strangers. But I am not certain now +that it has done her any good. We brought her here to wake her from her +lethargy. Eustace thought the air would work wonders, but--I am not sure. +It is certainly waking her up. But--to what?" + +His eyelids drooped heavily, and he passed his hand across his forehead +with a gesture that went to her heart. + +"It's rather soon to judge, isn't it?" she said. + +"Yes," he admitted. "But there is a change in her; there is an +undoubted change. She gets hardly any rest, and the usual draught at +night scarcely takes effect. Of course the place is noisy. That may have +something to do with it. My brother is very anxious to put a stop to the +sleeping-draught altogether. But I can't agree to that. She has never +slept naturally since her loss--never slept and never wept. Biddy--the +old nurse--declares if she could only cry, all would come right. But I +don't know--I don't know." + +He uttered a deep sigh, and leaned once more upon the balustrade. + +Dinah came close to him, her sweet face full of concern. "Mr. Studley," +she murmured, "you--you don't think I do her any harm, do you?" + +"You!" He gave a start and looked at her with that in his eyes that +reassured her in a moment. "My dear child, no! You are a perfect godsend +to her--and to me also, if you don't mind my saying so. No--no! The +mischief that I fear will probably develop after you have gone. As long +as you are here, I am not afraid for her. Yours is just the sort of +influence that she needs." + +"Oh, thank you!" Dinah said gratefully. "I was afraid just for a moment, +because I know I have been silly and flighty. I try to be sober when I am +with her, but--" + +"Don't try to be anything but yourself, Miss Bathurst!" he said. "I have +confided in you just because you are yourself; and I wouldn't have you +any different for the world. You help her just by being yourself." + +Dinah laughed while she shook her head. "I wish I were as nice as you +seem to think I am." + +He laughed also. "Perhaps you have never realized how nice you really +are," he returned with a simplicity equal to her own. "Ah! Here comes +Isabel! I expect she is ready. We had better go in." + +They met her as they turned inwards. The reflection of the sunset glory +was in her face recalling some of its faded beauty. She took Dinah's arm, +looking at her with a strangely wistful smile. + +"I want you now, sweetheart," she said. "Scott can have his +turn--afterwards." + +"I want you too," said Dinah instantly, squeezing her hand very closely. +"Come and look at the mountains! They are so glorious now that the sun is +setting." + +They turned back for a few moments and Isabel's eyes went to that far and +wonderful mountain crest. The gold was turning to rose. The glory +deepened even as they watched. + +"The peaks of Paradise," breathed Dinah softly. + +Isabel was silent for a space, her eyes fixed and yearning. Then at +length in a low voice that thrilled with an emotion beyond words she +spoke. + +"I know now where to look. That is where he is waiting for me. That is +where I shall find him." + +And then swiftly she turned, aware of her brother close behind her. + +He looked at her with eyes of deep compassion. "Some day, Isabel!" he +said gently. + +She made a swift gesture as of one who brushes aside every hindrance. +"Soon!" she said. "Very soon!" + +Scott's eyes met Dinah's for a single instant, and she thought they held +suffering as well as weariness. But they fell immediately. He stood back +in silence for them to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SECOND DRAUGHT + + +They returned to the hotel by a circuitous route that brought them by a +mountain-road into the village just below the hotel. The moon was rising +as they ascended the final slope. The chill of mist was in the air. + +Sir Eustace was waiting for them in the porch. He helped his sister to +alight, but she went by him at once with a rapt look as though she had +not seen him. She had sat in almost unbroken silence throughout the +homeward drive. + +Dinah would have followed her in, but Sir Eustace held her back a moment. +"There is to be a dance to-night," he murmured in her ear. "May I count +on you?" + +She looked at him, the ecstasy of the mountains still shining in her +starry eyes. "Yes--yes! If I am allowed!" And then, with a sudden memory +of her promise to the Colonel, "But I don't suppose I shall be. And I +haven't anything to wear except my fancy dress." + +"What of that?" he said lightly. "Call the fairies in to help!" + +She laughed, and ran in. + +Not for a moment did she suppose that she would be allowed to dance that +night; but it seemed that luck was with her, for the first person she met +was the Colonel, and he was looking so particularly well pleased with +himself and affairs in general that she stopped to tell him of her drive. + +"It's been so perfect," she said. "I have enjoyed it! Thank you ever so +many times for letting me go!" + +Her flushed and happy face was very fair to see, and the Colonel smiled +upon her with fatherly kindness. He could not help liking the child. She +was such a taking imp! + +"Glad you've had a good time," he said. "I hope you thanked your friends +for taking you." + +"I should think I did!" laughed Dinah; and then seeing that his +expression was so benignant she slipped an ingratiating hand through his +arm. "Colonel, please--please--may I dance to-night?" + +"What?" He looked at her searchingly, with a somewhat laboured attempt to +be severe. "Now--now--who do you want to dance with?" + +"Anyone or no one," said Dinah boldly. "I feel happy enough to dance by +myself." + +"That means you're in a mischievous mood," said the Colonel. + +"It's only a Cinderella affair," pleaded Dinah. "To-morrow's Sunday, you +know. There'll be no dancing to-morrow." + +"And a good thing too," he commented. "A pity Sunday doesn't come +oftener! What will Lady Grace say I wonder?" + +"But Rose is sure to dance," urged Dinah. + +"I'm not so sure of that, Sir Eustace Studley has been teaching her to +ski all the afternoon, and if she isn't tired, she ought to be." + +"Oh, lucky Rose!" Dinah knew an instant's envy. "But I expect she'll +dance all the same. And--and--I may dance with him--just once, mayn't I? +There couldn't be any harm in just one dance. No one would notice that, +would they?" + +She pressed close to the Colonel with her petition, and he found it hard +to refuse. She made it with so childlike an earnestness, and--all his +pomposity notwithstanding--he had a soft heart for children. + +"There, be off with you!" he said. "Yes, you may give him one dance if he +asks for it. But only one, mind! That's a bargain, is it?" + +Dinah beamed radiant acquiescence. "I'll save all the rest for you. +You're a dear to let me, and I'll be ever so good. Good-bye!" + +She went, flitting like a butterfly up the stairs, and the Colonel smiled +in spite of himself as he watched her go. "Little witch!" he muttered. "I +wonder what your mother would say to you if she knew." + +Dinah raced breathless to her room, and began a fevered toilet. It was +true that she possessed nothing suitable for ballroom wear; but then the +dance was to be quite informal, and she was too happy to fret herself +over that fact. She put on the white muslin frock which she had worn for +dinner ever since she had been with the de Vignes. It gave her a +fairylike daintiness that had a charm of its own of which she was utterly +unconscious. Perhaps fortunately, she had no time to think of her +appearance. When she descended again, her eyes were still shining with a +happiness so obvious that Billy, meeting her, exclaimed, "What have you +got to be so cheerful about?" + +She proceeded to tell him of the glorious afternoon she had spent, and +was still in the midst of her description when Sir Eustace came up and +joined them. + +"I thought you would manage it," he said, with smiling assurance. "And +now how many may I have? All the waltzes?" + +Dinah's laugh rang so gaily that several heads were turned in her +direction, and she smothered it in alarm. + +"I can only give you one," she said, with a great effort at sobriety. + +"What? Oh, nonsense!" he protested, his blue eyes dominating hers. "You +couldn't be so shabby as that!" + +Dinah's chin pointed merrily upwards. The situation had its humour. It +was certainly rather amusing to elude him. She knew he had caught her far +too easily the night before. + +"It's all I have to offer," she declared. + +"Meaning you're not going to dance more than one dance?" he asked. + +She opened her laughing eyes wide. "Why should it mean that? You're not +the only man in the room, are you?" + +Sir Eustace's jaw set itself suddenly after a fashion that made him +look formidable, albeit he laughed back at her with his eyes. "All +right--Daphne," he murmured. "I'll have the first." + +Dinah's heart gave a little throb of apprehension, but she quieted it +impatiently. What had she to fear? She nodded and lightly turned away. + +All through dinner she alternately dreaded and longed for the moment of +his coming to claim that dance from her. That haughty confidence of his +had struck a curious chord in her soul, and the suspense was almost +unbearable. + +She noticed that Rose was very serene and smiling, and she regarded her +complacency with growing resentment. Rose could dance as often as she +liked with him, and no one would find fault. Rose had had him all to +herself throughout the afternoon moreover. She knew very well that had +the ski-ing lesson been offered to her, she would not have been allowed +to avail herself of it. + +A wicked little spirit awoke within her. Why should she always be kept +thus in the background? Surely her right to the joys of life was as great +as--if not greater than--Rose's! With her it would all end so soon, while +Rose had the whole of her youth before her like a pleasant garden in +which she might wander or rest at will. + +Dinah began to feel feverish. It seemed so imperative that she should +miss nothing good during this brief, brief time of happiness vouchsafed +her by the gods. + +Her frame of mind when she entered the ballroom was curious. Mutiny and +doubt, longing and dread, warred strangely together. But the moment he +came to her, the moment she felt his arm about her, rapture came and +drove out all beside. She drank again of the wine of the gods, drank +deeply, giving herself up to it without reservation, too eager to catch +every drop thereof to trouble as to what might follow. + +He caught her mood. Possibly it was but the complement of his own. Freely +he interpreted it, feeling her body throb in swift accord to every +motion, aware of the almost passionate surrender of her whole being to +the delight of that one magic dance. She was reckless, and he was +determined. If this were to be all, he would take his fill at once, and +she should have hers. Before the dance was more than half through, he +guided her out of the labyrinth into the darkly curtained recess that led +out to the verandah, and there holding her, before she so much as +realized that they had ceased to dance, he gathered her suddenly and +fiercely to him and covered her startled, quivering face with kisses. + +She made no outcry, attempted no resistance. He had been too sudden for +that. His mastery was too absolute. Holding her fast in the gloom, he +took what he would, till with a little sob her arms clasped his neck and +she clung to him, giving herself wholly up to him. + +But when his hold relaxed at last, she hid her face panting against his +breast. He smoothed the dark hair with a possessive touch, laughing +softly at her agitation. + +"Did you think you could get away from me, you brown elf?" he whispered. + +"I--I could if I tried," she whispered back. + +His hold tightened again. "Try!" he said. + +She shook her head without lifting it. "No," she murmured, +with a shy laugh. "I don't want to. Shan't we go back--and +dance--before--before--" She broke off in confusion. + +"Before what?" he said. + +She made a motion to turn her face upwards, but, finding his still close, +buried it a little deeper. "I--promised the Colonel--I'd be good," she +faltered into his shoulder. "I think I ought to begin--soon; don't you?" + +"Is that why I am to have only this one dance?" he asked. + +"Yes," she admitted. + +His caressing hand found and lightly pressed her cheek. "What are you +going to do when it's over?" he asked. + +"I don't know," she said. "There's Billy. I may dance with him." + +He laughed. "That's an exciting programme. Shall I tell you what I should +do--if I were in your place?" + +"What?" said Dinah. + +Again she raised her face a few inches and again, catching a glimpse of +the compelling blue eyes, plunged it deeply into his coat. + +He laughed again softly, with a hint of mockery. "I should have one dance +with Billy, and one with the omnipotent Colonel. And then I should be +tired and say good night." + +"But I shan't be a bit tired," protested Dinah, faintly indignant. + +"Of course not," laughed Sir Eustace. "You will be just ripe for a little +fun. There's quite a cosy sitting-out place at the end of our corridor. I +should go to bed _viâ_ that route." + +"Oh!" said Dinah, with a gasp. + +She lifted her head in astonishment, and met the eyes that so thrilled +her. "But--but that would be wrong!" she said. + +"I've done naughtier things than that, my virtuous sprite," he said. + +But Dinah did not laugh. Very suddenly quite unbidden there flashed +across her the memory of Scott's look the night before and her own +overwhelming confusion beneath it. What would her friend Mr. Greatheart +say to such a proposal? What would he say could he see her now? The hot +blood rushed to her face at the bare thought. She drew herself away from +him. Her rapture was gone; she was burningly ashamed. The Colonel's +majestic displeasure was as nothing in comparison with Scott's wordless +disapproval. + +"Oh, I couldn't do that," she said. "I--couldn't. I ought not to be here +with you now." + +"My fault," he said easily. "I brought you here before you knew where you +were. If you go to confession, you can mention that as an extenuating +circumstance." + +"Oh, don't!" said Dinah, inexplicably stung by his manner. "It--it isn't +nice of you to talk like that." + +He put out his hand and touched her arm lightly, persuasively. "Then you +are angry with me?" he said. + +Her resentment melted. She threw him a fleeting smile. "No--no! But how +could you imagine I could tell anyone? You didn't seriously--you +couldn't!" + +"There isn't much to tell, is there?" he said, his fingers closing gently +over the soft roundness of her arm. "And you don't like that plan of +mine?" + +"I didn't say I didn't like it," said Dinah, her eyes lowered. +"But--but--I can't do it, that's all. I'm going now. Good-bye!" + +She turned to go, but his fingers still held. He drew a step nearer. + +"Daphne, remember--you are not to run away!" + +A transient dimple showed at the corner of Dinah's mouth. "You must let +me go then," she said. + +"And if I do--how will you reward me?" His voice was very deep; the tones +of it sent a sharp quiver through her. She felt unspeakably small and +helpless. + +She made a little gesture of appeal. "Please--please let me go! You know +you are much stronger than I am." + +He drew nearer, his face bent so low that his lips touched her shoulder +as she stood turned from him. "You don't know your strength yet," he +said. "But you soon will. Are you going away from me like this? Don't you +think you're rather hard on me?" + +It was a point of view that had not occurred to Dinah. Her warm heart had +a sudden twinge of self-reproach. She turned swiftly to him. + +"I didn't mean to be horrid. Please don't think that of me! I know I +often am. But not to you--never to you!" + +"Never?" he said. + +His face was close to her, and it wore a faint smile in which she +detected none of the arrogance of the conqueror. She put up a shy, +impulsive hand and touched his cheek. + +"Of course not--Apollo!" she whispered. + +He caught the hand and kissed it. She trembled as she felt the drawing of +his lips. + +"I--I must really go now," she told him hastily. + +He stood up to his full height, and again she quivered as she realized +how magnificent a man he was. + +"_A bientôt_, Daphne!" he said, and let her go. + +She slipped away from his presence with the feeling of being caught in +the meshes of a great net from which she could never hope to escape. She +had drunk to-night yet deeper of the wine of the gods, and she knew +beyond all doubting that she would return for more. + +The memory of his kisses thrilled her all through the night. When she +dreamed she was back again in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE UNKNOWN FORCE + + +"Arrah thin, Miss Isabel darlint, and can't ye rest at all?" + +Old Biddy stooped over her charge, her parchment face a mass of wrinkles. +Isabel was lying in bed, but raised upon one elbow in the attitude of one +about to rise. She looked at the old woman with a queer, ironical smile +in her tragic eyes. + +"I am going up the mountain," she said. "It is moonlight, and I know the +way. I can rest when I get to the top." + +"Ah, be aisy, darlint!" urged the old woman. "It's much more likely he'll +come to ye if ye lie quiet." + +"No, he will not come to me." There was unalterable conviction in +Isabel's voice. "It is I who must go to him. If I had waited on the +mountain I should never have missed him. He is waiting for me there now." + +She flung off the bedclothes and rose, a gaunt, white figure from which +all the gracious lines of womanhood had long since departed. Her silvery +hair hung in two great plaits from her shoulders, wonderful hair that +shone in the shaded lamplight with a lustre that seemed luminous. + +"Will I have to fetch Master Scott to ye?" said Biddy, eyeing her +wistfully. "He's very tired, poor young man. There's two nights he's had +no sleep at all. Won't ye try and rest aisy for his sake, Miss Isabel +darlint? Ye can go up the mountain in the morning, and maybe that little +Miss Bathurst will like to go with ye. Do wait till the morning now!" she +wheedled, laying a wiry old hand upon her. "It's no Christian hour at all +for going about now." + +"Let me go!" said Isabel. + +Biddy's black eyes pleaded with a desperate earnestness. "If ye'd only +listen to reason, Miss Isabel!" she said. + +"How can I listen," Isabel answered, "when I can hear his voice in my +heart calling, calling, calling! Oh, let me go, Biddy! You don't +understand, or you couldn't seek to hold me back from him." + +"Mavourneen!" Biddy's eyes were full of tears; the hand she had laid upon +Isabel's arm trembled. "It isn't meself that's holding ye back. It's God. +He'll join the two of ye together in His own good time, but ye can't +hurry Him. Ye've got to bide His time." + +"I can't!" Isabel said. "I can't! You're all conspiring against me. I +know--I know! Give me my cloak, and I will go." + +Biddy heaved a great sigh, the tears were running down her cheeks, but +her face was quite resolute. "I'll have to call Master Scott after all," +she said. + +"No! No! I don't want Scott. I don't want anyone. I only want to be up +the mountain in time for the dawn. Oh, why are you all such fools? Why +can't you understand?" There was growing exasperation in Isabel's voice. + +Biddy's hand fell from her, and she turned to cross the room. + +Scott slept in the next room to them, and a portable electric bell which +they adjusted every night communicated therewith. Biddy moved slowly to +press the switch, but ere she reached it Isabel's voice stayed her. + +"Biddy, don't call Master Scott!" + +Biddy paused, looking back with eyes of faithful devotion. + +"Ah, Miss Isabel darlint, will ye rest aisy then? I dursn't give ye the +quieting stuff without Master Scott says so." + +"I don't want anything," Isabel said. "I only want my liberty. Why are +you all in league against me to keep me in just one place? Ah, listen to +that noise! How wild those people are! It is the same every night--every +night. Can they really be as happy as they sound?" + +A distant hubbub had arisen in the main corridor, the banging of doors +and laughter of careless voices. It was some time after one o'clock, and +the merry-markers were on their way to bed. + +"Never mind them!" said Biddy. "They're just a set of noisy children. Lie +down again, Miss Isabel! They'll soon settle, and then p'raps ye'll get +to sleep. It's not this way they'll be coming anyway." + +"Someone is coming this way," said Isabel, listening with sudden close +attention. + +She was right. The quiet tread of a man's feet came down the corridor +that led to their private suite. A man's hand knocked with imperious +insistence upon the door. + +"Sir Eustace!" said Biddy, in a dramatic whisper. "Will I tell him ye're +asleep, Miss Isabel? Quick now! Get back to bed!" + +But Isabel made no movement to comply. She only drew herself together +with the nervous contraction of one about to face a dreaded ordeal. + +Quietly the door opened. Biddy moved forward, her face puckered with +anxiety. She met Sir Eustace on the threshold. + +"Miss Isabel hasn't settled yet, Sir Eustace," she told him, her voice +cracked and tremulous. "But she'll not be wanting anybody to disturb her. +Will your honour say good night and go?" + +There was entreaty in the words. Her eyes besought him. Her old gnarled +hands gripped each other, trembling. + +But Sir Eustace looked over her head as though she were not there. His +gaze sought and found his sister; and a frown gathered on his clear-cut, +handsome face. + +"Not in bed yet?" he said, and closing the door moved forward, passing +Biddy by. + +Isabel stood and faced him, but she drew back a step as he reached her, +and a hunted look crept into her wide eyes. + +"You are late," she said. "I thought you had forgotten to say good +night." + +He was still in evening dress. It was evident that he had only just come +upstairs. "No, I didn't forget," he said. "And it seems I am not too late +for you. I shouldn't have disturbed you if you had been asleep." + +She smiled a quivering, piteous smile. "You knew I should not be asleep," +she said. + +He glanced towards the bed which Biddy was setting in order with tender +solicitude. "I expected to find you in bed nevertheless," he said. "What +made you get up again?" + +She shook her head in silence, standing before him like a child that +expects a merited rebuke. + +He put a hand on her shoulder that was authoritative rather than kind. +"Lie down again!" he said. "It is time you settled for the night." + +She threw him a quick, half-furtive look. "No--no!" she said hurriedly. +"I can't sleep. I don't want to sleep. I think I will get a book and +read." + +His hand pressed upon her. "Isabel!" he said quietly. "When I say a thing +I mean it." + +She made a quivering gesture of appeal. "I can't go to bed, Eustace. It +is like lying on thorns. Somehow I can't close my eyes to-night. They +feel red-hot." + +His hold did not relax. "My dear," he said, "you talk like a hysterical +child! Lie down at once, and don't be ridiculous!" + +She wavered perceptibly before his insistence. "If I do, Scott must give +me a draught. I can't do without it--indeed--indeed!" + +"You are going to do without it to-night," Eustace said, with cool +decision. "Scott is worn out and has gone to bed. I made him promise to +stay there unless he was rung for. And he will not be rung for to-night." + +Isabel made a sharp movement of dismay. "But--but--I always have the +draught sooner or later. I must have it. Eustace, I must! I can't do +without it! I never have done without it!" + +Eustace's face did not alter. It looked as if it were hewn in granite. +"You are going to make a beginning to-night," he said. "You have been +poisoned by that stuff long enough, and I am going to put a stop to it. +Now get into bed, and be reasonable! Biddy, you clear out and do the +same! You can leave the door ajar if you like. I'll call you if you are +wanted." + +He pointed to the half-open door that led into the small adjoining room +in which Biddy slept. The old woman stood and stared at him with +consternation in her beady eyes. + +"Is it meself that could do such a thing?" she protested. "I never leave +my young lady till she's asleep, Sir Eustace. I'd sooner come under the +curse of the Almighty." + +He raised his brows momentarily, but he kept his hand upon his sister. He +was steadily pressing her towards the bed. "If you don't do as you are +told, Biddy, you will be made," he observed. "I am here to-night for a +definite purpose, and I am not going to be thwarted by you. So you had +better take yourself out of my way. Now, Isabel, you know me, don't you? +You know it is useless to fight against me when my mind is made up. Be +sensible for once! It's for your own good. You can't have that draught. +You have got to manage without it." + +"Oh, I can't! I can't!" moaned Isabel. She was striving to resist his +hold, but her efforts were piteously weak. The force of his personality +plainly dominated her. "I shall lie awake all night--all night." + +"Very well," he said inexorably. "You must. Sleep will come sooner or +later, and then you can make up for it." + +"Oh, but you don't understand." Piteously she turned and clasped his arm +in desperate entreaty. "I shall lie awake in torture. I shall hear him +calling all night long. He is there beyond the mountains, wanting me. And +I can't get to him. It is agony--oh, it is agony--to lie and listen!" + +He took her between his hands, very firmly, very quietly. "Isabel, you +are talking nonsense--utter nonsense! And I refuse to listen to it. Get +into bed! Do you hear? Yes, I insist. I am capable of putting you there. +If you mean to behave like a child, I shall treat you as one. Now for the +last time, get into bed." + +"Sir Eustace!" pleaded Biddy in a hoarse whisper. "Don't force her, Sir +Eustace! Don't now! Don't!" + +He paid no attention to her. His eyes were fixed upon his sister's +death-white face, and her eyes, strained and glassy were upturned to his. + +He said no more. Isabel's breath came in short sobbing gasps. She +resisted him no longer. Under the steady pressure of his hands, her body +yielded. She seemed to wilt under the compulsion of his look. Slowly, +tremblingly, she crumpled in his hold, sinking downwards upon the bed. + +He bent over her, laying her back, taking the bedclothes from Biddy's +shaking hands and drawing them over her. + +Then over his shoulder briefly he addressed the old woman. "Turn out the +light, and go!" + +Biddy stood and gibbered. There was that in her mistress's numb +acquiescence that terrified her. "Sure, you'll kill her, Sir Eustace!" +she gasped. + +He made a compelling gesture. "You had better do as I say. If I want your +help--or advice--I'll let you know. Do as I say! Do you hear me, Biddy?" + +His voice fell suddenly and ominously to a note so deep that Biddy drew +back still further affrighted and began to whimper. + +Sir Eustace turned back to his sister, lying motionless on the pillow. +"Tell her to go, Isabel! I am going to stay with you myself. You don't +want her, do you?" + +"No," said Isabel. "I want Scott." + +"You can't have Scott to-night." There was absolute decision in his +voice. "It is essential that he should get a rest. He looked ready to +drop to-night." + +"Ah! You think me selfish!" she said, catching her breath. + +He sat down by her side. "No," he answered quietly. "But I think you have +not the least idea how much he spends himself upon you. If you had, you +would be shocked." + +She moved restlessly. "You don't understand," she said. "You never +understand. Eustace, I wish you would go away." + +"I will go in half an hour," he made calm rejoinder, "if you have not +moved during that time." + +"You know that is impossible;" she said. + +"Very well then. I shall remain." His jaw set itself in a fashion that +brought it into heavy prominence. + +"You will stay all night?" she questioned quickly. + +"If necessary," he answered. + +Biddy had turned the lamp very low. The faint radiance shone upon him as +he sat imparting a certain mysterious force to his dominant outline. He +looked as immovable as an image carved in stone. + +A great shiver went through Isabel. "You want to see me suffer," she +said. + +"You are wrong," he returned inflexibly. "But I would sooner see you +suffer than give yourself up to a habit which is destroying you by +inches. It is no kindness on Scott's part to let you do it." + +"Don't talk of Scott!" she said quickly. "No one--no one--will ever know +what he is to me--how he has helped me--while you--you have only looked +on!" + +Her voice quivered. She flung out a restless arm. Instantly, yet without +haste, he took and held her hand. His fingers pressed the fevered wrist. +He spoke after a moment while he quelled her instinctive effort to free +herself. "I am not merely looking on to-night. I am here to help you--if +you will accept my help." + +"You are here to torture me!" she flung back fiercely. "You are here to +force me down into hell, and lock the gates upon me!" + +His hold tightened upon her. He leaned slightly towards her. "I am here +to conquer you," he said, "if you will not conquer yourself." + +The sudden sternness of his speech, the compulsion of his look, took +swift effect upon her. She cowered away from him. + +"You are cruel!" she whispered. "You always were cruel at heart--even in +the days when you loved me." + +Sir Eustace's lips became a single, hard line. His whole strength was +bent to the task of subduing her, and he meant it to be as brief a +struggle as possible. + +He said nothing whatever therefore, and so passed his only opportunity of +winning the conflict by any means save naked force. + +To Isabel in her torment that night was the culmination of sorrows. For +years this brother who had once been all the world to her had held aloof, +never seeking to pass the barrier which her widowed love had raised +between them. He had threatened many times to take the step which now at +last he had taken; but always Scott had intervened, shielding her from +the harshness which such a step inevitably involved. And by love he had +never sought to prevail. Her mental weakness seemed to have made +tenderness from him an impossibility. He could not bear with her. It was +as though he resented in her the likeness to one beloved whom he mourned +as dead. + +Possibly he had never wholly forgiven her marriage--that disastrous +marriage that had broken her life. Possibly her clouded brain was to him +a source of suffering which drove him to hardness. He had ever been +impatient of weakness, and what he deemed hysteria was wholly beyond his +endurance; and the spectacle of the one being who had been so much to him +crushed beneath a sorrow the very existence of which he resented was one +which he had never been able to contemplate with either pity or +tolerance. As he had said, he would rather see her suffering than a +passive slave to that sorrow and all that it entailed. + +So during the dreadful hours that followed he held her to her inferno, +convinced beyond all persuasion---with the stubborn conviction of an iron +will--that by so doing he was acting for her welfare, even in a sense +working out her salvation. + +He relied upon the force of his personality to accomplish the end he had +in view. If he could break the fatal rule of things for one night only, +he believed that he would have achieved the hardest part. But the process +was long and agonizing. Only by the sternest effort of will could he keep +up the pressure which he knew he must not relax for a single moment if he +meant to attain the victory he desired. + +There came a time when Isabel's powers of endurance were lost in the +abyss of mental suffering into which she was flung, and she struggled +like a mad creature for freedom. He held her in his arms, feeling her +strength wane with every paroxysm, till at last she lay exhausted, only +feebly entreating him for the respite he would not grant. + +But even when the bitter conflict was over, when she was utterly +conquered at last, and he laid her down, too weak for further effort, he +did not gather the fruits of victory. For her eyes remained wide and +glassy, dry and sleepless with the fever that throbbed ceaselessly in the +poor tortured brain behind. + +She was passive from exhaustion only, and though he closed the staring +eyes, yet they opened again with tense wakefulness the moment he took his +hand from the burning brow. + +The night was far advanced when Biddy, creeping softly came to her +mistress's side in the belief that she slept at last. She had not dared +to come before, had not dared to interfere though she had listened with a +wrung heart to the long and futile battle; for Sir Eustace's wrath was +very terrible, too terrible a thing to incur with impunity. + +But the moment she looked upon Isabel's face, her courage came upon a +flood of indignation that carried all before it. + +"Faith, I believe you've killed her!" she uttered in a sibilant whisper +across the bed. "Is it yourself that has no heart at all?" + +He looked back to her, dominant still, though the prolonged struggle had +left its mark upon him also. His face was pale and set. + +"This is only a phase," he said quietly. "She will fall asleep presently. +You can get her a cup of tea if you can do it without making a fuss." + +Biddy turned from the bed. That glimpse of Isabel's face had been enough. +She had no further thought of consequences. She moved across the room to +set about her task, and in doing so she paused momentarily and pressed +the bell that communicated with Scott's room. + +Sir Eustace did not note the action. Perhaps the long strain had weakened +his vigilance somewhat. He sat in massive obduracy, relentlessly watching +his sister's worn white face. + +Two minutes later the door opened, and a shadowy figure slipped into the +room. + +He looked up then, looked up sharply. "You!" he said, with curt +displeasure. + +Scott came straight to him, and leaned over his sister for a moment with +a hand on his shoulder. She did not stir, or seem aware of his presence. +Her eyes gazed straight upwards with a painful, immovable stare. + +Scott stood up again. His hand was still upon Eustace. He looked him in +the eyes. "You go to bed, my dear chap!" he said. "I've had my rest." + +Eustace jerked back his head with a movement of exasperation. "You +promised to stay in your room unless you were rung for," he said. + +Scott's brows went up for a second; then, "For the night, yes!" he said. +"But the night is over. It is nearly six. I shan't sleep again. You go +and get what sleep you can." + +Eustace's jaw looked stubborn. "If you will give me your word of honour +not to drug her, I'll go," he said. "Not otherwise." + +Scott's hand pressed his shoulder. "You must leave her in my care now," +he said. "I am not going to promise anything more." + +"Then I remain," said Eustace grimly. + +A muffled sob came from Biddy. She was weeping over her tea-kettle. + +Scott took his brother by the shoulders as he sat. "Go like a good +fellow," he urged. "You will do harm if you stay." + +But Eustace resisted him. "I am here for a definite purpose," he said, +"and I have no intention of relinquishing it. She has come through so far +without it, I am not going to give in at this stage." + +"And you think your treatment has done her good?" said Scott, with a +glance at the drawn, motionless face on the pillow. + +"Ultimate good is what I am aiming at," his brother returned stubbornly. + +Scott's hold became a grip. He leaned suddenly down and spoke in a +whisper. "If I had known you were up to this, I'm damned if I'd have +stayed away!" he said tensely. + +"Stumpy!" Eustace opened his eyes in amazement. Strong language from +Scott was so unusual as to be almost outside his experience. + +"I mean it!" Scott's words vibrated. "You've done a hellish thing! Clear +out now, and leave me to help her in my own way! Before God, I believe +she'll die if you don't! Do you want her to die?" + +The question fell with a force that was passionate. There was violence in +the grip of his hands. His light eyes were ablaze. His whole meagre body +quivered as though galvanized by some vital, electric current more potent +than it could bear. + +And very curiously Sir Eustace was moved by the unknown force. It struck +him unawares. Stumpy in this mood was a complete stranger to him, a being +possessed by gods or devils, he knew not which; but in any case a being +that compelled respect. + +He got up and stood looking down at him speculatively, too astonished to +be angry. + +Scott faced him with clenched hands. He was white as death. "Go!" he +reiterated. "Go! There's no room for you in here. Get out!" + +His lips twisted over the words, and for an instant his teeth showed with +a savage gleam. He was trembling from head to foot. + +It was no moment for controversy. Sir Eustace recognized the fact just as +surely as he realized that his brother had completely parted with his +self-control. He had the look of a furious animal prepared to spring at +his throat. + +Greek had met Greek indeed, but upon ground that was wholly unsuitable +for a tug of war. With a shrug he yielded. + +"I don't know you, Stumpy," he said briefly. "You've got beyond yourself. +I advise you to pull up before we meet again. I also advise you to bear +in mind that to administer that draught is to undo all that I have spent +the whole night to accomplish." + +Scott stood back for him to pass, but the quivering fury of the man +seemed to emanate from him like the scorching draught from a blast +furnace. As Eustace said, he had got beyond himself,--so far beyond that +he was scarcely recognizable. + +"Your advice be damned!" he flung back under his breath with a +concentrated bitterness that was terrible. "I shall follow my own +judgment." + +Sir Eustace's mouth curled superciliously. He was angry too, though by no +means so angry as Scott. "Better look where you go all the same," he +observed, and passed him by, not without dignity and a secret sense of +relief. + +The long and fruitless vigil of the night had taught him one thing at +least. Rome was not built in a day. He would not attempt the feat a +second time, though neither would he rest till he had gained his end. + +As for Scott, he would have a reckoning with him presently--a strictly +private reckoning which should demonstrate once and for all who was +master. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE ESCAPE OF THE PRISONER + + +Dinah spent her Sunday afternoon seated in a far corner of the verandah, +inditing a very laboured epistle to her mother--a very different affair +from the gay little missives she scribbled to her father every other day. + +The letter to her mother was a duty which must of necessity be +accomplished, and perhaps in consequence she found it peculiarly +distasteful. She never knew what to say, being uncomfortably aware that a +detailed account of her doings would only give rise to drastic comment. +The glories of the mountains were wholly beyond her powers of description +when she knew that any extravagance of language would be at once termed +high-flown and ridiculous. The sleigh-drive of the day before was +disposed of in one sentence, and the dance of the evening could not be +mentioned at all. The memory of it was like a flame in her inner +consciousness. Her cheeks still burned at the thought, and her heart +leapt with a wild longing. When would he kiss her again, she wondered? +Ah, when, when? + +There was another thought at the back of her wonder which she felt to be +presumptuous, but which nevertheless could not be kept completely in +abeyance. He had said that there would be no consequences; but--had he +really meant it? Was it possible ever to awake wholly from so perfect a +dream? Was it not rather the great reality of things to which she had +suddenly come, and all her past life a mere background of shadows? How +could she ever go back into that dimness now that she felt the glorious +rays of this new radiance upon her? And he also--was it possible that he +could ever forget? Surely it had ceased to be just a game to either of +them! Surely, surely, the wonder and the rapture had caught him also into +the magic web--the golden maze of Romance! + +She leaned her head on her hand and gave herself up to the great +enchantment, feeling again his kisses upon lips and eyes and brow, and +the thrilling irresistibility of his hold. Ah, this was life indeed! Ah, +this was life! + +A soft footfall near her made her look up sharply, and she saw Rose de +Vigne approaching. Rose was looking even more beautiful than usual, yet +for the first time Dinah contemplated her without any under-current of +envy. She moved slightly to make room for her. + +"I haven't come to stay," Rose announced with her quiet, well-satisfied +smile, as she drew near. "I have promised to sing at to-night's concert +and the padre wants to look through my songs. Well, Dinah, my dear, how +are you getting on? Is that a letter to your mother?" + +Dinah suppressed a sigh. "Yes. I've only just begun it. I don't know in +the least what to say." + +Rose lifted her pretty brows. "What about your new friend Sir Eustace +Studley's sister? Wouldn't she be interested to hear of her? Poor soul, +it's lamentably sad to think that she should be mentally deranged. Some +unfortunate strain in the family, I should say, to judge by the younger +brother's appearance also." + +Dinah's green eyes gleamed a little. "I don't see anything very unusual +about him," she remarked. "There are plenty of little men in the world." + +"And crippled?" smiled Rose. + +"I shouldn't call him a cripple," rejoined Dinah quickly. "He is quite +active." + +"Many cripples are, dear," Rose pointed out. "He has learnt to get the +better of his infirmity, but nothing can alter the fact that the +infirmity exists. I call him a most peculiar little person to look at. Of +course I don't deny that he may be very nice in other ways." + +Dinah bit her lip and was silent. To hear Scott described as nice was to +her mind less endurable than to hear him called peculiar. But somehow she +could not bring herself to discuss him, so she choked down her +indignation and said nothing. + +Rose seated herself beside her. "I call Sir Eustace a very interesting +man," she observed. "He fully makes up for the deficiencies of his +brother and sister. He seems to be very kind-hearted too. Didn't I see +him helping you with your skating the other night?" + +Dinah's eyes shone again with a quick and ominous light. "He helped you +with your ski-ing too, didn't he?" she said. + +"He did, dear. I had a most enjoyable afternoon." Rose smiled again as +over some private reminiscence. "He told me he thought you were coming +on, in fact he seems to think that you have the makings of quite a good +skater. It's a pity your opportunities are so limited, dear." Rose paused +to utter a soft laugh. + +"I don't see anything funny in that," remarked Dinah. + +"No, no! Of course not. I was only smiling at the way in which he +referred to you. 'That little brown cousin of yours' he said, 'makes me +think of a water-vole, there one minute and gone the next.' He seemed to +think you a rather amusing child, as of course you are." Rose put up a +delicate hand and playfully caressed the glowing cheek nearest to her. "I +told him you were not any relation, but just a dear little friend of mine +who had never seen anything of the world before. And he laughed and said, +'That is why she looks like a chocolate baby out of an Easter egg.'" + +"Anything else?" said Dinah, repressing an urgent desire to shiver at the +kindly touch. + +"No, I don't think so. We had more important matters to think of and talk +about. He is a man who has travelled a good deal, and we found that we +had quite a lot in common, having visited the same places and regarded +many things from practically the same point of view. He took the trouble +to be very entertaining," said Rose, with a pretty blush. "And his +trouble was not misspent. I am convinced that he enjoyed the afternoon +even more than I did. We also enjoyed the evening," she added. "He is an +excellent dancer. We suited each other perfectly." + +"Did you find him good at sitting out?" asked Dinah unexpectedly. + +Rose looked at her enquiringly, but her eyes were fixed upon the distant +mist-capped mountains. There was nothing in her aspect to indicate what +had prompted the question. + +"What a funny thing to ask!" she said, with her soft laugh. "No; we +enjoyed dancing much too much to waste any time sitting out. He gave you +one dance, I believe?" + +"No," Dinah said briefly. "I gave him one." + +She turned from her contemplation of the mountains. An odd little smile +very different from Rose's smile of complacency hovered at the corners of +her mouth. She gave Rose a swift and comprehensive glance, then slipped +her pen into her writing-case and closed it. + +"I am afraid I have interrupted you," said Rose. + +"Oh no, it doesn't matter." Dinah's dimple showed for a second and was +gone. "I can't write any more now. There's something about this air that +makes me feel now and then that I must get up and jump. Does it affect +you that way?" + +"You funny little thing!" said Rose. "Why, no!" + +Dinah's chin pointed upwards. She looked for the moment almost +aggressively happy. But the next her look went beyond Rose, and she +started. Her expression altered, became suddenly tender and anxious. + +"There is Mrs. Everard!" she said softly. + +Rose looked round. "Ah! Captain Brent's Purple Empress!" she said. "How +haggard the poor soul looks!" + +As if drawn magnetically, Dinah moved along the verandah. + +Isabel was dressed in the long purple coat she had worn the previous day. +She had a cap of black fur on her head. She stood as if irresolute, +glancing up and down as though she searched for someone. There was an odd +furtiveness in her bearing that struck Dinah on the instant. It also +occurred to her as strange that though the restless eyes must have seen +her they did not seem to take her in. + +The fact deterred her for a second, but only for a second. Then swiftly +she went forward and joined her. + +"Are you looking for someone, dear Mrs. Everard?" + +Isabel's eyes glanced at her, and instantly looked beyond. "I am looking +for my husband," she said, her voice quick and low. "He does not seem to +be here. You have not seen him, I suppose? He is tall and fair with a +boyish smile, and eyes that look straight at you. He laughs a good deal. +He is always laughing. You couldn't fail to notice him. He is one whom +the gods love." + +Again her eyes roamed over Dinah, and again they passed her to scan the +mist-wreathed mountains. + +Dinah slipped a loving hand through her arm. "He is not here, dear," she +said. "Come and sit down for a little! The sun won't be gone yet. We can +watch it go." + +She tried to draw her gently along the verandah, but Isabel resisted. +"No--no! I am not going that way. I have to go up the mountains to meet +him. Don't keep me! Don't keep me!" + +Dinah threw an anxious look around. There was no one near them. Rose had +moved away to join a group just returned from the rink. The laughter and +gay voices rose on the still air in merry chorus. No one knew or cared of +the living tragedy so near. + +Pleadingly she turned to Isabel. "Darling Mrs. Everard, need you go now? +Wait till the morning! It is so late now. It will soon be dark." + +Isabel made a sharp gesture of impatience. "Be quiet, child! You don't +understand. Of course I must go now. I have escaped from them, and if I +wait I shall be taken again. It would kill me to be kept back now. I must +meet him in the dawn on the mountain-top. What was it you called it? The +peaks of Paradise! That is where I shall find him. But I must start at +once--at once." + +She threw another furtive look around, and stepped forth. Dinah's hand +closed upon her arm. "If you go, I am coming too," she said, with quick +resolution. "But won't you wait a moment--just a moment--while I run +and get some gloves?" + +Isabel made a swift effort to disengage herself. "No, child, no! I can't +wait. If you met Eustace, he would make you tell him where you were +going, and then he would follow and bring me back. No, I must go now--at +once. Yes, you may come too if you like. But you mustn't keep me back. I +must go quickly--quickly--before they find out. Everything depends on +that." + +There was no delaying her. Dinah cast another look towards the chattering +group, and gave up hope. She dared not leave her, for she had no idea of +the whereabouts of either of the brothers. And there was no time to make +a search. The only course open to her was to accompany her friend +whithersoever the fruitless quest should lead. She was convinced that +Isabel's physical powers of endurance were slight, and that when they +were exhausted she would be able to bring her back unresisting. + +Nevertheless, she was conscious of a little tremor at the heart as they +set forth. There was an air of desperation about her companion that it +was impossible to overlook. Isabel's manner towards her was so wholly +devoid of that caressing element that had always marked their intimacy +till that moment. Without being actually frightened, she was very uneasy. +It was evident that Isabel was beyond all persuasion that day. + +The sun was beginning to sink towards the western peaks as they turned up +the white track, casting long shadows across the snow. The pine-wood +through which the road wound was mysteriously dark. The rush of the +stream in the hollow had an eerie sound. It seemed to Dinah that the +ground they trod was bewitched. She almost expected to catch sight of +goblin-faces peering from behind the dark trunks. Now and then muffled in +the snow, she thought she heard the scamper of tiny feet. + +Isabel went up the steep track with a wonderful elasticity, looking +neither to right nor left. Her eyes were fixed perpetually forwards, with +the look in them of one who strains towards a goal. Her lips were parted, +and the eagerness of her face went to Dinah's heart. + +They came out above the pine-wood. They reached and passed the spot where +she and Scott had turned back on their first walk together. The snow +crunched crisply underfoot. The ascent was becoming more and more acute. + +Dinah was panting. Light as she was, with all the activity of youth in +her veins, she found it hard to keep up, for Isabel was pressing, +pressing hard. She went as one in whom the fear of pursuit was ever +present, paying no heed to her companion, seeming indeed to have almost +forgotten her presence. + +On and on, up and up, they went on their rapid pilgrimage. The winding of +the road had taken them out of sight of the hotel, and the whole world +seemed deserted. The sun-rays slanted ever more and more obliquely. The +valley behind them had fallen into shadow. + +Before them and very far above them towered the great pinnacles, clothed +in the everlasting snows, beginning to turn golden above their floating +wreaths of mist. Even where they were, trails like the ragged edges of a +cloud drifted by them, and the coldness of the air held a clammy quality. +The sparkling dryness of the atmosphere seemed to be dissolving into +these thin, veil-like vapours. The cold was more penetrating than Dinah +had ever before experienced. + +Now and then an icy draught came swirling down upon them, making her +shiver, though it was evident that Isabel was unaware of it. The harder +the way became, the more set upon her purpose did she seem to be. Dinah +marvelled at her strength and unvarying determination. There was about it +an element of the wild, not far removed from ferocity. Her uneasiness was +growing with every step, and something that was akin to fear began to +knock at her heart. The higher they mounted, the more those trails of +mist increased. Very soon now the sun would be gone. Already it had +ceased to warm that world of snow. And what would happen then? What if +the dusk came upon them while still they pressed on up that endless, +difficult track? + +Timidly she clasped Isabel's arm at last. "It will be getting dark soon," +she said. "Shouldn't we be going back?" + +For a moment Isabel's eyes swept round upon her, and she marvelled at +their intense and fiery brilliance. But instantly they sought the +mountain-tops again, all rose-lit in the opal glow of sunset. + +"You can go back, child," she said. "I must go on." + +"But it is getting so late," pleaded Dinah. "And look at the mist! If we +keep on much longer, we may be lost." + +Isabel quickened her pace. "I am not afraid," she said, and her voice +thrilled with a deep rapture. "He is waiting for me, there where the +mountains meet the sky. I shall find him in the dawn. I know that I shall +find him." + +"But, dear Mrs. Everard, we can't go on after dark," urged Dinah. "We +should be frozen long before morning. It is terribly cold already. And +poor Biddy will be so anxious about you." + +"Oh no!" Isabel spoke with supreme confidence. "Biddy will know where I +have gone. She was asleep when I left, poor old soul. She had had a bad +night." A sudden sharp shudder caught her. "All night I was struggling +against the bars of my cage. It was only when Biddy fell asleep that I +found the door was open. But you can go back, child," she added. "You had +better go back. Eustace won't want to follow me if he has you." + +But Dinah's hold instantly grew close and resolute. "I shall not leave +you," she said, with decision. + +Isabel made no further attempt to persuade her. She seemed to regard it +as a matter of trifling importance. Her one aim was to reach those +glowing peaks that glittered far above the floating mists like the +glories half-revealed of another world. + +It was nothing to her that the road by which they had come should be +blotted out. She had no thought for that, no desire or intention to +return. If an earthquake had rent away the ground behind them, she would +not have been dismayed. It was only the forward path, leading ever +upwards to the desired country, that held her mind, and the memory of a +voice that called far above the mountain height. + +The sun sank, the glory faded. The dark and the cold wrapped them round. +But still was she undaunted. "When the dawn comes, we shall be there," +she said. + +And Dinah heard her with a sinking heart. She had no thought of leaving +her, but she knew and faced the fact that in going on, she carried her +life in her hand. Yet she kept herself from despair. Surely by now the +brothers would have found out, and they would follow! Surely they would +follow! And Eustace--Eustace would thank her for what she had done. + +She strained her ears for their coming; but she heard nothing--nothing +but their own muffled footsteps on the snow. And ever the darkness +deepened, and the mist crept closer around them. + +She gathered all her courage to face the falling night. She was sure she +had done right to come and so she hoped God would take care of them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CUP OF BITTERNESS + + +It was growing late on that same evening that Scott came through the +hotel vestibule after a rehearsal of the concert which was to take place +that evening and at which he had undertaken to play the accompaniments. +He glanced about him as he came as though in search of someone, and +finally passed on to the smoking-room. His eye were heavy and his face +worn, but there was an air of resolution about him that gave purpose to +his movements. + +In the smoking-room several men were congregated, and in a corner of it +sat Sir Eustace, writing a letter. Scott came straight to him, and bent +over him a hand on the back of his chair. + +"Can I have a word with you?" he asked in a low voice. + +Sir Eustace did not look round or cease to write. "Presently," he said. + +Scott drew back and sat down near him. He did not smoke or take up a +paper. His attitude was one of quiet vigilance. + +Minutes passed. Sir Eustace continued his task exactly as if he were not +there. Now and then he paused to flick the ash from his cigarette, but he +did not turn his head. The dressing-gong boomed through the hotel, but he +paid no attention to it. One after another the men in the room got up and +sauntered away, but Scott remained motionless, awaiting his brother's +pleasure. + +Sir Eustace finished his letter, and pulled another sheet of paper +towards him. Scott made no sign of impatience. + +Sir Eustace began to write again, paused, wrote a few more words, then +suddenly turned in his chair. They were alone. + +"Oh, what the devil is it?" he said irritably. "I haven't any time to +waste over you. What do you want?" + +Scott stood up. "It's all right, old chap," he said gently. "I'm going. I +only came in to tell you I was sorry for all the beastly things I said to +you last night--this morning, rather. I lost my temper which was fairly +low of me, considering you had been up all night and I hadn't." + +He paused. Eustace was looking up at him from under frowning brows, his +blue eyes piercing and merciless. + +"It's all very fine, Stumpy," he said, after a moment. "Some people think +that an apology more than atones for the offence. I don't." + +"Neither do I," said Scott quietly. "But it's better than nothing, isn't +it?" His eyes met his brother's very steadily and openly. His attitude +was unflinching. + +"It depends," Eustace rejoined curtly. "It is if you mean it. If you +don't, it's not worth--that," with a snap of the fingers. + +"I do mean it," said Scott, flushing. + +"You do?" Eustace looked at him still more searchingly. + +"I always mean what I say," Scott returned with deliberation. + +"And you meant what you said this morning?" Eustace pounced without mercy +upon the weak spot. + +But the armour was proof. Scott remained steadfast. "I meant it--yes. But +I might have put it in a different form. I lost my temper. I am sorry." + +Eustace continued to regard him with a straight, unsparing scrutiny. "And +you consider that to be the sort of apology I can accept?" he asked, +after a moment. + +"I think you might accept it, old chap," Scott made pacific rejoinder. + +Eustace turned back to the table, and began to put his papers together. +"I might do many things," he observed, "which, not being a weak-kneed +fool, I don't. If you really wish to make your peace with me, you had +better do your best to make amends--to pull with me and not against me. +For I warn you, Stumpy, you went too far last night. And it is not the +first time." + +He paused, as if he expected a disclaimer. + +Scott waited a second or two; then with a very winning movement he bent +and laid his arm across his brother's shoulders. "Try and bear with me, +dear chap!" he said. + +His voice was not wholly steady. There was entreaty in his action. + +Eustace made a sharp gesture of surprise, but he did not repel him. There +fell a brief silence between them; then Scott's hand came gently down and +closed upon his brother's. + +"Life isn't so confoundedly easy at the best of times," he said, speaking +almost under his breath. "I'm generally philosopher enough to take it as +it comes. But just lately--" he broke off. "Let it be _pax,_ Eustace!" he +urged in a whisper. + +Eustace's hand remained for a moment or two stiffly unresponsive; then +very suddenly it closed and held. + +"What's the matter with you?" he said gruffly. + +"Oh, I'm a fool, that's all," Scott answered, and uttered a shaky laugh. +"Never mind! Forget it like a dear fellow! God knows I don't want to pull +against you; but, old chap, we must go slow." + +It was the conclusion that events had forced upon Eustace himself during +the night, but he chafed against acknowledging it. "There's no sense in +drifting on in the same old hopeless way for ever," he said. "We have got +to make a stand; and it's now or never." + +"I know. But we must have patience a bit longer. There is a change +coming. I am certain of it. But--last night has thrown her back." Scott +spoke with melancholy conviction. + +"You gave her the draught?" Eustace asked sharply. + +"I gave her a sedative only; but it took no effect. In the middle of the +morning she was still in the same unsatisfactory state, and I gave her a +second sedative. After that she fell asleep, but it was not a very easy +sleep for a long time. This afternoon I saw Biddy for a moment, and she +told me she seemed much more comfortable. The poor old thing looked tired +out, and I told her to get a rest herself. She said she would lie down in +the room. If it hadn't been for this concert business, I would have +relieved her. But they couldn't muster anyone to take my place. I am just +going up now to see how she is getting on." + +Scott straightened himself slowly, with a movement that was unconsciously +very weary. Eustace gave him a keen glance. + +"You're wearing yourself out over her, Stumpy," he said. + +"Oh, rot!" Scott smiled upon him, a light that was boyishly affectionate +in his eyes. "I'm much tougher than I look. Thanks for being decent to +me, old chap! I don't deserve it. If there are any more letters to be +written, bring them along, and I'll attend to them to-night after the +concert." + +"No. Not this lot. I shall attend to them myself." Eustace got up, and +passed a hand through his arm. "You are working too hard and sleeping too +little. I'm going to take you in hand and put a stop to it." + +Scott laughed. "No, no! Thanks all the same, I'm better left alone. Are +you coming to the show to-night? The beautiful Miss de Vigne is going to +sing." + +Eustace looked supercilious. "Is there anything that young lady can't do, +I wonder? Her accomplishments are legion. She told me yesterday that she +could play the guitar. She can also recite, play bridge, and take cricket +scores. She is a scratch golf-player, plays a good game of tennis, rides +to hounds, and visits the poor. And that is by no means a complete list. +I don't wonder that she gives the little brown girl indigestion. Her +perfection is almost nauseating at times." + +Scott laughed again. It was a relief to have diverted his brother's +attention from more personal subjects. "She ought to suit you rather +well," he observed. "You are something of the perfect knight yourself. I +heard a lady exclaim only yesterday when you started off together on that +ski-ing expedition, 'What a positively divine couple! Apollo and +Aphrodite!' I think it was the parson's wife. You couldn't expect her to +know much about heathen theology." + +"Don't make me sick if you don't mind!" said Sir Eustace. "Look here, my +friend! We shall be late if we don't go. You can't spend long with +Isabel, if you are to turn up in time for this precious concert. Hullo! +What's the matter?" + +The door of the smoking-room had burst suddenly open, and Colonel de +Vigne, very red in the face and as agitated as his pomposity would allow, +stood glaring at them. + +"So you are here!" he exclaimed, his tone an odd blend of relief and +anxiety. + +"Do you mean me?" said Sir Eustace, with a touch of haughtiness. + +"Yes, sir, you! I was looking for you," explained the Colonel, pulling +himself together. "I thought perhaps you might be able to give me some +idea as to the whereabouts of my young charge, Miss Bathurst. She is +missing." + +Sir Eustace raised his black brows. "What should I know about her +whereabouts?" he said. + +Scott broke in quickly. "I saw her in the verandah this afternoon with +your daughter." + +"I know. She was there." The Colonel spoke with brevity. "Rose left her +there talking to your sister. No one seems to have seen her since. I +thought she might have been with Sir Eustace. I see I was mistaken. I +apologize. But where the devil can she be?" + +Sir Eustace raised his shoulders. "She was certainly not talking to my +sister," he remarked. "She has kept her room to-day. Miss Bathurst is +probably in her own room dressing for dinner." + +"That's just where she isn't!" exploded the Colonel. "I missed her at +tea-time but thought she must be out. Now her brother tells me that he +has been all over the place and can't find her. I suppose she can't be +upstairs with your sister?" He turned to Scott. + +"I'll go and see," Scott said. "She may be--though I doubt it. My sister +was not so well, and so stayed in bed to-day." + +He moved towards the stairs with the words; but ere he reached them there +came the sound of a sudden commotion on the corridor above, and a wailing +voice made itself heard. + +"Miss Isabel! Miss Isabel! Wherever are you, mavourneen? Ah, what'll I do +at all? Miss Isabel's gone!" + +Old Biddy in her huge white apron and mob cap appeared at the top of the +staircase and came hobbling down with skinny hands extended. + +"Ah, Master Scott--Master Scott--may the saints help us! She's gone! +She's gone! And meself sleeping like a hog the whole afternoon through! +I'll never forgive meself, Master Scott,--never, never! Oh, what'll I do? +I pray the Almighty will take my life before any harm comes to her!" + +She reached Scott at the foot of the stairs and caught his hand +hysterically between her own. + +Sir Eustace strode forward, white to the lips. "Stop your clatter, woman, +and answer me! How did Miss Isabel get away? Is she dressed?" + +The old woman cowered back from the blazing wrath in his eyes. "Yes, your +honour! No, your honour! I mean--Yes, your honour!" she stammered, still +clinging pathetically to Scott. "I was asleep, ye see. I never knew--I +never knew!" + +"How long did you sleep?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +"And how am I to tell at all?" wailed Biddy. "It didn't seem like five +minutes, and I opened me eyes, and she was all quiet in the dark. And +I said to meself, 'I won't disturb the dear lamb,' and I crept into me +room and tidied meself, and made a cup o' tay. And still she kept so +quiet; so I drank me tay and did a bit of work. And then--just a minute +ago it was--I crept in and went to her thinking it was time she woke +up,--and--and--and she wasn't there, your honour. The bed was laid up, +and she was gone! Oh, what'll I do at all? What'll I do?" She burst into +wild sobs, and hid her face in her apron. + +Two or three people were standing about in the vestibule. They looked at +the agitated group with interest, and in a moment a young man who had +just entered came up to Scott. + +"I believe I saw your sister in the verandah this afternoon," he said. + +"That's just what Rose said," broke in the Colonel. "And you wouldn't +believe me. She came out, and Dinah went to speak to her. And now the two +of them are missing. It's obvious. They must have gone off together +somewhere." + +"Not up the mountain. I hope," the young man said. + +"That is probably where they have gone," Scott said, speaking for the +first time. He was patting Biddy's shoulder with compassionate kindness. +"Why do you say that?" + +"It's just begun to snow," the other answered. "And the mist up the +mountain path is thick." + +"Damnation!" exclaimed Sir Eustace furiously. "And she may have been gone +for hours!" + +"Miss Bathurst was with her," said Scott. "She would keep her head. I am +certain of that." He turned to the Colonel who stood fuming by. "Hadn't +we better organize a search-party sir? I am afraid that there is not much +doubt that they have gone up the mountain. My sister, you know--" he +flushed a little--"my sister is not altogether responsible for her +actions. She would not realize the danger." + +"But surely Dinah wouldn't be such a little fool as to go too!" burst +forth the Colonel. "She's sane enough, when she isn't larking about with +other fools." He glared at Sir Eustace. "And how the devil are we to know +where to look, I'd like to know? We can't hunt all over the Alps." + +"There may be some dogs in the village," Scott said. "There is certainly +a guide. I will go down at once and see what I can find." + +"No, no, Stumpy! Not you!" Sharply Sir Eustace intervened. "I won't have +you go. It's not your job, and you are not fit for it." He laid a +peremptory hand upon his brother's shoulder. "That's understood, is it? +You will not leave the hotel." + +He spoke with stern insistence, looking Scott straight in the eyes; and +after a moment or two Scott yielded the point. + +"All right, old chap! I'm not much good, I know. But for heaven's sake, +lose no time." + +"No time will be lost." Sir Eustace turned round upon the Colonel. "We +can't have any but young men on this job," he said. "See if you can +muster two or three to go with me, will you? A doctor if possible! And we +shall want blankets and restoratives and lanterns. Stumpy, you can see to +that. Yes, and send for a guide too though he won't be much help in a +thick mist. And take that wailing woman away! Have everything ready for +us when we come back! They can't have gone very far. Isabel hasn't the +strength. I shall be ready immediately." + +He turned to the stairs and went up them in great leaps, leaving the +little group below to carry out his orders. + +There was a momentary inaction after his departure, then Scott limped +across to the door and opened it. Thick darkness met him, the clammy +darkness of fog, and the faint, faint rustle of falling snow. + +He closed the door and turned back, meeting the Colonel's eyes, "It's +hard to stay behind, sir," he said. + +The Colonel nodded. He liked Scott. "Yes, infernally hard. But we'll do +all we can. Will you find the doctor and get the necessaries together? +I'll see to the rest." + +"Very good, sir; I will." Scott went to the old woman who still sobbed +piteously into her apron. "Come along, Biddy! There's plenty to be done. +Miss Isabel's room must be quite ready for her when she comes back, and +Miss Bathurst's too. We shall want boiling water--lots of it. That's your +job. Come along!" + +He urged her gently to the stairs, and went up with her, holding her arm. + +At the top she stopped and gave him an anguished look. "Ah, Master Scott +darlint, will the Almighty be merciful? Will He bring her safe back +again?" + +He drew her gently on. "That's another thing you can do, Biddy," he said. +"Ask Him!" + +And before his look Biddy commanded herself and grew calmer. "Faith, +Master Scott," she said, "if it isn't yourself that's taught me the +greatest lesson of all!" + +A very compassionate smile shone in Scott's eyes as he passed on and left +her. "Poor old Biddy," he murmured, as he went. "It's easy to preach to +such as you. But, O God, there's no denying it's bitter work for those +who stay behind!" + +He knew that he and Biddy were destined to drink that cup of bitterness +to the dregs ere the night passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE VISION OF GREATHEART + + +The darkness of the night lay like a black pall upon the mountain. The +snow was falling thickly, and ever more thickly. It drifted in upon +Dinah, as she crouched in the shelter of an empty shed that had been +placed on that high slope for the protection of sheep from the spring +storms. They had come upon this shelter just as the gloom had become too +great for even Isabel to regard further progress as possible, and in +response to the girl's insistence they had crept in to rest. They had +lost the beaten track long since; neither of them had realized when. But +the certainty that they had done so had had its effect upon Isabel. Her +energies had flagged from the moment that it had dawned upon her. A +deadly tiredness had come over her, a feebleness so complete that Dinah +had had difficulty in getting her into the shelter. Return was utterly +out of the question. They were hopelessly lost, and to wander in that +densely falling snow was to court disaster. + +Very thankful Dinah had been to find even so poor a refuge in that waste +of drifting fog; but now as she huddled by Isabel's side it seemed to her +that the relief afforded was but a prolonging of their agony. The cold +was intense. It seemed to penetrate to her very bones, and she knew by +her companion's low moaning that she was suffering keenly also. + +Isabel seemed to have sunk into a state of semi-consciousness, and only +now and then did broken words escape her--words scarcely audible to +Dinah, but which testified none the less to the bitterness of despair +that had come upon her. + +She sat in a corner of the desolate place with Dinah pressed close to +her, while the snow drifted in through the door-less entrance and +sprinkled them both. But it was the darkness rather than the cold or the +snow that affected the girl as she crouched there with her arms about her +companion, striving to warm and shelter her while she herself felt frozen +to the very heart. It was so terrible, so monstrous, so nerve-shattering. +And the silence that went with it was like a nightmare horror to her +shrinking soul. For all Dinah's sensibilities were painfully on the +alert. No merciful dulness of perception came to her. Responsibility had +awakened in her a nervous energy that made her realize the awfulness of +their position with appalling vividness. That they could possibly survive +the night she did not believe. And Death--Death in that fearful +darkness--was a terror from which she shrank almost in panic. + +That she retained command of her quivering nerves was due solely to the +fact of Isabel's helplessness--Isabel's dependence upon her. She knew +that while she had any strength left, she must not give way. She must be +brave. Their sole chance of rescue hung upon that. + +Like Scott, she thought of the guide, though the hope was a forlorn one. +He might know of this shelter; but whether in the awful darkness he would +ever be able to find it she strongly doubted. Their absence must have +been discovered long since, she was sure; and Scott--Scott would be +certain to think of the mountain path. He would remember his sister's +wild words of the day before, and he would know that she, Dinah, had had +no choice but to accompany her upon the mad quest. It comforted her to +think that Scott would understand, and was already at work to help them. +If by any means deliverance could be brought to them she knew that Scott +would compass it. His quiet and capable spirit was accustomed to grapple +with difficulties, and the enormity of a task would never dismay him. He +had probably organized a search-party long ere this. He would not rest +until he had done his very utmost. She wondered if he would come himself +to look for them; but discarded the idea as unlikely. His infirmity made +progress on the mountains a difficult matter at all times, and he would +not wish to hamper the movements of the others. That was like Scott, she +reflected. He would always keep his own desires in the background, +subservient to the needs of others. No, he would not come himself. He +would stay behind in torturing inaction while fitter men fared forth. + +The thought of Eustace came again to her. He would be one of the +search-party. She pictured him forcing his way upwards, all his +magnificent strength bent to the work. Her heart throbbed at the memory +of that all-conquering presence--the arms that had held her, the lips +that had pressed her own. And he had stooped to plead with her also. She +would always remember that of him with a thrill of ecstasy. He the +princely and splendid--Apollo the magnificent! + +Always? A sudden chill smote her heart numbing her through and through. +Always? And Death waiting on the threshold to snatch her away from the +wonderful joy she had only just begun to know! Always! Ah, would she +remember even to-morrow--even to-morrow? And he--would he not forget? + +Isabel stirred in her arms and murmured an inarticulate complaint. +Tenderly she drew her closer. How cold it was! How cruelly, how bitingly +cold! All her bones were beginning to ache. A dreadful stiffness was +creeping over her. How long would her senses hold out, she wondered +piteously? How long? How long? + +It must be hours now since they had entered that freezing place, and with +every minute it seemed to be growing colder. Never in her life had she +imagined anything so searching, so agonizing, as this cold. It held her +in an iron rigour against which she was powerless to struggle. The +strength to clasp Isabel in her arms was leaving her. She thought that +her numbed limbs were gradually turning to stone. Even her lips were so +numbed with cold that she could not move them. The steam of her breath +had turned to ice upon the wool of her coat. + +The need for prayer came upon her suddenly as she realized that her +faculties were failing. Her belief in God was of that dim and far-off +description that brings awe rather than comfort to the soul. The sudden +thought of Him came upon her in the darkness like a thunderbolt. In all +her life Dinah had never asked for anything outside her daily prayers +which were of a strictly formal description. She had shouldered her own +troubles unassisted with the philosophy of a disposition that was +essentially happy. She had seldom given a serious thought to the life of +the spirit. It was all so vague to her, so far removed from the daily +round and the daily burden. But now--face to face with the coming +night--the spiritual awoke in her. Her soul cried out for comfort. + +With Isabel still clasped in her failing arms, she began a desperate +prayer for help. Her words came haltingly. They sounded strange to +herself. But with all the strength that remained she sent forth her cry +to the Infinite. And even as she prayed there came to her--whence she +knew not--the conviction that somewhere--probably not more than a couple +of miles from her though the darkness made the distance seem +immeasurable--Scott was praying too. That thought had a wonderfully +comforting effect upon her. His prayer was so much more likely to be +answered than hers. He was just the sort of man who would know how to +pray. + +"How I wish he were here!" she whispered piteously into the darkness. "I +shouldn't be afraid of dying--if only he were here." + +She was certain--quite certain--that had he been there with her, no fear +would have reached her. He wore the armour of a strong man, and by it he +would have shielded her also. + +"Oh, dear Mr. Greatheart," she murmured through her numb lips, "I'm sure +you know the way to Heaven." + +Isabel stirred again as one who moves in restless slumber. "We must scale +the peaks of Paradise to reach it," she said. + +"Are you awake, dearest?" asked Dinah very tenderly. + +Isabel's head was sunk against her shoulder. She moved it, slightly +raised it. "Yes, I am awake," she said. "I am watching for the dawn." + +"It won't come yet," whispered Dinah tremulously. "It's a long, long way +off." + +Isabel moved a little more, feeling for Dinah in the darkness. "Are you +frightened, little one?" she said. "Don't be frightened!" + +Dinah swallowed down a sob. "It is so dark," she murmured through +chattering teeth. "And so, so cold." + +"You are cold, dear heart?" Isabel sat up suddenly. "Why should you be +cold?" she said. "The darkness is nothing to those who are used to it. I +have lived in outer darkness for seven weary years. But now--now I think +the day is drawing near at last." + +With an energy that astounded Dinah she got upon her knees and by her +movements she realized, albeit too late, that she was divesting herself +of the long purple coat. + +With all her strength she sought to frustrate her, but her strength had +become very feebleness; and when, despite resistance, Isabel wrapped her +round in the garment she had discarded, her resistance was too puny to +take effect. + +"My dear," Isabel said, in her voice the deep music of maternal +tenderness, "I am not needing it. I shall not need any earthly things for +long. I am going to meet my husband in the dawning. But you--you will go +back." + +She fastened the coat with a quiet dexterity that made Dinah think again +of Scott, and sat down again in her corner as if unconscious of the cold. + +"Come and lie in my arms, little one!" she said. "Perhaps you will be +able to sleep." + +Dinah crept close. "It will kill you--it will kill you!" she sobbed. "Oh, +why did I let you?" + +Isabel's arms closed about her. "Don't cry, dear!" she murmured fondly. +"It is nothing to me. A little sooner--a little later! If you had +suffered what I have suffered you would say as I do, 'Dear God, let it be +soon!' There! Put your head on my shoulder, dear child! See if you can +get a little sleep! You have cared for me long enough. Now I am going to +care for you." + +With loving words she soothed her, calming her as though she had been a +child in nightmare terror, and gradually a certain peace began to still +the horror in Dinah's soul. An unmistakable drowsiness was stealing over +her, a merciful lethargy lulling the sensibilities that had been so +acutely tried. Her weakness was merging into a sense of almost blissful +repose. She was no longer conscious of the anguish of the cold. Neither +did the darkness trouble her. And the comfort of Isabel's arms was rest +to her spirit. + +As one who wanders in a golden maze she began to dream strange dreams +that yet were not woven by the hand of sleep. Dimly she saw as down a +long perspective a knight in golden armour climbing, ever climbing, the +peaks of Paradise, from which, as from an eagle's nest, she watched his +difficult but untiring progress. She thought he halted somewhat in the +ascent--which was unlike Apollo, who walked as walk the gods with a gait +both arrogant and assured. But still he came on, persistently, +resolutely, carrying his golden shield before him. + +His visor was down, and she wished that he would raise it. She yearned +for the sight of that splendid face with its knightly features and blue, +fiery eyes. She pictured it to herself as he came, but somehow it did not +seem to fit that patient climbing figure. + +And then as he gradually drew nearer, the thought came to her to go and +meet him, and she started to run down the slope. She reached him. She +gave him both her hands. She was ready--she was eager--to be drawn into +his arms. + +But he did not so draw her. To her amazement he only bowed himself before +her and stretched forth the shield he bore that it might cover them both. + +"It is Mr. Greatheart!" she said to herself in wonder. "Of course--it is +Mr. Greatheart!" + +And then, while she still gazed upon the glittering, princely form, he +put up a hand and lifted the visor. And she saw the kindly, steadfast +eyes all kindled and alight with a glory before which instinctively she +hid her own. Never--no, never--had she dreamed before that any man could +look at her so! It was not passion that those eyes held for her;--it was +worship. + +She stood with bated breath and throbbing heart, waiting, waiting, as one +in the presence of a vision, who longs--yet fears--to look. And while she +waited she knew that the sun was shining upon them both with a glowing +warmth that filled her soul abrim with such a rapture as she had never +known before. + +"How wonderful!" she murmured to herself. "How wonderful!" + +And then at last she summoned courage to look up, and all in a moment her +vision was shattered. The darkness was all about her again; Greatheart +was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RETURN + + +What happened after the passing of her vision Dinah never fully knew, so +slack had become her grip upon material things. Her spirit seemed to be +wandering aimlessly about the mountain-side while her body lay in icy +chains within that miserable shelter. Of Isabel's presence she was no +longer even dimly aware, and she knew neither fear nor pain, only a wide +desolation of emptiness that encompassed her as atmosphere encompasses +the world. + +Sometimes she fancied that the sound of voices came muffled through the +fog that hung impenetrably upon the great slope. And when this fancy +caught her, her spirit drifted back very swiftly to the near +neighbourhood of that inert and frozen body that lay so helpless in the +dark. For that strange freedom of the spirit seemed to her to be highly +dangerous and in a fashion wrong. It would be a terrible thing if they +found and buried the body, and the spirit were left alone to wander for +ever homeless on that desolate mountain-side. She could not imagine a +fate more awful. + +At the same time, being free from the body, she knew no physical pain, +and she shrank from returning before she need, knowing well the anguish +of suffering that awaited her. The desolation and loneliness made her +unhappy in a vague and not very comprehensible fashion, but she did not +suffer actively. That would come later when return became imperative. +Till then she flitted to and fro, intangible as gossamer, elusive as the +snow. She wondered what Apollo would say if he could see her thus. Even +he would fail to catch her now. She pictured the strong arms closing upon +her, and clasping--emptiness. That thought made her a little cold, and +sent her floating back to make sure that the lifeless body was still +there. + +And as she went, drifting through the silence, there came to her the +thought that Scott would be unutterably shocked if they brought her back +to him dead. It was strange how the memory of him haunted her that night. +It almost seemed as if his spirit were out there in the great waste, +seeking hers. + +She reached the shelter and entered, borne upon snowflakes. Yes, the body +was still there. She hovered over it like a bird over its nest. For +Scott's sake, should she not return? + +And then very suddenly there came a great sound close to her--the loud +barking of a dog;--and in a second--in less--she had returned. + +A long, long shiver went through the poor frozen thing that was herself, +and she knew that she moaned as one awaking.... + +Vaguely, through dulled senses, she heard the great barking yet again, +and something immense that was furry and soft brushed against her. She +heard the panting of a large animal close to her in the hut, and very +feebly she put out a hand. + +She did not like that loud baying. It went through and through her brain. +She was not frightened, only dreadfully tired. And now that she was back +again in the body, she longed unspeakably to sleep. + +But the noise continued, a perfect clamour of sound; and soon there came +other sounds, the shouting of men, the muffled tread of feet sorely +hampered by snow. A dim light began to shine, and gradually increased +till it became a single, piercing eye that swept searchingly around the +wretched shelter. An arc of fog surrounded it, obscuring all besides. + +Dinah gazed wide-eyed at that dazzling arc, wondering numbly, whence it +came. It drew nearer to her. Its brightness became intolerable. She tried +to shut her eyes, but the lids felt too stiff to move. Again, more +feebly, she moved her hand. It would be terrible if they thought her +dead, especially after all the trouble she had taken to return. + +And then very suddenly the deadly lethargy passed from her. All her +nerves were pricked into activity. For someone--someone--was kneeling +beside her. She felt herself gathered into strong arms. + +"Quick, Wetherby! The brandy!" Ah, well she knew those brief, peremptory +tones! "My God! We're only just in time!" + +Fast pressed against a man's heart, a faint warmth went through her. She +knew an instant of perfect serenity; but the next she uttered a piteous +cry of pain. For fire--liquid, agonizing--was on her bloodless lips and +in her mouth. It burned its ruthless way down her throat, setting her +whole body tingling, waking afresh in her the power to suffer. + +She turned, weakly gasping, and hid her face upon the breast that +supported her. + +Instantly she felt herself clasped more closely. "It's all right, little +darling, all right!" he whispered to her with an almost fierce +tenderness. "Take it like a good child! It'll pull you through." + +With steady insistence he turned her face back again, chafing her icy +cheek hard. And in a moment or two another burning dose was on its way. + +It made her choke and gurgle, but it did its work. The frozen heart in +her began to beat again with great jerks and bounds, sending quivering +shocks throughout her body. + +She tried to speak to him, to whisper his name; but she could only gasp +and gasp against his breast, and presently from very weakness she began +to cry. + +He gathered her closer still, murmuring fond words, while he rubbed her +face and hands, imparting the warmth of his own body to hers. His +presence was like a fiery essence encompassing her. Lying there against +his heart, she felt the tide of life turn in her veins and steadily flow +again. Like a child, she clung to him, and after a while, with an impulse +sublimely natural, she lifted her lips to his. + +He pressed his lips upon them closely, lingeringly. "Better now, +sweetheart?" he whispered. + +And she, clinging to him, found voice to answer, "Nothing matters now you +have come." + +The consciousness of his protecting care filled her with a rapture almost +too great to be borne. She throbbed in his arms, pressing closer, ever +closer. And the grim Shadow of Death receded from the threshold. She knew +that she was safe. + +It was soon after this that the thought of Isabel came to her, and +tremulously she begged him to go to her. But he would not suffer her out +of his arms. + +"The others can see to her," he said. "You are my care." + +She thrilled at the words, but she would not be satisfied. "She has been +so good to me," she told him pleadingly "See, I am wearing her coat." + +"But for her you would never have come to this," he made brief reply, and +she thought his words were stern. + +Then, as she would not be pacified, he lifted her like a child and held +her so that she could look down upon Isabel, lying inert and senseless +against the doctor's knee. + +"Oh, is she dead?" whispered Dinah, awe-struck. + +"I don't know," he made answer, and by the tightening of his arms she +knew that her safety meant more to him at the moment than that of Isabel +or anyone else in the world. + +But in a second or two she heard Isabel moan, and was reassured. + +"She is coming round," the doctor said. "She is not so far gone as the +other lassie." + +Dinah wondered hazily what he could mean, wondered if by any chance he +suspected that long and dreary wandering of her spirit up and down the +mountain-side. She nestled her head down against Eustace's shoulder with +a feeling of unutterable thankfulness that she had returned in time. + +Her impressions after that were of a very dim and shadowy description. +She supposed the brandy had made her sleepy. Very soon she drifted off +into a state of semi-consciousness in which she realized nothing but the +strong holding of his arms. She even vaguely wondered after a time +whether this also were not a dream, for other fantasies began to crowd +about her. She rocked on a sea of strange happenings on which she found +it impossible to focus her mind. It seemed to have broken adrift as it +were--a rudderless boat in a gale. But still that sense of security never +wholly left her. Dreaming or waking, the force of his personality +remained with her. + +It must have been hours later, she reflected afterwards, that she heard +the Colonel's voice exclaim hoarsely over her head, "In heaven's name, +say she isn't dead!" + +And, "Of course she isn't," came Eustace's curt response. "Should I be +carrying her if she were?" + +She tried to open her eyes, but could not. They seemed to be weighted +down. But she did very feebly close her numbed hands about Eustace's +coat. Emphatically she did not want to be handed over like a bale of +goods to the Colonel. + +He clasped her to him reassuringly, and presently she knew that he bore +her upstairs, holding her comfortably close all the way. + +"Don't go away from me!" she begged him weakly. + +"Not so long as you want me, little sweetheart," he made answer. But her +woman's heart told her that a parting was imminent notwithstanding. + +In all her life she had never had so much attention before. She seemed to +have entered upon a new and amazing phase of existence. Colonel de Vigne +faded completely into the background, and she found herself in the care +of Biddy and the doctor. Eustace left her with a low promise to return, +and she had to be satisfied with that thought, though she would fain have +clung to him still. + +They undressed her and put her into a hot bath that did much to lessen +the numb constriction of her limbs, though it brought also the most +agonizing pain she had ever known. When it was over, the limit of her +endurance was long past; and she lay in hot blankets weeping helplessly +while Biddy tried in vain to persuade her to drink some scalding mixture +that she swore would make her feel as gay as a lark. + +In the midst of this, someone entered quietly and stood beside her; and +all in a moment there came to Dinah the consciousness of an unknown force +very strangely uplifting her. She looked up with a quivering smile in the +midst of her tears. + +"Oh, Mr. Greatheart," she whispered brokenly, "is it you?" + +He smiled down upon her, and took the cup from Biddy's shaky old hand. + +"May I give you this?" he said. + +Dinah was filled with gratified confusion. "Oh, please, you mustn't +trouble! But--how very kind of you!" + +He took Biddy's place by her side. His eyes were shining with an odd +brilliance, almost, she thought to herself wonderingly, as if they held +tears. A sharp misgiving went through her. How was it they were bestowing +so much care upon her, unless Isabel--Isabel-- + +She did not dare to put her doubt into words, but he read it and +instantly answered it. "Don't be anxious!" he said in his kindly, tired +voice. "All is well. Isabel is asleep--actually sleeping quietly without +any draught. The doctor is quite satisfied about her." + +He spoke the simple truth, she knew; he was incapable of doing anything +else. A great wave of thankfulness went through her, obliterating the +worst of her misery. + +"I am so glad," she told him weakly. "I was--so dreadfully afraid. I--I +had to go with her, Mr. Studley. I do hope everyone understands." + +"Everyone does," he made answer gently. "Now let me give you this, and +then you must sleep too." + +She drank from the cup he held, and felt revived. + +He did not speak again till she had finished; then he leaned slightly +towards her, and spoke with great earnestness. "Miss Bathurst, do you +realize, I wonder, that you saved my sister's life by going with her? I +do; and I shall never forget it." + +She was sure now that she caught the gleam of tears in the grey eyes. She +slipped her hands out to him. "I only did what I could," she murmured +confusedly. "Anyone would have done it. And please, Mr. Greatheart, will +you call me Dinah?" + +"Or Mercy?" he suggested smiling, her hands clasped close in his. + +She smiled back with shy confidence. The memory of her dream was in her +mind, but she could not tell him of that. + +"No," she said. "Just Dinah. I'm not nice enough to be called anything +else. And thank you--thank you for being so good to me." + +"My dear child," he made quiet reply, "no one who really knows you could +be anything else." + +"Oh, don't you think they could?" said Dinah wistfully. "I wish there +were more people in the world like you." + +"No one ever thought of saying that to me before," said Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + + +After that interview with Scott there followed a long, long period of +pain and weakness for Dinah. She who had never known before what it meant +to be ill went down to the Valley of the Shadow and lingered there for +many days and nights. And there came a time when those who watched beside +her began to despair of her ever turning back. + +So completely had she lost touch with the ordinary things of life that +she knew but little of what went on around her, dwelling as it were +apart, conscious sometimes of agonizing pain, but more often of a +dreadful sinking as of one overwhelmed in the billows of an everlasting +sea. At such times she would cling piteously to any succouring hand, +crying to them to hold her up--only to hold her up. And if the hand were +the hand of Greatheart, she always found comfort at length and a sense of +security that none other could impart. + +Her fancy played about him very curiously in those days. She saw him in +many guises,--as prince, as knight, as magician; but never as the mean +and insignificant figure which first had caught her attention on that +sunny morning before the fancy-dress ball. + +This man who sat beside her bed of suffering for hours together because +she fretted when he went away, who held her up when the gathering billows +threatened to overwhelm her fainting soul, who prayed for her with the +utmost simplicity when she told him piteously that she could not pray for +herself, this man was above and beyond all ordinary standards. She looked +up to him with reverence, as one of colossal strength who had power with +God. + +But she never dreamed again that golden dream of Greatheart in his +shining armour with the light of a great worship in his eyes. That had +been a wild flight of presumptuous fancy that never could come true. + +His was not the only hand to which she clung during those terrible days +of fear and suffering. Another presence was almost constantly beside her +night and day,--a tender, motherly presence that watched over and +ministered to her with a devotion that never slackened. For some time +Dinah could not find a name for this gracious and comforting presence, +but one day when a figure clothed in a violet dressing-gown stooped over +her to give her nourishment an illuminating memory came to her, and from +that moment this loving nurse of hers filled a particular niche in her +heart which was dedicated to the Purple Empress. She could think of no +other name for her. That quiet and stately presence seemed to demand a +royal appellation. In her calmer moments Dinah liked to lie and watch the +still face with its crown of silvery hair. She loved the touch of the +white hands that always knew with unerring intuition exactly what needed +to be done. There seemed to be healing in their touch. + +Very strangely the thought of Eustace never came to her, or coming, but +flitted unrecorded and undetained across the surface of her mind. He had +receded with all the rest of the world into the far, far distance that +lay behind her. He had no place in this region of many shadows where +these others so tenderly guided her wandering feet. No one else had any +place there save old Biddy who, being never absent, seemed a part of the +atmosphere, and the doctor who came and went like a presiding genie in +that waste of desolation. + +She did not welcome his visits, although he was invariably kind, for on +one occasion she caught a low murmur from him to the effect that her +mother had better come to her, and this suggestion had thrown her into a +most painful state of apprehension. She had implored them weeping to let +her mother stay away, and they had hushed her with soothing promises; but +she never saw the doctor thereafter without a nervous dread that she +might also see her mother's gaunt figure accompanying him. And she was +sure--quite sure--that her mother would be very angry with her when she +saw her helplessness. + +Nightmares of her mother's advent began to trouble her. She would start +up in anguish of soul, scarcely believing in the soothing arms that held +her till their tenderness hushed her back to calmness. + +"No one can come to you, sweetheart, while I am here." How often she +heard the low words murmured lovingly over her head! "See, I am holding +you! You are quite safe. No one can take you from me." + +And Dinah would cling to her beloved empress till her panic died away. + +On one of these occasions Scott was present, and he presently left the +sick-room with a look in his eyes that gave him a curiously hard +expression. He went deliberately in search of Billy whom he found playing +a not very spirited game with the two little daughters of the +establishment. The weather had broken, and several people had left in +consequence. + +Billy was bored as well as anxious, and his attitude said as much as he +unceremoniously left his small playfellows to join Scott. + +"Just amusin' the kids," he observed explanatorily. "How is she now?" + +Scott linked his hand in the boy's arm. "She's pretty bad, Billy," he +said. "Both lungs are affected. The doctor thinks badly of her, though he +still hopes he may pull her through." + +"You may you mean," returned Billy. "Can't say the de Vignes have put +themselves out at all over her. There's Rose flirts all day long with +your brother, and Lady Grace grumbling continually about the folly of +undertaking other people's responsibilities. She swears she must get back +at the end of next week for their precious house-party. And the Colonel +fumes and says the same. I told him I shouldn't go unless she was out of +danger, though goodness knows, sir, I don't want to sponge on you." + +Scott's hand pressed his arm reassuringly. "Don't imagine such a thing +possible!" he said. "Of course you must stay if she isn't very much +better by that time. But now, Billy, tell me--if it isn't an unwelcome +question--why doesn't your sister want your mother to come to her?" + +Billy gave him one of his shrewd glances. "She's told you that, has she? +Well, you know the mater is rather a queer fish, and I doubt very much if +she'd come if you asked her." + +"My good fellow!" Scott said. "Not if she were dying?" + +"I doubt it," said Billy, unmoved. "You see, the mater hasn't much use +for Dinah, except as a maid-of-all work. Never has had. It's not +altogether her fault. It's just the way she's made." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott, and added, as if to himself, "That little +fairy thing!" + +"She can't help it," said Billy. "She can't get on with the female +species. It's like cats, you know,--a sort of jealousy." + +"And your father?" questioned Scott, the hard look growing in his eyes. + +"Oh, Dad!" said Billy, smiling tolerantly. "He's all right--quite a +decent sort. But you wouldn't get him to leave home in the middle of the +hunting season. He's one of the Whips." + +Scott's hand had tightened unconsciously to a grip. Billy looked at him +in surprised interrogation, and was amazed to see a heavy frown drawing +the colourless brows. There was a fiery look in the pale eyes also that +he had never seen before. + +He waited in silence for developments, being of a wary disposition, and +in a moment Scott spoke in a voice of such concentrated fury that Billy +felt as if a total stranger were confronting him. + +"An infernal and blackguardly shame!" he said. "It would serve them right +if the little girl never went back to them again. I never heard of such +damnable callousness in all my life before." + +Billy opened his eyes wide, and after a second or two permitted himself a +soft whistle. + +Scott's hold upon his arm relaxed. "Yes, I know," he said. "I've no right +to say it to you. But when the blood boils, you've got to let off the +steam somehow. I suppose you've written to tell them all about her?" + +"Oh yes, I wrote, and so did the Colonel. I had a letter from Dad this +morning. He said he hoped she was better and that she was being well +looked after. That's like Dad, you know. He never realizes a thing unless +he's on the spot. I daresay I shouldn't myself," said Billy +broadmindedly. "It's want of imagination in the main." + +"Or want of heart," said Scott curtly. + +Billy did not attempt to refute the amendment. "It's just the way you +chance to be made," he said philosophically. "Of course I'm fond of +Dinah. We're pals. But Dad's an easy-going sort of chap. He isn't +specially fond of anybody. The mater,--well, she's keen on me, I +suppose," he blushed a little; "but, as I said before, she hasn't much +use for Dinah. Even when she was a small kid, she used to whip her no +end. Dinah is frightened to death at her. I don't wonder she doesn't want +her sent for." + +Scott's face was set in stern lines. "She certainly shall not be sent +for," he said with decision. "The poor child shall be left in peace." + +"She is going to get better, isn't she?" said Billy quickly. + +"I hope so, old chap. I hope so." Scott patted his shoulder kindly and +prepared to depart. + +But Billy detained him a moment. "I say, can't I come and see her?" + +"Not now, lad." Scott paused, and all the natural kindliness came back +into his eyes. "My sister was just getting her calm again when I came +away. We won't disturb her now." + +"How is your sister, sir?" asked Billy. "Isn't she feeling the strain +rather?" + +"No, she is standing it wonderfully. In fact," Scott hesitated +momentarily, "I believe that in helping Dinah, she has found herself +again." + +"Do you really?" said Billy. "Then I do hope for her sake that Dinah will +buck up and get well." + +"Thanks, old chap." Scott held out a friendly hand. "I'm sorry you're +having such a rotten time. Come along to me any time when you're feeling +bored! I shall be only too pleased when I'm at liberty." + +"You're a brick, sir," said Billy. "And I say, you'll send for me, won't +you, if--if--" He broke off. "You know, as I said before, Dinah and I are +pals," he ended wistfully. + +"Of course I will, lad. Of course I will." Scott wrung his hand hard. +"But we'll pull her through, please God! We must pull her through." + +"If anyone can, you will," said Billy with conviction. + +Like Dinah, he had caught a glimpse in that brief conversation of the +soul that inhabited that weak and puny form. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE WAY BACK + + +It was three days later that Dinah began at last the long and weary +pilgrimage back again. Almost against her will she turned her faltering +steps up the steep ascent; for she was too tired for any sustained +effort. Only that something seemed to be perpetually drawing her she +would not have been moved to make the effort at all. For she was so +piteously weak that the bare exertion of opening her eyes was almost more +than she could accomplish. But ever the unknown influence urged her, very +gently but very persistently, never passive, never dormant, but always +drawing her as by an invisible cord back to the world of sunshine and +tears that seemed so very far away from the land of shadows in which she +wandered. + +All active suffering had left her, and she would fain have been at peace; +but the hand that clasped hers would not be denied. The motherly voice +that had calmed the wildest fantasies of her fevered brain spoke now to +her with tenderest encouragement; the love that surrounded her drew her, +uplifted her, sustained her. And gradually, as she crept back from the +shadows, she came to lean upon this love as upon a sure support, to count +upon it as her own exclusive possession--a wonderful new gift that had +come to her out of the darkness. + +She still welcomed her friend Scott at her bedside, but very curiously +she had grown a little shy in his presence. She could not forget that +dream of hers, and for a long time she was haunted by the dread that he +had in some way come to know of it. Though the steady eyes never held +anything but the utmost kindness and sympathy, she was half afraid to +meet them lest they should look into her heart and see the vision she had +seen. She never called him Mr. Greatheart now. + +With Isabel, beloved nurse and companion, she was completely at her ease. +A great change had come over Isabel--such a change as turns the bare +earth into a garden of spring when the bitter winter is past at last. All +the ice-bound bitterness had been swept utterly away, and in its place +there blossomed such a wealth of mother-love as transformed her +completely. + +She spent herself with the most lavish devotion in Dinah's service. There +was not a wish that she expressed that was not swiftly and abundantly +satisfied. Night and day she was near her, ignoring all Biddy's +injunctions to rest, till the old woman, seeing the light that had dawned +in the shadowed eyes, left her to take her own way in peace. She hovered +in the background, always ready in case her mistress's new-found strength +should fail. But Isabel did not need her care. All her being was +concentrated upon the task of bringing Dinah back to life, and she +thought of nothing else, meeting the strain with that strength which +comes in great emergencies to all. + +And as she gradually succeeded in her task, a great peace descended upon +her, such as she had never known before. Biddy sometimes gazed in +amazement at the smooth brow and placid countenance at Dinah's bedside. + +"Sure, the young lady's been a blessing straight from the Almighty," she +said to Scott. + +"I think so too, Biddy," he made quiet answer. + +He was much less in the sick-room now that Dinah's need of him had +passed. He sometimes wondered if she even knew how many hours he had +formerly spent there. He visited her every day, and it was to him that +the task fell of telling her that the de Vignes had arranged to leave +her in their charge. + +"We have your father's permission," he said, when her brows drew together +with a troubled expression. "You see, it is quite impossible to move you +at present, and they must be getting home. Billy is to go with them if +you think you can be happy alone with us." + +She put out her little wasted hand. "I could be happy with you anywhere," +she said simply. "But it doesn't seem right." + +"Of course it is right," he made quiet reply. "In fact, if you ask me, I +think it is our business rather than anyone else's to get you well +again." + +She flushed in quick embarrassment. "Oh, please, you mustn't put it like +that. And I have been such a trouble to everyone ever since." + +He smiled at her very kindly. "Biddy says you are a blessing from the +Almighty, and I quite agree with her. It is settled then? You are content +to stay with us until we take you home?" + +Her hand was clasped in his, but she did not meet his look. "Oh, much +more than content," she said, her voice very low. "Only--" + +"Only?" he said gently. + +She made an effort to lift her eyes, but dropped them again instantly. +"It will make it much harder to go home," she said. + +She thought he sounded somewhat grim as he said, "There is no need to +meet troubles half-way, you know. You won't be strong enough for the +journey for some time to come." + +"I wish I could stay just as I am now," she told him tremulously, "for +ever and ever and ever." + +"Ah!" he said, with a faint sigh. "It is not given to any of us to bask +in the sun for long." + +And so, two days after, the de Vignes paid a state visit of farewell to +Dinah, now pronounced out of danger but still pitiably weak,--so weak +that she cried when the Colonel bade her be a good girl and get well +enough to come home as soon as possible, so as not to be a burden to +these kind friends of hers longer than she need. + +Lady Grace's kiss was chilly and perfunctory. "I also hope you will get +well quickly, Dinah," she said, "as I believe Mr. Studley and his sister +are staying on mainly on your account. Sir Eustace, I understand, is +returning very shortly, and I have asked him to join our house-party." + +"Good-bye, dear!" murmured Rose, bending her smiling lips to kiss Dinah's +forehead. "I am sorry your good time has had such a tragic end. I was +hoping that you might be allowed to come to the Hunt Ball, but I am +afraid that is out of the question now. Sir Eustace will be sorry too. +He says you are such an excellent little dancer." + +"Good-bye!" said Dinah, swallowing her tears. + +She wept unrestrainedly when Billy bade her a bluff and friendly +farewell, and he was practically driven from the room by Isabel; who then +returned to her charge, gathered her close in her arms, and sat with her +so, rocking her gently till gradually her agitation subsided. + +"Do forgive me!" Dinah murmured at last, clinging round her neck. + +To which Isabel made answer in that low voice of hers that so throbbed +with tenderness whenever she spoke to her. "Dear child, there is nothing +to forgive. You are tired and worn out. I know just how you feel. But +never mind--never mind! Forget it all!" + +"I know I am a burden," whispered Dinah, clinging closer. + +Isabel's lips pressed her forehead. "My darling," she said, "you are such +a burden as I could not bear to be without." + +That satisfied Dinah for the time; but it was not the whole of her +trouble, and presently, still clasped close to Isabel's heart, she gave +hesitating utterance to the rest. + +"It would have been--so lovely--to have gone to the Hunt Ball. I should +like to dance with--with Sir Eustace again. Is he--is he really going to +stay with the de Vignes?" + +"I don't know, dear. Very possibly not." Isabel's voice held a hint of +constraint though her arms pressed Dinah comfortingly close. "He will +please himself when the time comes no doubt." + +Dinah did not pursue the subject, but her mind was no longer at rest. She +wondered how she could have forgotten Sir Eustace for so long, and now +that she remembered him she was all on fire with the longing to see him +again. Rose had spoken so possessively, so confidently, of him, as +though--almost as though--he had become her own peculiar property during +the long dark days in which Dinah had been wandering in another world. + +Something in Dinah hotly and fiercely resented this attitude. She yearned +to know if it were by any means justified. She could not, would not, +believe that he had suffered himself to fall like other men a victim to +Rose's wiles. He was so different from all others, so superbly far above +all those other captives. And had she not heard him laugh and call Rose +machine-made? + +A great restlessness began to possess her. She felt she must know what +had been happening during her absence from the field. She must know if +Rose had succeeded in adding yet another to her long list of devoted +admirers. She felt that if this were so, she could never, never forgive +her. But it was not possible. She was sure--she was sure it was not +possible. + +Sir Eustace was not the man to grovel at any woman's feet. She recalled +the arrogance of his demeanour even in his moments of greatest +tenderness. She recalled the magnetic force of his personality, his +overwhelming mastery. She recalled the strong holding of his arms, +thrilled yet again to the burning intensity of his kisses. + +No, no! He had never stooped to become one of Rose's adorers. If +he had ever flirted with her, he had done it out of boredom. She was +beautiful--ah yes, Rose was beautiful; but Dinah was quite convinced +she had no brains. And Eustace would never seriously consider a woman +without brains. + +Seriously! But then had he ever taken her into his serious consideration +either? Had he not rather been at pains to make her understand that what +had passed between them was no more than a game to which no serious +consequences were attached? She had caught his fancy, his passing fancy, +and now was not her turn over? Had he not laughed and gone his way? + +She chafed terribly at the thought, and ever the longing to see him again +grew within her till she did not know how to hide it from those about +her. + +In the evening her temperature rose, and the doctor was dissatisfied with +her. She passed a restless night, and was considerably weaker in the +morning. + +"There is something on her mind," the doctor said to Isabel. "See if you +can find out what it is!" + +But it was Scott who succeeded with the utmost gentleness in discovering +the trouble. He came in late in the morning and sat down beside her for a +few minutes. + +"I have been writing letters for my brother," he said in his quiet way, +"or I should have called for news of you sooner. Isabel tells me you have +had a bad night." + +Dinah's face was flushed and her eyes very bright. "I heard the +dance-music in the distance," she said nervously. "It--it made me want to +go and dance." + +"I am sorry it disturbed you," he said gently. "It was only that then? +You weren't really troubled about anything?" + +She hesitated, then, meeting the kindness of his look, her eyes suddenly +filled with tears. She turned her head away in silence. + +He leaned towards her. "Is there anything you want?" he said. "Tell me +what it is! I will get it for you if it is humanly possible." + +"I know--I know!" faltered Dinah, and hid her face in the pillow. + +He waited a moment or two, then laid a very gentle hand upon her dark +head. "Don't cry, little one!" he said softly. "Tell me what it is!" + +"I can't," murmured Dinah. + +"You wanted to go and dance," said Scott sympathetically. "Was it just +that?" + +"Not--just--that!" she whispered forlornly. + +"I thought not. You were wanting something more than that. What was it?" + +She tried not to tell him. She would have given almost all she had to +keep silence on the subject; but somehow she had to speak. Under the +pressure of that kind hand, she could not maintain her silence any +longer. + +"I was thinking of--of your brother," she told him with tears. "I was +wondering if--if he were dancing, and--and I not there!" + +It was out at last, and she hid her face in overwhelming shame because +she had given him a glimpse of her secret heart which none had ever seen +before. She wondered with anguish what he thought of her, if she had +forfeited his good opinion of her for ever, if indeed he would ever speak +to her with kindness again. + +And then very quietly he did speak, and in a moment all her anxiety was +gone. "He may have been dancing," he said. "But I believe he has been +very bored ever since the weather broke. I wonder if he might come and +see you. Would it be too much for you? Should you mind?" + +"Mind!" Dinah's tears were gone in a flash. She turned shining eyes upon +him. "But would he come?" she said, with sudden misgiving. "Wouldn't that +bore him too?" + +Scott smiled at her in a way that set her mind wholly at rest. "No, I +think not," he said. "When shall he come? This evening?" + +Dinah slipped a confiding hand into his. She felt that now Scott knew and +was not scandalized, there was no further need for embarrassment. "Oh, +just any time," she said. "But hadn't I better get up? It would look +better, wouldn't it?" + +"I don't know about that," said Scott. "You had better ask the doctor." + +Dinah's face flushed red. "Need the doctor know?" she asked him shyly. "I +am--so afraid of his saying I am well enough to go home. And that--that +will end everything." + +"He shan't say that," Scott promised, still smiling in the fashion that +so warmed her heart. "I will drop him a hint." + +"Oh, you are good!" Dinah said very earnestly. "I think you are the +kindest man I have ever met." + +He laughed at that. "My dear, it is easy to be kind to you," he said. + +"I'm sure I don't know why," she protested. "I'm getting very spoilt and +selfish." + +He patted her hand gently and laid it down. "You are--just you," he said, +and rising with the words rather abruptly he left her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE LIGHTS OF A CITY + + +"May I come in?" said Sir Eustace. + +He stood in the doorway, a gigantic figure to Dinah's unaccustomed eyes, +and looked in upon her with a careless smile on his handsome face. + +"Oh, please do!" she said. + +She was lying on a couch under a purple rug belonging to Isabel. Very +fragile and weak she looked, but her face was flushed and eager, her eyes +alight with welcome. She thought he had never looked so splendid, so +godlike, as at that moment. She wanted to hold out both her arms to him +and be borne upward to Olympus in his embrace. + +He came forward with his easy carriage and stood beside her. His smile +was one of kindly indulgence. He looked down at her as he might have +looked upon an infant. + +An uneasy sense of her own insignificance went through Dinah. She could +not remember that he had ever regarded her thus before. A faint, faint +throb of resentment also pulsed through her. His attitude was so +suggestive of the mere casual acquaintance. Surely--surely he had not +forgotten! + +"Won't you sit down?" she asked in a small voice that was quite +unconsciously formal. + +He seated himself in the chair that had been placed at her side. "So they +have left you behind to be mended, have they?" he said. "I hope it is a +satisfactory process, is it?" + +She had meant to give him her hand, but as he did not seem to expect it +she refrained from doing so. A great longing to cover her face and burst +into tears took possession of her; she resisted it frantically, with all +her strength. + +"Oh yes, I am getting better, thank you," she said, in a voice that +quivered in spite of her. "I am afraid I have been a great nuisance to +everybody. I am sure the de Vignes thought so; and--and--I expect you do +too." + +She could not keep the tears from springing to her eyes, strive as she +would. He was so different--so different. He might have been a total +stranger, sitting there beside her. + +Yet as he looked at her, she felt something of the old quick thrill; for +the blue eyes regarded her with a slightly warmer interest as he said, "I +can't answer for the de Vignes of course, but it doesn't seem to me that +either they or I have had much cause for complaint. I shouldn't fret +about that if I were you." + +She commanded herself with an effort. "I don't. Only it isn't nice to +feel a burden to anyone, is it? You wouldn't like it, would you?" + +"Oh, I don't know," he said, with his easy arrogance. "I think I should +expect to be waited on if I were ill. You've had rather a bad time, I'm +afraid. But you haven't missed much. The weather has been villainous." + +"I've missed all the dances," said Dinah, stifling a sob. + +He began to smile. "I wish I had. I haven't enjoyed one of them." + +That comforted her a little. At least Rose had not scored an unqualified +victory! "You've been bored?" she asked. + +"Horribly bored," said Sir Eustace. "There's been no fun for anyone since +the weather broke." + +She gathered her courage in both hands. "And so you're going home?" she +said, and lay in quivering dread of his answer. + +He did not make one immediately. He seemed to be considering the matter. +"There doesn't seem to be much point in staying on," he said finally, +"unless things improve." + +"But they will improve," said Dinah quickly. "At least--at least they +ought to." + +"A fortnight of bad weather isn't particularly encouraging," he remarked. + +"Of course it isn't! It's horrid," she agreed. "But every day makes it +less likely that it will last much longer. And I expect it's much worse +in England," she added. + +"I wonder," said Sir Eustace. "There's the hunting anyway." + +"Oh no; it would freeze directly you got there," she said, with a shaky +little laugh. "And then you would wish you had stayed here." + +"I could shoot," said Sir Eustace. + +"And there is the Hunt Ball, isn't there?" said Dinah with more +assurance. + +He looked at her keenly. "What Hunt Ball?" + +She met his eyes with a faint challenge in her own. "I heard you were +going to stay with the de Vignes. They always go to the Hunt Ball every +year." + +"Do you go?" asked Sir Eustace. + +She shook her head. "No. I never go anywhere." + +She saw his eyes soften unexpectedly as he said, "Then there isn't much +inducement for me to go, is there?" + +Her heart gave a wild throb of half-incredulous delight. She made a small +movement of one hand towards him, and quite suddenly she found it grasped +in his. He bent to her with a laugh in his eyes. + +"Shall we go on with the game,--Daphne?" he whispered. "Are you well +enough?" + +Her eyes answered him. Was he not irresistible? "Oh," she whispered, "I +thought--I thought you had forgotten." + +He glanced round, as if to make sure that they were alone, and then +swiftly bent and kissed her quivering lips. "But the past has no claims," +he said. "Remember, it is a game without consequences!" + +She laughed very happily, clasping his hand. "I was afraid it was all +over," she said. "But it isn't, is it?" + +He laughed too under his breath. "I am under the very strictest orders +not to excite you," he said, passing the question by. "If the doctor were +to come and feel your pulse now, there would be serious trouble. And I +shouldn't be allowed within a dozen yards of you again for many a long +day." + +"What nonsense!" murmured Dinah. "Why, you have done me so much good that +I feel almost well." She squeezed his hand with all the strength she +could muster. "Don't go away till I'm quite well!" she begged him +wistfully. "We must have--one more dance." + +His eyes kindled suddenly with that fire which she dared not meet. "I +will grant you that," he said, "on condition that you promise--mind, you +promise--not to run away afterwards." + +His intensity embarrassed her, she knew not wherefore. "Why--why should I +run away?" she faltered. + +"You ran away last time," he said. + +"Oh, that was only--only because I was afraid the Colonel might be angry +with me," she murmured. + +"Oh well, there is no Colonel to be angry now," he said. "It's a promise +then, is it?" + +But for some reason wholly undefined she hesitated. She felt as if she +could not bring herself thus to cut off her own line of retreat. "No, I +don't think I can quite promise that," she said, after a moment. + +"You won't?" he said. + +His tone warned her to reconsider her decision. "I--I'll tell you +to-morrow," she said hastily. + +"I may be gone by to-morrow," he said. + +She looked up at him with swift daring. "Oh no, you won't," she said, +with conviction. "Or if you are, you'll come back." + +"How do you know that?" he demanded, frowning upon her while his eyes +still gleamed with that lambent fire that made her half afraid. + +She dropped her own. "There's someone coming," she whispered. "It doesn't +matter, does it? I do know. Good-bye!" + +She slipped her hand from his with a little secret sense of triumph; for +though he had so arrogantly asserted himself she was conscious of a +certain power over him which gave her confidence. She was firmly +convinced in that moment that he would not go. + +He rose to leave her as Isabel came softly into the room, and between the +brother and sister there flashed a look that was curiously like the +crossing of blades. + +Isabel came straight to Dinah's side. "You must settle down now, dear +child," she said, in that low, musical voice of hers that Dinah loved. +"It is getting late, and you didn't sleep well last night." + +Dinah smiled, and drew the hand that had so often smoothed her pillow to +her cheek. But her eyes were upon Eustace, and she caught a parting gleam +from his as with a gesture of farewell he turned away. + +"I am much better," she said to Isabel later, as she composed herself to +rest. "I feel as if I am going to sleep well." + +Isabel stooped to kiss her. "Sleep is the best medicine in the world," +she said. + +"Do you sleep better now?" Dinah asked, detaining her. + +Isabel hesitated for a second. "Oh yes, I sleep," she said then. "I am +able to sleep now that you are safe, my darling." + +Dinah clung to her. "I can't think what I would do without you," she +murmured. "No one was ever so good to me before." + +Isabel held her closely. "Don't you realize," she said fondly, "that you +have been my salvation." + +"Not--not really?" faltered Dinah. + +"Yes, really." There was a throb of passion in Isabel's voice. "I have +been a prisoner for years, but you--you, little Dinah,--have set me free. +I am travelling forward again now--like the rest of the world." She +paused a moment, and her arms clasped Dinah more closely still. "I do not +think I have very far to go," she said, speaking very softly. "My night +has been so long that I think the dawn cannot be far off now. God knows +how I am longing for it." + +"Oh, darling, don't--don't!" whispered Dinah piteously. + +"I won't, dearest." Very tenderly Isabel kissed her again. "I didn't mean +to distress you. Only I want you to know that you are just all the world +to me--the main-spring of what life there is left to me. I shall never +forgive myself for leading you away on that terrible Sunday, and causing +you all this suffering." + +"Oh, but I should have been home again by now if that hadn't happened," +said Dinah quickly. "See what I should have missed! I'd far, far rather +be ill with you than well at home." + +"Yours isn't a happy home, sweetheart," Isabel said gently. + +"Not very," Dinah admitted. "But being away makes it seem much worse. I +have been so spoilt with you." + +Isabel smiled. "I only wish I could keep you always, dear child." + +Dinah drew a sharp breath. "Oh, if you only could!" she said. + +Isabel pressed her to her heart, and laid her down. "I must get you back +to bed, dear," she said. "We have talked too long already." + +Late that night Isabel went softly to the door in answer to a low knock, +and found Scott on the threshold. + +She lifted a warning finger. "She is asleep." + +"That's right," he said quietly. "I only came to say good night to you. +Are you going to bed now?" + +She looked at him with a faint smile in her shadowed eyes. "I daresay I +shall go some time," she said; then seeing the concern in his eyes: +"Don't worry about me, Stumpy dear. I don't sleep a great deal, you know; +but I rest." + +He took her arm and drew her gently outside the room. "I want you to take +care of yourself now that she is safe," he said. "Will you try?" + +The smile still lingered in her eyes. She bent her stately neck to kiss +him. "Oh yes, dear; I shall be all right," she said. "It does me good to +have the little one to think of." + +"I know," he said. "But don't wear yourself out! Remember, you are not +strong." + +"Nothing I can do for her would be too much," she answered with quick +feeling. "Think--think what she has done for me!" + +"For us all," said Scott gently. "But all the same, dear, you can spare a +little thought for yourself now." He hesitated momentarily, then: "I +think Eustace would like to see more of you," he said, speaking with a +touch of diffidence. + +She made a sharp gesture of impatience. "Why did you send him to disturb +the child's peace?" + +"She wanted him," said Scott simply. + +"Ah!" Isabel stood tense for a second. "And he?" she questioned. + +"He was quite pleased to see her again," said Scott. + +She grasped his arm suddenly. "Stumpy, don't let him break her heart!" + +He met her look with steadfast eyes. "He shall not do that," he said, +with inflexible resolution. + +Her hold became a grip. "Can you prevent it? You know what he is" + +"Oh yes, I know," very steadily Scott made answer. "But you needn't be +afraid, Isabel. He shall not do that." + +A measure of relief came into her drawn face. "Thank you, Stumpy," she +said. "I was horribly afraid--when I saw him just now--and she, poor +child, so innocently glad to have him!" + +"You needn't be afraid," he reiterated. "Eustace is too much of a +sportsman to amuse himself at the expense of an unsophisticated child +like that." + +Isabel suppressed a shiver. "I don't think he is so scrupulous as you +imagine," she said. "We must watch, Stumpy; we must watch." + +He patted her arm with his quiet smile. "And we mustn't let ourselves get +over-anxious," he said. "Now go to bed, like a dear girl! You are looking +absolutely worn out." + +Her lips quivered as she smiled back. "At least you are getting better +nights," she said. + +"Yes, I sleep very well," he answered. "I want to know you are doing the +same." + +Her face shone as though reflecting the lights of a city seen from afar. +"Oh yes, I sleep," she said. "And sometimes I dream that I have really +found the peaks of Paradise. But before I reach the summit--I am awake." + +He drew her to him, and kissed her. "It is better that you should wake, +dear," he said. + +She returned his kiss with tenderness, but her eyes were fixed and +distant. "Some day the dream will come true, Stumpy," she said softly. +"And I shall find him there where he has been waiting for me all these +years." + +"But not yet, Isabel," murmured Scott, and there was pleading in his +voice. + +She looked at him for a moment ere she turned to re-enter the room in +which Dinah lay. "Not just yet," she answered softly. "Good night, dear! +Good night!" + +The strange light was still upon her face as she went, and Scott looked +after her with a faint, wistful smile about his mouth. As he went to his +own room, he passed his hand across his forehead with a gesture of +unutterable weariness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE TRUE GOLD + + +The actual turning-point in Dinah's illness seemed to date from that +brief interview with Sir Eustace. They had drawn her back half against +her will from the land of shadows, but from that day her will was set to +recover. The old elasticity came back to her, and with every hour her +strength increased. The joy of life was hers once more. She was like a +flower opening to the sun. + +Sir Eustace presented himself every evening for admittance and sat with +her for a little while. Isabel was generally present, and their +conversation was in consequence of a strictly commonplace order; but the +keen blue eyes told Dinah more than the proud lips ever uttered. She came +to watch for that look which she could not meet, and though at times it +sent a wild dart of fear through her, yet it filled her also with a +rapture indefinable but unspeakably precious. She felt sure that he had +never turned that look on Rose or any other girl. It was kept exclusively +for her, and its fiery intensity thrilled her soul. It was the sign of a +secret understanding between them which she believed none other +suspected. + +It was a somewhat terrible joy, for the man's strength had startled her +more than once, but in moments of dread she reassured herself with the +memory of his reiterated declaration that the magic bond that existed +between them was no bond at all in reality--only a game without +consequences. She would not look forward to the time when that game +should be over. She was not looking forward at all, so sublimely happy +was she in the present. The period of convalescence which to most +patients is the hardest of all to bear was to her a dream of delight. + +A week after the departure of the de Vignes she was well enough to be +moved into Isabel's sitting-room, and here on that first day both Sir +Eustace and Scott joined them at tea. + +The weather had cleared again, and Sir Eustace came in from an +afternoon's ski-ing attired in the white sweater in which Dinah always +loved to see him. She lay on her couch and watched him with shining eyes, +telling herself that no prince had ever looked more royal. + +It was Scott who waited upon her, but she was scarcely aware of his +presence. Even Isabel seemed to have faded into the background. She could +think only of Eustace lounging near her in careless magnificence, talking +in his deep voice of the day's sport. + +"There are several new people arrived," he said, "both ancient and +modern. The place was getting empty, but it has filled up again. There is +to be a dance to-night," his eyes sought Dinah's. "I am going down +presently to see if any of the new-comers have any talents worth +cultivating." + +She met his look with a flash of daring. "I wish you luck," she said. + +He made her a bow. "You are very generous. But I scarcely expect any. My +star has not been in the ascendant for a long time." + +Scott uttered a laugh that sounded faintly derisive. "You'll have to make +the best of the second best for once, my dear chap," he said. "You can't +always have your cake iced." + +Eustace glanced at him momentarily. "I am not you, Stumpy," he said. "The +philosophy of the second best is only for those who have never tasted the +best." + +There was in his tone a touch of malice that caught Dinah very oddly, +like the flick of a lash intended for another. She awoke very suddenly to +the realization of Scott sitting near Isabel with the light shining on +his pale face and small, colourless beard. How insignificant he looked! +And yet the narrow shoulders had an independent set about them as though +they were not without a certain strength. + +The smile still lingered about his lips as he made quiet rejoinder. "It +sometimes needs a philosopher to tell what is the best." + +Eustace gave an impatient shrug. "The philosopher is not always a wise +man," he observed briefly. + +"But seldom an utter fool," returned Scott. + +The elder brother's face was contemptuous as he said, "A philosopher may +recognize what is best, but it is seldom within his reach." + +"And so, being a philosopher, he does without it." Scott spoke +thoughtfully; he was gazing straight before him. + +Isabel suddenly leaned forward. "He is not always the loser, Stumpy," she +said. + +He looked at her. "Certainly a man can't lose what he has never had," he +said. + +"Every man has his chance once," she insisted. + +"And--if he's a philosopher--he doesn't take it," laughed Eustace. "Don't +you know, my dear Isabel, that that is the very cream and essence of +philosophy?" + +She gave him a swift look that was an open challenge. "What do you know +of philosophy and the greater things of life?" she said. + +He looked momentarily surprised. Dinah saw the ready frown gather on his +handsome face; but before he could speak Scott intervened. + +"How on earth did we get onto this abstruse subject?" he said easily. +"Miss Bathurst will vote us all a party of bores, and with reason. What +were we talking about before? Iced cake, wasn't it? Are you a cook Miss +Bathurst?" + +"I can make some kinds of cakes," Dinah said modestly, "but I like making +pastry best. I often make sausage-rolls for Dad to take hunting." + +"That sounds more amusing for him than for you," observed Eustace. + +"Oh no, I love making them," she assured him. "And he always says he +likes mine better than anyone's. But I'm not a particularly good cook +really. Mother generally does that part, and I do all the rest." + +"All?" said Isabel. + +"Yes. You see, we can't afford to keep a servant," said Dinah. "And I +groom Rupert--that's the hunter--too, when Billy isn't at home. I like +doing that. He's such a beauty." + +"Do you ever ride him?" asked Eustace. + +She shook her head. "No. I'd love to, of course, but there's never any +time. I can't spend as long as I like over grooming him because there are +so many other things. But he generally looks very nice," she spoke with +pride; "quite as nice as any of the de Vignes's horses." + +"You must have a very busy time of it," said Scott. + +"Yes." Dinah's bright face clouded a little. "I often wish I had more +time for other things; but it's no good wishing. Anyway, I've had my time +out here, and I shall never forget it." + +"You must come out again with us," said Isabel. + +Dinah beamed. "Oh, how I should love it!" she said. "But--" her face fell +again--"I don't believe mother will ever spare me a second time." + +"All right. I'll run away with you in the yacht," said Eustace. "Come for +a trip in the summer!" + +She looked at him with shining eyes. "It's not a bit of good thinking +about it," she said. "But oh, how lovely it would be!" + +He laughed, looking at her with that gleam in his eyes that she had come +to know as exclusively her own. "Where there's a will, there's a way," he +said. "If you have the will, you can leave the way to me." + +She drew a quick breath. Her heart was beating rather fast. "All right," +she said. "I'll come." + +"Is it a promise?" said Eustace. + +She shook her head instantly. "No. I never make promises. They have a way +of spoiling things so." + +"Exactly my own idea," he said. "Never turn a pleasure into a duty, or it +becomes a burden at once. Well, I must go and make myself pretty for this +evening's show. If I'm very bored, I shall come and sit out with you." + +"Not to-night," said Isabel with quick decision. "Dinah is going to bed +very soon." + +"Really?" He stood by Dinah's couch, looking down at her with his faint +supercilious smile. "Do you submit to that sort of tyranny?" he said. + +She held up her hand to him. "It isn't tyranny. It is the very dearest +kindness in the world. Don't you know the difference?" + +He held the little, confiding hand a moment or two, and she felt his +fingers close around it with a strength that seemed as if it encompassed +her very soul. "There are two ways of looking at everything," he said. +"But I shouldn't be too docile if I were you; not, that is, if you want +to get any fun out of life. Remember, life is short." + +He let her go with the words, straightened himself to his full, splendid +height, and sauntered with regal arrogance to the door. + +"I want you, Stumpy," he said, in passing. "There are one or two letters +for you to deal with. You can come to my room while I dress." + +"In that case, I had better say good night too," said Scott, rising. + +"Oh no," said Dinah, with her quick smile. "You can come in and say good +night to me afterwards--when I'm in bed. Can't he, Isabel?" + +She had fallen into the habit of calling Isabel by her Christian name +from hearing Scott use it. It had begun almost in delirium, and now it +came so naturally that she never dreamed of reverting to the more formal +mode of address. + +Scott smiled in his quiet fashion, and turned to join his brother. "I +will with pleasure," he said. + +Eustace threw a mocking glance backwards. "It seems that philosophers +rush in where mere ordinary males fear to tread," he observed. "Stumpy, +allow me to congratulate you on your privileges!" + +"Thanks, old chap!" Scott made answer in his tired voice. "But there is +no occasion for the ordinary male to envy me my compensations." + +"What did he mean by that?" said Dinah, as the door closed. + +Isabel moved to her side and sat down on the edge of the couch. "Scott is +very lonely, little one," she said. + +"Is he?" said Dinah, wonderingly. "But--surely he must have lots of +friends. He's such a dear." + +Isabel smiled at her rather sadly. "Yes, everyone who knows him thinks +that." + +"Everyone must love him," protested Dinah. "Who could help it?" + +"I wonder," said Isabel slowly, "if he will ever meet anyone who will +love him best of all." + +Dinah was suddenly conscious of a rush of blood to her face. She knew not +wherefore, but she felt it beat in her temples and sing in her ears. "Oh, +surely--surely!" she stammered in confusion. + +Isabel looked beyond her. "You know, Dinah," she said, her voice very +low, "Scott is a man with an almost infinite greatness of soul. I don't +know if you realize it. I have thought sometimes that you did. But there +are very few--very few--who do." + +"I know he is great," whispered Dinah. "I told him so almost--almost the +first time I saw him." + +Isabel's smile was very tender. She stooped and gathered Dinah to her +bosom. "Oh, my dear," she murmured, "never prefer the tinsel to the true +gold! He is far, far the greatest man I know. And you--you will never +meet a greater." + +Dinah clung to her in quick responsiveness. Her strange agitation was +subsiding, but she could feel the blood yet pulsing in her veins. "I know +it," she whispered. "I am sure of it. He is very much to you, dear, isn't +he?" + +"For years he has been my all," Isabel said. "Listen a moment! I will +tell you something. In the first dreadful days of my illness, I was crazy +with trouble, and--and they bound me to keep me from violence. I have +never forgotten it. I never shall. Then--he came. He was very young at +that time, only twenty-three. He had his life before him, and mine--mine +was practically over. Yet he gave up everything--everything for my sake. +He took command; he banished all the horrible people who had taken +possession of me. He gave me freedom, and he set himself to safe-guard +me. He brought me home. He was with me night and day, or if not actually +with me, within call. He and Biddy between them brought me back. They +watched me, nursed me, cared for me. Whenever my trouble was greater than +I could bear, he was always there to help me. He never left me; and +gradually he became so necessary to me that I couldn't contemplate life +without him. I have been terribly selfish." A low sob checked her +utterance for a moment, and Dinah's young arms tightened. "I let my grief +take hold of me to the exclusion of everything else. I didn't see--I +didn't realize--the sacrifice he was making. For years I took it all as a +right, living in my fog of misery and blind to all beside. But now--now +at last--thanks to you, little one, whom I nearly killed--my eyes are +open once more. The fog has rolled away. No, I can never be happy. I am +of those who wait. But I will never again, God helping me, deprive others +of happiness. Scott shall live his own life now. His devotion to me must +come to an end. My greatest wish in life now is that he may meet a woman +worthy of him, who will love him as he deserves to be loved, before I +climb the peaks of Paradise and find my beloved in the dawning." Isabel's +voice sank. She pressed Dinah close against her heart. "It will not be +long," she whispered. "I have had a message that there is no mistaking, I +know it will not be long. But oh, darling, I do want to see him happy +first." + +Dinah was crying softly. She could find no words to utter. + +So for awhile they clung together, the woman who had suffered and come at +last through bitter tribulation into peace, and the child whose feet yet +halted on the threshold of the enchanted country that the other had long +since traversed and left behind. + +Nothing further passed between them. Isabel had said her say, and for +some reason Dinah was powerless to speak. She could think of no words to +utter, and deep in her heart she was half afraid to break the silence. +That sudden agitation of hers had left her oddly confused and +embarrassed. She shrank from pursuing the matter further. + +Yet for a long time that night she lay awake pondering, wondering. +Certainly Scott was different from all other men, totally, undeniably +different. He seemed to dwell on a different plane. She could not grasp +what it was about him that set him thus apart. But what Isabel had said +showed her very clearly that the spirit that dwelt behind that unimposing +exterior was a force that counted, and could hold its own against odds. + +She slept at last with the thought of him still present in her mind. And +in her dreams the vision of Greatheart in his shining armour came to her +again, filling her with a happiness which even sleeping she did not dare +to analyse, scarcely to contemplate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE CALL OF APOLLO + + +Dinah's strength came back to her in leaps and bounds, and three weeks +after the de Vignes's departure she was almost herself again. The season +was drawing to a close. The holidays were over, and English people were +turning homeward. Very reluctantly Isabel had to admit that her charge +was well enough for the journey back. Mrs. Bathurst wrote in an insistent +strain, urging that the time had come for her to return, and no further +excuse could be invented for keeping her longer. + +They decided to return themselves and take Dinah to her home, Isabel +having determined to make the acquaintance of the redoubtable Mrs. +Bathurst, and persuade her to spare her darling to them again in the +summer. The coming parting was hard to face, so hard that Dinah could not +bear to speak of it. She shed a good many tears in private, as Isabel was +well aware; but she never willingly made any reference to the ordeal she +so dreaded. + +The only time she voluntarily broached the subject was when she entreated +to be allowed to go down to the last dance that was to be held in the +hotel. It chanced that this was fixed for the night before their own +departure, and Isabel demurred somewhat; for though Dinah had shaken +off most of her invalid habits, she was still far from robust. + +"You will be so tired in the morning, darling," she protested gently, +while Dinah knelt beside her, earnestly pleading. "You will get that +tiresome side-ache, and you won't be fit to travel." + +"I shall--I shall," Dinah assured her. "Oh, please, dear, just this +once--just this once--let me have this one more fling! I shall never have +another chance. I'm sure I never shall." + +Isabel's hand stroked the soft dark hair caressingly. She saw that Dinah +was very near to tears. "I don't believe I ought to say Yes, dear child," +she said. "You know I hate to deny you anything. But if it were to do you +harm, I should never forgive myself." + +"It couldn't! It shan't!" declared Dinah, almost incoherent in her +vehemence. "It isn't as if I wanted to dance every dance. I'd come and +sit out with you in between. And if I got tired, you could take me away. +I would go directly if you said so. Really I would." + +She was hard to resist, kneeling there with her arms about Isabel and her +bright eyes lifted. Isabel took the sweet face between her hands and +kissed it. + +"Let me ask Scott what he thinks!" she said. "I want to give in to you, +Dinah darling, but it's against my judgment. If it is against his +judgment too, will you be content to give it up?" + +"Oh, of course," said Dinah instantly. She was confident that Scott--that +kind and gentle friend of hers--would deny her nothing. It seemed almost +superfluous to ask him. + +The words had scarcely left her lips when his quiet knock came at the +sitting-room door, and he entered. + +She looked round at him with a smile of quick welcome. "I'll give it up +in a minute if he says so," she said. + +Isabel turned in her chair. "Come here, Stumpy!" she said. "We want your +advice. We are talking about the dance to-night. Dinah has set her heart +on going. Would it--do you think it would--do her any harm?" + +Scott came up to them in his halting way. He looked at Dinah pressed +close to his sister's side, and his smile was very kindly as he said, +"Poor little Cinderella! It's hard lines; but, you know, the doctor's +last words to you were a warning against over-exerting yourself." + +"But I shouldn't," she assured him eagerly. "Really, truly, I shouldn't! +I walked all the way to the village with you yesterday, and wasn't a bit +tired--or hardly a bit--when I got back." + +"You looked jaded to death," he said. + +"I am afraid it is thumbs down," said Isabel, a touch of regret in her +voice. + +"Oh no,--no!" entreated Dinah. "Mr. Studley, please--please say I may go! +I promise I won't dance too much. I promise I'll stop directly I'm +tired." + +"My dear child," Scott said, "it would be sheer madness for you to +attempt to dance at all. Isabel," he turned to his sister with most +unusual sharpness, "how can you tantalize her in this way? Say No at +once! You know perfectly well she isn't fit for it." + +Isabel made no attempt to argue the point. "You hear, Dinah?" she said. + +A quick throb of anger went through Dinah. She disengaged herself +quickly, and stood up. "Mr. Studley," she said in a voice that quivered, +"it's not right--it's not fair! How can you know what is good for me? And +even if you did, what--what right--" She broke off, trembling and holding +to Isabel's chair to steady herself. + +Scott's eyes, very level, very kind, were looking straight at her in a +fashion that checked the hot words on her lips. "My child, no right +whatever," he said. "I have no more power to control your actions than +the man in the moon. But if you want my approval to your scheme, I can't +give it you. I don't approve, and because I don't, I tell Isabel that she +ought to refuse to carry it through. I have no right to control her +either, but I think my opinion means something to her. I hope it does at +least." + +He looked at Isabel, but she said nothing. Only she put her arm about +Dinah as she stood. + +There followed a few moments of very difficult silence; then abruptly the +mutiny went out of Dinah's face and attitude. + +"I'm horrid," she said, in a voice half-choked. "Forgive me! You--you +shouldn't spoil me so." + +"Oh, don't, please!" said Scott. "I am infernally sorry. I know what it +means to you." + +He took out his cigarette-case and turned away with a touch of +embarrassment. She saw that for some reason he was moved. + +Impulsively she left Isabel and came to him. "Don't think any more about +it!" she said. "I'll go to bed and be good." + +"You always are," said Scott, faintly smiling. + +"No, no, I'm not! What a fib! You know I'm not. But I'm going to be good +this time--so that you shall have something nice to remember me by." +Dinah's voice quivered still, but she managed to smile. + +He gave her a quick look. "You will always be the pleasantest memory I +have," he said. + +The words were quietly spoken, so quietly that they sounded almost +matter-of-fact. But Dinah flushed with pleasure, detecting the sincerity +in his voice. + +"It's very nice of you to say that," she said, "especially as I deserve +it so little. Thank you, Mr.--Scott!" She uttered the name timidly. She +had never ventured to use it before. + +He held out his hand to her. "Oh, drop the prefix!" he said. "Call me +Stumpy like the rest of the world!" + +But Dinah shook her head with vehemence. There were tears standing in her +eyes, but she smiled through them. "I will not call you Stumpy!" she +declared. "It doesn't suit you a bit. I never even think of you by that +name. It--it is perfectly ludicrous applied to you!" + +"Some people think I am ludicrous," observed Scott. + +His hand grasped hers firmly for a moment, and let it go. The steadfast +friendliness in his eyes shone out like a beacon. And there came to Dinah +a swift sense of great and uplifting pride at the thought that she +numbered this man among her friends. + +The moment passed, but the warmth at her heart remained. She went back to +Isabel, and slipped down into the shelter of her arm, feeling oddly shy +and also inexplicably happy. Her disappointment had shrunk to a +negligible quantity. She even wondered at herself for having cared so +greatly about so trifling a matter. + +There came the firm tread of a man's feet outside the door, and it swung +open. Eustace entered with his air of high confidence. + +"Ah, Stumpy, there you are! I want you. Well, Miss Bathurst, what about +to-night?" + +She faced him bravely from Isabel's side. "I've promised to go to bed +early, as usual," she said. + +"What? You're not dancing?" She saw his ready frown. "Well, you will come +and look on anyway. Isabel, you must show for once." + +He spoke imperiously. Isabel looked up. "I am sorry, Eustace. It is out +of the question," she said coldly. "Both Dinah and I are retiring early +in preparation for to-morrow." + +He bit his lip. "This is too bad. Miss Bathurst, don't you want to come +down? It's for the last time." + +Dinah hesitated, and Scott came quietly to her rescue. + +"She is being prudent against her own inclination, old chap. Don't make +it hard for her!" + +"What a confounded shame!" said Eustace. + +"No, no, it isn't!" said Dinah. "It is quite right. I am not going to +think any more about it." + +He laughed with a touch of mockery. "Which means you will probably think +about it all night. Well, you will have the reward of virtue anyhow, +which ought to be very satisfying. Come along, Stumpy! I want you to +catch the post." + +He bore his brother off with him, and Dinah went rather wistfully to help +Biddy pack. She had done right, she knew; but it was difficult to stifle +the regret in her heart. She had so longed for that one last dance, and +it seemed to her that she had treated Sir Eustace somewhat shabbily also. +She was sure that he was displeased, and the thought of it troubled her. +For she had almost promised him that last dance. + +"Arrah thin, Miss Dinah dear, don't ye look so sad at all!" counselled +Biddy. "Good times pass, but there's always good times to come while +ye're young. And it's the bonny face ye've got on ye. Sure, there'll be a +fine wedding one of these days. There's a prince looking for ye, or me +name's not Biddy Maloney." + +Dinah tried to smile, but her heart was heavy. She could not share +Biddy's cheery belief in the good times to come, and she was quite sure +that no prince would ever come her way. + +Sir Eustace--that king among men--might think of her sometimes, but not +seriously, oh no, not seriously. He had so many other interests. It was +only her dancing that drew him, and he would never have another +opportunity of enjoying that. + +She rested in the afternoon at Isabel's desire, but she did not sleep. +Some teasing sprite had set a waltz refrain running in her brain, and it +haunted her perpetually. She went down to the vestibule with Isabel for +tea, and here Scott joined them; but Sir Eustace did not put in an +appearance. In their company she sought to be cheerful, and in a measure +succeeded; but the thought of the morrow pressed upon her. In another +brief twenty-four hours this place where she had first known the wonder +and the glory of life would know her no more. In two days she would be +back in the old bondage, chained once more to the oar, with the dread of +her mother ever present in her heart, however fair the world might be. + +She could keep her depression more or less at bay in the presence of her +friends, but when later she went to her room to prepare for dinner +something like desperation seized her. How was she going to bear it? One +last wild fling would have helped her, but this inaction made things +infinitely worse, made things intolerable. + +While she dressed, she waged a fierce struggle against her tears. She +knew that Isabel would be greatly distressed should she detect them, and +to hurt Isabel seemed to her the acme of selfish cruelty. She would not +give way! She would not! + +And then--suddenly she heard a step in the corridor, and her heart leapt. +Well she knew that careless, confident tread! But what was he doing +there? Why had he come to her door? + +With bated breath she stood and listened. Yes, he had paused. In a moment +she heard a rustle on the floor. A screw of paper appeared under the door +as though blown in by a wandering wind. Then the careless feet retreated +again, and she thought she heard him whistling below his breath. + +Eagerly she swooped forward and snatched up the note. Her hands shook so +that she could scarcely open it. Trembling, she stood under the light to +read it. + +It was headed in a bold hand: "To Daphne." And below in much smaller +writing she read: "Come to the top of the stairs when the band plays +_Simple Aveu_, and leave the rest to me. + +"APOLLO." + +A wild thrill went through her. But could she? Dared she? Had she not +practically promised Isabel that she would go to bed? + +Yet how could she go, and leave this direct invitation, which was almost +a command, unanswered? And it was only one dance--only one dance! Would +it be so very wrong to snatch just that one? + +The thought of Scott came to her and the look of sincerity in his eyes +when he had told her that she would always be the pleasantest memory he +had. But she thrust it from her almost fiercely. Ah no, no, no! She could +not let him deprive her thus of this one last gaiety. Apollo had called +her. It only remained for her to obey. + +She dressed in a fever of excitement, and hid the note--that precious +note--in her bosom. She would meet him at dinner, and he would look for +an answer. How should she convey it? And oh, what answer should she give? + +Looking back afterwards, it seemed to her that Fate had pressed her hard +that night,--so hard that resistance was impossible. When she was dressed +in the almost childishly simple muslin she looked herself in the eyes and +fancied that there was something in her face that she had never seen +there before. It was something that pleased her immensely giving her a +strangely new self-confidence. She did not wot that it was the charm of +her coming womanhood that had burst into sudden flower. + +At the last moment she cast all her scruples away from her, and snatched +up a slip of paper. + +"I will be there. Daphne," were the words she wrote, and though her +conscience smote her as she did it, she stifled it fiercely. Had she not +promised him that one dance long ago? + +She met him at dinner with a face of smiling unconcern. The new force +within had imbued her with a wondrous strength. She exulted in the +thought of her power over him, transient though she knew it to be. Deep +down in her heart she was afraid, yet was she wildly daring. It was her +last night, and she was utterly reckless. + +She left her note in his hand with the utmost coolness when she bade him +good night in the vestibule. She bade good night to Scott also, but she +met his eyes for no more than a second; and then she had to stifle afresh +the sharp pang at her heart. + +She went away up the stairs with Isabel, leaving them smoking over their +coffee, leaving also the dreamy strains of the band, the gay laughter and +movement of the happy crowd that drifted towards the ballroom. + +Isabel accompanied her to her room. "You are a dear, good child," she +said tenderly, as she held her for a last kiss. "I shall never forget how +sweetly you gave up the thing you wanted so much." + +Dinah clung to her fast for a moment or two, and her hold was passionate. +"Oh, don't praise me for that!" she whispered into Isabel's neck. "I am +not good at all. I am very bad." + +She almost tore herself free a second later, and Isabel, divining that +any further demonstration from her would cause a breakdown, bade her a +loving good night and went away. + +Dinah stood awhile struggling for self-control. She had been perilously +near to baring her soul to Isabel in those moments of tenderness. Even +now the impulse urged her to run after her and tell her of the temptation +to which she was yielding. She forced it down with clenched hands, +telling herself over and over that it was her last chance, her last +chance, and she must not lose it. And so at length it passed; and with it +passed also the pricks of conscience that had so troubled her. She +emerged from the brief struggle with a sense of mad triumph. The spirit +of adventure had entered into her, and she no longer paused to count the +cost. + +"I expect I shall be sorry in the morning," she said to herself. "But +to-night--oh, to-night--nothing matters except Apollo!" + +She whisked to the door and set it ajar. The dance-music drew her, drew +her, like the voice of a siren. For that one night she would live again. +She would feel his arm about her and the magic in her brain. Already her +feet yearned to the alluring rhythm. She leaned against the door-post, +and gave herself up to her dream. Yet once more the wine of the gods was +held to her lips. She would drink deeply, deeply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE GOLDEN MAZE + + +Softly the strains of _Simple Aveu_ floated along the corridor. It came +like fairy music, now near, now far, haunting as a dream, woven through +and through with the gold of Romance. + +Someone was coming along the passage with the easy swing of the born +dancer, and pressed against her door-post in the shadows, another born +dancer awaited him with a wildly throbbing heart. + +The die was cast, and there was no going back. She heard the deep voice +humming the magic melody as he came. In a moment the superb figure came +into sight, moving with that royal ease of carriage so characteristic and +so wonderful. + +He drew near. He spied the small white figure lurking in the dimness. +With a low laugh he opened his arms to her. + +And then there came to Dinah, not for the first time, a strange, wholly +indefinable misgiving. It was a warning so insistent that she suddenly +and swiftly drew back, as if she would flee into the room behind her. + +But he was too quick for her. He caught her on the threshold. "Oh no, +no!" he laughed. "That's not playing the game." He drew her to him, +holding her two wrists. "Daphne! Daphne!" he said. "Still running away? +Do you call that fair?" + +She did not resist him, for the moment she felt his touch she knew +herself a captive. The magic force of his personality had caught her; but +she did not give herself wholly to him. She stood and palpitated in his +hold, her head bent low. + +"I--I'm not running away," she told him breathlessly. "I was just--just +coming. But--but--shan't we be seen? Your brother--" + +"What?" He was stooping over her; she felt his breath upon her neck. "Oh, +Scott! Surely you're not afraid of Scott, are you? You needn't be. I've +sent him off to write some letters. He'll be occupied for an hour at +least. Come! Come! You promised. And we're wasting time." + +There was a subtle caressing note in his voice. It thrilled her as she +stood, and ever the soft music drifted on around them, pulsing with a +sweetness almost too intense to be borne. + +He held her with the hold of a conqueror. She was quivering from head to +foot, but all desire to free herself was gone. Still she would not raise +her face. + +Panting, she spoke. "Yes, we--we are wasting time. Let us go!" + +He laughed above her head--a low laugh of absolute assurance. "Are you +too shy to look at me,--Daphne?" + +She laughed also very tremulously. "I think I am--just at present. Let us +dance first anyway! Must we go down to the salon? Couldn't we dance in +the corridor?" + +His arm was round her. He led her down the passage. "No, no! We will go +down. And afterwards--" + +"Afterwards," she broke in breathlessly, "we will just peep at the +moonlight on the mountains, and then I must come back." + +"I will show you something better than the moonlight on the mountains," +said Sir Eustace. + +She did not ask him what he meant, though her whole being was strung to a +tense expectancy. He had brought her once more to the heights of Olympus, +and each moment was full of a vivid life that had to be lived to the +utmost. She lacked the strength to look forward; the present was too +overwhelming. It was almost more than she could bear. + +They reached the head of the stairs. His arm tightened about her. She +descended as though upon wings. Passing through the vestibule, her feet +did not seem to touch the ground. And then like a golden maze the +ballroom received them. + +Before she knew it, they were among the dancers and the magic of her +dream had merged into reality. She closed her eyes, for the glare of +light and moving figures dazzled her, and gave herself up to the rapture +of that one splendid dance. Her heart was beating wildly, as though it +would choke her. A curious thirst that yet was part of her delight made +her throat burn. A weakness that exulted in the man's supporting strength +held her bound and entranced by such an ecstasy as she had never known +before. She laughed, a gurgling laugh through panting lips. She wondered +whether he realized that she was floating through the air, held up by his +arm alone above the glitter and the turmoil all around them. She wondered +too how soon they would find their way to the heart of that golden maze, +and what nameless treasure awaited them there. For that treasure was for +them, and them alone, she never doubted. It was the gift of the gods, +bestowed upon no others in all that merry crowd. + +The magic deepened and grew within her. She felt that the climax was +drawing near. He would not dance to a finish, she knew, and already the +music was quickening. She was too giddy, too spent had she but known it, +to open her eyes. Only by instinct did she know that he was bearing her, +sure and swift as a swallow, to the curtained recess whither he had led +her twice before. This, she told herself, this was the heart of the maze. +All things began and ended here. Her lips quivered and tingled. She would +never escape him now. He had her firmly in the net. Nor did she seriously +want to escape. Only she felt desperately afraid of him. His strength, +his determination, above all, his silence, sent tumultuous fear throbbing +through her heart. And when at length the pause came, when she knew that +they were alone in the gloom with the music dying away behind them, a +last wild dread that was almost anguish made her hide her face deep, deep +in his arm while her body hung powerless in his embrace. + +He laughed a little--a laugh that thrilled her with its exultation, its +passion. And then, whether she would or not, he turned her face upwards +to meet his own. + +His kisses descended upon her hotly, suffocatingly. He held her pressed +to him in such a grip as seemed to drive all the breath out of her +quivering frame. His lips were like a fierce flame on face and neck--a +flame that grew in intensity, possessing her, consuming her. The mastery +of his hold was utterly irresistible. + +She gasped and gasped for breath as one suddenly plunged in deep waters. +His violence appalled her, well-nigh quenching her rapture. She was more +terrified in those moments than she had ever been before. She almost felt +as if the godlike being she had so humbly adored from afar had turned +upon her with the demand for human sacrifice. Those devouring kisses sent +unimagined apprehensions through her heart. They seemed to satisfy him so +little while they sapped from her every atom of vitality, leaving her +helpless as an infant, her body drawn to his as a needle to the magnet, +not of her own volition, but simply by his strength. And ever the fire of +his passion grew hotter till she felt as one bound on the edge of a +mighty furnace which scorched her mercilessly from head to foot. + +She was near to fainting when she felt his arms relax, and suddenly above +her upturned face she heard his voice, low and deep, like the growl of an +angry beast. + +"What have you come here for? Go! You're not wanted." + +In a flash she realized that they were no longer alone. She would have +disengaged herself, but she was too weak to stand. She could only cling +feebly to the supporting arm. + +In that moment a great wave of humiliation burst over her, sweeping away +her last foothold. For without turning she knew who it was who stood +behind her; she knew to whom those furious words had been addressed. + +Before her inner sight with overwhelming vividness there arose a +vision--the vision of Greatheart in his shining armour with a drawn sword +in his hand; and in his eyes--But no, she could not look into his eyes. + +She hid her face instead, burning and quivering still from the touch of +those passionate lips, hid it low against her lover's breast, too shamed +even for speech. + +There came a movement, the halting movement of a lame man, and she heard +Scott's voice. It pierced her intolerably, perfectly gentle though it +was. + +"I am sorry to intrude," he said. "But Isabel begged me to come and look +for--Dinah." His pause before the name was scarcely perceptible, but that +also pierced her through and through. "I don't think she is quite equal +to this." + +Sir Eustace uttered his faint, contemptuous laugh. "You hear, Dinah?" he +said. "This gallant knight has come to your rescue. Look up and tell him +if you want to be rescued!" + +But she could not look up. She could, only cling to him in voiceless +abasement. There was a brief silence, and then she felt his hand upon her +head. He spoke again, the sneering note gone from his voice though it +still held a faint inflection of sardonic humour. + +"You needn't be anxious, most worthy Scott. Leave her to me for five +minutes, and I will undertake to return her to Isabel in good condition! +You're not wanted for the moment, man. Can't you see it?" + +That moved Dinah. She lifted her head from its shelter, and found her +voice. + +"Oh, don't send him away:" she entreated. "He--he--it was very kind of +him to come and look for me." + +Eustace's hand caressed her dark hair for a moment. His eyes looked down, +into hers, and she saw that the glowing embers of his passion still +smouldered there. + +She caught her breath with a sob. "Tell him--not to go away!" she begged. + +He smiled a little, but electricity lingered in the pressure of his arm. +"I think it is time we broke up the meeting," he said. "You had better +run back to Isabel. If you wish to keep this episode a secret, Scott is, +I believe, gentleman enough to hold his peace." + +She was free, and very slowly she released herself. She turned round to +Scott, but still she could not--dared not--meet his eyes. + +Her limbs were trembling painfully. She felt weak and dizzy. Suddenly she +became aware of his hand held out to her, proffering silent assistance. + +Thankfully she accepted it, feeling it close firmly, reassuringly, upon +her own. "Shall we go upstairs?" he asked, in his quiet, matter-of-fact +way. "Isabel is a little anxious about you." + +"Oh yes," she whispered tremulously. "Let us go!" + +She tottered a little with the words, and he transferred his hold to her +elbow. He supported her steadily and sustainingly. + +Eustace stepped forward, and lifted the heavy curtain for them with a +mask-like ceremony. She glanced up at him as she went through. + +"Good night!" he said. + +Her lips quivered in response. + +He suddenly bent to her. "Good night!" he said again. + +There was imperious insistence in his voice. His eyes compelled. + +Mutely she responded to the mastery that would not be denied. She lifted +her trembling lips to his; and deliberately--in Scott's presence--he +kissed her. + +"Sleep well!" he said lightly. + +She returned his kiss, because she could not do otherwise. She felt as if +he had so merged her will into his that she was deprived of all power to +resist. + +But the hand that held her arm urged her with quiet strength. It led her +unfalteringly away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE LESSON + + +Ten minutes later Scott descended the stairs alone and returned to the +salon. + +A dance was in progress. He stood for a space in the doorway, watching. +Finally, having satisfied himself that his brother was not among the +dancers, he turned away. + +With his usual quietness of demeanour, he crossed the vestibule, and +looked into the smoking-room. Sir Eustace was not there either, and he +was closing the door again when the man himself came up the passage +behind him, and clapped a careless hand on his shoulder. + +"Are you looking for me, most doughty knight?" he asked. + +Scott turned so sharply that the hand fell. "Yes, I am looking for you," +he said, and his voice was unusually curt. "Come outside a minute, will +you? I want to speak to you." + +"I am not going outside," Sir Eustace said, with exasperating coolness. +"If you want to talk, you can come in here and smoke with me." + +"I must be alone with you," Scott said briefly. "There are two or three +men in there." + +His brother gave him a look of amused curiosity. "Do you want to do +something violent then? There's plenty of room for a quiet talk in there +without disturbing or being disturbed by anyone." + +But Scott stood his ground. "I must see you alone for a minute," he said +stubbornly. "You can come to my room, or I will come to yours,--whichever +you like." + +Sir Eustace shrugged his shoulders. "You are damned persistent. I don't +know that I am specially anxious to hear what you have to say. In any +case it can keep till the morning. I can't be bothered now." + +Scott's hand grasped his arm. A queer gleam shone in his pale eyes. +"Man," he said, "I think you had better hear me now." + +Eustace looked down at him, half-sneering, half-impressed. "What a mule +you are, Stumpy! Come along then if you must! But you had better mind how +you go. I'm in no mood for trifling." + +"Nor I," said Scott, with very unaccustomed bitterness. + +He kept his hand upon his brother's arm as they turned. He leaned +slightly upon him as they ascended the stairs. Eustace's room was the +first they reached, and they turned into that. + +Scott was very pale, but there was no lack of resolution about him as he +closed the door and faced the elder man. + +"Well, what is it?" Eustace demanded. + +"Just this." Very steadily Scott made answer. "I want to know how far +this matter has gone between you and Miss Bathurst. I want to know--what +you are going to do." + +"My intentions, eh?" Eustace's sneer became very pronounced as he put the +question. He pulled forward a chair and sat down with an arrogant air as +though to bring himself thus to Scott's level. + +Scott's eyes gleamed again momentarily at the action, but he stood like a +rock. "Yes, your intentions," he said briefly. + +Sir Eustace's black brows went up, he looked him up and down. "Can you +give me any reason at all why I should hold myself answerable to you?" he +asked. + +Scott's hands clenched as he stood. "I can," he said. "I regard Miss +Bathurst as very peculiarly our charge--under our protection. We are both +in a great measure responsible for her, though possibly--" he hesitated +slightly--"my responsibility is greater than yours, in so far as I take +it more seriously. I do not think that either of us is in a position to +make love to her under existing circumstances. But that, I admit, is +merely a matter of opinion. Most emphatically neither of us has the right +to trifle with her. I want to know--and I must know--are you trifling +with her, as you have trifled with Miss de Vigne for the past fortnight? +Or are you in earnest? Which?" + +He spoke sternly, as one delivering an ultimatum. His eyes, steel-bright +and unwavering, were fixed upon his brother's face. + +Sir Eustace made a sharp gesture, as of one who flings off some stinging +insect. "It is not particularly good form on your part to bring another +lady's name into the discussion," he said. "At least you have no +responsibilities so far as Miss de Vigne is concerned." + +"I admit that," Scott answered shortly. "Moreover, she is fully capable +of taking care of herself. But Miss Bathurst is not. She is a mere child +in many ways, but she takes things hard. If you are merely amusing +yourself at her expense--" He stopped. + +"Well?" Sir Eustace threw the question with sudden anger. His great, +lounging figure stiffened. A blue flame shot up in his eyes. + +Scott stood silent for a moment or two; then with a great effort he +unclenched his hands and came forward. "I am not going to believe that of +you unless you tell me it is so," he said. + +Sir Eustace reached out an unexpected hand without rising, and took him +by the shoulder. "You may be small of stature, Stumpy," he said, "but +you're the biggest fool I know. You're making mountains out of molehills, +and you'll get yourself into trouble if you're not careful." + +Scott looked at him. "Do you imagine I'm afraid of you, I wonder?" he +said, a faint tremor of irony in his quiet voice. + +Sir Eustace's hold tightened. His mouth was hard. "I imagine that I could +make things highly unpleasant for you if you provoked me too far," he +said. "And let me warn you, you have gone quite far enough in a matter in +which you have no concern whatever. I never have stood any interference +from you and I never will. Let that be understood--once for all!" + +He met Scott's look with eyes of smouldering wrath. There was more than +warning in his hold; it conveyed menace. + +Yet Scott, very pale, supremely dignified, made no motion to retreat. +"You have not answered me yet," he said. "I must have an answer." + +Sir Eustace's brows met in a thick and threatening line. "You will have +very much more than you bargain for if you persist," he said. + +"Meaning that I am to draw my own conclusions?" Scott asked, unmoved. + +The smouldering fire suddenly blazed into flame. He pulled Scott to him +with the movement of a giant, and bent him irresistibly downwards. "I +will show you what I mean," he said. + +Scott made a swift, instinctive effort to free himself, but the next +instant he was passive. Only as the relentless hands forced him lower he +spoke, his voice quick and breathless. + +"You can hammer me to your heart's content, but you'll get nothing out of +it. That sort of thing simply doesn't count--with me." + +Sir Eustace held him in a vice-like grip. "Are you going to take it lying +down then?" he questioned grimly. + +"I'm not going to fight you certainly." Scott's voice had a faint quiver +of humour in it, as though he jested at his own expense. "Not--that +is--in a physical sense. If you choose to resort to brute force, that's +your affair. And I fancy you'll be sorry afterwards. But it will make no +actual difference to me." He broke off, breathing short and hard, like a +man who struggles against odds yet with no thought of yielding. + +Sir Eustace held him a few seconds as if irresolute, then abruptly let +him go. "I believe you're right," he said. "You wouldn't care a damn. But +you're a fool to bait me all the same. Now clear out, and leave me alone +for the future!" + +"I haven't done with you yet," Scott said. He straightened himself, and +returned indomitably to the attack. "I asked you a question, and--so +far--you haven't answered it. Are you ashamed to answer it?" + +Sir Eustace got up with a movement of exasperation, but very oddly his +anger had died down. "Oh, confound you, Stumpy! You're worse than a swarm +of mosquitoes!" he said. "I dispute your right to ask that question. It +is no affair of yours." + +"I maintain that it is," Scott said quietly. "It matters to me--perhaps +more than you realize--whether you behave honourably or otherwise." + +"Honourably!" His brother caught him up sharply. "You're on dangerous +ground, I warn you," he said. "I won't stand that from you or any man." + +"I've no intention of insulting you," Scott answered. "But I must know +the truth. Are you hoping to marry Miss Bathurst, or are you not?" + +Sir Eustace drew himself up with a haughty gesture. "The time has not +come to talk of that," he said. + +"Not when you are deliberately making love to her?" Scott's voice +remained quiet, but the glitter was in his eyes again--a quivering, +ominous gleam. + +"Oh, that! My dear fellow, you are disquieting yourself in vain. She +knows as well as I do that that is a mere game." Eustace spoke +scoffingly, looking over his brother's head, ignoring his attitude. "I +assure you she is not so green as you imagine," he said. "It has been +nothing but a game all through." + +"Nothing but a game!" Scott repeated the words slowly as if incredulous. +"Do you actually mean that?" + +Sir Eustace laughed and took out his cigarettes. "What do you take me +for, you old duffer? Think I should commit myself at this stage? An old +hand like me! Not likely!" + +Scott stood up before him, white to the lips. "I take you for an infernal +blackguard, if you want to know!" he said, speaking with great +distinctness. "You may call yourself a man of honour. I call you a +scoundrel!" + +"What?" Eustace put back his cigarette-case with a smile that was oddly +like a snarl. "It looks to me as if you'll have to have that lesson after +all," he said. "What's the matter with you now-a-days? Fallen in love +yourself? Is that it?" + +He took Scott by the shoulders, not roughly, but with power. + +Scott's eyes met his like a sword in a master-hand. "The matter is," he +said, "that this precious game of yours has got to end. If you are not +man enough to end it--I will." + +"Will you indeed?" Eustace shook him to and fro as he stood, but still +without violence. "And how?" + +"I shall tell her," Scott spoke without the smallest hesitation, "the +exact truth. I shall tell her--and she will believe me--precisely what +you are." + +"Damn you!" said Sir Eustace. + +With the words he shifted his grasp, took Scott by the collar, and swung +him round. + +"Then you may also tell her," he said, his voice low and furious, "that +you have had the kicking that a little yapping cur like you deserves." + +He kicked him with the words, kicked him thrice, and flung him brutally +aside. + +Scott went down, grabbing vainly at the bed to save himself. His face was +deathly as he turned it, but he said nothing. He had said his say. + +Sir Eustace was white also, white and terrible, with eyes of flame. He +stood a moment, glaring down at him. Then, as though he could not trust +himself, wheeled and strode to the door. + +"And when you've done," he said, "you can come to me for another, you +beastly little cad!" + +He went, leaving the door wide behind him. His feet resounded along the +passage and died away. The distant waltz-music came softly in. And Scott +pulled himself painfully up and sat on the end of the bed, panting +heavily. + +Minutes passed ere he moved. Then at last very slowly he got up. He had +recovered his breath. His mouth was firm, his eyes resolute and +indomitable, his whole bearing composed, as with that dignity that Dinah +had so often remarked in him he limped to the door and passed out, +closing it quietly behind him. + +The dance-music was still floating through the passages with a mocking +allurement. The tramp of feet and laughter of many voices rose with it. A +flicker of irony passed over his drawn face. He straightened his collar +with absolute steadiness, and moved away in the direction of his own +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CAPTIVE + + +Isabel uttered no reproaches to her charge as, quivering with shame, she +returned from her escapade. She exchanged no more than a low "Good +night!" with Scott, and then turned back into the room with Dinah. But as +the latter stood before her, crest-fallen and humiliated, expecting a +reprimand, she only laid very gentle hands upon her and began to unfasten +her dress. + +"I wasn't spying upon you, dear child," she said. "I only looked in to +see if you would care for a cup of milk last thing." + +That broke Dinah utterly and overwhelmingly. In her contrition, she cast +herself literally at Isabel's feet. "Oh, what a beast I am! What a +beast!" she sobbed. "Will you ever forgive me? I shall never forgive +myself!" + +Isabel was very tender with her, checking her wild outburst with loving +words. She asked no question as to what had been happening, for which +forbearance Dinah's gratitude was great even though it served to +intensify her remorse. With all a mother's loving care she soothed her, +assuring her of complete forgiveness and understanding. + +"I did wild things in my own girlhood," she said. "I know what it means, +dear, when temptation comes." + +And so at last she calmed her agitation, and helped her to bed, waiting +upon her with the utmost gentleness, saying no word of blame or even of +admonition. + +Not till she had gone, did it dawn upon Dinah that this task had probably +been left to Scott, and with the thought a great dread of the morrow came +upon her. Though he had betrayed no hint of displeasure, she felt +convinced that she had incurred it; and all her new-born shyness in his +presence, returned upon her a thousandfold. She did not know how she +would face him when the morning came. + +He would not be angry she knew. He would not scold her like Colonel de +Vigne. But yet she shrank from the thought of his disappointment in her +as she had never before shrunk from the Colonel's rebuke. She was sure +that she had forfeited his good opinion for ever, and many and bitter +were the tears that she shed over her loss. + +Her thoughts of Eustace were of too confused a nature to be put into +coherent form. The moment they turned in his direction her brain became a +flashing whirl in which doubts, fears, and terrible ectasies ran wild +riot. She lay and trembled at the memory of his strength, exulting almost +in the same moment that he had stooped with such mastery to possess her. +His magnificence dazzled her, deprived her of all powers of rational +judgment. She only realized that she--and she alone--had been singled out +of the crowd for that fiery worship; and it seemed to her that she had +been created for that one splendid purpose. + +But always the memory of Scott shot her triumph through with a regret so +poignant as to deprive it of all lasting rapture. She had hurt him, she +had disappointed him; she did not know how she would ever look him in the +eyes again. + +Her sleep throughout that last night was broken and unrefreshing, and +ever the haunting strains of _Simple Aveu_ pulsed through her brain like +a low voice calling her perpetually, refusing to be stilled. Only one +night more and she would be back in her home; this glittering, Alpine +dream would be over, never to return. And again she turned on her pillow +and wept. It was so hard, so hard, to go back. + +In the morning she arose white-faced and weary, with dark shadows under +her eyes, and a head that throbbed tormentingly. She breakfasted with +Isabel in the latter's room, and was again deeply grateful to her friend +for forbearing to comment upon her subdued manner. She could not make any +pretence at cheerfulness that day, being in fact still so near to tears +that she could scarcely keep from breaking down. + +"Don't wait for me, dear!" Isabel said gently at length. "I see you are +not hungry. We are taking some provisions with us; perhaps you will feel +more like eating presently." + +Dinah escaped very thankfully and returned to her own room. + +Here she remained for awhile till more sure of herself; then Biddy came +in to finish her packing and she slipped away to avoid the old woman's +shrewd observation. She feared to go downstairs lest she should meet +Scott; but presently, as she hovered in the passage, she heard his +halting tread in the main corridor. + +He was evidently on his way to his sister's room, and seizing her +opportunity, she ran like a hare in the opposite direction and managed to +slip downstairs without adventure. + +She was not to escape unnoticed, however. The first person she +encountered in the vestibule came forward instantly at sight of her with +the promptitude of one who has been lying in wait. + +She recoiled with a gasp, but she could not run away. She was caught as +surely as she had been the night before. + +"Hullo!" smiled Sir Eustace, with extended hand. "Going out for a last +look round? May I come too?" + +She felt the dominance of his grip. It was coolly, imperially possessive. +To answer his request seemed superfluous, even bordering upon +presumption. It was obvious that he had every intention of accompanying +her. + +She gave a confused murmur of assent, and they passed through the +vestibule side by side. She was conscious of curious glances from several +strangers who were standing about, and Eustace exchanged a few words with +a species of regal condescension here and there as they went. And then +they were out in the pure sunlight of the mountains, alone for the last +time in their paradise of snow. + +Almost instinctively Dinah turned up the winding track. They had half an +hour before them, and she felt she could not bear to stand still. He +strolled beside her, idly smoking, not troubling to make conversation, +now as ever sublimely at his ease. + +The snow sparkled around them like a thousand gems Dinah's eyes were +burning and smarting with the brightness. And still that tender +waltz-music ran lilting through her brain, drifting as it were through +the mist of her unshed tears. + +Suddenly he spoke. They were nearing the pine-wood and quite alone. "Is +there anything the matter?" + +She choked down a great lump in her throat before she could speak in +answer. "No," she murmured then. "I--I am just--rather low about leaving; +that's all." + +"Quite all?" he said. + +His tone was so casual, so normal, that it seemed impossible now to think +of last night's happening save as an extravagant dream. She almost felt +for the moment as if she had imagined it all. And then he spoke again, +and she caught a subtle note of tenderness in his voice that brought +it all back upon her in an overwhelming rush. + +"That's really all, is it? You're not unhappy about anything else? Scott +hasn't been bullying you?" + +She gasped at the question. "Oh no! Oh no! He wouldn't! He couldn't! +I--haven't even seen him today." + +He received the information in silence; but in a moment or two he tossed +away his cigarette with the air of a man having come to an abrupt +resolution. + +"And so you're fretting about going home?" he said. + +She nodded mutely. The matter would not bear discussion. + +"Poor little Daphne!" he said. "It's been a good game, hasn't it?" + +She nodded again. "Just like the dreams that never come true," she +managed to say. + +"Would you like it to come true?" he asked her unexpectedly. + +She glanced up at him with a woeful little smile. "It's no good thinking +of that, is it?" she said. + +"I have an idea we could make it come true between us," he said. + +She shook her head. That brief glimpse of his intent eyes had sent a +sudden and overwhelming wave of shyness through her. She remembered again +the fiery holding of his arms, and was afraid. + +He paused in his walk and turned aside to the railing that bounded the +side of the track above the steep, pine-covered descent. "Wish hard +enough," he said, "and all dreams come true!" + +Dinah went with him as if compelled. She leaned against the railing, glad +of the support, while he sat down upon it. His attitude was supremely +easy and self-possessed. + +"Do you know, Daphne," he said, "I've taken a fancy to that particular +dream myself? Now I've caught you, I don't see myself letting you go +again." + +Her heart throbbed at his words. She bent her head, fixing her eyes upon +the rough wood upon which she leaned. + +"But it's no good, is it?" she said, almost below her breath. "I've just +got to go." + +He put his hand on her shoulder, and she was conscious afresh of the +electricity of his touch. She shrank a little--a very little; for she was +frightened, albeit curiously aware of a magnetism that drew her +irresistibly. + +"Yes, I suppose you've got to go," he said. "But--there's nothing to +prevent me following you, is there?" + +She quivered from head to foot. That hand upon her shoulder sent such a +tumult of emotions through her that she could not collect her thoughts in +any coherent order. "I--I don't know," she whispered, bending her head +still lower. "They--I don't know what they would say at home." + +"Your people?" His hand was drawing her now with an insistent pressure +that would not be denied. "They'd probably dance on their heads with +delight," he said, his tone one of slightly supercilious humour. "I +assure you I am considered something of a catch by a good many anxious +mammas." + +She started at that, started and straightened herself, lifting shy eyes +to his. "Oh, but we've only been--playing," she said rather uncertainly. +"Just--just pretending to flirt, that's all." + +He laughed, bending his handsome, imperious face to hers. "It's been a +fairly solid pretence, hasn't it?" he said. "But I'm proposing something +slightly different now. I'm offering you my hand--as well as my heart." + +Dinah was trembling all over. She gasped for breath, drawing back +slightly from the nearness of his lips. "Do you mean--you'd like--to +marry me?" she whispered tremulously, and hid her face on the instant; +for the bald words sounded preposterous. + +He laughed again, softly, half-mockingly, and drew her into his arms. +"Whatever made you think of that, my elf of the mountains? I'll vow it +came into your head first. Ah, you needn't hide your eyes from me. I know +you're mine--all mine. I've known it from the first--ever since you began +to run away. But I've caught you now. Haven't I? Haven't I?" + +She clung to him desperately. It seemed the only way; for she was for the +moment swept off her feet, terribly afraid of arousing that storm of +passion which had so overwhelmed her the night before. Instinct warned +her what to expect if she attempted to withdraw herself. Moreover, the +tumult of her feeling was such that she did not want to do so. She wanted +only to hide her head for a space, and be still. + +He pressed her close, still laughing at her shyness. "What a good thing +I'm not shy!" he said. "If I were, to-day would be the end of everything +instead of the beginning. Can't you bring yourself to look at your new +possession? Did you think you could laugh and run away for all time?" + +Then, as in muffled accents she besought him to be patient with her, he +softened magically and for the first time spoke of love. + +"Don't you know you have wrenched the very heart out of me, you little +brown witch? I loved you from the very first moment of our dance +together. You've been too much for me all through. I had to have you. I +simply had to have you." + +She trembled afresh at his words, but she clung closer. If the fear +deepened, so also did the fascination. She tried to picture him as +hers--hers, and failed. He was so fine, so splendid, so much too big for +her. + +He went on, dropping his voice lower, his breath warm upon her neck. "Are +you going to take all and give--nothing, Daphne? Did they make you +without a heart, I wonder? Like a robin that mates afresh a dozen times +in a season? Haven't you anything to give me, little sweetheart? Are you +going to keep me waiting for a long, long time, and then send me empty +away?" + +That moved her. That he should stoop to plead with her seemed so amazing, +almost a fabulous state of affairs. + +With a little sob, she lifted her face at last. "Oh, Apollo!" she said +brokenly. "Apollo the magnificent! I am all yours--all yours! But +don't--don't take too much--at a time!" + +The plea must have touched him, accompanied as it was by that full +surrender. He held her a moment, looking down into her eyes with the +fiery possessiveness subdued to a half-veiled tenderness in his own. + +Then, very gently, even with reverence, he bent his face to hers. "Give +me--just what you can spare, then, little sweetheart!" he said. "I can +always come again for more now." + +She slipped her arms around his neck, and shyly, childishly, she kissed +the lips that had devoured her own so mercilessly the night before. + +"Yes--yes, I will always give you more!" she said tremulously. + +He took her face between his hands and kissed her in return, not +violently, but with confidence. "That seals you for my very own," he +said. "You will never run away from me again?" + +But she would not promise that. The memory of the previous night still +scorched her intolerably whenever her thoughts turned that way. + +"I shan't want to run away if--if you stay as you are now," she told him +confusedly. + +He laughed in his easy way. "Oh, Daphne, I shall have a lot to teach you +when we are married. How soon do you think you can be ready?" + +She started in his hold at the question, and then quickly gave herself +fully back to him again. "I don't know a bit. You'll have to ask mother. +P'raps--she may not allow it at all." + +"Ho! Won't she?" said Sir Eustace. "I think I know better. What about +that trip on the yacht in July? Can you be ready in time for that?" + +"Oh, I expect I could be ready sooner than that," said Dinah naïvely. + +"You could?" He smiled upon her. "Well, next week then! What do you say +to next week?" + +But she shrank again at that. "Oh no! Not possibly! Not possibly! +You--you're laughing!" She looked at him accusingly. + +He caught her to him. "You baby! You innocent! Yes, I'm going to kiss +you. Where will you have it? Just anywhere?" + +He held her and kissed her, still laughing, yet with a heat that made her +flinch involuntarily; kissed the pointed chin and quivering lips, the +swift-shut eyes and soft cheeks, the little, trembling dimple that came +and went. + +"Yes, you are mine--all mine," he said. "Remember, I have a right to you +now that no one else has. Not all the mammas in the world could come +between us now." + +She laughed, half-exultantly, half-dubiously, peeping at him through her +lowered lashes. "I wonder if you'll still say that when--when you've +seen--my mother," she murmured. + +He kissed her again, kissed anew the dimples that showed and vanished so +alluringly. "You will see presently, my Daphne," he said. "But I'm going +to have you, you know. That's quite understood, isn't it?" + +"Yes," whispered Dinah, with docility. + +"No more running away," he insisted. "That's past and done with." + +She gave him a fleeting smile. "I couldn't if--if I wanted to." + +"I'm glad you realize that," he said. + +She clung to him suddenly with a little movement that was almost +convulsive. "Oh, are you sure--quite sure--that you wouldn't rather marry +Rose de Vigne?" + +He uttered his careless laugh. "My dear child, there are plenty of +Roses in the world. There is only one--Daphne--Daphne, the fleet of +foot--Daphne, the enchantress!" + +She clung to him a little faster. "And there is only one Apollo," she +murmured. "Apollo the magnificent!" + +"We seem to be quite a unique couple," laughed Eustace, with his lips +upon her hair. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE SECOND SUMMONS + + +When they went down the hill again to the hotel, Dinah felt as if she +were treading on air. The whole world had magically changed for her. +Fears still lurked in the background, such fears as she did not dare to +turn and contemplate; but she herself had stepped into such a blaze of +sunshine that she felt literally bathed from head to foot in the glow. + +Her dread of returning to the old home-life had dwindled to a mere +shadow. Sir Eustace's absolute confidence on the subject of his +desirability as a husband had accomplished this. There would be paens of +rejoicing, he told her, and she had actually begun to think that he spoke +the truth. She was quite convinced that her mother would be pleased. It +was Cinderella and the prince indeed. Who could be otherwise? + +Her escapade of the night before had also shrunk to a matter of small +importance. Eustace in his grand, easy way had justified her, and she was +no longer tormented by the thought of the mute reproach she would +encounter in Scott's eyes. She was triumphantly vindicated, and no one +would dream of reproaching her now. Isabel too--surely Isabel would be +glad, would welcome her as a sister, though the realization of this +nearness of relationship made her blush in sheer horror at her +presumption. + +She to be Lady Studley! She--little, insignificant, moneyless Dinah! The +thought of Rose's soft patronage flashed through her brain, and she +chuckled aloud. Poor dear Rose, waiting for him at the Court, expecting +every day to hear of his promised advent! What a shock for them all! Why, +she would rank with the County now! Even Lady Grace would scarcely be in +a position to patronize her! Again, quite involuntarily, she chuckled. + +"What's the joke?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +She blushed very deeply, realizing that she had allowed her thoughts to +run away with her. + +"There isn't a joke really," she told him. "It wasn't important anyhow. I +was only thinking how--how surprised the de Vignes would be." + +He frowned momentarily; then he laughed. "Proud of your conquest, eh?" he +asked. + +She blushed still more deeply. "It's easy to laugh now, but I shall never +dare to face them," she murmured. + +He took her hand as they walked, linking his fingers in hers with a +careless air of possession. "When you are Lady Studley," he said, "I +shall not allow you to knock under to anyone--except your husband." + +She gave a faint laugh. "I--shall have to learn to swagger," she said. +"But I'm afraid I shall never do it as well as you do." + +"What? Swagger?" He frowned again. "How dare you accuse me of that?" + +"Oh, I didn't! I don't!" Hastily she sought to avert his displeasure. +"No, no! I only meant that you were born to it. I'm not. I--I'm very +ordinary; not nearly good enough for you." + +His frown melted again. "You are--Daphne," he said. "Ah! Here is Scott, +coming to look for us! Who is going to break the news to him?" + +She made a small, ineffectual attempt to release her hand. Then, under +her breath, "He--saw you kiss me last night," she whispered. "Don't you +think he may have guessed already?" + +A very cynical look came into Eustace's face. "I wonder," he said +briefly. + +They went on side by side down the white, shining track; but Dinah was no +longer treading on air. She could see the slight, insignificant figure +that awaited them close to the hotel-entrance, and her heart felt oddly +weighted within her. It was not the memory of the night before that +oppressed her. That episode had faded almost into nothingness. But the +ordeal of facing him, of telling him of the wonderful thing that had just +happened to her, seemed suddenly more than she could bear. Something +within her seemed to cry out against it. She had a curious feeling of +looking out at him across great billows of seething uncertainty that +rolled ever higher and higher between them, threatening to separate them +for all time. + +Yet when she neared him, the tumult of feeling sank again as the +quietness of his presence reached her. Out of the tempest she found +herself drifting into a safe harbour of still waters. + +He moved to meet them, and she heard his voice greet her as he raised his +cap. "So you have been for your farewell stroll!" + +She did not answer in words, only she freed her hand from Eustace with a +resolute little tug and gave it to him. + +Eustace spoke, a species of half-veiled insolence in his tone. "Like the +psalmist she went forth weeping and has returned bearing her sheaf with +her--in the form of a fairly substantial _fiancé_." + +Dinah ventured to cast a lightning-glance at Scott to see how he took the +information and was conscious of an instant's shock. He looked so grey, +so ill, like a man who had received a deadly wound. + +But the impression passed in a flash as she felt his hand close upon +hers. + +"My dear," he said simply, "I'm awfully pleased." + +The warm grasp did her good. It brought her swiftly back to a normal +state of mind. She drew a hard breath and met his eyes, reassuring +herself in a moment with the conviction that after all he looked quite as +usual. Somehow her imagination had tricked her. His kindly smile seemed +to make everything right. + +"Oh, it is kind of you not to mind," she said impulsively. + +Whereat Sir Eustace laughed. "He is rather magnanimous, isn't he? Well, +come along and tell Isabel!" + +Scott's eyes came swiftly to him. He released Dinah, and offered his hand +to his brother. "Let me congratulate you, old chap!" he said, his voice +rather low. "I hope you will both have--all happiness." + +"Thanks!" said Eustace. He took the hand, looking at the younger man with +keen, hawk-eyes. "We mean to make a bid for it anyway. Dinah is lucky in +one thing at least. She will have an ideal brother-in-law." + +The words were carelessly spoken, but they were not without meaning. +Scott flushed slightly; even while for an instant he smiled. "I shall do +my best in that capacity," he said. "But before you go in, I want you to +wait a moment. Isabel has had a slight fainting attack. We mustn't take +her by surprise." + +"A fainting attack!" Sharply Eustace echoed the words. "How did it +happen?" he demanded. + +Scott raised his shoulders. "We were talking together. I can't tell you +exactly what caused it. It came rather suddenly. Biddy and I brought her +round almost immediately, and she declares that she will make the +journey. She did not wish me to tell you of it, but I thought it better." + +"Of coarse." Sir Eustace's voice was short and stern; his face wore a +heavy frown. "But something must have caused it. What were you talking +about?" + +Scott hesitated for a second. "I can't tell you that, old fellow," he +said then. + +Eustace uttered a brief laugh. "Too personal, eh? Well, how did it +happen? Did she suddenly lose consciousness?" + +"She suddenly gasped, and said her heart had stopped. She fell across the +table. I called to Biddy, and we lifted her and gave her brandy. That +brought her to very quickly. I left her lying down in her room. But she +says she feels much better, and she is very set upon leaving the +arrangements for the journey unaltered." + +Scott spoke rather wearily. Dinah's heart went out to him in swift +sympathy which she did not know how to express. + +"May I--could I--go to her?" she suggested, after a moment timidly. + +Scott turned to her instantly. "Please do! I know she would like to see +you. We ought to be starting in another quarter of an hour. The sleigh +will be here directly." + +"May I do as I like about--about telling her?" Dinah asked, pausing. + +Scott's eyes shone with a very kindly gleam. "Of course, I know you will +not startle her. You always do her good." + +The words followed her as she turned away. How good he was to her! How +full of understanding and human sympathy! Her heart throbbed with a +warmth that filled her with an odd desire to weep. She wished that +Eustace did not treat him quite so arrogantly. + +And then, looking back, she reproached herself for the thought; for +Eustace had linked a hand in his arm, and she saw that they were walking +together in complete accord. + +"But I will never--no, never--call him Stumpy!" she said to herself, as +she passed into the hotel. + +She went up the stairs rapidly, and hastened to Isabel's room. That look +she had caught in Scott's face--that stricken look--had doubtless been +brought there by his sudden anxiety for his sister. That would fully +account for it, she was sure. + +On the threshold of Isabel's room an overwhelming nervousness assailed +her. How was she going to tell her of the wonderful event that had taken +place in the last half-hour? On the other hand, how could she possibly +suppress so tremendous a matter? And again, the disquieting question +arose; could she be ill--really ill? Scott had looked so troubled--so +unutterably sad. + +With an effort she summoned her courage, and softly knocked. + +Instantly a low voice answered her, bidding her enter. She opened the +door and went in, feeling as though she were treading sacred ground. + +But Isabel's voice spoke again instantly, greeting her; and +in a moment all her doubts, all her forebodings, were gone. + +"Come in, little sweetheart!" Isabel said. + +And she advanced with quickened steps to find Isabel lying propped on the +sofa, looking at her, smiling up at her, with such a glory on her wasted +face as made it "as it had been the face of an angel." + +In an instant Dinah was on her knees beside her, with loving arms +clasping her close. "Oh, darling, I've only just heard. Are you better? +Are you better?" she said yearningly. + +Isabel held her, and fondly kissed the upturned lips. "Why, I believe +Scott has been frightening you," she said. "Silly fellow! Yes, dear. I am +well--quite well." + +"You are sure?" Dinah insisted. "You are really not ill?" + +Isabel's smile had in it--had she but known it--a gleam of the Divine. +"My dearest, all is well with me," she said. "I lay down for a little to +please Scott. But I am going to get up now. Where have you been since +_dèjeuner_? I missed you." + +Dinah clung closer, hiding her face. + +Instantly Isabel's arms tightened. The passionate tenderness of them +thrilled her through and through. "Why, child, what has happened?" she +whispered. "Tell me! Tell me!" + +But Dinah only hid her face a little deeper. "I don't know how," she +murmured. + +There fell a silence. Then, under her breath, Isabel spoke. "My darling, +whisper--just whisper! Who--is it?" + +And very, very faintly, at last Dinah made answer. "It--it is--Sir +Eustace." + +There fell another silence, longer, deeper, than the first. Then Isabel +uttered a short, hard sigh, and, stooping, kissed the bowed, curly head. +"God bless and keep you always, dearest!" she said. + +Something in the words--or was it the tone?--pierced Dinah. She turned +her face slightly upwards. "I--I was afraid you wouldn't be pleased," she +faltered. "Do--do forgive me--if you can!" + +"Forgive you!" All the wealth of Isabel's love was in the words. "Why, +darling, I have been wanting you for my own little sister ever since I +first saw you." + +"Oh, have you?" Eagerly Dinah lifted her head. Her eyes were shining, her +cheeks very flushed. "Then you are pleased?" she said earnestly. "You +really are pleased?" + +Isabel smiled at her very sadly, very fondly. "My darling, if you are +happy, I am more than pleased," she said. + +Yet Dinah was puzzled, not wholly satisfied. She received Isabel's kiss +with a certain wistfulness. "I feel--somehow--as if I've done wrong," she +said. "Yet--yet--Scott--" she halted over the name, uttering it +shyly--"said he was--awfully pleased." + +"Ah! You have told Scott!" There was a sharp, almost a wrung, sound in +Isabel's voice; but the next moment she controlled it, and spoke with +steady resolution. "Then, my dear, you needn't have any misgivings. If +you love Eustace and he loves you, it is the best thing possible for you +both." She held Dinah to her again and kissed her; then very tenderly +released her. "You must run and get ready, dear child. It is getting +late." + +Dinah went obediently, still with that bewildered feeling of having +somehow taken a wrong turning. She was convinced in her own mind that the +news had not been welcome to Isabel, disguise it how she would. And +suddenly through her mind there ran the memory of those words she had +uttered a few weeks before. "Never prefer the tinsel to the true gold!" +She had not fully understood their meaning then. Now very vividly it +flashed upon her. Isabel had compared her two brothers in that brief +sentence. Isabel's estimate of the one was as low as that of the other +was high. Isabel did not love Eustace--the handsome, debonair brother who +had once been all the world to her. + +A little, sick feeling of doubt went through Dinah! Had she--by any evil +chance--had she made a mistake? + +And then the man's overwhelming personality swung suddenly through her +consciousness, filling all her being, possessing her, dominating her. She +flung the doubt from her, as one flings away a poisonous insect. He was +her own--her very own; her lover, the first, the best,--Apollo the +Magnificent! + +In Isabel's room old Biddy Maloney stood, gazing down at her mistress +with eyes of burning devotion. + +"And is it yourself that's feeling better now?" she questioned fondly. + +Isabel raised herself, smiling her sad smile. "Oh, Biddy," she said, +"for myself I feel that all is well--all will be well. The dawn draws +nearer--every hour." + +Biddy shook her head with pursed lips. "Ye shouldn't talk so, mavourneen. +It's the Almighty who has the ruling. Ye wouldn't wish to go before your +time?" + +"Before my time! Oh, Biddy! When I have lingered in the prison-house so +long!" Slowly Isabel rose to her feet. She looked at Biddy almost +whimsically. "I think He will take that into the reckoning," she said. +"Do you know, Biddy, this is the second summons that has come to me? And +I think--I think," her face was glorified again as the face of one who +sees a vision--"I think the third will be the last." + +Biddy's black eyes screwed up suddenly. She turned her face away. + +"Will we be getting ready to go now, Miss Isabel?" she asked after a +moment, in a voice that shook. + +The glory died out of Isabel's face, though the reflection of it still +lingered in her eyes. "I am very selfish, Biddy," she said. "Can you +guess what Miss Dinah has just told me?" + +"Arrah thin, I can," said Biddy, with a touch of aggressiveness. "I've +seen it coming for a long time past. And ye didn't ought to allow it at +all, Miss Isabel. It's a mistake, that's what it is. It's just a bad +mistake." + +"Not if he loves her, Biddy." Isabel spoke gently, but there was a hint +of reproof in her voice. + +Biddy, however, remained quite unabashed. "He love her!" she snorted. "As +if he ever loved anybody besides himself! Talk about the lion and the +lamb, Miss Isabel! It's a cruel shame to let her go to such as him. And +what'll poor Master Scott do at all? And he worshipping the little fairy +feet of her!" + +"Hush, Biddy, hush!" Isabel spoke with decision. "I hope--I trust--that +he isn't very grievously disappointed. But if he is, it is the one thing +that neither you nor I must ever seem to suspect." + +"Ah!" grumbled Biddy mutinously. "And isn't that just like Sir Eustace, +with all the world to pick from, to choose the one thing--the one little +wild rose--as Master Scott had set his heart on? He's done it from his +cradle. Always the one thing someone else wanted he must grab for +himself. But is it too late, Miss Isabel darlint?" Sudden hope shone in +the old woman's eyes. "Is it really too late? Couldn't ye drop a hint to +the dear lamb? Sure and she's fond of Master Scott! Maybe she'd turn to +him after all if she knew." + +Isabel shook her head almost sternly. "Biddy, no! This is no affair of +ours. If Master Scott suspected for a moment what you have just said to +me, he would never forgive you." + +"May I come in?" said Scott's voice at the door. "My dear, you are +looking better. Are you well enough to start?" + +"Yes, of course." Isabel moved towards him, her hands extended in mute +affection. + +He took and held them. "Dinah has told you? I am sure you are glad. +Eustace is waiting downstairs. Come and tell him how glad you are!" + +His eyes, very straight and steadfast, met hers. + +Isabel tried to speak in answer, but caught her breath in a sudden sob. + +He waited a second. Then, "Isabel!" he said gently. + +Sharply she controlled herself. "Yes. Yes. Let us go!" she said. "I +must--congratulate Eustace." + +They went; and old Biddy was left alone. + +She looked after them with a piteous expression on her wrinkled face; +then suddenly, with a wistful gesture, she clasped her old worn hands. + +"I pray the Almighty," she said, with great earnestness, "to open the +dear young lady's eyes, before it is too late. And if He wants anyone to +help Him--sure it's meself that'll be only too pleased." + +It was the most impressive prayer that Biddy had ever uttered. + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CINDERELLA'S PRINCE + + +The early dusk of February was falling, together with a fine, drenching +rain. The trees that over-hung the muddy lane were beating their stark +branches together as though in despair over the general hopelessness of +the outlook. The west wind that raced across the brown fields had the +sharpness of snow in its train. + +"We shall catch it before we've done," said Bathurst to his hunter. + +Rupert the hunter, a dapple grey with powerful hindquarters, cocked a +knowing ear in a fashion that Dinah always described as "his smile." + +It had not been a good day for either of them. The meet had been at a +considerable distance, there had been no run worth mentioning; and now +that it was over they were returning, thoroughly tired, from the kennels. + +Bathurst's pink coat clung to him like a sack, all streaked and darkened +with rain. It had weathered a good many storms in its time, as its many +varieties of tint testified; but despite this fact, its wearer never +failed to look a sportsman and a gentleman. There was nothing of the +vagabond about Bathurst, but he had the vagabond's facility for making +himself at home wherever he went. He was never at a loss, never +embarrassed, never affronted. He took life easily, as he himself put it; +and on the whole he found it good. + +Riding home at a jog-trot in that driving rain with the prospect of +having to feed and rub down Rupert at the end of it before he could +attend to his own needs was not a particularly entrancing prospect; but +he faced it philosophically. After today the little girl would be at +home, and she could do it for him again. She loved to wait on him hand +and foot, and it really was a pleasure to let her. + +He whistled cheerily to himself as he wended his leisurely way through +the dripping lane that made the shortest cut to his home. It would be +nice to have the little girl home again. Lydia was all very well--a good +wife, as wives went--but there was no doubt about it that Dinah's +presence made a considerable difference to his comfort. The child was +quick to forestall his wants; he sometimes thought that she was even more +useful to him than a valet would have been. He had missed her more than +he would have dreamed possible. + +Lydia had missed her too; he was sure of that. She had been peculiarly +short of temper lately. Not that he ever took much notice; he was too +used to her tantrums for that. But it certainly was more comfortable when +Dinah was at home to bear the brunt of them. Yes, on the whole he was +quite pleased that the little girl was coming back. It would make a +difference to him in many ways. + +He wondered what time she would arrive. He had known, but he had +forgotten. He believed it was to be some time in the evening. Her grand +friends had arranged to stay at Great Mallowes, three miles, away for the +night, and one of them--the maid probably--was to bring Dinah home. He +had smiled over this arrangement, and Lydia had openly scoffed at it. As +if a girl of Dinah's age were not capable of travelling alone! But then +of course she had been ill, very ill according to all accounts; and it +was quite decent of them to bestow so much care upon her. + +He fell to wondering if the child had got spoilt at all during her long +absence from home and the harsh discipline thereof. If so, there was a +hard time before her; for Lydia was never one to stand any nonsense. She +had always been hard on her first-born, unreasonably hard, he sometimes +thought; though it was not his business to interfere. The task of +chastising the daughter of the family was surely the mother's exclusive +prerogative; and certainly Lydia had carried it out very thoroughly. And +if at times he thought her over-severe, he could not deny that the result +achieved was eminently satisfactory. Dinah was always docile and active +in his service--altogether a very good child; and this was presumably due +to her mother's training. No, on the whole he had not much fault to find +with either of them. Doubtless Lydia understood her own sex best. + +He was nearing the end of the long lane; it terminated close to his home. +Rupert quickened his pace. They were both splashed with mud from shoulder +to heel. They had both had more than enough of the wet and the slush. + +"That's right, Rupert, my boy!" the man murmured. "Finish in style!" + +They came out from beneath the over-arching trees, emerging upon the +high road that led from Great Mallowes to Perrythorpe. The hoot of a +motor-horn caused Rupert to prick his ears, and his master reined him +back as two great, shining head-lights appeared round a curve. They +drew swiftly near, flashed past, and were gone meteor-like into the +gloom. + +"Whose car was that, I wonder?" mused Bathurst. + +"The de Vignes's? It didn't look like one of the Court cars, but the old +bird is always buying something new. Lucky devil!" + +The thought of the Colonel renewed his thoughts of Dinah. Certain hints +the former had dropped had made him wonder a little if the child were +always as demure as she seemed. Not that Colonel de Vigne had actually +found fault with her. He was plainly fond of her. But he had not spoken +as if Dinah had effaced herself as completely abroad as she did at home. + +"Oh, yes, the little baggage enjoyed herself--was as gay as a lark--till +she got ill," he had said. "You may find her something of a handful when +she gets back, Bathurst. She's stretched her wings a bit since she left +you." + +Bathurst shrugged his shoulders with the comforting reflection that he +would not have the trouble of dealing with her. If she had been giddy, +after all, it was but natural. Her mother had not been particularly +steady in the days of her wild youth. And anyhow he was sure her mother +would speedily break her in again. She had a will of iron before which +Dinah was _always_ forced to bend. + +He rode on along the highroad. It was not more than half a mile farther +to his home on the outskirts of the village. Somewhere in the gloom ahead +of him church-bells were pealing. It was practice-night, he remembered. +Dinah loved the sound of the bells. She would feel that they were ringing +in her honour. Funny little Dinah! The child was full of fancies of that +sort. Just as well perhaps, for it was the only form of amusement that +ever came into her home life. + +The gay peal turned into a deafening clashing as at length he neared his +home. The old church stood only a stone's throw further on. They were +ringing the joy-bells with a vengeance. And then very suddenly he caught +sight of the tail-lamp of a car close to his own gate. + +Dinah had returned then. They had actually chartered that car to convey +her from Great Mallowes. He pursed his lips to a whistle. The little girl +had been in clover indeed. + +"She certainly won't think much of the home crusts after this," he +murmured to himself. + +He walked Rupert round to the tumble-down stable, and dismounted. + +For the next quarter of an hour he was busy over the animal. He thought +it a little strange that Dinah did not spy the stable-lamp from the +kitchen and come dancing out to greet him. He also wondered why the car +lingered so long. It looked as if someone other than the maid had +accompanied her, and were staying to tea. + +He never took tea after a day's hunting; hot whisky and water and a bath +formed his customary programme, and then a tasty supper and bed. + +He supposed on this occasion that he would have to go in and show +himself, though he was certainly not fit to be seen. Reluctantly he +pulled the bedraggled pink coat on again. After all, it did not greatly +matter. Hunting was its own excuse. No sportsman ever returned in the +apple-pie order in which he started. + +Carelessly he sauntered in by way of the back premises, and was instantly +struck by the sound of a man's voice, well-bred, with a slightly haughty +intonation, speaking in one of the front rooms of the little house. + +"Dinah seemed to think that she could not keep it in till to-morrow," it +said, with easy assurance. "So I thought I had better come along with her +to-night and get it over." + +The words reached Bathurst as he arrived in the small square hall, and he +stopped dead. "Hullo! Hullo!" he murmured softly to himself. + +And then came his wife's voice, a harsh, determined voice, "Do I +understand that you wish to marry my daughter?" + +"That's the idea," came the suave reply. "You don't know me, of course, +but I think I can satisfy you that I am not an undesirable _parti_. My +family is considered fairly respectable, as old families go. I am the +ninth baronet in direct succession; and I have a very fair amount of +worldly goods to offer my wife." + +Mrs. Bathurst broke in upon him, a tremor of eagerness in her hard voice. +"If that is the case, of course I have no objection," she said. "Dinah +won't do any better for herself than that. It seems to me that she will +have the best of the bargain. But that is your affair. She's full young. +I don't suppose you want to marry her yet, do you?" + +"I'd marry her to-night if I could," said Sir Eustace, with his careless +laugh. + +But Mrs. Bathurst did not laugh with him. "We'll have the banns published +and everything done proper," she said. "Hasty marriages as often as not +aren't regular. Here, Dinah! Don't stand there listening! Go and see if +the kettle boils!" + +It was at this point that Bathurst deemed that the moment had arrived to +present himself. He entered, almost running into Dinah about to hurry +out. + +"Hullo!" he said. "Hullo!" and taking her by the shoulders, kissed her. + +She clung to him for a moment, her sweet face burning. "Oh, Dad!" she +murmured in confusion, "Oh, Dad!" + +With his arm about her, he turned her back into the room. "You come back +and introduce me to your new friend!" he said. "I've got to thank him, +you know, for taking such care of you." + +She yielded, but not very willingly. She was painfully embarrassed, +almost incoherent, as she obeyed Bathurst's behest. + +"This--this is Dad," she murmured. + +Sir Eustace came forward with his leisurely air of confidence. His great +bulk seemed to fill the low room. He looked even more magnificent than +usual. + +"Ah, sir, you have just come in from hunting," he said. "I hope I don't +intrude. It's a beastly wet evening. I should think you're not sorry to +get in." + +Mrs. Bathurst, tall, bony, angular, with harsh, gipsy features that were +still in a fashion boldly handsome, broke in upon her husband's answering +greeting. + +"Ronald, this gentleman tells me he wants to marry Dinah. It is very +sudden, but these things often are. You will give your consent of course. +I have already given mine." + +"Easy, easy!" laughed Bathurst. "Why exceed the speed limit in this +reckless fashion? You are Sir Eustace Studley? I am very pleased to meet +you." + +He held out his hand to Sir Eustace, and gave him the grasp of +good-fellowship. It seemed to Dinah that the very atmosphere changed +magically with the coming of her father. No difficult situation ever +dismayed him. He and Sir Eustace were not dissimilar in this respect. +Whatever the circumstances, they both knew how to hold their own with +absolute ease. It was a faculty which she would have given much to +possess. + +Sir Eustace was laughing in his careless, well-bred way. "It's rather a +shame to spring the matter on you like this," he said. "I ought to have +waited to ask your consent to the engagement, but I am afraid I am not a +very patient person, and I wanted to make sure of your daughter before +we parted. We are staying at Great Mallowes--at the Royal Stag. May I +come over to-morrow and put things on a more business-like footing?" + +"Oh, don't hurry away!" said Bathurst easily. "Sit down and have some tea +with us! It is something of a surprise certainly but a very agreeable +one. Lydia, what about tea? Or perhaps you prefer a whisky and soda?" + +"Tea, thanks," said Sir Eustace, and seated himself with his superb air +of complete assurance. + +Mrs. Bathurst turned upon her daughter. "Dinah, how many more times am I +to tell you to go and see if the kettle boils?" + +Dinah started, as one rudely awakened from an entrancing dream. "I am +sorry," she murmured in confusion. "I forgot." + +She fled from the room with the words, and her mother, with dark brows +drawn, looked after her for a moment, then sat down facing Sir Eustace. + +"I should like to know," she said aggressively, "what you are prepared to +do for her." + +Sir Eustace smiled in his aloof, slightly supercilious fashion. He had +been more or less prepared for Dinah's mother, but the temptation to +address her as "My good woman" was almost more than he could withstand. + +"Will you not allow me," he said, icily courteous, "to settle this +important matter with Mr. Bathurst to-morrow? He will then be in a +position to explain it to you." + +Mrs. Bathurst made a movement of fierce impatience. She had been put in +her place by this stranger and furiously she resented it. But the man was +a baronet, and a marvellous catch for a son-in-law; and she did not dare +to put her resentment into words. + +She got up therefore, and flounced angrily to the door. Sir Eustace arose +without haste and with a stretch of his long arm opened it for her. + +She flung him a glance, half-hostile, half-awed, as she went through. She +had a malignant hatred for the upper class, despite the fact that her own +husband was a member thereof. And yet she held it in unwilling respect. +Sir Eustace's nonchalantly administered snub was far harder to bear than +any open rudeness from a man of her own standing would have been. + +Fiercely indignant, she entered the kitchen, and caught Dinah peeping at +herself in the shining surface of the warming-pan after having removed +her hat. + +"Ah, that's your game, my girl, is it?" she said. "You've come back the +grand lady, have you? You've no further, use for your mother, I daresay. +She may work her fingers to the bone for all you care--or ever will care +again." + +Dinah whizzed round, scarlet and crestfallen. "Oh, Mother! How you +startled me! I only wanted to see if--if my hair was tidy." + +"And that's one of your lies," said Mrs. Bathurst, with a heavy hand on +her shoulder. "They've taught you how to juggle with the truth, that's +plain. Oh yes, Lady Studley that is to be, you've learnt a lot since +you've been away, I can see--learnt to despise your mother, I'll lay a +wager. But I'll show you she's not to be despised by a prinking minx like +you. What did I send you in here for, eh?" + +"To--to see to the kettle," faltered Dinah, shrinking before the stern +regard of the black eyes that so mercilessly held her own. + +"And there it is ready to boil over, and you haven't touched it, you +worthless little hussy, you! Take that--and dare to disobey me again!" + +She dealt the girl a blow with her open hand as she spoke, a swinging, +pitiless blow, on the cheek, and pushed her fiercely from her. + +Dinah reeled momentarily. The sudden violence of the attack bewildered +her. Actually she had almost forgotten how dreadful her mother could be. +Then, recovering herself, she went to the fire and stooped over it, +without a word. She had a burning sensation at the throat, and she was on +the verge of passionate tears. The memory of Isabel's parting embrace, +the tender drawing of her arms only a brief half-hour before made this +home-coming almost intolerable. + +"What's that thing you're wearing?" demanded Mrs. Bathurst abruptly. + +Dinah lifted the kettle and turned. "It is a fur-lined coat that--that he +bought for me in Paris." + +"Then take it off!" commanded Mrs. Bathurst. "And don't you wear it again +until I give you leave! How dare you accept presents from the man before +I've even seen him?" + +"I couldn't help it," murmured Dinah, as she slipped off the luxurious +garment that Isabel had chosen for her. + +"Couldn't help it!" Bitterly Mrs. Bathurst echoed the words. "You'll say +you couldn't help him falling in love with you next! As if you didn't set +out to catch him, you little artful brown-faced monkey! Oh, I always knew +you were crafty, for all your simple ways. Mind, I don't say you haven't +done well for yourself, you have--a deal better than you deserve. But +don't ever say you couldn't help it to me again! For if you do, I'll +trounce you for it, do you hear? None of your coy airs for me! I won't +put up with 'em. You'll behave yourself as long as you're in this house, +or I'll know the reason why." + +To all of which Dinah listened in set silence, telling herself with +desperate insistence that it would not be for long. Sir Eustace did not +mean to be kept waiting, and he would deliver her finally and for all +time. + +She did not know exactly why her mother was angry. She supposed she +resented the idea of losing her slave. There seemed no other possible +reason, for love for her she had none. Dinah knew but too cruelly well +that she had been naught but an unwelcome burden from the very earliest +days of her existence. Till she met Isabel, she had never known what real +mother-love could be. + +She wondered if her _fiancé_ would notice the red mark on her cheek when +she carried in the teapot; but he was holding a careless conversation +with her father, and only gave her a glance and a smile. + +During the meal that followed he scarcely addressed her or so much as +looked her way. He treated her mother with a freezing aloofness that made +her tremble inwardly. She wondered how he dared. + +When at length he rose to go, however, his attention returned to Dinah. +He laid a dominating hand upon her shoulder. "Are you coming to see me +off?" + +She glanced at her mother in involuntary appeal, but failed to catch her +eye. Silently she turned to the door. + +He took leave of her parents with the indifference of one accustomed to +popularity. "I shall be round in the morning," he said to her father. +"About twelve? That'll suit me very well; unless I wait till the +afternoon and bring my sister. I know she hopes to come over if she is +well enough. That is, of course, if you don't object to an informal +call." + +He spoke as if in his opinion the very fact of its informality conferred +a favour, and again Dinah trembled lest her mother should break forth +into open rudeness. + +But to her amazement Mrs. Bathurst seemed somewhat overawed by the +princely stranger. She even smiled in a grim way as she said, "I will be +at home to her." + +Sir Eustace made her a ceremonious bow and went out sweeping Dinah along +with him. He closed the door with a decision there was no mistaking, and +the next moment he had her in his arms. + +"You poor little frightened mouse!" he said. "No wonder--no wonder you +never knew before what life, real life, could be!" + +She clung to him with all her strength, burying her face in the fur +collar of his coat. "Oh, do marry me, quick--quick--quick!" she besought +him, in a muffled whisper. "And take me away!" + +He gathered her close in his arms, so close that she trembled again. Her +nerves were all on edge that night. + +"If they won't let me have you in a month from now," he said, in a voice +that quivered slightly, "I swear I'll run away with you." + +There was no echo of humour in his words though she tried to laugh at +them, and ever he pressed her closer and closer to his heart, till +panting she had to lift her face. And then he kissed her in his +passionate compelling way, holding her shy lips with his own till he +actually forced them to respond. She felt as if his love burned her, but, +even so, she dared not shrink from it. There was so much at stake. Her +mother's lack of love was infinitely harder to endure. + +And so she bore the fierce flame of his passion unflinching even though +her spirit clamoured wildly to be free, choosing rather to be consumed by +it than left a beaten slave in her house of bondage. + +His kisses waked in her much more of fear than rapture. That untamed +desire of his frightened her to the very depths of her being, but yet it +was infinitely preferable to the haughty indifference with which he +regarded all the rest of the world. It meant that he would not let her +go, and that in itself was comfort unspeakable to Dinah. He meant to have +her at any price, and she was very badly in need of deliverance, even +though she might have to pay for it, and pay heavily. + +It was at this point, actually while his fiery kisses were scorching her +lips, that a very strange thought crept all unawares into her +consciousness. If she ever needed help, if she ever needed escape, she +had a friend to whom she could turn--a staunch and capable friend who +would never fail her. She was sure that Scott would find a way to ease +the burden if it became too heavy. Her faith in him, his wisdom, his +strength, was unbounded. And he helped everyone--the valiant servant +Greatheart, protector of the helpless, sustainer of the vanquished. + +When her lover was gone at last, she closed the door and leaned against +it, feeling weak in every fibre. + +Bathurst, coming out a few moments later, was struck by her spent look. +"Well, Dinah lass," he said lightly, "you look as if it had cost +something of an effort to land your catch. But he's a mighty fine one, I +will say that for him." + +She went to him, twining her arm in his, forcing herself to smile. "Oh, +Dad," she said, "he is fine, isn't he?" But--but--she uttered the words +almost in spite of herself--"you should see his brother. You should +see--Scott." + +"What? Is he finer still?" laughed Bathurst, pinching her cheek. "Have +you got the whole family at your feet, you little baggage?" + +She flushed very deeply. "Oh no! Oh no! I didn't mean that. Scott--Scott +is not a bit like that. He is--he is--" And there she broke off, for who +could hope to convey any faithful impression of this good friend of hers? +There were no words that could adequately describe him. With a little +sigh she turned from the subject. "I'm glad you like Eustace," she said +shyly. + +Bathurst laughed a little, then bent unexpectedly, and kissed her. "It's +a case of Cinderella and the prince," he said lightly. "But the luck +isn't all on Cinderella's side, I'm thinking." + +She clung to him eagerly. "Oh, Daddy, thank you! Thank you! Do you +know--it's funny--Scott used to call me Cinderella!" + +Bathurst crooked his brows quizzically. "How original of him! This Scott +seems to be quite a wonderful person. And what was your pet name for him +I wonder, eh, sly-boots?" + +She laughed in evident embarrassment. There was something implied in her +father's tone that made her curiously reluctant to discuss her hero. And +yet, in justification of the man himself, she felt she must say +something. + +"His brother and sister call him--Stumpy," she said, "because he is +little and he limps. But I--" her face was as red as the hunting-coat +against which it nestled--"I called him--Mr. Greatheart. He is--just like +that." + +Mr. Bathurst laughed again, tweaking her ear. "Altogether an +extraordinary family!" he commented. "I must meet this Mr. Stumpy +Greatheart. Now suppose you run upstairs and turn on the hot water. And +when you've done that, you can take my boots down to the kitchen to dry. +And mind you don't fall foul of your mother, for she strikes me as being +a bit on the ramp tonight!" + +He kissed her again, and she clung to him very fast for a moment or two, +tasting in that casual, kindly embrace all the home joy she had ever +known. + +Then, hearing her mother's step, she swiftly and guiltily disengaged +herself and fled up the stairs like a startled bird. As she prepared his +bath for him, the wayward thought came to her that if only he and she +had lived alone together, she would never have wanted to get married at +all--even for the delight of being Lady Studley instead of "poor little +Dinah Bathurst!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WEDDING ARRANGEMENTS + + +It was certainly not love at first sight that prompted Mrs. Bathurst to +take a fancy to Isabel Everard. + +Secretly Dinah had dreaded their meeting, fearing that innate antagonism +which her mother invariably seemed to cherish against the upper class. +But within a quarter of an hour of their meeting she was aware of a +change of attitude, a quenching of the hostile element, a curious and +wholly new sensation of peace. + +For though Isabel's regal carriage and low, musical voice, marked her as +one of the hated species, her gentleness banished all impression of +pride. She treated Dinah's mother with an assumption of friendliness that +had in it no trace of condescension, and she was so obviously sincere in +her wish to establish a cordial relation that it was impossible to remain +ungracious. + +"I can't feel that we are strangers," she said, with her rare smile when +Dinah had departed to fetch the tea. "Your little Dinah has done so much +for me--more than I can ever tell you. That I am to have her for a sister +seems almost too good to be true." + +"I wonder you think she's good enough," remarked Mrs. Bathurst in her +blunt way. "She isn't much to look at. I've done my best to bring her up +well, but I never thought of her turning into a fine lady. I question if +she's fit for it." + +"If she were a fine lady, I don't think I should think so highly of her," +Isabel said gently. "But as to her being unfit to fill a high position, +she is only inexperienced and she will learn very quickly. I am willing +to teach her all in my power." + +"Aye, learn to despise her mother," commented Mrs. Bathurst, with sudden +bitterness, "after all the trouble I've taken to make her respect me." + +"I should never teach her that," Isabel answered quietly. "And I am sure +that she would be quite incapable of learning it. Mrs. Bathurst, do you +really think that worldly position is a thing that greatly matters to +anyone in the long run? I don't." + +It was then that a faint, half-grudging admiration awoke in the elder +woman's resentful soul, and she looked at Isabel with the first glimmer +of kindliness. "You're right," she said slowly, "it don't matter to those +who've got it. But to those who haven't--" her eyes glowed red for a +moment--"you don't know how it galls," she said. + +And then she flushed dully, realizing that she had made a confidante of +one of the hated breed. + +But Isabel's hand was on hers in a moment; her eyes, full of +understanding, looked earnest friendship into hers. "Oh, I know," she +said. "It is the little things that gall us all, until--until some +great--some fundamental--sorrow wrenches our very lives in twain. And +then--and then--one can almost laugh to think one ever cared about them." + +Her voice throbbed with feeling. She had lifted the veil for a moment to +salve the other woman's bitterness. + +And Mrs. Bathurst realized it, and was touched. "Ah! You've suffered," +she said. + +Isabel bent her head. "But it is over," she said. "I married a man who, +they said, was beneath me. But--God knows--he was above me--in every way. +And then--I lost him." Her voice sank. + +Mrs. Bathurst's hand came down with a clumsy movement upon hers. "He +died?" she said. + +"Yes." Almost in a whisper Isabel made answer. "For years I would not +face it--would not believe it. He went from me so suddenly--oh, God, so +suddenly--" a tremor of anguish sounded in the low words; but in a moment +she raised her head, and her eyes were shining with a brightness that no +pain could dim. "It is over," she said. "It is quite, quite over. My +night is past and can never come again. I am waiting now for the full +day. And I know that I have not very long to wait. I have not seen +him--no, I have not seen him. But--twice now--I have heard his voice." + +"Poor soul! Poor soul!" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +It was all the sympathy she could express; but it came from her heart. +She no longer regretted her own burst of confidence. The spontaneous +answer that it had evoked had had a magically softening effect upon her. +In all her life no one had ever charmed her thus. She was astonished +herself at the melting of her hardness. + +"You've suffered worse than I have," she said, "for I never cared for any +man like that. I was let down badly when I was a girl, and I've never had +any opinion of any of 'em since. My husband's all right, so far as he +goes. But he isn't the sort of man to worship. Precious few of 'em are." + +Whereat Isabel laughed, a soft, sad laugh. "That is why worldly position +matters so little," she said. "If by chance the right man really comes, +nothing else counts. He is just everything." + +"Maybe you're right," said Mrs. Bathurst, with gloomy acquiescence. +"Anyhow, it isn't for me to say you're wrong." + +And this was why when Dinah brought in the tea, she found a wholly new +element in the atmosphere, and missed the customary sharp rebuke from her +mother's lips when she had to go back for the sugar-tongs. + +She had been disappointed that her friend Scott had not been of the +party. Isabel's explanation that he had gone home at Eustace's wish to +attend to some business had not removed an odd little hurt sense of +having been defrauded. She had counted upon seeing Scott that day. It was +almost as if he had failed her when she needed him, though why she seemed +to need him she could not have said, nor could he possibly have known +that she would do so. + +Sir Eustace was in her father's den. She was sure that they were getting +on very well together from the occasional bursts of laughter with which +their conversation was interspersed. They were not apparently sticking +exclusively to business. And now that Isabel had won her mother, deeply +though she rejoiced over the conquest, she felt a little--a very +little--forlorn. They were all talking about her, but if Scott had been +there he would have talked to her and made her feel at ease. She could +not understand his going, even at his brother's behest. It seemed +incredible that he should not want to see her home. + +She sat meekly in the background, thinking of him, while she drank her +tea; and then, just as she finished, there came the sound of voices at +the door, and her father and Sir Eustace came in. They were laughing +still. Evidently the result of the interview was satisfactory to both. +Sir Eustace greeted his hostess with lofty courtesy, and passed on +straight to her side. + +She turned and tingled at his approach; he was looking more princely than +ever. Instinctively she rose. + +"What do you want to get up for?" demanded her mother sharply. + +Sir Eustace reached his little trembling _fiancée_, and took the eager +hand she stretched to him. His blue eyes flashed their fierce flame over +her upturned, quivering face. "Take me into the kitchen--anywhere!" he +murmured. "I want you to myself." + +She nodded. "Don't you want any tea? All right. Dad doesn't either. I'll +clear away." + +"No, you don't!" her mother said. "You sit down and behave yourself! +You'll clear when I tell you to; not before." + +Sir Eustace wheeled round to her, the flame of his look turning to ice. +"With your permission, madam," he said with extreme formality, "Dinah and +I are going to retire to talk things over." + +He had his way. It was obvious that he meant to have it. He motioned to +Dinah with an imperious gesture to precede him, and she obeyed, not +daring to glance in her mother's direction. + +Mrs. Bathurst said no more. Something in Sir Eustace's bearing seemed to +quell her. She watched him go with eyes that shone with a hot resentment +under drawn brows. It took Isabel's utmost effort to charm her back to a +mood less hostile. + +As for Dinah, she led her _fiancé_ back to her father's den in +considerable trepidation. To be compelled to resist her mother's will was +a state of affairs that filled her with foreboding. + +But the moment she was alone with him she forgot all but the one +tremendous fact of his presence, for with the closing of the door he had +her in his arms. + +She clung to him desperately close, feeling as one struggling in deep +waters, caught in a great current that would bear her swiftly, +irresistibly,--whither? + +He laughed at her trembling with careless amusement. "What, still scared, +my brown elf? Where is your old daring? Aren't you allowed to have any +spirit at all in this house?" + +She answered him incoherently, straining to keep her face hidden out of +reach of his upturning hand. "No,--no, it's not that. You don't +understand. It's all so new--so strange. Eustace, please--please, don't +kiss me yet!" + +He laughed again, but he did not press her for the moment. "Your father +and I have had no end of a talk," he said. "Do you know what has come of +it? Would you like to know?" + +"Yes," she murmured shyly. + +He was caressing the soft dark ringlets that clustered about her neck. + +"About getting married, little sweetheart," he said. "You want to get it +over quickly and so do I. There's no reason why we shouldn't in fact. How +about the beginning of next month? How about April?" + +"Oh, Eustace!" She clung to him closer still; she had no words. But still +that sense of being caught, of being borne against her will, possessed +her, filling her with dread rather than ecstasy. Whither was she going? +Ah, whither? + +He went on with his easy self-assurance, speaking as if he held the whole +world at his disposal. "We will go South for the honeymoon. I've crowds +of things to show you--Rome, Naples, Venice. After that we'll come back +and go for that summer trip in the yacht I promised you." + +"And Isabel too--and Scott?" asked Dinah, in muffled accents. + +He laughed over her head, as at the naïve prattling of a child. "What! On +our honeymoon? Oh, hardly, I think. I'll see to it that you're not bored. +And look here, my elf! I won't have you shy with me any more. Is that +understood? I'm not an ogre." + +"I think you are--rather," murmured Dinah. + +He bent over her, his lips upon her neck. "You--midget! And you +think I'm going to devour you? Well, perhaps I shall some day if you +go on running away. There's a terrible threat! Now hold up your head, +Daphne--Daphne--and let me have that kiss!" + +She hesitated a while longer, and then feeling his patience ebbing she +lifted her face impulsively to his. "You will be good to me? Promise! +Promise!" she pleaded tremulously. + +He was laughing still, but his eyes were aflame. "That depends," he +declared. "I can't answer for myself when you run away. Come! When are +you going to kiss me first? Isn't it time you began?" + +She slipped her arms about his neck. Her face was burning. "I will now," +she said. + +Yet the moment her lips touched his, the old wild fear came upon her. She +made a backward movement of shrinking. + +He caught her to him. "Daphne!" he said, and kissed her quivering throat. + +She did not resist him, but her arms fell apart, and the red blush +swiftly died. When he released her, she fell back a step with eyes fast +closed, and in a moment her hands went up as though to shield face and +neck from the scorching of a furnace. + +He watched her, a slight frown drawing his brows. The flame still +glittered in his eyes, but his mouth was hard. "Look here, child! Don't +be silly!" he said. "If you treat me like a monster, I shall behave like +one. I'm made that way." + +His voice was curt; it held displeasure. Dinah uncovered her face and +looked at him. + +"Oh, you're angry!" she said, in tragic accents. + +He laughed at that. "About as angry as I could get with a piece of +thistledown. But you know, you're not very wise, my Daphne. You've got it +in you to madden me, but it's a risky thing to do. Now see here! I've +brought you something to make those moss-agate eyes of yours shine. Can +you guess what it is?" + +His hand was held out to her. She laid her own within it with conscious +reluctance. He drew her into the circle of his arm, pressing her to him. + +She leaned her head against him with a bewildered sense of self-reproach. +"I'm sorry I'm silly, Eustace," she murmured "I expect I'm made that way +too. Don't--don't take any notice!" + +He touched her forehead lightly with his lips. "You'll get over it, +sweetheart," he said. "It won't matter so much after we're married. I can +do as I like with you then." + +"Oh, I shan't like that," said Dinah quickly. + +His arm pressed her closer. "Yes, you will. I'll give you no end of a +good time. Now, sweetheart, give me that little hand of yours again! No, +the left! There! I wonder if it's small enough. Rather a loose fit, eh? +How do you like it?" + +He was fitting a ring on to the third finger. Dinah looked and was +dazzled. "Oh, Eustace,--diamonds!" she said, in an awed whisper. + +"The best I could find," he told her, with princely arrogance. "I hunted +through Bond Street for it this morning. Will it do?" + +"You went up on purpose? Oh, Eustace!" she laid her cheek with a winning +movement against his hand. "You are too good! You are much too good!" + +He laughed carelessly. "I'm glad you're satisfied. It's a bond, remember. +You must wear it always--till I give you a wedding-ring instead." + +She lifted her face and looked at him with shining eyes. "I shall love to +wear it," she said. "But I expect I shall have to keep it for best. +Mother wouldn't let me wear it always." + +"Never mind what your mother says!" he returned. "It's what I say that +matters now. We're going to have you to stay at Willowmount in a few +days. Isabel is arranging it with your mother now." + +"Your home! Oh, how lovely!" Genuine delight was in Dinah's voice. "Scott +is there, isn't he?" + +He frowned again. "Bother Scott! You're coming to see me--no one else." + +She flushed. "Oh yes, I know. And I shall love it--I shall love it! +But--do you think I shall be allowed to come?" + +"You must come," he said imperiously. + +But Dinah looked dubious. "I expect I shall be wanted at home now. And I +don't believe we shall get married in April either. I've been away so +long." + +He laughed, flicking her cheek. "Haven't I always told you that where +there's a will there's a way? If necessary, I can run away with you." + +She shook her head. "Oh no! I'd rather not. And if--if we're really going +to be married in April, I ought to stay at home to get ready." + +"Nonsense!" he said carelessly. "You can do that from Willowmount. Isabel +will help you. It's less than an hour's run to town." + +Dinah opened her eyes wide. "But I shan't shop in town. I shall have to +make all my things. I always do." + +He laughed again easily, indulgently. "That simplifies matters. You can +do that anywhere. What are you going to be married in? White cotton?" + +She laughed with him. "I would love to have a real grand wedding," she +said, "the sort of wedding Rose de Vigne will have, with bridesmaids and +flowers and crowds and crowds of people. Of course I know it can't be +done." She gave a little sigh. "But I would love it. I would love it." + +He was laughing still. "Why can't it be done? Who's going to prevent it?" + +Dinah had become serious. "Dad hasn't money enough for one thing. And +then there's Mother. She wouldn't do it." + +"Ho! Wouldn't she? I've a notion she'd enjoy it even more than you would. +If you want a smart wedding you'd better have it in town. Then the de +Vignes and everyone else can come." + +"Oh no! I want it to be here." Dinah's eyes began to shine. "Dad knows +lots of people round about--County people too. Those are the sort of +people I'd like to come. Even Mother might like that," she added +reflectively. + +"You prefer a big splash in your own little pond to a small one in a +good-sized lake, is that it?" questioned Eustace. "Well, have it your own +way, my child! But I shouldn't make many clothes if I were you. We will +shop in Paris after we are married, and then you can get whatever you +fancy." + +Dinah's eyes fairly danced at the thought. "I shall love that. I'll tell +Daddy, shall I, to keep all his money for the wedding, and then we can +buy the clothes afterwards; that is, if you can afford it," she added +quickly. "I ought not to let you really." + +"You can't prevent me doing anything," he returned, his hand pressing her +shoulder. "No one can." + +She leaned her head momentarily against his arm. "You--you wouldn't want +to do anything that anyone didn't like," she murmured shyly. + +"Shouldn't I?" he said and for a moment his mouth was grim. "I am not +accustomed to being regarded as an amiable nonentity, I assure you. It's +settled then, is it? The first week in April? And you are to come to us +for at least a fortnight beforehand." + +Dinah nodded, her head bent. "All right,--if Mother doesn't mind." + +"What would happen if she did?" he asked curiously. + +"It just wouldn't be done," she made answer. + +"Wouldn't it? Not if you insisted?" + +"I couldn't insist," she said, her voice very low. + +"Why couldn't you? I should have thought you had a will of your own. +Don't you ever assert yourself?" + +"Against her? No, never!" Dinah gave a little shudder. "Don't let's talk +of it!" she said. "Isn't it time to go back? I believe I ought to be +clearing away." + +He detained her for a moment. "You're not going to work like a nigger +when you are married to me," he said. + +She smiled up at him, a merry, dimpling smile. "Oh no, I shall just enjoy +myself then--like Rose de Vigne. I shall be much too grand to work. +There! I really must go back. Thank you again ever so much--ever so +much--for the lovely ring. I hope you'll never find out how unworthy I am +of it." + +She drew his head down with quivering courage and bestowed a butterfly +kiss upon his cheek. And then in a second she was gone from his hold, +gone like a woodland elf with a tinkle of laughter and the skipping of +fairy feet. + +Sir Eustace followed her flight with his eyes only, but in those eyes was +the leaping fire of a passion that burned around her in an ever-narrowing +circle. She knew that it was there, but she would not look back to see +it. For deep in her heart she feared that flame as she feared nothing +else on earth. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DESPAIR + + +"If I had known that this was going to happen, I would never have +troubled to cultivate their acquaintance," said Lady Grace fretfully. "I +knew of course that that artful little minx was running after the man, +but that he could ever be foolish enough to let himself be caught in such +an obvious trap was a possibility that I never seriously contemplated." + +"It doesn't matter to me," said Rose. + +She had said it many times before with the same rather forced smile. It +was not a subject that she greatly cared to discuss. The news of Dinah's +conquest had come like a thunderbolt. In common with her mother, she had +never seriously thought that Sir Eustace could be so foolish. But since +the utterly unexpected had come to pass, it seemed to her futile to talk +about it. Dinah had secured the finest prize within reach for the moment, +and there was no disputing the fact. + +"The wedding is to take place so soon too," lamented Lady Grace. "That, I +have no doubt, is the doing of that scheming mother of hers. What shall +we do about going to it, Rose? Do you want to go, dear?" + +"Not in the least, but I am going all the same." Rose was still smiling, +and her eyes were fixed. "I think, you know, Mother," she said, "that we +might do worse than ask Sir Eustace and his party to stay here for the +event." + +"My dear Rose!" Lady Grace gazed at her in amazement. + +Rose continued to stare into space. "It would be much more convenient for +them," she said. "And really we have no reason for allowing people to +imagine that we are other than pleased over the arrangement. We shall not +be going to town before Easter, so it seems to me that it would be only +neighbourly to invite Sir Eustace to stay at the Court for the wedding. +Great Mallowes is not a particularly nice place to put up in, and this +would be far handier for him." + +Lady Grace slowly veiled her astonishment. "Of course, dear; if you think +so, it might be managed. We will talk to your father about it, and if he +approves I will write to Sir Eustace--or get him to do so. I do not +myself consider that Sir Eustace has behaved at all nicely. He was most +cavalier about the Hunt Ball. But if you wish to overlook it--well, I +shall not put any difficulty in the way." + +"I think it would be a good thing to do," said Rose somewhat +enigmatically. + +The letter that reached Sir Eustace two days later was penned by the +Colonel's hand, and contained a brief but cordial invitation to him and +his following to stay at Perrythorpe Court for the wedding. + +He read it with a careless smile and tossed it over to Scott. "Here is +magnanimity," he commented. "Shall we accept the coals of fire?" + +Scott read with all gravity and laid it down. "If you want my opinion, I +should say 'No,'" he said. + +"Why would you say No?" There was a lazy challenge in the question, a +provocative gleam in Sir Eustace's blue eyes. + +Scott smiled a little. "For one thing I shouldn't enjoy the coals of +fire. For another, I shouldn't care to be at too close quarters with the +beautiful Miss de Vigne again, if I had your very highly susceptible +temperament. And for a third, I believe Isabel would prefer to stay at +Great Mallowes." + +"You're mighty clever, my son, aren't you?" said Eustace with a +supercilious twist of the lips. "But--as it chances--not one of those +excellent reasons appeals to me." + +"Very well then," said Scott, with the utmost patience. "It is up to you +to accept." + +"Why should Isabel prefer Great Mallowes?" demanded Sir Eustace. "She +knows the de Vignes. It is far better for her to see people, and there is +more comfort in a private house than in a hotel." + +"Quite so," said Scott. "I am sure she will fall in with your wishes in +this respect, whatever they are. Will you write to Colonel de Vigne, or +shall I?" + +"You can--and accept," returned Sir Eustace imperially. + +Scott took a sheet of paper without further words. + +His brother leaned back in his chair, his black brows slightly drawn, and +contemplated him as he did it. + +"By the way, Scott," he said, after a moment, "Dinah's staying here need +not make any difference to you in any way. She can't expect to have you +at her beck and call as she had in Switzerland. You must make that clear +to her." + +"Very well, old chap." Scott spoke without raising his head. "You're +going to meet her at the station, I suppose?" + +"Almost immediately, yes." Eustace got up with a movement of suppressed +impatience. "We shall have tea in Isabel's room. You needn't turn up. +I'll tell them to send yours in here." + +"Oh, don't trouble! I'm going to turn up," very calmly Scott made +rejoinder. He had already begun to write; his hand moved steadily across +the sheet. + +Sir Eustace's frown deepened. "You won't catch the post with those +letters if you do." + +Scott looked up at last, and his eyes were as steady as his hand had +been. "That's my business, old chap," he said quietly. "Don't you worry +yourself about that!" + +There was a hint of ferocity about Sir Eustace as he met that steadfast +look. He stood motionless for a moment or two, then flung round on his +heel. Scott returned to his work with the composure characteristic of +him, and almost immediately the banging of the door told of his brother's +departure. + +Then for a second his hand paused; he passed the other across his eyes +with the old gesture of weariness, and a short, hard sigh came from him +ere he bent again to his task. + +Sir Eustace strode across the hall with the frown still drawing his +brows. An open car was waiting at the door, but ere he went to it he +turned aside and knocked peremptorily at another door. + +He opened without waiting for a reply and entered a long, low-ceiled room +through which the rays of the afternoon sun were pouring. Isabel, lying +on a couch between fire and window, turned her head towards him. + +"Haven't you started yet? Surely it is getting very late," she said in +her low, rather monotonous voice. + +He came to her. "I prefer starting a bit late," he said. "You will have +tea ready when we return?" + +"Certainly," she said. + +He stood looking down at her intently. "Are you all right today?" he +asked abruptly. + +A faint colour rose in her cheeks. "I am--as usual," she said. + +"What does that mean?" Curtly he put the question. "Why don't you go out +more? Why don't you get old Lister to make you up a tonic?" + +She smiled a little, but there was slight uneasiness behind her smile. +Her eyes had the remote look of one who watches the far horizon. "My dear +Eustace," she said, "_cui bono_?" + +He stooped suddenly over her. "It is because you won't make the effort," +he said, speaking with grim emphasis. "You're letting yourself go again, +I know; I've been watching you for the past week. And by heaven, Isabel, +you shan't do it! Scott may be fool enough to let you, but I'm not. +You've only been home a week, and you've been steadily losing ground ever +since you got back. What is it? What's the matter with you? Tell me what +is the matter!" + +So insistent was his tone, so almost menacing his attitude, that Isabel +shrank from him with a gesture too swift to repress. The old pathetic +furtive look was in her eyes as she made reply. + +"I am very sorry. I don't see how I can help it. I--I am getting old, you +know. That is the chief reason." + +"You're talking nonsense, my dear girl." Impatiently Eustace broke in. +"You are just coming into your prime. I won't have you ruin your life +like this. Do you hear me? I won't. If you don't rouse yourself I will +find a means to rouse you. You are simply drifting now--simply drifting." + +"But into my desired haven," whispered Isabel, with a piteous quiver of +the lips. + +He straightened himself with a gesture of exasperation. "You are wasting +yourself over a myth, an illusion. On my soul, Isabel, what a wicked +waste it is! Have you forgotten the days when you and I roamed over the +world together? Have you forgotten Egypt and all we did there? Life was +worth having then." + +"Ah! I thought so." She met his look with eyes that did not seem to see +him. "We were children then, Eustace," she said, "children playing on the +sands. But the great tide caught us. You breasted the waves, but I was +broken and thrown aside. I could never play on the sands again. I can +only lie and wait for the tide to come again and float me away." + +He clenched his hands. "Do you think I would let you go--like that?" he +said. + +"It is the only kindness you can do me," she answered in her low voice of +pleading. + +He swung round to go. "I curse the day," he said very bitterly, "that you +ever met Basil Everard! I curse his memory!" + +She flinched at the words as if they had been a blow. Her face turned +suddenly grey. She clasped her hands very tightly together, saying no +word. + +He went to the door and paused, his back towards her. "I came in," he +said then, "to tell you that the de Vignes have offered to put us up at +their place for the wedding. And I have accepted." + +He waited for some rejoinder but she made none. It was as if she had not +heard. Her eyes had the impotent, stricken look of one who has searched +dim distances for some beloved object--and searched in vain. + +He did not glance round. His temper was on edge. With a fierce movement +he pulled open the door and departed. And behind him like a veil there +fell the silence of a great despair. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW HOME + + +A small figure was already standing outside the station when the car Sir +Eustace drove whirled round the corner of the station yard. He was +greeted by the waving of a vigorous hand, as he dashed up, grinding on +the brakes in the last moment as was his impetuous custom. Everyone knew +him from afar by his driving, and the village children were wont to +scatter like rabbits at his approach. + +Dinah however stood her ground with a confidence which his wild +performance hardly justified, and the moment he alighted sprang to meet +him with the eagerness of a child escaped from school. + +"Oh, Eustace, it is fun coming here! I was so horribly afraid something +would stop me just at the last. But everything has turned out all right, +and we are going to have ever such a fine wedding with crowds and crowds +of people. Did you know Isabel wrote and said she would give me my +wedding dress? Isn't it dear of her? How is she now?" + +"Where is your luggage?" said Eustace. + +She pointed to a diminutive dress-basket behind her. "That's all there +is. I'm not to stay more than a week as the time is getting so short I +don't feel as if I shall ever be ready as it is. I've never been so +rushed before. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be almost better to put +it off a few weeks." + +"Jump up!" commanded Eustace, with a curt sign to a porter to pick up his +_fiancée's_ humble impediments. + +Dinah sprang up beside him and slipped a shy hand onto his knee. "You +look more like Apollo than ever," she whispered, awe-struck, "when you +frown like that. Is anything the matter?" + +His brow cleared magically at her action. "I began to think I should have +to come down to Perrythorpe and fetch you," he said, grasping the little +nervous fingers. "I thought you meant to give me the slip--if you could." + +"Oh no!" said Dinah, shocked at the suggestion. "I wanted to come; +only--only--I couldn't be spared sooner. It wasn't my fault," she urged +pleadingly. "Truly it wasn't!" + +He smiled upon her. "All right,--Daphne. I'll forgive you this time," he +said. "But now I've got you, my nymph of the woods, I am not going to +part with you again in a hurry. And if you talk of putting off the +wedding again, I'll simply run away with you. So now you know what to +expect." + +Dinah uttered her giddy little laugh. The excitement of this visit--the +first she had ever paid to anyone--had turned her head. "Do you know +Rose is actually going to be my chief bridesmaid?" she said. "Isn't +that--magnanimous of her? She is pretending to be pleased, but I know she +is frightfully jealous underneath. The other bridesmaid is the Vicar's +daughter. She is quite old, nearly thirty but I couldn't think of anyone +else, except the infant schoolmistress, and they wouldn't let me have +her. I shall feel rather small, shan't I? Even Rose is twenty-five. I +wonder if I shall feel grown up when I'm married. Do you think I shall?" + +"Not till you cease to be--Daphne," said Sir Eustace enigmatically. + +He started the car with the words, and they shot forward with a +suddenness that made Dinah hold her breath. + +But in a few moments she was chattering again, for she was never quiet +for long. How was Scott? Was he at home? And Isabel--he hadn't told her. +She did hope dear Isabel was keeping better. Was she? Was she? + +She pressed the question as he did not seem inclined to answer it, and +saw again the frown that had darkened his handsome face upon arrival. + +"Do tell me!" she begged. "Isn't she so well?" + +And at last with the curtness of speech which always denoted displeasure +with him, he made reply. + +"No, she has gone back a good deal since she got home. She lies on a sofa +and broods all day long. I am looking to you to wake her up. For heaven's +sake be as lively as you can!" + +"Oh, poor Isabel!" Quick concern was in Dinah's voice. "What is it, do +you think? Doesn't the place suit her?" + +"Heaven knows," he answered gloomily, "I have a house down at +Heath-on-Sea where we keep the yacht, but I doubt if it would do her +much good to go there this time of the year. She and Scott might try +it later--after the wedding." + +"Couldn't we all go there?" suggested Dinah ingenuously. + +He gave her a keen glance. "For the honeymoon? No I don't think so," he +said. + +"Only for the first part of it," said Dinah coaxingly; "till Isabel felt +better." + +He uttered a brief laugh. "No, thanks, Daphne. We're going to be +alone--quite alone, for the first part of our honeymoon. I am going to +take you in this car to the most out-of-the-way corner in England, +where--even, if you run away--there'll be nowhere to run to. And there +you'll stay till--" he paused a moment--"you realize that you are all +mine for ever and ever, till in fact, you've shed all your baby nonsense +and become a wise little married woman." + +Dinah gave a sudden sharp shiver, and pulled her coat closer about her. + +He glanced at her again. "You'll like it better than being a +maid-of-all-work," he said, with his swift, transforming smile. + +She smiled back at him with ready responsiveness. "Oh, I shall! I'm sure +I shall. I've always wanted to be married--always. Only--it'll seem a +little funny, just at first. You won't get impatient with me, will you, +if--if sometimes I forget how to behave?" + +He laughed and abruptly slackened speed. They were running down a narrow +lane bordered with bare trees through which the spring sunshine filtered +down. On a brown upland to one side of them a plough was being driven. +On the other the ground sloped away to deep meadows where wound a +willow-banked river. + +The car stopped. "How pretty it is!" said Dinah. + +And then very suddenly she found that it was not for the sake of the view +that he had brought her to a standstill in that secluded place. For he +caught her to him with the hot ardour she had learned to dread and kissed +with passion the burning face she sought to hide. + +She struggled for a few seconds like a captured bird, but in the end she +yielded palpitating, as she had yielded so often before, mutely bearing +that which her whole soul clamoured inarticulately to escape. When he let +her go, her cheeks were on fire. He was laughing, but she was on the +verge of tears. + +He started on again without words, and in a very brief space they were +racing forward at terrific speed, seeming scarcely to touch the ground so +rapid was their progress. + +Dinah sat with her two hands clutched upon her hat, thankful for the cold +rush of air that gave her relief after the fiery intensity of those +unsparing kisses. Her heart was beating in great thumps. Somehow the +fierceness of him always exceeded either memory or expectation. He was so +terribly strong, so disconcertingly absolute in his demands upon her. And +every time he seemed to take more. + +She hardly noticed anything further of the country through which they +passed. Her agitation possessed her overwhelmingly. She felt exhausted, +unnerved, very curiously ashamed. It was good to have so princely a +lover, but his tempestuous wooing was altogether too much for her. She +wondered how Rose, the sedate and composed beauty, would have met those +wild gusts of passion. They would not have disconcerted her; nothing ever +did. She would probably have endured all with a smile. No form of +adoration could come amiss with her. She did not fancy that Rose's heart +was capable of beating at more than the usual speed. Her very blushes +savoured of a delicate complacency that enhanced her beauty without +disturbing her serenity. A great wave of envy went through Dinah. "Ah, +why had she not been blessed with such a temperament as that?" + +His voice broke in upon her disjointed meditations. "Well, Daphne? +Feeling better?" + +She glanced at him with the confused consciousness that she dared not +meet his eyes. She was glad that he was laughing, but the turbulent +feeling of uncertainty that his nearness always brought to her was with +her still. She was as one who had passed by a raging fire, and the +scorching heat of the flame yet remained with her. Breathlessly she +spoke. "I can't think--or do anything--in this wind. Are we nearly +there?" + +"We are there," he made answer. + +And she discovered that which in her distress of mind she had failed to +notice. They were running smoothly along a private avenue of fir-trees +towards an old stone mansion that stood on a slope overlooking the long +river valley. + +She drew a hard breath. "But this is better--ever so much--than the +Court!" she said. + +"Your future home, my queen!" said Sir Eustace royally. + +She breathed again deeply, wonderingly. "Is it real?" she said. + +He laughed. "I almost think so. You see that other house right away in +the distance, across that further slope? That is the Dower House where +Isabel and Scott are to live when we are married." + +"Oh!" There was a quick note of disappointment in Dinah's voice. "I +thought they would live with us." + +"I don't know why," said Sir Eustace with a touch of sharpness, and then +softening almost immediately, "It's practically the same thing, my sprite +of the woods. But I wish you to be mistress in your own home--when we do +settle down, which won't be at present. For we're not coming back from +our honeymoon till you have learnt that I am the only person in the world +that matters." + +Again a slight shiver caught Dinah, but she repressed it instantly. "I +expect it won't take me very long to learn that, Apollo," she said, with +her shy, fleeting smile. + +And then they glided up to the wide steps of his home and the door opened +to receive them, showing Scott--Scott her friend--standing in the +opening, awaiting her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WATCHER + + +She sprang to meet him with a cry of delight, both hands extended. + +"Oh, it is good to see you again! It is good! It is good!" she panted. +"Why didn't you come to Perrythorpe? I did want you there!" + +He grasped her hands very tightly. His pale eyes smiled their welcome, +but--it came to her afterwards--he scarcely said a word in greeting. In a +second or two he set her free. + +"Come and see Isabel!" he said. + +She went with him eagerly, forgetful of Sir Eustace striding in her wake. +As Scott opened the door of Isabel's room, she pressed forward, and the +next moment she was kneeling by Isabel's side, gathered close, close to +her breast in a silence that was deeper than any speech. + +Dinah's arms clung fast about the elder woman's neck. She was conscious +of a curious impulse to tears, but she conquered it, forcing herself +somewhat brokenly to laugh. + +"Isn't it lovely to be together again?" she whispered. "You can't think +what it means to me. I lay in bed last night and counted the hours and +then the minutes. I was so dreadfully afraid something might happen to +prevent my coming. And, oh, Isabel, I had no idea your home was so +beautiful." + +Isabel's hold slackened. "Sit on the sofa beside me, my darling!" she +said. "I am so glad you like Willowmount. Was Eustace in time for your +train?" + +Dinah laughed again with more assurance. "Oh no! I got there first. He +came swooping down as if he had dropped from the clouds. We had a very +quick run back, and I'm blown all to pieces." She put up impetuous hands +to thrust back the disordered clusters of dark hair. + +"Take off your hat!" said Scott. + +She obeyed, with shining eyes upon him. "Now, why didn't you come over +to Perrythorpe? You haven't told me yet." + +"I was busy," he answered. "I had to get home." + +His eyes were shining also. She did not need to be told that he was +glad to see her. He rang for tea and sat down somewhere near in his +usual unobtrusive fashion. Eustace occupied the place of honour in an +easy-chair drawn close to the end of the sofa on which Dinah sat. He +was watching her, she knew but she could not meet his look as she met +Scott's. His very nearness made her feel again the scorching of the +flame. + +She slipped her hand into Isabel's as though seeking refuge and as she +did so she heard Eustace address his brother, his tone brief and +peremptory,--the voice of the employer. + +"You have finished that correspondence?" + +"I shall finish it in time for the post," Scott made answer. + +Eustace made a sound expressive of dissatisfaction. "You'll miss it sure +as a gun!" + +Scott said nothing further, but his silence was not without a certain +mastery that sent an odd little thrill of triumph through Dinah. + +Eustace frowned heavily and turned from him. + +The entrance of Biddy with the tea made a diversion, for her greeting of +Dinah was full of warmth. + +"But sure, ye're not looking like I'd like to see ye, Miss Dinah," was +her verdict. "It's meself that'll have to feed ye up." + +"But I'm always thin!" protested Dinah. "It's just the way I'm made." + +Biddy pursed her lips and shook her head. "It's not the sign of a +contented mind," she commented. + +"I never was contented before I went to Switzerland," said Dinah; she +turned to Isabel. "Wasn't it all lovely? It's just like a dream to me +now--all glitter and romance. I'd give anything to have it over again." + +"I'll show you better things than winter in the Alps," said Eustace in +his free, imperial fashion. + +Her bright eyes glanced up to his for a moment. "Do you know I don't +believe you could," she said. + +He laughed. "You won't say that six months hence. The Alps will be no +more than an episode to you then." + +"Rather an important episode," remarked Scott. + +Her look came to him, settled upon him like a shy bird at rest. "Very, +very important," she said softly. "Do you remember that first day--that +first night--how you helped me dress for the ball? Eustace would never +have thought of dancing with me if it hadn't been for you." + +"I seem to have a good deal to answer for," said Scott, with his rather +tired smile. + +"I owe you--everything," said Dinah. + +"Stumpy has many debtors," said Isabel. + +Eustace uttered a brief laugh. "Stumpy scores without running," he +observed. "He always has. Saves trouble, eh, Stumpy?" + +"Quite so," said Scott with precision. "It's easy to be kind when it +costs you nothing." + +"And it pays," said Eustace. + +Dinah's green eyes went back to him with something of a flash. "Scott +would never have thought of that," she said. + +"I am sure he wouldn't," said Eustace dryly. + +Her look darted about him like an angry bird seeking some vulnerable +point whereat to strike. But before she could speak, Scott leaned forward +and intervened. + +"My thoughts are my own private property, if no one objects," he said +whimsically. "Judge me--if you must--by my actions! But I should prefer +not to be judged at all. Have you told Dinah about the invitation to the +de Vignes's, Eustace?" + +"No! They haven't asked you for the wedding surely!" Dinah's thoughts +were instantly diverted. "Have they really? I never thought they would. +Oh, that will be fun! I expect Rose is trying to pretend she isn't--" She +broke off, colouring vividly. "What a pig I am!" she said apologetically +to Scott. "Please forget I said that!" + +"But you didn't say it," said Scott. + +"A near thing!" commented Eustace. "I had no idea Miss de Vigne was so +smitten. Stumpy, you'll be best man. You'll have to console her." + +"I believe the best man has to console everybody," said Scott. + +"You are peculiarly well fitted for the task," said his brother, setting +down his cup and pulling out a cigarette-case. "Be quick and quench your +thirst, Dinah. I want to trot you round the place before dark." + +Dinah looked at Isabel. "You'll come too?" + +Isabel shook her head. "No, dear, I can't walk much. Besides, Eustace +will want you to himself." + +But a queer little spirit of perversity had entered into Dinah. She shook +her head also. "We will go round in the morning," she said, with a +resolute look at her _fiancé_. "I am going to stay with Isabel to-night. +You have had quite as much of me as is good for you; now haven't you?" + +There was an instant of silence that felt ominous before somewhat curtly +Sir Eustace yielded the point. "I won't grudge you to Isabel if she wants +you. You can both of you come up to the picture-gallery when you have +done. There's a fine view of the river from there." + +He got up with the words and Scott rose also. They went away together, +and Dinah at once nestled to Isabel's side. + +"Now we can be cosy!" she said. + +Isabel put an arm about her. "You mustn't make me monopolize you, +sweetheart," she said. "I think Eustace was a little disappointed." + +"I'll be ever so nice to him presently to make up," said Dinah. "But I do +want you now, Isabel!" + +"What is it, dearest?" + +Dinah's cheek rubbed softly against her shoulder. "Isabel--darling, I +never thought that you and Scott were going to leave this place because +Eustace was marrying me." + +Isabel's arm pressed her closer. "We are not going far away, darling. It +will be better for you to be alone." + +"I don't think so," said Dinah. "We shall be alone quite long enough on +our honeymoon." She trembled a little in Isabel's hold. "I do wish you +were coming too," she whispered. + +"My dear, Eustace will take care of you," Isabel said. + +"Oh yes, I know. But he's so big. He wants such a lot," murmured Dinah in +distress. "I don't know quite how to manage him. He's never satisfied. +If--if only you were coming with us, he'd have something else to think +about." + +"Oh no, he wouldn't, dear. When you are present, he thinks of no one +else. You see," Isabel spoke with something of an effort, "he's in love +with you." + +"Yes--yes, of course. I'm very silly." Dinah dabbed her eyes and began to +smile. "But he makes me feel all the while as if--as if he wants to eat +me. I know it's all my silliness; but I wish you weren't going to the +Dower House all the same. Shall you be quite comfortable there?" + +"It is being done up, dear. You must come round with us and see it. We +shall move in directly the wedding is over, and then this place is to be +done up too, made ready for you. I believe you are to choose wall-papers +and hangings while you are here. You will enjoy that." + +"If you will help me," said Dinah. + +"Of course I will help you, dear child. I will always help you with +anything so long as it is in my power." + +Very tenderly Isabel reassured her till presently the scared feeling +subsided. + +They went up later to the picture-gallery and joined Eustace whom they +found smoking there. His mood also had changed by that time, and he +introduced his ancestors to Dinah with complete good humour. + +Isabel remained with them, but she talked very little in her brother's +presence; and when after a time Dinah turned to her she was startled by +the deadly weariness of her face. + +"Oh, I am tiring you!" she exclaimed, with swift compunction. + +But Isabel assured her with a smile that this was not so. She was a +little tired, but that was nothing new. + +"But you generally rest before dinner!" said Dinah, full of +self-reproach, "Eustace, ought she not to rest?" + +Eustace glanced at his sister half-reluctantly, and a shade of concern +crossed his face also. "Are you feeling faint?" he asked her. "Do you +want anything?" + +"No, no! Of course not!" She averted her face sharply from his look. "Go +on talking to Dinah! I am all right." + +She moved to a deep window-embrasure, and sat down on the cushioned seat. +The spring dusk was falling. She gazed forth into it with that look of +perpetual searching that Dinah had grown to know in the earliest days of +their acquaintance. She was watching, she was waiting,--for what? She +longed to draw near and comfort her, but the presence of Eustace made +that impossible. She did not know how to dismiss him. + +And then to her relief the door opened, and Scott came quietly in upon +them. He seemed to take in the situation at a glance, for after a few +words with them he passed on to Isabel, sitting aloof and silent in the +twilight. + +She greeted him with a smile, and Dinah's anxiety lifted somewhat. She +turned to Eustace. + +"Show me your den now!" she said. "I can see the rest of the house +to-morrow." + +And with a feeling that she was doing Isabel a service she went away with +him, alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE WRONG ROAD + + +When Dinah descended to breakfast the next morning, she encountered Scott +in the hall. He had evidently just come in from an early ride, and he was +looking younger and more animated than his wont. + +"Ah, there you are!" he said, coming to meet her. "I've got some shocking +news for you this morning. Eustace has had to go to town to see his +solicitor. An urgent telephone message came through this morning. He has +just gone up by the early train in the hope of getting back in good time. +He charged me with all sorts of messages for you, and I have promised to +take care of you in his absence, if you will allow me." + +"Oh, that will be great fun!" exclaimed Dinah ingenuously, "I hope you +are not very busy. I'd like you to show me everything." + +He laughed. "No, I can't do that. We must keep that for Eustace. But I +will take you to the Dower House, and show you that." + +"I shall love that," said Dinah. + +He took her into a room that overlooked terrace and river-valley and the +sunny southern slope that lay between. + +Breakfast was laid for two, and a cheery fire was burning. "How cosy it +looks!" said Dinah. + +"It does, doesn't it?" said Scott. "We always breakfast here in the +winter for that reason. Not that it is winter to-day. It is glorious +spring. You seem to have brought it with you. Take the coffee-pot end, +won't you? What will you have to eat?" + +He spoke with a lightness that Dinah found peculiarly exhilarating. He +was evidently determined that she should not be dull. Her spirits rose. +She suddenly felt like a child who has been granted an unexpected +holiday. + +She smiled up at him as he brought her a plate. "Isn't it a perfect +morning? I'm so glad to be here. Don't let us waste a single minute; will +we?" + +"Not one," said Scott. + +He went to his own place. He was plainly in a holiday mood also. She saw +it in his whole bearing, and her heart rejoiced. It was so good to see +him looking happy. + +"Have you seen Isabel this morning?" he asked her presently. + +"No. I went to her door, but Biddy said she was asleep, so I didn't go +in." + +"She often doesn't sleep much before morning," Scott said. "I expect she +will be down to luncheon if you can put up with me only till then." + +He evidently did not want to discuss Isabel's health just then, and Dinah +was quite willing also to let the subject pass for the time. It was a +morning for happy thoughts only. She and Scott would pretend that they +had not a care in the world. + +They breakfasted together as if it were a picnic. She had never seen him +so cheery and inconsequent. It was as if he also were engaged in some +species of make-believe. Or was it the enchantment of spring that had +fallen upon them both? Dinah could not have said. She only knew that +she had never felt so happy in all her life before. + +The walk to the Dower House was full of delight. It was all so exquisite, +the long, grassy slopes, the dark woods, the bare trees stark against the +blue. The path led through a birch copse, and here in sheltered corners +were primroses. She gathered them eagerly, and Scott helped her, even +forgetting to smoke. + +She did not remember later what they talked about, or even if they talked +at all. But the amazing gladness of her heart on that spring morning was +to be a vivid memory to her for as long as she lived. + +They reached the Dower House. Like Willowmount, it overlooked the river, +but from a different angle. Dinah was charmed with the old place. It was +full of unexpected corners and old-fashioned contrivances. Blue patches +of violets bloomed in the garden. Again with Scott's help, she gathered a +great dewy bunch. + +There were workmen in one or two of the rooms, and she stood by or +wandered at will while Scott talked to the foreman. + +They found themselves presently in the room that was to be Isabel's,--a +large and sunlit apartment that had a turret window that looked to the +far hills beyond the river. Dinah stood entranced with her eyes upon the +blue distance. Finally, with a sigh, she spoke. + +"How I wish I were going to live here too!" + +"What! You like it better than Willowmount?" said Scott. + +She made a little gesture of the hands, as if she pleaded for +understanding. "I feel so small in big places. This is spacious, but it's +cosy too. I--I should feel lost alone at Willowmount." + +"But you won't be alone," he pointed out, with his kindly smile. "You +will be very much the reverse, I can assure you." + +She gave that sharp, uncontrollable little shiver of hers. "You mean +Eustace--" she said haltingly. + +"Yes, Eustace, and all the people round who will want to know his bride," +said Scott. "I don't think you will have much time to be lonely. If you +have, you can always come along to us, you know. We shall be only too +delighted to see you." + +Dinah turned to him impulsively. "You are good!" she said. "I wonder you +don't look upon me as a horrid little interloper, turning you out of your +home where you have always lived! I do hate the thought of it! Really it +isn't my fault." + +She spoke with tears in her eyes; but Scott still smiled. "My dear +child," he said, "such an idea never entered my head. Isabel and I have +often thought we should like to make this our home. We have always +intended to as soon as Eustace married." + +"Did you never think of marrying?" Dinah asked him suddenly. + +There was an instant's pause, and then, as he was about to speak, she +broke in quickly. + +"Oh, please don't tell me! I was a pig to ask! I didn't mean to. It just +slipped out. Do forgive me!" + +"But why shouldn't you ask?" said Scott gently. "We are friends. I don't +mind answering you. I've had my dream like the rest of the world. But it +was very soon over. I never seriously deluded myself into the belief that +anyone could care to marry a shrimp like me." + +"Oh, Scott!" Almost fiercely Dinah cut him short. "How can you--you of +all people--say a thing like that?" + +Scott looked at her quizzically for a moment. "I should have thought I +was the one person who could say it," he observed. + +Dinah turned from him sharply. Her hands were clenched. "Oh no! Oh no!" +she said incoherently. "It's not right! It's not fair! You--you--Mr. +Greatheart!" Quite suddenly, as if the utterance of the name were too +much for her, she broke down, covered her face, and wept. + +"Dinah!" said Scott. + +He came to her and took her very gently by the arm. Dinah's shoulders +were shaking. She could not lift her face. + +"Why--why shouldn't your dream come true too?" she sobbed. "You--who help +everybody--to get what they want!" + +"My dear," Scott said, "my dream is over. Don't you grieve on my account! +God knows I'm not grieving for myself." His voice was low, but very +steadfast. + +"You wouldn't!" said Dinah. + +"No; because it's futile, unnecessary, a waste of time. I've other things +to do--plenty of other things." Scott braced himself with the words, as +one who manfully lifts a burden. "Cheer up, Dinah! I didn't mean to make +you sad." + +"But--but--are you sure--quite sure--she didn't care?" faltered Dinah, +rubbing her eyes woefully. + +"Quite sure," said Scott, with decision. + +Dinah threw him a sudden, flashing glance of indignation. "Then she was a +donkey, Scott, a fool--an idiot!" she declared, with trembling vehemence. +"I'd like--oh, how I'd like--to tell her so." + +Scott was smiling, his own, whimsical smile. "Yes, wouldn't you?" he +said. "And it's awfully nice of you to say so. But do you know, you're +quite wrong. She wasn't any of those things. On the other hand, I was all +three. But where's the use of talking? It's over, and a good thing too!" + +Dinah slipped a quivering hand over his. "We'll always be friends, won't +we, Scott?" she said tremulously. + +"Always," said Scott. + +She squeezed his hand hard, and in response his fingers pressed her arm. +His steady eyes looked straight into hers. + +And in the silence, there came to Dinah a queer stirring of +uncertainty,--the uncertainty of one who just begins to suspect that he +is on the wrong road. + +The moment passed, and they talked again of lighter things, but the mood +of irresponsible light-heartedness had gone. When they finally left the +Dower House, Dinah felt that she trod the earth once more. + +"I shall come and see you very often when we come back," she said rather +wistfully. "I hope Eustace won't want to be away a very long time." + +"Aren't you looking forward to your honeymoon?" asked Scott. + +"I don't know," said Dinah, and paused. "I really don't know. But," +brightening, "I'm sure the wedding will be great fun." + +"I hope it will," said Scott kindly. + +It was not till they were nearing Willowmount that Dinah asked him at +length hesitatingly about Isabel. + +"Do you mind telling me? Is she worse?" + +Scott also hesitated a little before he answered. Then: "In one sense she +is much better," he said. "But physically," he paused, "physically she is +losing ground." + +"Oh, Scott!" Dinah looked at him with swift dismay. "But why--why? Can +nothing be done?" + +His eyes met hers unwaveringly. "No, nothing," he said, and he spoke with +that decision which she had come to know as in some fashion a part of +himself. His words carried conviction, and yet by some means they quieted +her dismay as well. He went on after a moment with that gentle philosophy +of his that seemed to soften all he said. "She is as one nearing the end +of a long journey, and she is very tired, poor girl. We can't grudge her +her rest--when it comes. Eustace wants to rouse her, but I think the time +for that is past. It is kinder--it is wiser--to let her alone." + +Dinah drew a little nearer to him. "Do you mean--that you think she won't +live very long?" she whispered. + +"If you like to put it that way," Scott answered quietly. + +"Oh, but what of you?" she said. + +She uttered the words almost involuntarily, and the next moment she would +have recalled them, for she saw his face change. For a second--only a +second--she read suffering in his eyes. But he answered her without +hesitation. + +"I shall just keep on, Dinah," he said. "It's the only way. But, as I +think I've mentioned before, it's no good meeting troubles half-way. The +day's work is all that really matters." + +They walked on for a space in silence; then as they drew near the house +he changed the subject. But that brief shadow of a coming desolation +dwelt in Dinah's memory with a persistence that defied all lesser things. +He was brave enough, cheery enough, in the shouldering of his burden; but +her heart ached when she realized how heavy that burden must be. + +A message awaited her at the house that she would go to Isabel in her +sitting-room, and she went, half-eager, half-diffident. But as soon as +she was with her friend her doubts were all gone. For Isabel looked and +spoke so much as usual that it seemed impossible to believe that she was +indeed nearing the end of the journey. + +She wanted to know all that Dinah had been doing, and they sat and +discussed the decorations of the Dower House till the luncheon-hour. + +When luncheon was over they repaired to a sheltered corner of the +terrace, looking down over the garden to the river, while Scott went away +to write letters; and here they talked over the serious matter of the +trousseau with regard to which neither Dinah nor her mother had made any +very definite arrangements. + +Perhaps Mrs. Bathurst had foreseen the possibility of Isabel desiring to +undertake this responsibility. Perhaps Isabel had already dropped a hint +of her intention. In any case it seemed the most natural thing in the +world that Isabel should be the one to assist and advise, and when Dinah +demurred a little on the score of cost she found herself gently but quite +effectually silenced. Sir Eustace's bride must have a suitable outfit, +Isabel told her. The question of ways and means was not one which need +trouble her. + +So Dinah obediently put the matter from her, and entered into the +delightful discussion with keen zest. Isabel's ideas were so entrancing. +She knew exactly what she would need. Her taste also was so simple, and +so unerring. Dinah had never before pictured herself as possessing such +things as Isabel calmly proclaimed that she must have. + +"We must go up to town to-morrow," Isabel said, "and get things started. +It will mean the whole day, I am afraid. Can you bear to be parted from +Eustace for so long?" + +Dinah laughed merrily at the question. "Of course--of course! What fun it +will be! I always knew I should like to be married, but I never dreamt it +could be so exciting as this." + +Isabel smiled at her with a touch of pity in her eyes. "Marriage isn't +only new clothes and wedding presents, Dinah," she said. + +"No, no! I know!" Dinah spoke with swift compunction. "It is far more +than that. But I've never had such lovely things before. I can't help +feeling a little giddy about it. You do understand, don't you? I'm not +like that all through--really." + +"My darling!" Isabel answered fondly. "Of course I know it. I sometimes +think that it would be better for you if you were." + +"Isabel, why--why?" Dinah pressed close to her, half-curious, +half-frightened. + +But Isabel did not answer her. She only kissed the vivid, upturned face +with all a mother's tenderness, and turned back in silence, to the +fashion-book on her knee. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DOUBTING CASTLE + + +When Sir Eustace returned, he found his bride-elect awaiting him with a +radiant face. She sprang to greet him with an eagerness that outwent all +shyness. + +"Oh, Eustace, I have had such a lovely time!" she told him. "It has been +a perfect day." + +She offered him her lips with a child's simplicity, but blushed deeply +when she felt the hot pressure of his, turning her face aside the moment +he released her. + +He laughed a little, keeping his arm about her shoulders. "You haven't +missed me then?" he said. + +"Oh, not a bit," said Dinah truthfully; and then quickly, "but what a +horrid thing to say! Why did you put it like that?" + +"I wanted to know," said Sir Eustace. + +She turned back to him. "I should have missed you if I hadn't been so +busy. Isabel is going to help me with my trousseau. And oh, Eustace, I am +to have such a crowd of lovely things." + +He pinched her cheek. "What should a brown elf need beyond a shift of +thistle-down? Where is Isabel?" + +"She is resting now. She got so tired. Biddy said she must lie down, and +we mustn't disturb her for tea. I do hope it wasn't too much for her, +Eustace." + +"Too much for her! Nonsense! It does her good to think of someone else +besides herself," said Eustace. "If Biddy didn't coddle her so in the day +time, she would sleep better at night. Well, where is tea? In the +drawing-room? Come along and have it!" + +Dinah clung to his arm. "It--it's in a place called my lady's boudoir," +she told him shyly. + +He looked at her. "Where? Oh, I know. That inner sanctuary with the west +window. You've taken a fancy to it, have you? Then we will call it +Daphne's Bower." + +Dinah's laugh was not without a hint of restraint. "I haven't been in any +other room. Scott said you would show me everything. But I just wandered +in there, and he found me and showed me the dear little boudoir. He said +you were going to have it done up." + +"So I am," said Eustace. "Everything that belongs to you must be new. +Have you decided what colour will suit you best?" + +They were passing through the long drawing-room towards the curtained +doorway that led into the little boudoir. The drawing-room was a palatial +apartment with stately French furniture that Dinah surveyed with awe. She +could not picture herself as hostess in so magnificent a setting. She +could only think of Rose de Vigne. It would have suited her flawless +beauty perfectly, and she knew that Rose's self-contained heart would +have revelled in such an atmosphere. + +But it made her feel a stranger, and she hastened through it to the +cosier nest beyond. + +This was a far more homely spot. The furniture here was French also, and +exquisitely delicate; but it was designed for comfort, and the gilded +state of the outer room was wholly absent. + +A tea-table stood near a deeply-cushioned settee, and the kettle sang +merrily over a spirit-lamp. + +Eustace dropped on to the settee and drew her suddenly and wholly +unexpectedly down upon his knee. + +"Oh, Eustace!" she gasped, turning crimson. + +He wound his arms about her, holding her two hands imprisoned. "Oh, +Daphne!" he mocked softly. "I've caught you--I've caught you! Here in +your own bower with no one to look on! No, you can't even flutter your +wings now. You've got to stay still and be worshipped." + +He spoke with his face against her neck. She felt the burning of his +breath, and something;--an urgent, inner prompting--warned her to submit. +She sat there in his grasp in quivering silence. + +His arms drew her nearer, nearer. It was as if he were gradually merging +her whole being into his. In a moment, with a little gasp, she gave him +her trembling lips. + +He uttered a low laugh of mastery and gave his passion the rein, +overwhelming her with those devouring kisses that from the very outset +had always filled her with an indefinable sense of shame. She was quite +powerless to frustrate him. The delicate barrier of her reserve was +rudely torn away. The burning blush on face and neck served but to feed +the flame. He kissed the panting throat as if he would draw the very life +out of it. There was fierce possession in the holding of his arms. She +thought she would never be free again. + +The first fiery wave spent itself at last, but even then he did not let +her go. He held her pressed to him, and she lay against his breast +trembling but wholly passive, overcome by an inexplicable longing to +hide, to hide. + +After a few seconds he spoke to her, his voice oddly unsteady, very deep. +"You're driving me mad, Daphne. Do you know that?" + +"I--I'm sorry," she faltered, trying to shelter her tingling face in his +coat. + +His arms were tense about her. "I want you more and more every day," he +said. "I don't know how to wait for you. How long is it to our wedding?" + +"Three weeks and four days," she told him faintly. + +He gave his low, quivering laugh, "What! You are counting the days too! +Daphne! My Daphne! Need we wait--all that time?" + +Dinah's thumping heart gave a great start and seemed to stop. "Oh yes," +she gasped desperately. "Yes, I couldn't possibly--be ready sooner." + +He put his face down to hers, as one who breathes the essence of a +flower. "You are ready now," he said. "You will never be lovelier than +you are to-night." + +She tried to laugh, but his lips were too near. Her voice quavered +piteously. + +"Why do I wait for you?" he said, and in his words there beat a fierce +unrest. "Why am I such a fool? I lie awake night after night consumed +with the want of you. When I sleep, I am always chasing you, you +will-o'-the-wisp; and you always manage to keep just out of reach." His +arms tightened. His voice suddenly sank to a deep whisper. "Daphne! Shall +I tell you what I am going to do?" + +"What?" panted Dinah. + +"I am going to take you right away over the hills to-morrow to a place I +know of where it is as lonely as the Sahara, and we will have a picnic +there all to ourselves--all to ourselves, and make up for to-day." + +His lips pressed hers again, but she withdrew herself with a sharp +effort. There was nameless terror in her heart. + +"Oh, I can't, Eustace! I can't indeed!" she said, and now she was +striving, striving impotently, for freedom. "I'm going up to town with +Isabel." + +"Isabel can wait," he said. + +"No! No! I must go. You don't understand. There are no end of things to +be done." Dinah was as one encircled by fire, searching wildly round for +a means of escape. "I must go!" she said again. "I must go!" + +"You can go the next day," he said with arrogance. "I want you to-morrow +and I mean to have you. Look at me, Dinah!" + +She glanced at him, compelled by the command of his tone, met the fiery +intensity of his look, and sank helpless, conquered. + +He kissed her again. "There! That's settled. You silly little thing! Why +do you always beat your wings against the inevitable? Do you think you +are going to get away from me now?" + +She hid her face against his shoulder. She was almost in tears. "You--you +hurt me! You frighten me!" she whispered. + +"Do I?" he said, and still in his voice she heard that deep note that +made her whole being quiver. "It's your own fault, my Daphne. You +shouldn't run away." + +"I--I can't help it," she said tremulously. "I sometimes think--I'm +not big enough for you." + +"You'll grow," he said. + +"I don't know," she answered in distress. "I may not. And if I do, I +feel--I feel as if I shan't be myself any longer, but just--but just--a +bit of you!" + +He laughed. "Daphne,--you oddity! Don't you want to be a bit of me?" + +"I'd rather be myself," she murmured shyly. + +His hold was not so close, and she longed, but did not dare, to get off +his knee and breathe. But in that moment there came the sound of a +halting step in the drawing-room beyond, and swiftly she raised her head. + +"Oh, Eustace, let me go! Here is Scott!" + +He did not release her instantly. Scott was already in the doorway +before, like a frightened fawn, she leapt from his grasp. She heard +Eustace laugh again, and somehow his laugh had a note of insolence. + +"Come in, my good brother!" he said. "My lady is just about to make tea. +I presume that is what you have come for." + +"The presumption is correct," said Scott. + +He came forward in his quiet, unhurried fashion, and paused at the table +to open the tea-caddy for Dinah. + +She thanked him with trembling lips, her eyes cast down, her face on +fire. + +Eustace lounged back on the settee and watched her. He frowned +momentarily when Scott sat down beside him, leaving her a low chair by +the tea-tray. + +Dinah's hands fluttered among the cups. She was painfully ill at ease. +But in a second or two Scott's placid voice came into the silence, and at +once her distress began to subside. + +"Have you decided about the decoration of this room yet?" he asked. "I +always thought this dead-white rather cold." + +"Dinah is to have her own choice," said Sir Eustace. + +"I would like shell-pink," said Dinah, without looking up. "Don't you +think that would be nice with those pretty water-colour sketches?" + +She spoke diffidently. No one had ever deferred to her taste before. + +Sir Eustace laughed in his slightly supercilious way. "Do you know who is +responsible for those pretty sketches, my red, red rose?" + +She glanced up nervously. "Not--not--are they yours, Scott?" + +"They are," said Scott, with a smile. + +She met his eyes for an instant, and was surprised by their gravity. "Oh, +I do like them," she said. "I wonder I didn't guess. They are so +beautifully finished, so--complete." + +"I am glad you like them," said Scott. "I thought you might want to turn +them out as lumber." + +"As if I should!" she said. "I love them--every one of them. I shall love +them better still now I know they are yours." + +"Thank you," said Scott. + +Eustace turned his attention to him. "No one ever paid you such a +compliment as that before, my good Stumpy," he observed. "If everyone saw +you in that light, you'd be a great artist by now." + +"I wonder," said Scott. + +Dinah sent him another swift glance. She seemed on the verge of speech, +but checked herself, and there fell a brief silence. + +It was broken by the entrance of a servant. "If you please, Sir Eustace, +Mr. Grey is in the library and would be glad if you could spare him a few +minutes." + +Sir Eustace uttered an impatient exclamation. "You go and see what he +wants, Stumpy!" he said. + +But Scott remained seated. "I know what he wants, my dear chap, and it's +something that only you can give. He has come about Bob Jelf who was +caught poaching last week. He wants you to give the fellow as light a +sentence as possible on account of his wife." + +Sir Eustace frowned. "I never give a light sentence for poaching. He's +always at it, I'd give him the cat if I could." + +Scott raised his shoulders slightly. "Well, don't ask me to say that to +Mr. Grey! He's taking the whole business badly to heart, as he was +beginning to look on Jelf as a reformed character." + +"I'll reform him!" said Sir Eustace. He turned to the servant. "Ask Mr. +Grey to join us here!" + +"You had better see him alone first," said Scott. + +"Why?" His brother turned upon him almost savagely. + +Scott took up his tea-cup. "You can't refuse to give him a hearing," he +observed. "He has come up on purpose." + +Sir Eustace murmured something under his breath and rose. His look fell +upon Dinah. "It's the village padre," he said. "I shall have to bring him +in here. I hope you don't mind?" + +She gave him a quick, half-startled smile. "Of course not." + +He turned to the door which the waiting servant was holding open, and +strode out with annoyed majesty. + +Dinah watched him till the door closed; then very suddenly and urgently +she turned to Scott. + +"Oh, please, will you help me?" she said. + +He gave her a straight, keen look that seemed to penetrate to her soul. +"If it lies in my power," he said slowly. + +She caught her breath, pierced by a sharp uncertainty. "You can. I'm sure +you can," she said. + +He set down his cup. "Dinah," he said gently, "don't ask me to interfere +in your affairs if you can by any means manage without!" + +"But that's just it!" she said in distress. "I can't." + +He leaned forward. "My dear, don't be agitated!" he said. "Tell me what +is the matter!" + +Dinah leaned forward also, her hands tightly clasped, and spoke in a +rapid whisper. + +"Scott, Eustace wants me to go for an all-day picnic alone with him +to-morrow. I--don't want to go." + +He was still looking at her with that straight, almost stern regard. An +odd little quiver went through her as she met it. She felt as if she were +in a fashion on her trial. + +"Why don't you want to go?" he asked. + +She hesitated. "I was to have gone up to town with Isabel to shop," she +said. + +"No, that isn't the reason," he said. "Tell me the reason!" + +She made a quick gesture of appeal. "I--wish you wouldn't ask," she +faltered, and suddenly she could meet his eyes no longer. She lowered her +own, and sat before him in burning confusion. + +"Have you asked yourself?" he said, his voice very low. + +She was silent; the quiet question seemed to probe her through and +through. There was no evading it. + +Scott was still watching her very closely, very intently. He spoke at +length, just as she was beginning to feel his scrutiny to be more than +she could bear. + +"If you are just shy with him--as I think you are--I think you ought to +try and get over it, as much for his sake as for your own. You don't want +to hurt him, do you? You wouldn't like him to be disappointed?" + +Dinah shook her head. "If you could come too!" she suggested, in a very +small voice. + +"No, I can't," said Scott firmly. + +She sent him a darting glance. "Are you angry with me?" she said. + +"I!" said Scott in amazement. + +"You--spoke as if you were," she said. "And you looked--quite grim." + +He laughed a little. "If you are afraid of me, you must indeed be easily +frightened. No, of course I am not angry. Dinah! Dinah! Don't be silly!" + +Her lips were quivering, but in response to his admonishing tone she +forced them to smile. "I know I am silly," she said, with an effort. +"I--I'm not nearly good enough for Eustace. And I'm a dreadful little +coward, I know. But he does frighten me. When he kisses me--I always +want to run away." + +"But you wouldn't like it if he didn't," said Scott, in the voice of the +philosopher. + +"Shouldn't I?" said Dinah. "I wonder. It--wouldn't be him, would it?" + +"And what are you going to do when you are married?" said Scott, point +blank. "You'll see much more of him then." + +"Oh, I expect I shall feel different then," said Dinah. "Married people +are different, aren't they? They are not always going off by themselves +and kissing in corners." + +"Not as a rule," admitted Scott. "But I've been told that there is +usually a good deal of that sort of thing done during the honeymoon." + +"That's different too," Dinah's voice was slightly dubious +notwithstanding. "But we are not on our honeymoon yet. Scott, couldn't +you--just for once--help me to--to find an excuse not to go? It would +be--so dear of you." + +She spoke with earnest entreaty, her eyes frankly raised to his. + +Scott looked into them with steady searching before he finally responded. +"I will speak to him if you like. I don't know that I shall be +successful. But--if you wish it--I will try." + +"Oh, thank you," she said. "Thank you." And then quickly, "You're sure +you don't mind? Sure you're not afraid?" + +"Oh, quite sure of that," said Scott. + +Her eyes expressed open admiration. "I can't think how you manage not to +be," she said. + +He smiled with a touch of sadness. "Perhaps I am not so weak as I look," +he said. + +"You--weak!" said Dinah. "Why, you are the strongest man I ever met." + +Scott smothered a sudden sigh. "Which only proves how very little you +know about me," he said. + +But Dinah shook her head, wholly unconvinced. Here at least she was +absolutely sure of her ground. + +"'Mr. Greatheart was a strong man,'" she quoted, "'and he was not afraid +of a Lion.'" + +"There are sometimes worse things than lions in the path," said Scott +gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE VICTORY + + +The return of Sir Eustace, marshalling the Vicar before him, put an end +to further confidences. + +Dinah rose nervously to receive the new-comer--a tall, thin man, elderly, +with a grave, intellectual face and courteous manner, who looked at her +with a gleam of surprise as he took her shyly proffered hand. + +"It is a great privilege to meet you," he said then, and Dinah perceived +at once that he had prepared that remark for someone much more imposing +than herself, and had not time to readjust it. + +She thanked him, and he sat down at Scott's invitation and fell into a +troubled silence. + +Sir Eustace was looking decidedly formidable, and it was not difficult to +see that he had just given an unqualified refusal to his visitor's +earnest request. + +It was Scott as usual who came to the rescue, breaking through the +Vicar's abstraction to ask for details concerning certain additions that +were being made to the Cottage Hospital. He drew Dinah also into the +conversation, taking it for granted that she would be interested; and +presently Mr. Grey brightened somewhat, launching into what was evidently +a favourite topic. + +"We are hoping," he said, "that the new wing will be completed by the end +of June, and it is expected that the Parish Council will request Lady +Studley to be good enough to declare it open." + +He looked at Dinah with the words, and she realized their significance +with a sharp shock. "Oh, do you mean me?" she said. "I don't think I +could." + +"It wouldn't be a very difficult business," said Scott reassuringly. + +"Oh, I couldn't!" she said. "Why--why, there would be crowds of people, +wouldn't there?" + +"I hope to get a few of the County," said Mr. Grey, "to support you." + +"That makes it worse," said Dinah. + +Scott laughed. "Eustace and I will come too and take care of you. You +see, the Lady of the Manor has to do these tiresome things." + +"Oh! I'll come if you want me," said Dinah. "But I've never done anything +like that before and I can't think what the County will say. You see, I +don't belong." + +"Snap your fingers in its face, and it won't bite you!" said Eustace. +"You will belong by that time." + +Mr. Grey smiled a very kindly smile that had in it a touch of compassion. +He said nothing, but in a few minutes he rose to take his leave, and +then, with Dinah's hand held for a moment in his, he said in a low voice, +"I wish I might enlist your sympathy on behalf of one of my parishioners. +His wife is dying of cancer, and he is to be sent to gaol for poaching." + +"Oh!" Dinah exclaimed in distress. + +She looked quickly across at her _fiancé_, and saw that his brow was +dark. + +He said nothing whatever, and she went to him impulsively. "Eustace, must +you send him to prison?" + +He looked at her for a second, then turned, without responding, to the +Vicar. "That was a very unnecessary move on your part, sir," he said +icily. "I have told you my decision in the matter, and there it must +rest. Justice is justice." + +Dinah was looking at him very pleadingly; he laid his hand upon her arm, +and she felt his fingers close with a strong, restraining pressure. + +Mr. Grey turned to go. "I make no excuse, Sir Eustace," he said. "I am +begging for mercy, not justice. My cause is urgent. If one weapon fails, +I must employ another." + +He went out with Scott, and Dinah was left alone with Sir Eustace. + +He spoke at once, sternly and briefly, before she had time to open her +lips. "Dinah, this is no matter for your interference. I forbid you to +pursue it any further." + +His tone was crushingly absolute; she saw that he was white with anger. + +She felt the colour die out of her own cheeks as she faced him. But the +Vicar's few words had made a deep impression upon her; she forced back +her fear. + +"But, Eustace, is it true?" she said. "Is the man's wife really dying? If +so--if so--surely you will let him off!" + +His grasp upon her arm tightened. "Are you going to disobey me?" he said +warningly. + +His look was terrible, but she braved it. "Yes--yes, I am," she said, +with desperate courage. "Eustace, I've never asked you to do anything +before. Couldn't you--can't you--do this one thing?" + +She met the blazing wrath of his eyes though her heart felt stiff with +fear. It had come so suddenly, this ordeal, but she braced herself to +meet it. Horrible though it was to withstand him, the thought came to her +that if she did not make the effort just once she would never have the +strength again. + +"You think me very impertinent," she said, speaking quickly through +quivering lips. "But--but--I have a right to speak. If I am to be--your +wife, you must not treat me as--a servant." + +She saw his look change. The anger went out of it, but something that was +more terrible to her took its place, something that she could not meet. + +She flinched involuntarily, and in the same moment he drew her close to +him. "Ah, Daphne, the adorable!" he said. "I've never seen you at bay +before! You claim your privileges, do you? You think I can refuse you +nothing?" + +She shrank at his tone--the mastery of it, the confidence, the caress. + +"You needn't be afraid," he said, and bent his face to hers. "Whatever +you wish is law. But don't forget one thing! If I refuse you nothing, I +must have everything in exchange. 'Love the gift is Love the debt,' my +Daphne. You must give me freely all that you have in return." + +She trembled in his embrace. Those passionate words of his +frightened her anew. Was it possible--would it ever be possible--to +give him--freely--all that she had? + +The doubt shot through her like the stab of a dagger even while she gave +him the kiss he demanded for her audacity. Her victory over him amazed +her, so appalling had seemed the odds. But in a fashion it dismayed her +too. He was too mighty a giant to kneel at her feet for long. He would +exact payment in full, she was sure, she was sure, for all that he gave +her now. + +She was thankful when a ceremonious knock at the door compelled him to +release her. Biddy presented herself very upright, primly correct. + +"If ye please, Miss Dinah, Mrs. Everard is awake and will be pleased to +see ye whenever it suits ye to go to her at all." + +"Oh, I'll go now," said Dinah with relief. She glanced at Eustace. "You +don't mind? You don't want me?" + +"No, I have some business to discuss with Stumpy," he said. "Perhaps I +will join you presently." + +He took out a cigarette and lighted it, and Dinah turned; and went away +with the old woman. + +"And it's to be hoped he'll do nothing of the kind," remarked Biddy, as +they walked through the long drawing-room. "For the very thought of him +is enough to drive poor Miss Isabel scranny, specially in the evening." + +"Is--is Miss Isabel so afraid of him?" asked Dinah under her breath. + +Biddy nodded darkly. "She is that, Miss Dinah, and small blame to her." + +Dinah pressed suddenly close. "Biddy, why?" + +Biddy pursed her lips. "Faith, and it's meself that's afraid, ye'll find +the answer to that only too soon, Miss Dinah dear!" she said solemnly. "I +can't tell ye the straight truth. Ye wouldn't believe me if I did. Ye +must watch for yourself, me jewel. Ye've got a woman's intelligence. +Don't ye be afraid to use it!" + +It was the soundest piece of advice that she had ever heard from +Biddy's lips, and Dinah accepted it in silence. She had known for some +time that Biddy had small love for Sir Eustace, but it was evident that +the precise reason for this was not to be conveyed in words. She wished +she could have persuaded her to be more explicit, but something held her +back from attempting to gain the information that Biddy withheld. It was +better--surely it was sometimes better--not to know too much. + +They met Scott as they turned out of the drawing-room, and Biddy's grim +old face softened at the sight of him. + +He paused: "Hullo! Going to Isabel? Has she had a good rest, Biddy?" + +"Glory to goodness, Master Scott, she has!" said Biddy fervently. + +"That's all right." Scott prepared to pass on. "Eustace hasn't gone, I +suppose?" + +"No, he is in there, waiting for you." Dinah detained him for a moment. +"Scott, he--I think he is going to--to let that man off with a light +sentence." + +"What?" said Scott. "Dinah, you witch! How on earth did you do it?" + +He looked so pleased that her heart gave a throb of triumph. It had been +well worth while just to win that look from him. + +She smiled back at him. "I don't know. I really don't know. +But,--Scott"--she became a little breathless--"if--if he really wants +me to-morrow, I think--p'raps--I'd better go." + +Scott gave her his straight, level look. There was a moment's pause +before he said, "Wait till to-morrow comes anyway!" and with that he was +gone, limping through the great room with that steady but unobtrusive +purpose that ever, to Dinah's mind, redeemed him from insignificance. + +"Ah! He's the gentleman is Master Scott," said Biddy's voice at her side. +"Ye'll never meet his like in all the world. It's a sad life he leads, +poor young gentleman, but he keeps a brave heart though never a single +joy comes his way. May the Almighty reward him and give him his desire +before it's too late." + +"What desire?" asked Dinah. + +Biddy shot her a lightning glance from her beady eyes ere again +mysteriously she shook her head. + +"And it's the innocent lamb that ye are entirely, Miss Dinah dear," she +said. + +With which enigmatical answer Dinah was forced to be content. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BURDEN + + +Sir Eustace was standing by the window of the little boudoir when his +brother entered, and Scott joined him there. He also lighted a cigarette, +and they smoked together in silence for several seconds. + +Finally Eustace turned with his faint, supercilious smile. "What's the +matter, Stumpy? Something on your mind?" + +Scott met his look. "Something I've got to say to you anyway, old chap, +that rather sticks in my gullet." + +Sir Eustace laughed. "You carry conscience enough for the two of us. What +is it? Fire away!" + +Scott puffed at his cigarette. "You won't like it," he observed. "But +it's got to be said. Look here, Eustace! It's all very well to be in +love. But you're carrying it too far. The child's downright afraid of +you." + +"Has she told you so?" demanded Eustace. A hot gleam suddenly shone in +his blue eyes. He looked down at Scott with a frown. + +Scott shook his head. "If she had, I shouldn't tell you so. But the fact +remains. You're a bit of an ogre, you know, always have been. Slack off a +bit, there's a good fellow! You'll find it's worth it." + +He spoke with the utmost gentleness, but there was determination in his +quiet eyes. Having spoken, he turned them upon the garden again and +resumed his cigarette. + +There fell a brief silence between them. Sir Eustace was no longer +smoking. His frown had deepened. Suddenly he laid his hand upon Scott's +shoulder. + +"It's my turn now," he said. "I've something to say to you." + +"Well?" said Scott. He stiffened a little at the hold upon him, but he +did not attempt to frustrate it. + +"Only this." Eustace pressed upon him as one who would convey a warning. +"You've interfered with me more than once lately, and I've borne with +it--more or less patiently. But I'm not going to bear with it much +longer. You may be useful to me, but--you're not indispensable. Remember +that!" + +Scott started at the words, as a well-bred horse starts at the flicker of +the whip. He controlled himself instantly, but his eyelids quivered a +little as he answered, "I will remember it." + +Sir Eustace's hand fell. "I think that is all that need be said," he +observed. "We will get to business." + +He turned from the window, but in the same moment Scott wheeled also and +took him by the arm. "One moment!" he said. "Eustace, we are not going to +quarrel over this. You don't imagine, do you, that I interfere with you +in this way for my own pleasure?" + +He spoke urgently, an odd wistfulness in voice and gesture. + +Sir Eustace paused. The sternness still lingered in his eyes though his +face softened somewhat as he said, "I haven't gone into the question of +motives, Stumpy. I have no doubt they are--like yourself--very worthy, +though it might not soothe me greatly to know what they are." + +Scott still held his arm. "Oh, man," he said very earnestly, "don't miss +the best thing in life for want of a little patience! She's such a child. +She doesn't understand. For your own sake give her time!" + +There was that in his tone that somehow made further offence impossible. +A faint, half-grudging smile took the place of the grimness on his +brother's face. + +"You take things so mighty seriously," he said. "What's the matter? What +has she been saying?" + +Scott hesitated. "I can't tell you that. I imagine it is more what she +doesn't say that makes me realize the state of her mind. I can tell you +one thing. She would rather go shopping with Isabel to-morrow than +picnicking in the wilderness with you, and if you're wise, you'll give in +and let her go. You'll run a very grave risk of losing her altogether +if you ask too much." + +"What do you mean?" Eustace's voice was short and stern; the question was +like a sword thrust. + +Again Scott hesitated. Then very steadily he made reply. "I mean +that--with or without reason, you know best--she is beginning not to +trust you. It is more than mere shyness with her. She is genuinely +frightened." + +His words went into silence, and in the silence he took out his +handkerchief and wiped his forehead. It had been a more difficult +interview for him than Eustace would ever realize. His powers of +endurance were considerable, but he had an almost desperate desire now to +escape. + +But some instinct kept him where he was. To fail at the last moment for +lack of perseverance would have been utterly uncharacteristic of him. It +was his custom to stand his ground to the last, whatever the cost. + +And so he forced himself to wait while his brother contemplated the +unpleasant truth that he had imparted. He knew that it was not in his +nature to spend long over the process, but he was still by no means sure +of the final result. + +Eustace spoke at length very suddenly. "See here, Stumpy!" he said. +"There may be something in what you say, and there may not. But in any +case, you and Dinah are getting altogether too intimate and confidential +to please me. It's up to you to put the brake on a bit. Understand?" + +He smiled as he said it, but there was a gleam as of cold steel behind +his smile. + +Scott straightened himself. It was as if something within him leapt to +meet the steel. Spent though he was, this was a matter no man could +shirk. + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," he said. "Do you think I'd destroy her +trust in me too? I'd sell my soul sooner." + +The words were passionate, and the man as he uttered them seemed suddenly +galvanized with a new force, a force irresistible, elemental, even +sublime. The elder brother's brows went up in amazement. He did not know +Stumpy in that mood. He found himself confronted with a power colossal +manifested in the meagre frame, and before that power instinctively, +wholly involuntarily, he gave ground. + +"I see you mean to please yourself," he said, and turned to go with a +sub-conscious feeling that if he lingered he would have the worst of it. +"But I warn you if you get in my way, you'll be kicked. So look out!" + +It was not a conciliatory speech, but it was the outcome of undoubted +discomfiture. He was so accustomed to submission from Scott that he had +come to look upon it as inevitable. His sudden self-assertion was oddly +disconcerting. + +So also was the laugh that followed his threat, a careless laugh wholly +devoid of bitterness which yet in some fashion inexplicable pierced his +armour, making him feel ashamed. + +"You know exactly what I think of that sort of thing, don't you?" Scott +said. "That's the best of having no special physical attractions. One +doesn't need to think of appearances." + +Sir Eustace made no rejoinder. He could think of nothing to say; for he +knew that Scott's attitude was absolutely sincere. For physical suffering +he cared not one jot. The indomitable spirit of the man lifted him above +it. He was fashioned upon the same lines as the men who faced the lions +of Rome. No bodily pain could ever daunt him. + +He went from the room haughtily but in his heart he carried an odd +misgiving that burned and spread like a slow fire, consuming his pride. +Scott had withstood him, Scott the weakling, and in so doing had made him +aware of a strength that exceeded his own. + +As for Scott, the moment he was alone he drew a great breath of relief, +and almost immediately after opened the French window and passed quietly +out into the garden. + +The dusk was falling, and the air smote chill; yet he moved slowly forth, +closing the window behind him and so down into the desolate shrubberies +where he paced for a long, long time.... + +When he went to Isabel's room more than an hour later, his eyes were +heavy with weariness, and he moved like a man who bears a burden. + +She was alone, and looked up at his entrance with a smile of welcome. +"Come and sit down, Stumpy! I've seen nothing of you. Dinah has only just +left me. She tells me Eustace is talking of a picnic for to-morrow, but +really she ought to give her mind to her trousseau if she is ever to be +ready in time. Do you think Eustace can be induced to see reason?" + +"I don't know," Scott said. He seated himself by Isabel's side and leaned +back against the cushions, closing his eyes. + +"You are tired," she said gently. + +"Oh, only a little, Isabel!" He spoke without moving, making no effort to +veil his weariness from her. + +"What is it, dear?" she said. + +"I am very anxious about Dinah." He spoke the words deliberately; his +face remained absolutely still and expressionless. + +"Anxious, Stumpy!" Isabel echoed the word quickly, almost as though it +gave her relief to speak. "Oh, so am I--terribly anxious. She is so +young, so utterly unprepared for marriage. I believe she is frightened to +death when she lets herself stop to think." + +"I blame myself," Scott said heavily. + +"My dear, why?" Isabel's hand sought and held his. "How could you be to +blame?" + +"I forced it on," he said. "I--in a way--compelled Eustace to propose. He +wasn't serious till then. I made him serious." + +"Oh, Stumpy, you!" Incredulity and reproach mingled in Isabel's tone. + +She would have withdrawn her hand, but his fingers closed upon it. "I +made a mistake," he said, with dreary conviction, "a great mistake, +though God knows I meant well; and now it is out of my power to set it +right. I thought her heart was involved. I know now it was not. It's hard +on him too in a way, because he is very much in earnest now, whatever he +was before. I was a fool--I was a fool--not to let things take their +course. She would have suffered, but it would have been soon over. +Whereas now--" He stopped himself abruptly. "It's no good talking. +There's nothing to be done. He may--after marriage--break her in to +loving him, but if he does--if he does--" his hand clenched with sudden +force upon Isabel's--"it won't be Dinah any more," he said. "It'll +be--another woman; one who is satisfied with--a very little." + +His hand relaxed as suddenly as it had closed. He lay still with a face +like marble. + +Isabel sat motionless by his side for several seconds. She was gazing +straight before her with eyes that seemed to read the future. + +"How did you compel him to propose?" she asked presently. + +He shrugged his narrow shoulders slightly. "I can do these things, +Isabel, if I try. But I wish I'd killed myself now before I interfered. +As I tell you, I was a fool--a fool." + +He ceased to speak and sat in the silence of a great despair. + +Isabel said nought to comfort him. Her tragic eyes still seemed to be +gazing into the future. + +After many minutes Scott turned his head and looked at her. "Isabel, I +wish you would try to keep her with you as much as possible. Tell Eustace +what you have just told me! There is certainly no time to lose if she is +really to be married in three weeks from now!" + +"I suppose he would never consent to put it off," Isabel said slowly. + +"He certainly would not." Scott rose with a restless movement that said +more than words. "He is on fire for her. Can't you see it? There is +nothing to be done unless she herself wishes to be released. And I don't +think that is very likely to happen." + +"He would never give her up," Isabel said with conviction. + +"If she desired it, he would," Scott's reply held an even more absolute +finality. + +Isabel looked at him for a moment; then: "Yes, but the poor little thing +would never dare," she said. "Besides--besides--there is the glamour of +it all." + +"Yes, there is the glamour." Scott spoke with a kind of grim compassion. +"The glamour may carry her through. If so, then--possibly--it may soften +life for her afterwards. It may even turn into romance. Who knows? +But--in any case--there will probably be--compensations." + +"Ah!" Isabel said. A wonderful light shone for a moment in her eyes and +died; she turned her face aside. "Compensations don't come to everyone, +Stumpy," she said. "What if the glamour fades and they don't come to take +its place?" + +Scott was standing before the fire, his eyes fixed upon its red depths. +His shoulders were still bent, as though they bore a burden well-nigh +overwhelming. An odd little spasm went over his face at her words. + +"Then--God help my Dinah!" he said almost under his breath. + +In the silence that followed the words, Isabel rose impulsively, came to +him, and slipped her hand through his arm. + +She neither looked at him nor spoke, and in silence the matter passed. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOURS OF DARKNESS + + +Dinah could not sleep that night. For the first time in all her healthy +young life she lay awake with grim care for a bed-fellow. When in trouble +she had always wept herself to sleep before, but to-night she did not +weep. She lay wide-eyed, feeling hot and cold by turns as the memory of +her lover's devouring passion and Biddy's sinister words alternated in +her brain. What was the warning that Biddy had meant to convey? And +how--oh, how--would she ever face the morrow and its fierce, prolonged +courtship, from the bare thought of which every fibre of her being shrank +in shamed dismay? + +"There won't be any of me left by night," she told herself, as she sought +to cool her burning face against the pillow. "Oh, I wish he didn't love +me quite so terribly." + +It was no good attempting to bridle wish or fears. They were far too +insistent. She was immured in the very dungeons of Doubting Castle, and +no star shone in her darkness. + +Towards morning her restlessness became unendurable. She arose and +tremblingly paced the room, sick with a nameless apprehension that seemed +to deprive her alike of the strength to walk or to be still. + +Her whole body was in a fever as though it had been scourged with thongs; +in fact, she still seemed to feel the scourge, goading her on. + +To and fro, to and fro, she wandered, scarcely knowing what she wanted, +only urged by that unbearable restlessness that gave her no respite. Of +the future ahead of her she did not definitely think. Her marriage still +seemed too intangible a matter for serious contemplation. She still in +her child's heart believed that marriage would make a difference. He +would not make such ardent love to her when they were married. They would +both have so many other things to think about. It was the present that so +weighed upon her, her lover's almost appalling intensity of worship and +her own utter inadequacy and futility. + +Again, as often before, the question arose within her, How would Rose +have met the situation? Would she have been dismayed? Would she have +shrunk from those fiery kisses? Or could she--could she possibly--have +remained calm and complacent and dignified in the midst of those surging +tempests of love? But yet again she failed completely to picture Rose so +mastered, so possessed, by any man; Rose the queen whom all men +worshipped with reverence from afar. She wondered again how Sir Eustace +had managed to elude the subtle charm she cast upon all about her. He had +actually declared that her perfection bored him. It was evident that she +left him cold. Dinah marvelled at the fact, so certain was she that had +he humbled himself to ask for Rose's favour it would have been instantly +and graciously accorded to him. + +It would have saved a lot of trouble if he had fallen in love with Rose, +she reflected; and then the old thrill of triumph went through her, +temporarily buoying her up. She had been preferred to Rose. She had +beaten Rose on her own ground, she the little, insignificant adjunct of +the de Vigne party! She was glad--oh, she was very glad!--that Rose was +to have so close a view of her final conquest. + +She began to take comfort in the thought of her approaching wedding and +all its attendant glories, picturing every detail with girlish zest. To +be the queen of such a brilliant ceremony as that! To be received into +the County as one entering a new world! To belong to that Society from +which her mother had been excluded! To be in short--her ladyship. + +A new excitement began to urge Dinah. She picked up a towel and draped it +about her head and shoulders like a bridal veil. Her mother would have +rated her for such vanity, but for the moment vanity was her only +comfort, and the thought of her mother did not trouble her. This was +how she would look on her wedding-day. There would be a wreath of +orange-blossoms of course; Isabel would see to that. And--yes, Isabel had +said that her bouquet should be composed of lilies-of-the-valley. She +even began to wish it were her wedding morning. + +The glamour spread like a rosy dawning; she forgot the clouds that loomed +immediately ahead. Standing there in her night attire, poised like a +brown wood-nymph on the edge of a pool, she asked herself for the first +time if it were possible that she could have any pretensions to beauty. +It was not in the least likely, of course. Her mother had always railed +at her for the plainness of her looks. Did Eustace--did Scott--think her +plain? She wondered. She wondered. + +A slight sound, the opening of a window, in the room next to hers, made +her start. That was Isabel's room. What was happening? It was three +o'clock in the morning. Could Isabel be ill? + +Very softly she opened her own window and leaned forth. It was one of +those warm spring nights that come in the midst of March gales. There was +a scent of violets on the air. She thought again for a fleeting second of +Scott and their walk through fairyland that morning. And then she heard a +voice, pitched very low but throbbing with an eagerness unutterable, and +at once her thoughts were centred upon Isabel. + +"Did you call me, my beloved? I am waiting! I am waiting!" said the +voice. + +It went forth into the sighing darkness of the night, and Dinah held her +breath to listen, almost as if she expected to hear an answer. + +There fell a long, long silence, and then there came a sound that struck +straight to her warm heart. It seemed to her that Isabel was weeping. + +She left her window with the impetuosity of one actuated by an impulse +irresistible; she crossed her own room, and slipped out into the dark +passage just as she was. A moment or two she fumbled feeling her way; and +then her hand found Isabel's door. Softly she turned the handle, opened, +and peeped in. + +Isabel was on her knees by the low window-sill. Her head with its crown +of silver hair was bowed upon her arm and they rested upon the bundle of +letters which Dinah had seen on the very first night that she had seen +Isabel. Old Biddy hovered shadow-like in the background. She made a sign +to Dinah as she entered, but Dinah was too intent upon her friend to +notice. + +Fleet-footed she drew near, and as she approached a long bitter sigh +broke from Isabel and, following it, low-toned entreaties that pierced +her anew with the utter abandonment of their supplication. + +"Oh God," she prayed brokenly. "I am so tired--so tired--of waiting. Open +the door for me! Let me out of my prison! Let me find my beloved in the +dawning--in the dawning!" + +Her voice sank, went into piteous sobbing. She crouched lower in the +depth of her woe. + +Dinah stooped over her with a little crooning murmur of pity, and +gathered her close in her arms. + +Isabel gave a great start. "Child!" she said, and then she clasped Dinah +to her, leaning her face against her bosom. + +Dinah was crying softly, but she saw that Isabel had no tears. That +sobbing came from her broken heart, but it brought no relief. The dark +eyes burned with a misery that found no vent, save possibly in the +passionate holding of her arms. + +"My darling," she whispered presently, "did I wake you?" + +"No, dearest, no!" Dinah was tenderly caressing the snowy hair; she spoke +with an almost motherly fondness. "I happened to be awake, and I heard +you at the window." + +"Why were you awake, darling? Aren't you happy?" + +Quick anxiety was in the words. Dinah flushed with a sense of guilt. + +"Of course I am happy," she made answer. "What more could I have to wish +for? But, Isabel, you--you!" + +"Ah, never mind me!" Isabel said. She rose with the movement of one who +would shield another from harm. "You ought to be in bed, sweetheart. +Shall I come and tuck you up?" + +"Come and finish the night with me!" whispered Dinah. "We shall both be +happy then." + +She scarcely expected that Isabel would accede to her desire, but it +seemed that Isabel could refuse her nothing. She turned, holding Dinah +closely to her. + +"My good angel!" she murmured tenderly. "What should I do without you? It +is always you who come to lift me out of my inferno." + +She left the letters forgotten on the window-sill. By the simple +outpouring of her love, Dinah had drawn her out of her place of torment; +and she led her now, leaning heavily upon her, through the passage to her +own room. + +Biddy crept after them like a wise old cat alert for danger. "She'll +sleep now, Miss Dinah darlint," she murmured. "Ye won't be anxious at +all, at all? It's meself that'll be within call." + +"No, no! Go to your own room and sleep, Biddy!" Isabel said. "We are both +going to do the same." + +She sank into the great double bed that Dinah had found almost alarmingly +capacious, with a sigh of exhaustion, and Dinah slipped in beside her. +They clasped each other, each with a separate sense of comfort. + +Biddy tucked up first one side, then the other, with a whispered blessing +for each. + +"Ah, the poor lambs!" she murmured, as she went away. + +But Isabel's voice had reassured her; she did not linger even outside the +door. + +Mumbling still below her breath her inarticulate benisons, Biddy passed +through her mistress's room into her own. She was very tired, for she had +been watching without intermission for nearly five hours. She almost +dropped on to her bed and lay as she fell, deeply sleeping. + +The letters on the window-sill were forgotten for the rest of that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE NET + + +When Dinah met her lover in the morning she found him in a surprisingly +indulgent mood. The day was showery, and he announced his intention of +accompanying them in the car up to town. + +"An excellent opportunity for selecting the wedding-ring," he told her +lightly. "You will like that better than a picnic." + +And Dinah in her relief admitted that this was the case. + +Up to the last moment she hoped that Scott would accompany them also, but +when she came down dressed for the expedition she found that he had gone +to the library to write letters. She pursued him thither, but he would +not be persuaded to leave his work. + +"Besides, I should only be in the way," he said. And when she vehemently +negatived this, he smiled and fell back upon the plea that he was busy. + +Just at the last she tried to murmur a word of thanks to him for +intervening on her behalf to induce Eustace to abandon the picnic, but he +gently checked her. + +"Oh, please don't thank me!" he said. "I am not a very good meddler, I +assure you. I hope you are going to have a good day. Take care of +Isabel!" + +Dinah would have lingered to tell him of the night's happening, but Sir +Eustace called her and with a smile of farewell she hastened away. + +She enjoyed that day with a zest that banished all misgivings. Sir +Eustace insisted upon the purchase of the ring at the outset, and then +she and Isabel went their way alone, and shopped in a fashion that raised +Dinah's spirits to giddy heights. She had never seen or imagined such +exquisite things as Isabel ordered on her behalf. The hours slipped away +in one long dream of delight. Sir Eustace had desired them to join him at +luncheon, but Isabel had gravely refused. There would not be time, she +said. They would meet for tea. And somewhat to Dinah's surprise he had +yielded the point. + +They met for tea in a Bond Street restaurant and here Sir Eustace took +away his _fiancée's_ breath by presenting her with a pearl necklace to +wear at her wedding. + +She was almost too overwhelmed by the gift to thank him. "Oh, it's too +good--it's too good!" she said, awestruck by its splendour. + +"Nothing is too good for my wife," he said in his imperial fashion. + +Isabel smiled the smile that never reached her shadowed eyes. "A chain of +pearls to bind a bride!" she said. + +And the thought flashed upon Dinah that there was truth in her words. +Whether with intention or not, by every gift he gave her he bound her the +more closely to him. An odd little sensation of dismay accompanied it, +but she put it resolutely from her. Bound or not, what did it +matter--since she had no desire to escape? + +She thanked him again very earnestly that night in the conservatory, and +he pressed her to him and kissed the neck on which his pearls rested with +the hot lips of a thirsty man. But he had himself under control, and when +she sought to draw herself away he let her go. She wondered at his +forbearance and was mutely grateful for it. + +At Isabel's suggestion she went up to her room early. She was certainly +weary, but she was radiantly happy. It had been a wonderful day. The +beauty of the pearls dazzled her. She kissed them ere she laid them out +of sight. He was good to her. He was much too good. + +There came a knock at the door just as she was getting into bed, and +Biddy came softly in, her brown face full of mystery and, Dinah saw at a +glance, of anxiety also. + +She put up a warning finger as she advanced. "Whisht, Miss Dinah darlint! +For the love of heaven, don't ye make a noise! I just came in to ask ye a +question, for it's worried to death I am." + +"Why what's the matter, Biddy?" Dinah questioned in surprise. + +"And ye may well ask, Miss Dinah dear!" Tragedy made itself heard in +Biddy's rejoinder. "Sure it's them letters of Miss Isabel's that's +disappeared entirely, and left no trace. And what'll I do at all when she +comes to ask for them? It's not meself that'll dare to tell her as +they've gone, and she setting such store by them. She'll go clean out of +her mind, Miss Dinah, for sure, they've been her only comfort, poor lamb, +these seven years." + +"But, Biddy!" Impulsively Dinah broke in upon her, her eyes round with +surprise and consternation. "They can't be--gone! They must be somewhere! +Have you hunted for them? She left them on the window-sill, didn't she? +They must have got put away." + +"That they have not!" declared Biddy solemnly. "It's my belief that the +old gentleman himself must have spirited them away. The window was left +open, ye know, Miss Dinah, and it was a dark night." + +"Oh, Biddy, nonsense, nonsense! One of the servants must have moved them +when she was doing the room. Have you asked everyone?" + +"That couldn't have happened, Miss Dinah dear." Unshakable conviction was +in Biddy's voice. "I got up late, and I had to get Miss Isabel up in a +hurry to go off in the motor. But I missed the letters directly after she +was gone, and I hadn't left the room--except to call her. No one had been +in--not unless they slipped in in those few minutes while me back was +turned. And for what should anyone take such a thing as them letters, +Miss Dinah? There are no thieves in the house. And them love-letters were +worth nothing to nobody saving to Miss Isabel, and they were the very +breath of life to her when the black mood was on her. Whatever she'll +say--whatever she'll do--I don't dare to think." + +Poor Biddy flourished her apron as though she would throw it over her +head. Her parchment face was working painfully. + +Dinah sat on the edge of her bed and watched her, not knowing what to +say. + +"Where is Miss Isabel?" she asked at last. + +"She's still downstairs with Master Scott, and I'm expecting her up every +minute. It's herself that ought to be in bed by now, for she's tired out +after her long day; but he'll be bringing her up directly and then she'll +ask for her love-letters. There's never a night goes by but what she +kisses them before she lies down. When ye were ill, Miss Dinah dear, +she'd forget sometimes, but ever since she's been alone again she's never +missed, not once." + +"Have you told Master Scott?" asked Dinah. + +Biddy shook her head. "Would I add to his burdens, poor young gentleman? +He'll know soon enough." + +"And are you sure you've looked everywhere--everywhere?" insisted Dinah. +"If no one has taken them--" + +"Miss Dinah, I've turned the whole room upside down and shaken it," +declared Biddy. "I'll take my dying oath that them letters have gone." + +"Could they--could they possibly have fallen out of the window?" hazarded +Dinah. + +"Miss Dinah dear, no!" A hint of impatience born of her distress was +perceptible in the old woman's tone; she turned to the door. "Well, well, +it's no good talking. Don't ye fret yourself! What must be, will be." + +"But I think Scott ought to know," said Dinah. + +"No, no, Miss Dinah! We'll not tell him before we need. He's got his own +troubles. But I wonder--I wonder--" Biddy paused with the door-handle in +her bony old fingers--"how would it be now," she said slowly, "if ye was +to get Miss Isabel to sleep with ye again? She forgot last night. It's +likely she may forget again--unless he calls her." + +"Biddy!" exclaimed Dinah, startled. + +Biddy's beady eyes gleamed mysteriously. "Arrah, but it's the truth I'm +telling ye, Miss Dinah. He does call her. I've known him call her when +she's been lying in a deep sleep, and she'll rise up with her arms +stretched out and that look in her eyes!" Biddy's face crumpled +momentarily, but was swiftly straightened again. "Will ye do it then, +Miss Dinah? Ye needn't be afraid. I'll be within call. But when she's got +you, she don't seem to be craving for anyone else. What was it she called +ye only last night? Her good angel! And so ye be, me jewel; so ye be!" + +Dinah stood debating the matter. Biddy's expedient was of too temporary +an order to recommend itself to her. She wondered why Scott should not be +consulted, and it was with some vague intention of laying the matter +before him if an opportunity should occur that she finally gave her +somewhat hesitating consent. + +"I will do it of course, Biddy. I love her to sleep with me. But, you +know, it is bound to come out some time, unless you manage to find the +letters again. They must be somewhere." + +Biddy shook her head. "We must just leave that to the Almighty, Miss +Dinah dear," she said piously. "There's nothing else we can do at all. +I'll get back to her room now, and when she comes up, I'll tell her ye're +feeling lonely, and will she please to sleep with ye again. She won't +think of anything else then ye may be sure. Why, she worships the very +ground under your feet, mavourneen, like--like someone else I know." + +She was gone with the words, leaving upon Dinah a dim impression that her +last words were intended to convey something which she would have +translated into simpler language had she been at liberty to do so. + +She did not pay much attention to them. She was too troubled over her +former revelation to think seriously of anything else. Into her mind, +all unbidden, had flashed a sudden memory, and it held her like a +nightmare-vision. She saw Sir Eustace with that imperious frown on his +face holding out Isabel's treasure with a curt, "Take this thing away!" +She saw herself leap up and seize it from his intolerant grasp. She saw +Isabel's outstretched, pleading hands, and the piteous hunger in her +eyes.... + +When Isabel came to her that night, her face was all softened with +mother-love. She drew Dinah to her breast, kissing her very tenderly. + +"Did you want me to come and take care of you, my darling?" + +Dinah's heart smote her for the deception, but she answered bravely +enough, "Oh, Isabel, yes, yes! You are so good to me, I want you always." + +"Dear heart!" Isabel said, with a sigh, and folded her closer as though +she would guard her against all the world. + +She was the first to fall asleep notwithstanding, while Dinah lay +motionless and troubled far into the night. She wished that Biddy would +give her permission to tell Scott, for without that permission such a +step seemed like a betrayal of confidence. But for some reason Biddy +evidently thought that Scott had enough on his shoulders just then. And +so it seemed, she could only wait--only wait. + +She did not want to burden Scott unduly either, and there was something +about him just now, something of a repressing nature, that held her back +from confiding in him too freely. He seemed to have raised a barrier +between them since their return to England which no intimacy ever quite +succeeded in scaling. Full of brotherly kindness though he was, the old +frank fellowship was gone. It was as though he had realized her +dependence upon him, and were trying with the utmost gentleness to make +her stand alone. + +Dinah slept at last from sheer weariness, and forgot her troubles. She +must not tell Scott, she could not tell Eustace, and so there was no +other course but silence. But the anxiety of it weighed upon her even +through her slumber. Life was far more interesting than of yore. But +never, never before had it been so full of doubts and fears. The +complexity of it all was like an endless net, enmeshing her however +warily she stepped. + +And always, and always, at the back of her mind there lurked the dread +conviction that one day the net would be drawn close, and she would find +herself a helpless prisoner in the grip of a giant. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DIVINE SPARK + + +With the morning Dinah found her anxieties less oppressive. Isabel was +becoming so much more like herself that she was able to put the matter +from her and in a measure forget it. Like Biddy, she began to hope that +by postponing the evil hour they might possibly evade it altogether. For +there was nothing abnormal about Isabel during that day or those that +succeeded it. The time passed quickly. There was much to be done, much +to be discussed and decided, and their thoughts were fully occupied. +Dinah felt as one whirled in a torrent. She could not think of the great +undercurrent. She could deal only with the things on the surface. + +How that week sped away she never afterwards fully recalled. It passed +like a fevered dream. Two more journeys to town with Isabel, the ordeal +of a dinner at the house of a neighbouring magnate, a much less +formidable tea at the Vicarage, on which occasion Mr. Grey drew her aside +and thanked her for using her influence over Sir Eustace in the right +direction and earnestly exhorted her to maintain and develop it as far as +possible when she was married, a few riding-lessons with Scott who always +seemed so much more imposing in the saddle than out of it and knew so +exactly how to instruct her, a few wild races in Sir Eustace's car from +which she always returned in a state of almost delirious exultation, and +then night after night the sleep of utter weariness, with Isabel lying by +her side. + +The last night came upon her almost with a sense of shock. It had become +a custom for her to sit in the conservatory with Sir Eustace after +dinner, and here with the lights turned low he was wont to pour out to +her all the fiery worship which throughout the day he curbed. No one ever +disturbed them, but they were close to Isabel's sitting-room where Scott +was wont to sit and read while his sister lay on her couch resting and +listening. The murmur of his voice was audible to Dinah, and the +knowledge of his close proximity gave her a courage which surely had not +been hers otherwise. She was learning how to receive her lover's +demonstrations without starting away in affright. If he ever startled +her, the sound of Scott's voice in the adjoining room would always +reassure her. She knew that Scott was at hand and would never fail her. + +But on that last night Sir Eustace was more ardent than she had ever +known him. He seemed to be almost fiercely resentful of the coming +separation, brief though it was to be, and he would not suffer her out of +reach of his hand. + +Wedding presents had begun to arrive, and in some fashion they seemed to +increase his impatience. + +"I can't think what we are waiting for," he said, with his arm about her, +drawing her close. "All this pomp and circumstance is nothing but a +hindrance. It's you I want, not your wedding finery. You had better be +married first and get the finery afterwards, as it isn't to be in town." + +"Oh, but I want a big wedding," protested Dinah. "It's going to be such +fun." + +He laughed, holding her pointed chin between his finger and thumb. "I +believe that's all you care about, you little heartless witch. I don't +count at all. You'd have enjoyed this week every bit as well if I hadn't +been here." + +She winced a little at his words, for somehow they went home. "There +hasn't been much time for anything, has there?" she said. "But--but I've +enjoyed the motor rides, and--and I ought to thank you for being so very +good to me." + +He kissed the quivering lips, and she slipped a shy arm round his neck +with the feeling that she owed it to him. But she did not return his +kisses, for she was afraid to feed the flame that already leapt so high. + +"You've nothing to thank me for," he said presently, when she turned her +face at last abashed into his shoulder. "I may be giving more than you at +this stage, but it won't be so later. You shall have the opportunity of +paying me back in full. How does that appeal to you, Daphne the demure? +Are you going to be a good little wife to me?" + +"I'll try," she whispered. + +"And give me all I ask--always?" + +"I'll try," she whispered again more faintly, conscious of that +terrifying sense of being so merged into his overwhelming personality +that the very breath she drew seemed not her own. + +He lifted her into his arms, holding her hard pressed against the +throbbing of his heart. "You wisp of thistledown!" he said. "You feather! +How have you managed to set me on fire like this? I think of nothing but +you--the fairy wonder of you--day and night. If you were to slip out of +my reach now, I believe I should follow and kill you." + +Dinah lay across his breast in palpitating submission to his will. She +could hear his heart beating like a rising tempest, and the force of his +passion overcame her like a tornado. His kisses were like the flames of a +fiery furnace. She felt stifled, shattered by his violence. But in the +room beyond she still heard that steady voice reading aloud, and it kept +her from panic. She knew that she had only to raise her own voice, and he +would be with her,--Greatheart of the golden armour, strong and fearless +in her defence. + +Sir Eustace heard that quiet voice also, as one hears the warning of +conscience. He slackened his hold upon her, with a quivering, half-shamed +laugh. + +"Only another fortnight," he said, "and I shall have you to myself--all +day and all night too." He looked at her with sudden critical attention. +"You had better go to bed, child. You look like a little tired ghost." + +She did not feel like a ghost, for she was burning from head to foot. But +as she slipped from his arms the ground seemed to be rocking all around +her. She stretched out her hands blindly, gasping, feeling for support. + +He was up in a moment, holding her. "What is it? Aren't you well?" + +She sank against him for she could not stand. He held her with a +tenderness that was new to her. + +"My darling, have I tired you out? What a thoughtless brute I am!" + +It was the first time she had ever heard a word of self-reproach upon his +lips; the first time, though she knew it not, that actual love inspired +him, entering as it were through that breach in the wall of overbearing +pride that girt him round. + +She leaned against him with more confidence than she had ever before +known, dizzy still, and conscious of a rush of tears behind her closed +lids. For that sudden compunction of his hurt her oddly. She did not know +how to meet it. + +He bent over her. "Getting better, little sweetheart? Oh, don't cry! What +happened? Did I hurt you--frighten you?" + +He was stroking her hair soothingly, persuasively, his dark face so close +to hers that when she opened her eyes they looked up straight into his. +But she saw nought to frighten her there, and after a moment she reached +up and kissed him apologetically. + +"I'm only silly--only silly," she murmured confusedly. "Good night--good +night--Apollo!" + +And with the words she stood up, summoning her strength, smiled upon him, +and slipped free from his encircling arm. + +He did not seek to detain her. She flitted from his presence like a +fluttering white moth, and he was left alone. He stood quite motionless +in the semi-darkness, breathing deeply, his clenched hands pressed +against his sides. + +That moment had been a revelation to him also. He was abruptly conscious +of the spirit so dominating the body that the fierce, ungoverned heart of +him drew back ashamed as a beast will shrink from the flare of a torch, +and he felt strangely conquered, almost cowed, as though an angel with a +flaming sword had suddenly intervened between him and his desire. + +The madness of his passion was yet beating in his veins, but this--this +was another and a stronger element before which all else became +contemptible. The soul of the man had sprung from sleep like an awaking +giant. Half in wonder and half in awe, he watched the kindling of the +Divine Spark that outshineth every earthly fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BROKEN HEART + + +The return home was to Dinah like a sudden plunge into icy depths after a +brief sojourn in the tropics. The change of atmosphere was such that she +seemed actually to feel it in her bones, and her whole being, physical +and mental contracted in consequence. Her mother treated her with all her +customary harshness, and Dinah, grown sensitive by reason of much +petting, shrank almost with horror whenever she came in contact with the +iron will that had subjugated her from babyhood. + +Before the first week was over, she was counting the days to her +deliverance; but of this fact she hinted nothing in her letters to her +lover. These were carefully worded, demure little epistles that gave him +not the smallest inkling of her state of mind. She was far too much +afraid of him to betray that. + +Had she been writing to Scott she could scarcely have repressed it. In +one letter to Isabel indeed something of her yearning for the vanished +sunshine leaked out; but very strangely Isabel did not respond to the +pathetic little confidence, and Dinah did not venture to repeat it. +Perhaps Isabel was shocked. + +The last week came, and with it the arrival of wedding-presents from her +father and friends that lifted Dinah out of her depression and even +softened her mother into occasional good-humour. Preparations for the +wedding began in earnest. Billy, released somewhat before the holidays +for the occasion, returned home, and everything took a more cheerful +aspect. + +Dinah could not feel that her mother's attitude towards herself had +materially altered. It was sullen and threatening at times, almost as if +she resented her daughter's good fortune, and she lived in continual +dread of an outbreak of the cruel temper that had so embittered her home +life. But Billy's presence made a difference even to that. His influence +was entirely wholesome, and he feared no one. + +"Why don't you stand up to her?" he said to his sister on one occasion +when he found her weeping after an overwhelming brow-beating over some +failure in the kitchen. "She'd think something of you then." + +Dinah had no answer. She could not convince him that her spirit had been +broken for such encounters long ago. Billy had never been tied up to a +bed-post and whipped till limp with exhaustion, but such treatment had +been her portion more times than she could number. + +But every hour brought her deliverance nearer, and so far she had managed +to avoid physical violence though the dread of it always menaced her. + +"Why does she hate me so?" Over and over again she asked herself the +question, but she never found any answer thereto; and she was fain to +believe her father's easy-going verdict: "There's no accounting for your +mother's tantrums; they've got to be visited on somebody." + +She wondered what would happen when she was no longer at hand to act as +scapegoat, and yet it seemed to her that her mother longed to be rid of +her. + +"I'll get things into good order when you're out of the way," she said +to her on the last evening but one before the wedding-day, the evening +on which the Studleys were to arrive at the Court. "You're just a born +muddler, and you'll never be anything else, Lady Studley or no Lady +Studley. Get along upstairs and dress yourself for your precious +dinner-party, or your father will be ready first! Oh, it'll be a good +thing when it's all over and done with, but if you think you'll ever get +treated as a grand lady here, you're very much mistaken. Home broth is +all you'll ever get from me, so you needn't expect anything different. +If you don't like it, you can stop away." + +Dinah escaped from the rating tongue as swiftly as she dared. She knew +that her mother had been asked to dine at the Court also--for the first +time in her life--and had tersely refused. She wasn't going to be +condescended to by anybody, she had told her husband in Dinah's hearing, +and he had merely shrugged his shoulders and advised her to please +herself. + +Billy had not been asked, somewhat to his disgust; but he looked forward +to seeing Scott again in the morning and ordered Dinah to ask him to +lunch with them. + +So finally Dinah and her father set forth alone in one of the motors from +the Court to attend the gathering of County magnates that the de Vignes +had summoned in honour of Sir Eustace Studley and his chosen bride. + +She wore one of her trousseau gowns for the occasion, a pale green +gossamer-like garment that made her look more nymph-like than ever. Her +mother had surveyed it with narrowed eyes and a bitter sneer. + +"Ok yes, you'll pass for one of the quality," she had said. "No one would +take you for a child of mine any way." + +"That's no fault of the child's, Lydia," her father had rejoined +good-humouredly, and in the car he had taken her little cold hand into +his and asked her kindly enough if she were happy. + +She answered him tremulously in the affirmative, the dread of her mother +still so strong upon her that she could think of nothing but the relief +of escape. And then before she had time to prepare herself in any way for +the sudden transition she found herself back in that tropical, brilliant +atmosphere in which thenceforth she was to move and have her being. + +She could not feel that she would ever shine there. There were so many +bright lights, and though her father was instantly and completely at home +she felt dazzled and strange, till all-unexpectedly someone came to her +through the great lamp-lit hall, haltingly yet with purpose, and held her +hand and asked her how she was. + +The quiet grasp steadied her, and in a moment she was radiantly happy, +all her troubles and anxieties swept from her path. "Oh, Scott!" she +said, and her eyes beamed upon him the greeting her lips somehow refused +to utter. + +He was laughing a little; his look was quizzical. "I have been on the +look-out for you," he told her. "It's the best man's privilege, isn't it? +Won't you introduce me to your father?" + +She did so, and then Rose glided forward, exquisite in maize satin and +pearls, and smilingly detached her from the two men and led her upstairs. + +"We are to have a little informal dance presently," she said. "Did I tell +you in my note? No? Oh, well, no doubt it will be a pleasant little +surprise for you. How very charming you are looking, my dear! I didn't +know you had it in you. Did you choose that pretty frock yourself?" + +Dinah, with something of her mother's bluntness of speech, explained that +the creation in question had been Isabel's choice, and Rose smiled as one +who fully understood the situation. + +"She has been very good to you, poor soul, has she not?" she said. "She +is not coming down to-night. The journey has fatigued her terribly. That +funny, old-fashioned nurse of hers has asked very particularly that she +may not be disturbed, except to see you for a few minutes later." + +"Is she worse?" asked Dinah, startled. + +Whereat Rose shook her dainty head. "Has she ever been better? No, poor +thing, I am afraid her days are numbered, nor could one in kindness wish +it otherwise. Still, I mustn't sadden you, dear. You have got to look +your very best to-night, or Sir Eustace will be disappointed. There are +quite a lot of pretty girls coming, and you know what he is." Rose +uttered a little self-conscious laugh. "Put on a tinge of colour, dear!" +she said, as Dinah stood before the mirror in her room. "You look such a +little brown thing; just a faint glow on your cheeks would be such an +improvement." + +"No, thank you," said Dinah, and flushed suddenly and hotly at the +thought of what she had once endured at her mother's hands for daring to +pencil the shadows under her eyes. It had been no more than a girlish +trick--an experiment to pass an idle moment. But it had been treated as +an offence of immeasurable enormity, and she winced still at the memory +of all that that moment's vanity had entailed. + +Rose looked at her appraisingly. "No, perhaps you don't need it after +all, not anyhow when you blush like that. You have quite a pretty blush, +Dinah, and you are wise to make the most of it. Are you ready, dear? Then +we will go down." + +She rustled forth with Dinah beside her, shedding a soft fragrance of +some Indian scent as she moved that somehow filled Dinah with +indignation, like a resentful butterfly in search of more wholesome +delights. + +Eustace was in the hall when they descended. He came forward to meet his +_fiancée_, and her heart throbbed fast and hard at the sight of him. But +his manner was so strictly casual and impersonal that her agitation +speedily passed, and by the time they were seated side by side at +dinner--for the last time in their lives, as the Colonel jocosely +remarked--she could not feel that she had ever been anything nearer to +him than a passing acquaintance. + +She was shy and very quiet. The hubbub of voices, the brilliance of it +all, overwhelmed her. If Scott had been on her other side, she would have +been much happier, but he was far away making courteous conversation for +the benefit of a deaf old lady whom no one else made the smallest effort +to entertain. + +Suddenly Sir Eustace disengaged himself from the general talk and turned +to her. "Dinah!" he said. + +Her heart leapt again. She glanced at him and caught the gleam of the +hunter in those rapier-bright eyes of his. + +He leaned slightly towards her, his smile like a shining cloak, hiding +his soul. "Daphne," he said, and his voice came to her subtle, caressing, +commanding, through the gay tumult all about them, "there is going to be +dancing presently. Did you hear?" + +"Yes," she whispered with lowered eyes. + +"You will dance with only one to-night," he said. "That is understood, is +it?" + +"Yes," she whispered again. + +"Good!" he said. And then imperiously, "Why don't you drink some wine?" + +She made a slight, startled movement. "I never do, I don't like it." + +"You need it," he said, and made a curt sign to one of the servants. + +Wine was poured into her glass, and she drank submissively. The +discipline of the past two weeks had made her wholly docile. And the wine +warmed and cheered her in a fashion that made her think that perhaps he +was right and she had needed it. + +When the dinner came to an end she was feeling far less scared and +strange. Guests were beginning to assemble for the dance, and as they +passed out people whom she knew by sight but to whom she had never spoken +came up and talked with her as though they were old friends. Several men +asked her to dance, but she steadily refused them all. Her turn would +come later. + +"I am going up to see Mrs. Everard," was her excuse. "She is expecting +me." + +And then Scott came, and she turned to him with eager welcome. "Oh, +please, will you take me to see Isabel?" + +He gave her a straight, intent look, and led her out of the throng. + +His hand rested upon her arm as they mounted the stairs and she thought +he moved with deliberate slowness. At the top he spoke. + +"Dinah, before you see her I ought to prepare you for a change. She has +been losing ground lately. She is not--what she was." + +Dinah stopped short. "Oh, Scott!" She said in breathless dismay. + +His hand pressed upon her, but it seemed to be imparting strength rather +than seeking it. "I think I told you that day at the Dower House that she +was nearing the end of her journey. I don't want to sadden you. You +mustn't be sad. But you couldn't see her without knowing. It won't be +quite yet; but it will be--soon." + +He spoke with the utmost quietness; his face never varied. His eyes with +their steady comradeship looked straight into hers, stilling her +distress. + +"She is so tired," he said gently. "I don't think it ought to grieve us +that her rest is drawing near at last. She has so longed for it, poor +girl." + +"Oh, Scott!" Dinah said again, but she said it this time without +consternation. His steadfast strength had given her confidence. + +"Shall we go to her?" he said. "At least, I think it would be better if +you went alone. She is quite determined that nothing shall interfere with +your coming happiness, so you mustn't let her think you shocked or +grieved. I thought it best to prepare you, that's all." + +He led her gravely along the passage, and presently stopped outside a +closed door. He knocked three times as of old, and Dinah stood waiting as +one on the threshold of a holy place. + +The door, was opened by Biddy, and he pressed her forward. "Don't stay +long!" he said. "She is very tired to-night, and Eustace will be wanting +you." + +She squeezed his hand in answer and passed within. + +Biddy's wrinkled brown face smiled a brief welcome under its snowy cap. +She motioned her to approach. "Ye'll not stay long, Miss Dinah dear," she +whispered. "The poor lamb's very tired to-night." + +Dinah went forward. + +The window was wide open, and the rush of the west wind filled the room. +Isabel was lying in bed with her face to the night, wide-eyed, intent, +still as death. + +Noiselessly Dinah drew near. There was something in the atmosphere--a +ghostly, hovering presence--that awed her. In the sound of that racing +wind she seemed to hear the beat of mighty wings. + +She uttered no word, she was almost afraid to speak. But when she reached +the bed, when she bent and looked into Isabel's face, she caught her +breath in a gasping cry. For she was shocked--shocked unutterably--by +what she saw. Shrivelled as the face of one who had come through fiery +tortures, ashen-grey, with eyes in which the anguish of the burnt-out +flame still lingered, eyes that were dead to hope, eyes that were open +only to the darkness, such was the face upon which she looked. + +Biddy was by her side in a moment, speaking in a rapid whisper. "Arrah +thin, Miss Dinah darlint, don't ye be scared at all! She'll speak to ye +in a minute, sure. It's only that she's tired to-night. She'll be more +herself like in the morning." + +Dinah hung over the still figure. Biddy's whispering was as the buzzing +of a fly. She heard it with the outer sense alone. + +"Isabel!" she said; and again with a passionate earnestness, +"Isabel--darling--my darling--what has happened to you?" + +At the sound of that pleading voice Isabel moved, seeming as it were to +return slowly from afar. + +"Why, Dinah dear!" she said. + +Her dark eyes smiled up at her in welcome, but it was a smile that cut +her to the heart with its aloofness, its total lack of gladness. + +Dinah stooped to kiss her. "Are you so tired, dearest? Perhaps I had +better go away." + +But Isabel put up a trembling, skeleton hand and detained her. "No, dear, +no! I am not so tired as that. I can't talk much; but I can listen. Sit +down and tell me about yourself!" + +Dinah sat down, but she could think of nothing but the piteous, lined +face upon the pillow and the hopeless suffering of the eyes that looked +forth from it. + +She held Isabel's hand very tightly, though its terrible emaciation +shocked her anew, and so for a time they were silent while Isabel seemed +to drift back again into the limitless spaces out of which Dinah's coming +had for a moment called her. + +It was Biddy who broke the silence at last, laying a gnarled and +quivering hand upon Dinah as she sat. + +"Ye'd better come again in the morning, mavourneen," she said. "She's too +far off to-night to heed ye." + +Dinah started. Her eyes were full of tears as she bent and kissed the +poor, wasted fingers she held, realizing with poignant certainty as she +did it the truth of the old woman's statement. Isabel was too far off to +heed. + +Then, as she rose to go, a strange thing happened. The tender strains of +a waltz, _Simple Aveu_, floated softly in broken snatches in on the west +wind, and again--as one who hears a voice that calls--Isabel came back. +She raised herself suddenly. Her face was alight, transfigured--the face +of a woman on the threshold of Love's sanctuary. + +"Oh, my dearest!" she said, and her voice thrilled as never Dinah had +heard it thrill before. "How I have waited for this! How I have waited!" + +She stretched out her arms in one second of rapture unutterable; and then +almost in the same moment they fell. The youth went out of her, she +crumpled like a withered flower. + +"Biddy!" she said. "Oh, Biddy, tell them to stop! I can't bear it! I +can't bear it!" + +Dinah went to the window and closed it, shutting out the haunting +strains. That waltz meant something to her also, something with which for +the moment she felt she could not cope. + +Turning, she saw that Isabel was clinging convulsively to the old nurse, +and she was crying, crying, crying, as one who has lost all hope. + +"But it's too late to do her any good," mourned Biddy over the bowed +head. "It's the tears of a broken heart." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WRATH OF THE GODS + + +The paroxysm did not last long, and in that fact most poignantly did +Dinah realize the waning strength. + +Dumbly she stood and watched Biddy lay the inanimate figure back upon the +pillows. Isabel had sunk into a state of exhaustion that was almost +torpor. + +"She'll sleep now, dear lamb," said Biddy, and tenderly covered her over +as though she had been a child. + +She turned round to Dinah, looking at her with shrewd darting eyes. "Ye'd +better be getting along to your lover, Miss Dinah," she said. "He'll be +wanting ye to dance with him." + +But Dinah stood her ground with a little shiver. The bare thought of +dancing at that moment made her feel physically sick. "Biddy! Biddy!" she +whispered, "what has happened to make her--like this?" + +"And ye may well ask!" said Biddy darkly. "But it's not for me to tell +ye. Ye'd best run along, Miss Dinah dear, and be happy while ye can." + +"But I'm not happy!" broke from Dinah. "How can I be? Biddy, what has +happened? You must tell me if you can. She wasn't like this a fortnight +ago. She has never been--quite like this--before." + +Biddy pursed her lips. "Sure, we none of us travel the same road twice, +Miss Dinah," she said. + +But Dinah would not be satisfied with so vague an axiom. + +"Something has happened," she said. "Come into the next room and tell me +all about it! Please, Biddy!" + +Biddy glanced at the bed. "She'll not hear ye in here, Miss Dinah," she +said. "And what for should I be telling ye at all? Ye'll be Sir Eustace's +bride in less than forty-eight hours from now, so it's maybe better ye +shouldn't know." + +"I must know," Dinah said, and with the words a great wave of resolution +went through her, uplifting her, inspiring her. "I've got to know," she +said. "Whatever happens, I've got to know." + +Biddy left the bedside and came close to her. "If ye insist, Miss +Dinah--" she said. + +"I do--I do insist." Never in her life before had Dinah spoken with such +authority, but a force within was urging her--a force irresistible; she +spoke as one compelled. + +Biddy came closer still. "Ye'll not tell Master Scott--nor any of 'em--if +I tell ye?" she whispered. + +"No, no; of course--no!" Dinah's voice came breathlessly; she had not the +power to draw back. + +"Ye promise, Miss Dinah?" Biddy could be insistent too; her eyes burned +like live coals. + +"I promise, yes." Dinah held out an impulsive hand. "You can trust me," +she said. + +Biddy's fingers closed claw-like upon it. "Whist now, Miss Dinah!" she +said. "If Sir Eustace was to hear me, sure, he'd wring the neck on me +like as if I was an old fowl. But ye've asked me what's happened, +mavourneen, and sure, I'll tell ye. For it's the pretty young lady that +ye are and a cruel shame that ye should ever belong to the likes of him. +It's his doing, Miss Dinah, every bit of it, and it's the truth I'm +speaking, as the Almighty Himself could tell ye if He'd a mind to. The +poor lamb was fading away aisy like, but he came along and broke her +heart. It was them letters, Miss Dinah. He took 'em. And he burned 'em, +my dear, he burned 'em, and when ye were gone she missed 'em, and then he +told her what he'd done, told her brutal-like that it was time she'd done +with such litter. He said it was all damn' nonsense that she was wasting +her life over 'em and over the dead. Oh, it was wicked, it was cruel. And +she--poor innocent--she locked herself up when he'd gone and cried and +cried and cried till the poor heart of her was broke entirely. She said +she'd lost touch with her darling husband and he'd never come back to her +again." + +"Biddy!" Horror undisguised sounded in Dinah's low voice. "He never did +such a thing as that!" + +"He did that!" A queer species of triumph was apparent in Biddy's +rejoinder; malice twinkled for a second in her eyes. "I've told ye! I've +told ye!" she said. And then, with sharp anxiety. "But ye'll not tell +anyone as ye know, Miss Dinah. Ye promised, now didn't ye? Miss Isabel +wouldn't that any should know--not even Master Scott. He was away when it +happened, dining down at the Vicarage he was. And Miss Isabel she says to +me, 'For the life of ye, don't tell Master Scott! He'd be that angry,' +she says, 'and Sir Eustace would murder him entirely if it came to a +quarrel.' She was that insistent, Miss Dinah, and I knew there was truth +in what she said. Master Scott has the heart of a lion. He never knew the +meaning of fear from his babyhood. And Sir Eustace is a monster of +destruction when once his blood's up. And he minds what Master Scott says +more than anyone. So I promised, Miss Dinah dear, the same as you have. +And so he doesn't know to this day. Sir Eustace, ye see, has been in a +touchy mood all along, ever since ye left. Like gunpowder he's been, and +Master Scott has had a difficult enough time with him; and Miss Isabel +has kept it from him so that he thinks it was just your going again that +made her fret so. There, now ye know all, Miss Dinah dear, and don't ye +for the love of heaven tell a soul what I've told ye! Miss Isabel would +never forgive me if she came to know. Ah, the saints preserve us, what's +that?" + +A brisk tap at the door had made her jump with violence. She went to +parley with a guilty air. + +In a moment or two she shut the door and came back. "It's that flighty +young French hussy, Miss Dinah; her they call Yvonne. She says Sir +Eustace is waiting for ye downstairs." + +A great revulsion of feeling went through Dinah. It shook her like an +overwhelming tempest and passed, leaving her deadly cold. She turned +white to the lips. + +"I can't go to him, Biddy," she said. "I can't dance to-night. Yvonne +must tell him." + +Biddy gave her a searching look. "Ye won't let him find out, Miss Dinah?" +she urged. "Won't he guess now if ye stay up here?" + +The earnest entreaty of the old bright eyes moved her. She turned to the +door. "Oh, very well. I'll go myself and tell him." + +"Ye won't let him suspect, mavourneen--mavourneen?" pleaded Biddy +desperately. + +"No, Biddy, no! Haven't I sworn it a dozen times already?" Dinah had +reached the door; she looked back for a moment and her look was steadfast +notwithstanding the deathly pallor of her face. Then she passed slowly +forth, and heard old Biddy softly turn the key behind her, making +assurance doubly sure. + +Slowly she moved along the passage. It was deserted, but the sound of +laughing voices and the tuning of violins floated up from below. Again +that feeling that was akin to physical sickness assailed Dinah. Down +there he was waiting for her, waiting to be intoxicated into headlong, +devouring passion by her dancing. She seemed to feel his arms already +holding her, straining her to him, so that the warmth of him was as a +fiery atmosphere all about her, encompassing her, possessing her. Her +whole body burned at the thought, and then again was cold--cold as though +she had drunk a draught of poison. She stood still, feeling too sick to +go on. + +And then, while she waited, she heard a step. Her heart seemed to spring +into her throat, throbbing wildly like a caged bird seeking freedom. She +drew back against the wall, trembling from head to foot. + +He came along the passage, magnificent, princely, confident, swinging his +shoulders with that semi-conscious swagger she knew so well. He spied her +where she stood, and she heard his brief, half-mocking laugh as he strode +to her. + +"Ah, Daphne! Hiding as usual!" he said. + +He took her between his hands, and she felt the mastery of him in that +free hold. She stood as a prisoner in his grasp. Her new-found resolution +was gone at the first contact with that overwhelming personality of his. +She hung her head in quivering distress. + +He bent down, bringing his face close to hers. He tried to look into the +eyes that she kept downcast. + +And suddenly he spoke again, softly into her ear. "Why so shy, little +sweetheart? Are you getting frightened now the time is so near?" + +Her breathing quickened at his tone. Possessive though it was, it held +that tender note that was harder to bear than all his fiercest passion. +She could not speak in answer. No words would come. + +He put his arm around her and held her close. "But you mustn't be afraid +of me," he said. "Don't you know I love you? Don't you know I am going to +make you the happiest little woman in the world?" + +Dinah choked down some scalding tears. She longed to escape from the +holding of his arm, and yet her torn spirit felt the comfort of it. She +stood silent, shaken, unnerved, piteously conscious of her utter +weakness--the weakness wrought by that iron discipline that had never +suffered her to have any will of her own. + +He put up a hand and pressed her drooping head against his shoulder. +"There's nothing very dreadful in being married, dear," he told her. "I'm +not such a devouring monster as I may seem. Why, I wouldn't hurt a hair +of your head. They are all precious to me." + +She quivered at his use of the word that Biddy had employed with such +venom only a few minutes before; but still she said nothing. What could +she say? Against this new weapon of his she was more helpless than ever. +She hid her face against him and strove for self-control. + +He kissed her temple and the clustering hair above it. "There now! You +are not going to be a silly little scared fawn any more. Come along and +dance it off!" + +His arm encircled her shoulders; he began to lead her to the stairs. + +And Dinah went, slave-like in her submission, but hating herself the more +for every step she took. + +They went to the ballroom, and presently they danced. But the old subtle +charm was absent. Her feet moved to the rhythm of the music, her body +swayed and pulsed to the behest of his; but her spirit stood apart, +bruised and downcast and very much alone. Her gilded palace had fallen +all about her in ruins. The deliverance to which she had looked forward +so eagerly was but another bondage that would prove more cruel and more +enslaving than the first. She longed with all her quivering heart to run +away and hide. + +He was very kind to her, more considerate than she had ever known him. +Perhaps he missed the fairy abandonment which had so delighted him in her +dancing of old; but he found no fault; and when the dance was over he did +not lead her away to some private corner as she had dreaded, but took her +instead to her father and stood with him for some time in talk. + +She saw Scott in the distance, but he did not approach her while Eustace +was with them, and when her _fiancé_ turned away at length he had +disappeared. + +They were left comparatively alone, and Dinah slipped an urgent hand into +her father's. "I want to go home, Daddy. I'm so tired." + +He looked at her in surprise, but she managed to muster a smile in reply, +and he was not observant enough to note the distress that lay behind it. + +"Had enough of it, eh?" he questioned. "Well, I think you're wise. You'll +be busy to-morrow. By all means, let's go!" + +It was not till the very last moment that she saw Scott again. He came +forward just as she was passing through the hall to the front door. + +He took the hand she held out to him, looking at her with those straight, +steady eyes of his that there was no evading, but he made no comment of +any sort. + +"Mr. Grey is coming by a morning train to-morrow," he said. "May I bring +him to call upon you in the afternoon? I believe he wants to run through +the wedding-service with you beforehand." + +He smiled as he said it, but Dinah could not smile in answer. There was +something ominous to her in that last sentence, something that made her +think of the clanking of chains. She was relieved to hear her father +answer for her. + +"Come by all means! Nothing like a dress rehearsal to make things go +smoothly. I'll tell my wife to expect you." + +Scott's hand relinquished hers, and she felt suddenly cold. She murmured +a barely audible "Good night!" and turned away. + +From the portico she glanced back and saw Sir Eustace leading Rose de +Vigne to the ballroom. The light shone full upon them. They made a +splendid couple. And a sudden bizarre thought smote her. This was what +the gods had willed. This had been the weaving of destiny; and +she--she--had dared to intervene, frustrating, tearing the gilded, +smooth-wrought threads apart. + +Ah well! It was done now. It was too late to draw back. But the wrath of +the gods remained to be faced. Already it was upon her, and there was no +escape. + +As one who hears a voice speaking from a far distance, she heard herself +telling her father that all was well with her and she had spent an +enjoyable evening. + +Then she lay back in the car with clenched hands, and listened trembling +to the thundering wheels of Destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SAPPHIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP + + +No girl ever worked harder in preparation for her own wedding than did +Dinah on the following day. + +That she had scarcely slept all night was a fact that no one suspected. +Work-a-day Dinah, as her father was wont to call her, was not an object +of great solicitude to any in her home-circle, and for the first time in +her life she was thankful that such was the case. + +Her mother's hard gipsy eyes watched only for delinquencies, and her +rating tongue was actually a relief to Dinah after the dread solitude of +those long hours. She was like a prisoner awaiting execution, and even +that harsh companionship was in a measure helpful to her. + +The time passed with appalling swiftness. When the luncheon hour arrived +she was horrified to find that the morning had gone. She could eat +nothing, a fact which raised a jeering laugh from her mother and a +chaffing remonstrance from her father. Billy had gone riding on Rupert +and had not returned. Billy always came and went exactly as he pleased. + +One or two more presents from friends of her father's had arrived by the +midday post. Mrs. Bathurst unpacked them, admiring them with more than a +touch of envy, assuring Dinah that she was a very lucky girl, luckier +than she deserved to be; but Dinah, though she acquiesced, had no heart +for presents. She could only see--as she had seen all through the +night--the piteous, marred face of a woman who had passed through such an +intensity of suffering as she could only dimly guess at into the dark of +utter despair. She could only hear, whichever way she turned, the +clanking of the chains that in so brief a time were to be welded +irrevocably about herself. + +Luncheon over, she went up to dress and to finish the packing of the new +trunks which were to accompany her upon her honeymoon. She had not even +yet begun to realize these strange belongings of hers. She could no +longer visualize herself as a bride. She looked upon all the finery as +destined for another, possibly Rose de Vigne, but emphatically not for +herself. + +The wedding-dress and veil lying in their box, swathed in tissue-paper, +had a gossamer unreality about them that even the sense of touch could +not dispel. No--no! The bride of to-morrow was surely, surely, not +herself! + +They were to spend the first part of their honeymoon at a little +place on the Cornish coast, very far from everywhere, as Sir Eustace +said. She thought of that little place with a vague wonder. It was the +stepping-stone between the life she now knew and that new unknown life +that awaited her. She would go there just Dinah--work-a-day Dinah--her +own ordinary self. She would leave a fortnight after, possibly less, a +totally different being--a married woman, Lady Studley, part and parcel +of Sir Eustace's train, his most intimate belonging, most exclusively his +own. + +She trembled afresh as this thought came home to her. Despite his +assurances, marriage seemed to her a terrible thing. It was like parting, +not only with the old life, but with herself. + +She dressed mechanically, scarcely thinking of her appearance, roused +only at length from her pre-occupation by the tread of hoofs under her +window. She leaned forth quickly and discerned Scott on horseback,--a +trim, upright figure, very confident in the saddle--and with him Billy +still mounted on Rupert and evidently in the highest spirits. + +The latter spied her at once and accosted her in his cracked, cheerful +voice. "Hi, Dinah! Come down! We're going to tea at the Court. Scott will +walk with you, and I'm going to ride his gee." + +He rolled off Rupert with the words. Scott looked up at her, faintly +smiling as he lifted his hat. "I hope that plan will suit you," he said. +"The fact is the padre has been detained and can't get here before +tea-time. So we thought--Eustace thought--you wouldn't mind coming up to +the Court to tea instead of waiting to see him here." + +It crossed her mind to wonder why Eustace had not come himself to fetch +her, but she was conscious of a deep, unreasoning thankfulness that he +had not. Then, before she could reply, she heard her father's voice in +the porch, inviting Scott to enter. + +Scott accepted the invitation, and Dinah turned back into the room to +prepare for the walk. + +Her hands were trembling so much that they could scarcely serve her. She +was in a state of violent and uncontrollable agitation, longing one +moment to be gone, and the next desiring desperately to remain where she +was. The thought of facing the crowd at the Court filled her with a +positive tumult of apprehension, but breathlessly she kept telling +herself that Scott would be there--Scott would be there. His sheltering +presence would be her protection. + +And then, still trembling, still unnerved, she descended to meet him. + +He was with her father in the drawing-room. The place was littered with +wedding-presents. + +As she entered, he came towards her, and in a moment his quiet hand +closed upon hers. Her father went out in search of her mother and they +were alone. + +"What a collection of beautiful things you have here!" he said. + +She looked at him, met his steady eyes, and suddenly some force of speech +broke loose within her; she uttered words wild and passionate, such as +she had never till that moment dreamed of uttering. + +"Oh, don't talk of them! Don't think of them! They suffocate me!" + +She saw his face change, but she could not have analysed the expression +it took. He was silent for a moment, and in that moment his fingers +tightened hard and close upon her hand. + +Then, "I have brought you a small offering on my own account," he said in +his courteous, rather tired voice. "May I present it? Or would you rather +I waited a little?" + +She felt the tears welling up, swiftly, swiftly, and clasped her throat +to stay them. "Of course I would like it," she murmured almost +inarticulately. "That--that is different." + +He took a small, white packet from his pocket and put it into the hand he +had been holding, without a word. + +Dumbly, with quivering fingers, she opened it. There was something of +tragedy in the silence, something of despair. + +The paper fluttered to the ground, leaving a leather case in her grasp. +She glanced up at him. + +"Won't you look inside?" he said gently. + +She did so, in her eyes those burning tears she could not check. And +there, gleaming on its bed of white velvet, she saw a wonderful jewel--a +great star-shaped sapphire, deep as the heart of a fathomless pool, edged +with diamonds that flashed like the sun upon the ripples of its shores. +She gazed and gazed in silence. It was the loveliest thing she had ever +seen. + +Scott was watching her, his eyes very still, unchangeably steadfast. "The +sapphire for friendship," he said. + +She started as one awaking from a dream. In the passage outside the +half-open door she heard the sound of her mother's voice approaching. +With a swift movement she closed the case and hid it in her dress. + +"I can't show it to anyone yet," she said hurriedly. + +Her tone appealed. He answered her immediately. "It is for you and no one +else." + +His voice held nought but kindness, comprehension, comfort. + +He turned from her the next moment to meet her mother, and she heard him +speaking in his easy, leisured tones, gaining time for her, making her +path easy, as had ever been his custom. + +And again unbidden, unavoidable, there came to her the vision of +Greatheart--Greatheart the valiant--her knight of the golden armour, +going before her, strong to defend,--invincible, unafraid, sure by means +of that sureness which is given only to those who draw upon a Higher +Power than their own, given only to the serving-men of God. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE OPEN DOOR + + +Billy had already departed upon Scott's mount era he and Dinah set forth +to walk to the Court. It was threatening to rain, and the ground beneath +their feet was sodden and heavy. + +"It is rather a shame to ask you to walk," said Scott, as they turned up +the muddy road. "They would have sent a car for you if I had thought." + +"I would much rather walk," said Dinah. Her face was very pale. She +looked years older than she had looked at Willowmount. After a moment she +added, "We shall pass the church. Perhaps you would like to see it. They +were going to decorate it this morning." + +"I should," said Scott. + +He limped beside her, and she curbed her pace to his though the fever of +unrest that surged within her urged her forward. They went up the lane +that led to the church in almost unbroken silence. + +At the churchyard gate she paused. "I hope there is no one here," she +said uneasily. + +"We need not go in unless you wish," he answered. + +But when they reached the porch, they found that the church was empty, +and so they entered. + +A heavy scent of lilies pervaded the place. There was a wonderful white +arch of flowers at the top of the aisle, and the chancel was decked with +them. The space above the altar was a mass of white, perfumed splendour. +They had been sent down from the Court that morning. + +Slowly Scott passed up the nave with the bride-elect by his side, +straight to the chancel-steps, and there he paused. His pale face with +its light eyes was absolutely composed and calm. He looked straight up to +the dim richness of the stained-glass window above him as though he saw +beyond the flowers. + +For many seconds Dinah stood beside him, awed, waiting as it were for the +coming of a revelation. Whatever it might be she knew already that she +would not leave that holy place in the state of hopeless turmoil in which +she had entered. Something was coming to her, some new thing, that might +serve as an anchor in her distress even though it might not bring her +ultimate deliverance. + +Or stay! Was it a new thing? Was it not rather the unveiling of something +which had always been? Her heart quickened and became audible in the +stillness. She clasped her hands tightly together. And in that moment +Scott turned his head and looked at her. + +No word did he speak; only that straight, calm look--as of a man clean of +soul and fearless of evil. It told her nothing, that look, it opened to +her no secret chamber; neither did it probe her own quivering heart. It +was the kindly, reassuring look of a friend ready to stand by, ready to +lend a sure hand if such were needed. + +But by that look Dinah's revelation burst upon her. In that moment she +saw her own soul as never before had she seen it; and all the little +things, the shallow things, the earthly things, faded quite away. With a +deep, deep breath she opened her eyes upon the Vision of Love.... + +"Shall we go?" murmured Scott. + +She looked at him vaguely for a second, feeling stunned and blinded by +the radiance of that revelation. A black veil seemed to be descending +upon her; she put out a groping hand. + +He took it, and his hold was sustaining. He led her in silence down the +long, shadowy building to the porch. + +He would have led her further, but a sudden, heavy shower was falling, +and he had to pause. She sank down trembling upon the stone seat. + +"Scott! Oh, Scott!" she said. "Help me!" + +He made a slight, involuntary movement that passed unexplained. "I am +here to help you, my dear," he said, his voice very quiet and even. "You +mustn't be scared, you know. You'll get through it all right." + +She wrung her hands together in her extremity. "It isn't that," +she told him. "I--I suppose I've got to go through it--as you say so. +But--but--you'll think me very wicked, yet I must tell you--I've made--a +dreadful mistake. I'm marrying for money, for position, to get away from +home,--anything but love. I don't love him. I know now that I never +shall--never can! And I'd give anything--anything--anything to escape!" + +It was spoken. All the long-pent misgivings that had culminated in awful +certainty the night before had so wrought in her that now--now that the +revelation had come--she could no longer keep silence. But of that +revelation she would sooner have died than speak. + +Scott heard that wrung confession, standing before her with a stillness +that gave him a look of sternness. He spoke as she ended, possibly +because he realized that she would not be able to endure the briefest +silence at that moment, possibly because he dreamed of filling up the gap +ere it widened to an irreparable breach. + +"But, Dinah," he said, "don't you know he loves you?" + +She flung her hands wide in a gesture of the most utter despair. "That's +just the very worst part of it," she said. "That's just why there is no +getting away." + +"You don't want his love?" Scott questioned, his voice very low. + +She shook her head in instant negation. "Oh no, no, no!" + +He bent slightly towards her, looking into her face of quivering +agitation. "Dinah, are you sure it isn't all this pomp and circumstance +that is frightening you? Are you sure you have no love at all in your +heart for him?" + +She did not shrink from his look. Though she thought his eyes were stern, +she met them with the courage of desperation. "I am quite--quite--sure," +she told him brokenly. "I never loved him. I was dazzled, that's all. +But now--but now--the glamour is all gone. I would give anything--oh, +anything in the world--if only he would marry Rose de Vigne instead!" + +Her voice failed and with it her strength. She covered her face and wept +hopelessly, tragically. + +Scott stood motionless by her side. His brows were drawn as the brows of +a man in pain, but the eyes below them had the brightness of unwavering +resolution. There was something rocklike about his pose. + +The pattering of the rain mingled with the sound of Dinah's anguished +sobbing; there seemed to be no other sound in all the world. + +He moved at last, and into his eyes there came a very human look, +dispelling all hardness. He bent to her again, his hand upon her +shoulder. "My child," he said gently, "don't be so distressed! It isn't +too late--even now." + +He felt her respond to his touch, but she could not lift her head. "I can +never face him," she sobbed hopelessly. "I shall never, never dare!" + +"You must face him," Scott said quietly but very firmly. "You owe it to +him. Do you consider that you would be acting fairly by him if you +married him solely for the reasons you have just given to me?" + +She shrank at his words, trembling all over like a frightened child. But +his hand was still upon her, restraining panic. + +"He will be so angry--so furious," she faltered. + +"I will help you," Scott said steadily. + +"Ah!" she caught at the promise with an eagerness that was piteous. +"You won't leave me? You won't let me be alone with him? He can make +me do anything--anything--when I am alone with him. Oh, he is terrible +enough--even when he is not angry. He told me once that--that--if I were +to slip out of his reach, he would follow--and kill me!" + +The brightness returned to Scott's eyes; they shone with an almost steely +gleam. "You needn't be afraid of that," he said quietly. "Now tell me, +Dinah, for I want to know; how long have you known that you didn't want +to marry him?" + +But Dinah shrank at the question, as though he had probed a wound. +"Oh, I can't tell you that! As long as I have realized that I was bound +to him--I have been afraid! And now--now that it has come so close--" She +broke off. "Oh, but I can't draw back now," she said hopelessly. +"Think--only think--what it will mean!" + +Scott was silent for a few seconds, then: "If it would be easier for you +to go on," he said slowly, "perhaps--in the end--it may be better for +you; because he honestly loves you, and I think his love may make a +difference--in the end. Possibly you are nearer to loving him even now +than you imagine. If it is the dread of hurting him--not angering +him--that holds you back, then I do not think you would be doing wrong to +marry him. If you are just scared by the thought of to-morrow and +possibly the day after--" + +"Oh, but it isn't that! It isn't that!" Dinah cried the words out +passionately like a prisoner who sees the door of his cell closing +finally upon him. "It's because I'm not his! I don't belong to +him! I don't want to belong to him! The very thought makes me +feel--almost--sick!" + +"Then there is someone else," Scott said, with grave conviction. + +"Ah!" It was not so much a word as the sharp intake of breath that +follows the last and keenest thrust of the probe that has reached the +object of its search. Dinah suddenly became rigid and yet vibrant as +stretched wire. Her silence was the silence of the victim who dreads so +unspeakably the suffering to come as to be scarcely aware of present +anguish. + +But Scott was merciful. He withdrew the probe and very pitifully he +closed the wound that he had opened. "No, no!" he said. "That has nothing +to do with me--or with Eustace either. But it makes your case absolutely +plain. Come with me now--before you feel any worse about it--and ask him +to give you your release!" + +"Oh, Scott!" She looked up at him at last, and though there was a measure +of relief in her eyes, her face was deathly. "Oh, Scott,--dare I do +that?" + +"I shall be there," he said. + +"Yes,--yes, you will be there! You won't leave me? Promise!" She clasped +his arm in entreaty. + +He looked into her eyes, and there was a great kindness in his own---the +kindness of Greatheart arming himself to defend his pilgrims. "Yes, I +promise that," he said, adding, "unless I leave you at your own desire." + +"You will never do that," Dinah said and smiled with quivering lips. "You +are good to me. Oh, you are good! But--but--" + +"But what?" he questioned gently. + +"He may refuse to set me free," she said desperately. "What then?" + +"My dear, no one is married by force now-a-days," he said. + +Her face changed as a sudden memory swept across her. "And my mother! My +mother!" she said. + +"Don't you think we had better deal with one difficulty at a time?" +suggested Scott. + +His hand sought hers, he drew her to her feet. + +And, as one having no choice, she submitted and went with him. + +It was still raining, but the heaviest of the shower was over. A gleam of +sunshine lit the distance as they went, and a faint, faint ray of hope +dawned in Dinah's heart at the sight. Though her deliverance was yet to +be achieved, though she dreaded unspeakably that which lay before her, at +least the door was open, could she but reach it to pass through. She +breathed a purer air already. And beside her stood Greatheart the +valiant, covering her with his shield of gold. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LION IN THE PATH + + +A large and merry party of guests were congregated in the great hall at +Perrythorpe Court, having tea. One of them--a young soldier-cousin of the +Studleys--was singing a sentimental ditty at a piano to which no one was +listening; and the hubbub was considerable. + +Dinah, admitted into the outer hall that was curtained off from the gay +crowd, shrank nearer to Scott as the cheery tumult reached her. + +"Need we--must we--go in that way?" she whispered. + +There was a door on the right of the porch. Scott turned towards it. + +"I suppose we can go in there?" he said to the man who had admitted them. + +"The gun-room, sir? Yes, if you wish, sir. Shall I bring tea?" + +"No," Scott said quietly. "Find Sir Eustace Studley if you can, and ask +him to join us there! Come along, Dinah!" + +His hand touched her arm. She entered the little room as one seeking +refuge. It led into a conservatory, and thence to the garden. The +apartment itself was given up entirely to weapons or instruments of +sport. Guns, fishing-rods, hunting-stocks, golf-clubs, tennis-rackets, +were stored in various racks and stands. A smell of stale cigar-smoke +pervaded it. Colonel de Vigne was wont to retire hither at night in +preference to the less cosy and intimate smoking-room. + +But there was no one here now, and Scott laid hat and riding-whip upon +the table and drew forward a chair for his companion. + +She looked at him and tried to thank him, but she was voiceless. Her pale +lips moved without sound. + +Scott's eyes were very kindly. "Don't be so frightened, child!" he said; +and then, a sudden thought striking him, "Look here! You go and wait in +the conservatory and let me speak to him first! Yes, that will be the +best way. Come!" + +His hand touched her again. She turned as one compelled. But as he opened +the glass door, she found her voice. + +"Oh, I ought not to--to let you face him alone. I must be brave. I must." + +"Yes, you must," Scott answered. "But I will see him alone first. It will +make it easier for everyone." + +Yet for a moment she halted still. "You really mean it? You wish it?" + +"Yes, I wish it," he said. "Wait in here till I call you!" + +She took him at his word. There was no other course. He closed the door +upon her and turned back alone. + +He sat down in the chair that he had placed for her and became motionless +as a figure carved in bronze. His pale face and trim, colourless beard +were in shadow, his eyes were lowered. There was scarcely an inanimate +object in the room as insignificant and unimposing as he, and yet in his +stillness, in his utter unobtrusiveness, there lay a strength such as the +strongest knight who ever rode in armour might have envied. + +There came a careless step without, a hand upon the door. It opened, and +Sir Eustace, handsome, self-assured, slightly haughty, strode into the +room. + +"Hullo, Stumpy! What do you want? I can't stop. I am booked to play +billiards with Miss de Vigne. A test match to demonstrate the steadiness +of my nerves!" + +Scott stood up. "I have a bigger test for you than that, old chap," he +said. "Shut the door if you don't mind!" + +Sir Eustace sent him a swift, edged glance. "I can't stop," he said +again. "What is it? Some mare's nest about Isabel?" + +"No, nothing whatever to do with Isabel. Shut the door, man! I must be +alone with you for a few minutes." Scott spoke with unwonted vehemence. +The careless notes of the piano, the merry tumult of chattering voices, +seemed to affect him oddly, almost to exasperate him. + +Sir Eustace turned and swung the door shut; then with less than his +customary arrogance he came to Scott. "What's the matter?" he said. "Out +with it! Don't break the news if you can help it!" + +His eyes belied the banter of his words. They shone as the eyes of a +fighter meeting odds. There was something leonine about him at the +moment, something of the primitive animal roused from its lair and +scenting danger. + +He looked into Scott's pale face with the dawning of a threatening +expression upon his own. + +And Scott met the threat full and square and unflinching. "I've come to +tell you," he said, "about the hardest thing one man can tell another. +Dinah wishes to be released from her engagement." + +His words were brief but very distinct. He stiffened as he uttered them, +almost as if he expected a blow. + +But Sir Eustace stood silent and still, with only the growing menace in +his eyes to show that he had heard. + +Several seconds dragged away ere he made either sound or movement. Then, +with a sudden, fierce gesture, he gripped Scott by the shoulder. "And you +have the damnable impertinence to come and tell me!" he said. + +There was violence barely restrained in voice and action. He held Scott +as if he would fling him against the wall. + +But Scott remained absolutely passive, enduring the savage grip with no +sign of resentment. Only into his steady eyes there came that gleam as of +steel that leaps to steel. + +"I have told you," he said, "because I have no choice. She wishes to be +set free, and--she fears you too much to tell you so herself." + +Sir Eustace broke in upon him with a furious laugh that was in some +fashion more insulting than a blow on the mouth. "And she has deputed you +to do so on her behalf! Highly suitable! Or did you volunteer for the +job, most fearless knight?" + +"I offered to help her--certainly." Scott's voice was as free from +agitation as his pose. "I would help any woman under such circumstances. +It's no easy thing for her to break off her engagement at this stage. And +she is such a child. She needs help." + +"She shall have it," said Eustace grimly. "But--since you are here--I +will deal with you first. Do you think I am going to endure any +interference in this matter from you? Think it over calmly. Do you?" + +His hold upon Scott had become an open threat. His eyes were a red blaze +of anger. In that moment the animal in him was predominant, overwhelming. +He was furious with the fury of the wounded beast that is beyond all +control. + +Scott realized the fact, and grasped his own self-control with a firmer +hand. "It's no good my telling you that I hate my job," he said. "You'll +hardly believe me if I do. But I've got to stick to it, beastly as it is. +I can't stand by and see her married against her will. For that is what +it amounts to. She would give anything she has to be free. She told me +so. I'm infernally sorry. Perhaps you won't believe that either. But I've +got to see this thing through now." + +"Have you?" said Eustace, and suddenly his words came clipped and harsh +from between set teeth. "And you think I'm going to endure it--stand +aside tamely--while you turn an attack of stage-fright into a just cause +and impediment to prevent my marriage! I should have thought you would +have known me better by this time. But if you don't, you shall learn. Now +listen! I am in dead earnest. If you don't drop this foolery, give me +your word of honour here and now to leave this matter in my hands +alone,--I'll thrash you to a pulp!" + +He spoke with terrible intention. His whole being pulsated behind the +words. And Scott's slight frame stiffened to rigidity in answer. + +"You may grind me to powder!" he flung back, and in his voice there +sounded a curiously vibrant quality as of finely-tempered steel that will +bend but never break. "But you can't--and you shan't--force that child +into marrying you against her will! That I swear--by God in Heaven!" + +There was amazing force in the utterance, he also had thrown off the +shackles. But his strength had about it nothing of the brute. Stripped to +the soul, he stood up a man. + +And against his will Eustace recognized the fact, realized the Invincible +manifest in the clay, and in spite of himself was influenced thereby. The +savage in him drew back abashed, aware of mastery. + +Abruptly he released him and turned away. "You're a fool to tempt me," he +said. "And a still greater fool to take her seriously. As I tell you, +it's nothing but stage-fright. She had a touch of it yesterday. I'll come +round presently and make it all right." + +"You can only make it right by setting her free," Scott made answer. +"There is no other course. Do you suppose I should have come to you in +this way if there had been?" + +Sir Eustace was moving to the door by which he had entered. He flung a +backward look that was intensely evil over his shoulder at the puny +figure of the man behind him. + +"I can imagine you playing any damned trick under the sun to serve your +own interests," he said, his lip curling in in an intolerable sneer. "But +the deepest strategy fails occasionally. You haven't been quite subtle +enough this time." + +He was at the door as he uttered the last biting sentence, but so also +was Scott. With a movement of incredible swiftness and impetuosity he +flung himself forward. Their hands met upon the handle, and his remained +in possession, for in sheer astonishment Eustace drew back. + +They faced one another in the evening light, Scott pale to the lips, in +his eyes an electric blaze that made them almost unbearably bright, +Eustace, heavy-browed, lowering, the red glare of savagery gleaming like +a smouldering flame, ready to leap forth in devastating fury to meet the +fierce white heat that confronted him. + +An awful silence hung between them--a silence of unutterable emotions, +more poignant with passion than any strife or clash of weapons. And +through it like a mocking under-current there ran the distant tinkle of +the piano, the echoes of careless laughter beyond the closed door. + +Then at last--it seemed with difficulty--Scott spoke, his voice very low, +oddly jerky. "What do you mean by that? Tell me what you mean!" + +Sir Eustace made an abrupt gesture,--the gesture of the swordsman on +guard. He met the attack instantly and unwaveringly, but his look was +wary. He did not seek to throw the lesser man from his path. As it were +instinctively, though possibly for the first time in his life, he treated +him as an equal. + +"You know what I mean!" he made fierce rejoinder. "Even you can hardly +pretend ignorance on that point." + +"Even I!" Scott uttered a short, hard laugh that seemed to escape him +against his will. "All the same, I will have an explanation," he said. +"I prefer a straight charge, notwithstanding my damned subtlety. You will +either explain or withdraw." + +"As you like," Sir Eustace yielded the point, and again he acted +instinctively, not realizing that he had no choice. "I mean that from the +very beginning of things you have been influencing her against me, trying +to win her from me. You never intended me to propose to her in the first +place. You never imagined that I would do such a thing. You only thought +of driving me off the ground and clearing it for yourself. I saw your +game long ago. When you lost one trick, you tried for another. I knew--I +knew all along. But the game is up now, and you've lost." A very bitter +smile curved his mouth with the words. "There is your explanation," he +said. "I hope you are satisfied." + +"But I am not satisfied!" Quick as lightning came the _riposte_. Scott +stood upright against the closed door. His eyes, unflickering, dazzlingly +bright, were fixed upon his brother's face. "I am not satisfied," he +repeated, and his words were as sternly direct as his look; he spoke as +one compelled by some inner, driving force, "because what you have just +said to me--this foul thing you believe of me--is utterly and absolutely +without foundation. I have never tried--or dreamed of trying--to win her +from you. I speak as before God. In this matter I have never been other +than loyal either to you or to my own honour. If any other man insulted +me in this fashion," his face worked a little, but he controlled it +sharply, "I wouldn't have stooped to answer him. But you--I suppose I +must allow you the--privilege of brotherhood. And so I ask you to +believe--at least to make an effort to believe--that you have made a +mistake." + +His voice was absolutely quiet as he ended. The dignity of his utterance +had in it even a touch of the sublime, and the elder man was aware of it, +felt the force of it, was humbled by it. He stood a moment or two as one +irresolute, halting at a difficult choice. Then, with an abrupt lift of +the head as though his pride made fierce resistance, he gave ground. + +"If I have wronged you, I apologize," he said with brevity. + +Scott smiled faintly, wryly. "If--" he said. + +"Very well, I withdraw the 'if.'" Sir Eustace spoke impatiently, not as +one desiring reconciliation. "You laid yourself open to it by accepting +the position of ambassador. I don't know how you could seriously imagine +that I would treat with you in that capacity. If Dinah has anything to +say to me, she must say it herself." + +"She will do so," Scott spoke with steady assurance. "But before you see +her, I think I ought to tell you that her reason for wishing to be set +free is not stage-fright or any childish nonsense of that kind; but +simply the plain fact that her heart is not in the compact. She has found +out that she doesn't love you enough." + +"She told you so?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +Scott bent his head, for the first time averting his eyes from his +brother's face. "Yes." + +"And she wished you to tell me?" There was a metallic ring in Sir +Eustace's voice; the red glare was gone from his eyes, they were cold and +hard as a winter sky. + +"Yes," Scott said again, still not looking at him. + +"And why?" The words fell brief and imperious, compelling in their +incisiveness. + +Scott's eyes returned to his, almost in protest. "I told her you ought to +know," he said. + +"Then she would not have told me otherwise?" + +"Possibly not." + +There fell another silence. Sir Eustace looked hard and straight into the +pale eyes, as though he would pierce to the soul behind. But though Scott +met the look unwavering, his soul was beyond all scrutiny. There was +something about him that baffled all search, something colossal that +barred the way. For the second time Sir Eustace realized himself to be at +a disadvantage; haughtily he passed the matter by. + +"In that case there is nothing further to be said. You have fulfilled +your somewhat rash undertaking, and that you have come out of the +business with a whole skin is a bigger piece of luck than you deserved. +If Dinah wishes this matter to go any further, she must come to me +herself." + +"Otherwise you will take no action?" Scott's voice had its old somewhat +weary intonation. The animation seemed to have died out of him. + +"Exactly." Sir Eustace answered him with equal deliberation. "So far as +you are concerned the incident is now closed." + +Scott took his hand from the door and moved slowly away. "I have put the +whole case before you," he said. "I think you clearly understand that if +you are going to try and use force, I am bound--as a friend--to take her +part against you. She relies upon me for that, and--I shall not +disappoint her. You see," a hint of compassion sounded in his voice, "she +has always been afraid of you; and she knows that I am not." + +Sir Eustace smiled cynically. "Oh, you have always been ready to rush +in!" he said. "Doubtless your weakness is your strength." + +Scott met the gibe with tightened lips. He made no attempt to reply to +it. "The only thing left," he said quietly, "is for you to see her and +hear what she has to say. She is waiting in the conservatory." + +"She is waiting?" Eustace wheeled swiftly. + +Scott was already half-way across the room. He strode forward, and +intercepted him. + +"You can go," he said curtly. "You have done your part. This business is +mine, not yours." + +Scott stood still. "I have promised to see her through," he said. "I must +keep my promise." + +Sir Eustace looked for a single instant as if he would strike him down; +and then abruptly, inexplicably he gave way. + +"Very well," he said. "Fetch her in!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TRUTH + + +At Scott's quiet summons Dinah entered. What she had passed through +during those minutes of waiting was written in her face. She looked +deathly. + +Sir Eustace did not move to meet her. He stood by the table, very +upright, very stern, uncompromisingly silent. + +Dinah gave him one quivering glance, and turned appealingly to Scott. + +"Don't be nervous!" he said gently. "There is no need. I have told him +your wish." + +She was terrified, but the ordeal had to be faced. She summoned all her +strength, and went forward. + +"Oh, Eustace," she said piteously, "I am so dreadfully sorry." + +He looked down at her, his face like a marble mask. "So," he said, "you +want to throw me over!" + +She clasped her hands very tightly before her. "Oh, I know it's hateful +of me," she said. + +He made a slight, disdainful gesture. "Did you make up your mind or did +Scott make it up for you?" + +"No, no!" she cried in distress. "It was not his doing. I--I just told +him, that was all." + +"And you now desire him for a witness," suggested Sir Eustace cynically. + +Dinah looked again towards Scott. He stood against the mantelpiece, as +grimly upright as his brother and again oddly she was struck by the +similarity between them. She could not have said wherein it lay, but she +had never seen it more marked. + +He spoke very quietly in answer to her look. "I have promised to stay for +as long as you want me, but if you wish to be alone with Eustace for a +few minutes, I will wait in the conservatory." + +"Yes, let him do that!" Imperiously Eustace accepted the suggestion. "We +shall not keep him long." + +Dinah stood hesitating. Scott was looking at her very steadily and +reassuringly. His eyes seemed to be telling her that she had nothing to +fear. But he would not move without her word, and in the end reluctantly +she gave in. + +"Very well," she said, in a low voice. "If--if you will wait!" + +"I will," Scott said. + +He limped across the room to the open door, passed through, closed it +softly behind him. And Dinah was left to face her monster alone. + +She did not look at Sir Eustace in the first dreadful moments that +followed Scott's exit. She was horribly afraid. There was to her +something inexpressibly ruthless in his very silence. She longed yet +dreaded to hear him speak. + +He did not do so for many seconds, and she thought by his utter stillness +that he must be listening to the wild throbbing of her heart. + +Then at last, just as the tension of waiting was becoming unbearable and +she was on the verge of piteous entreaty, he seated himself on the edge +of the table and spoke. + +"Well," he said, "we have got to get at the root of this trouble somehow. +You don't propose to throw me over without telling me why, I suppose?" + +His voice was perfectly calm. She even fancied that he was faintly +smiling as he uttered the words, but she could not look at him to see. +She found it difficult enough to speak in answer. + +"I know I am treating you very badly," she said, wringing her clasped +hands in her agitation. "You--of course you can make me marry you. +I've promised myself to you. You have the right. But if you will +only--only let me go, I am sure it will be much better for you too. +Because--because--I've found out--I've found out--that I don't love you." + +It was the greatest effort she had ever made in her life. She wondered +afterwards how she had ever brought herself to accomplish it. It was so +hard--so hideously hard--to face him, this man who loved her so +overwhelmingly, and tell him that he had failed to win her love in +return. And at the eleventh hour--to treat him thus! If he had taken her +by the throat and wrung her neck, she would have considered him justified +and herself but righteously punished. + +But he did nothing of a violent nature. He only sat there looking at her, +and though she could not bring herself to meet his look she knew that it +held no anger. + +He did not speak, and she went on with a species of desperate pleading, +because silence was so intolerable. "It wouldn't be right of me to--to +marry you and not tell you, would it? It wouldn't be fair. It would be +like marrying you under false pretences. I only wish--oh, I do wish--that +I had known sooner, when you first asked me. I might have known. I ought +to have known! But--but--somehow--" she began to falter badly and finally +concluded in a piteous whisper--"I didn't." + +"How did you find out?" he said. His tone was still perfectly quiet; but +he spoke judicially, as one who meant to have an answer. + +But Dinah had no answer for him. It was the very question to which there +could be no reply. Her fingers interlaced and strained against each +other. She stood mute. + +"I think you can tell me that," Eustace said. + +She made a small but vehement gesture of negation. "I can't!" she said. +"It's--it's--private." + +"You mean you won't?" he questioned. + +She nodded silently, too distressed for speech. + +He got to his feet with finality. "That ends the case then," he said. +"The appeal is dismissed. You can give me no adequate reason for +releasing you. Therefore, I keep you to your engagement." + +Dinah uttered a gasp. She had not expected this. For the first time she +met his look fully, met the blue, dominant eyes, the faint, supercilious +smile. And dismay struck through and through her as she realized that he +had made her captive again with scarcely a struggle. + +"Oh, but you can't--you can't!" she said. + +He raised his brows. "We shall see," he said. "Mean-time--" He paused, +looking at her, and suddenly the old hot glitter flashed forth, dazzling +her, hypnotizing her; he uttered a low laugh and took her in his arms. +"Daphne, you will-o'-the-wisp, you witch, how dare you?" + +She made no outcry or resistance, realizing in a single stunning second +the mastery that would not be denied; only ere his lips reached her, she +sank down in his hold, hiding her face and praying him brokenly, +imploringly, to let her go. + +"Oh, please--oh, please--if you love me--do be kind--do be generous! I +can't go on--indeed--indeed! Oh, Eustace,--Eustace--do forgive me--and +let me go!" + +"I will not!" he said. "I will not!" + +She heard the rising passion in his voice, and her heart died within her; +she sank lower, till but for his upholding arms she would have been +kneeling at his feet. And then quite suddenly her strength went from her; +she hung powerless, almost fainting in his grasp. + +She scarcely knew what happened next, save that the fierceness went out +of his hold like the passing of an evil dream. He lifted and held her +while the darkness surged around.... And then presently she heard his +voice, very low, amazingly tender, speaking into her ear. "Dinah! Dinah! +What has come to you? Don't you know that I love you? Didn't I tell you +so only last night?" + +She leaned against him palpitating, unstrung, piteously distressed. +"That's what makes it--so dreadful," she whispered. "I wish I were dead! +Oh, I do wish I were dead!" + +"Nonsense!" he said. "Nonsense!" He put his hand upon her head, pressing +it against his breast. "Little sweetheart, what has happened to you? Tell +me what is the matter!" + +That was the hardest to face of all, that he should subdue himself, +restrain his passion to pour out to her that which was infinitely greater +than passion; she made a little sound that seemed to come straight from +her heart. + +"Oh, I can't tell you!" she sobbed into his shoulder. "I can't think how +I ever made such a terrible mistake. But if only--oh, if only--you could +marry Rose instead! It would be so very much better for everybody." + +"Marry Rose!" he said. "What on earth made you think of that at this +stage?" + +"I always thought you would--in Switzerland," she explained rather +incoherently. "I--never really thought--I could cut her out." + +"Is that what you did it for?" An odd note sounded in Sir Eustace's +voice, as though some irony of circumstance had forced his sense of +humour. + +"Just at first," whispered Dinah. "Oh, don't be angry! Please don't be +angry! You--you weren't in earnest either just at first." + +He considered the matter in silence for a few moments. Then +half-quizzically, "I don't see that that is any reason for throwing me +over now," he said. "If you don't love me to-day, you will to-morrow." + +She shook her head. + +"Quite sure?" he said. + +"Quite," she answered faintly. + +His hand was still upon her head, and it remained there. He held her +closely pressed to him. + +For a space again he was silent, his dark face bent over her, his lips +actually touching her hair. Of what was passing in his mind she had no +notion, and she dared not lift her head to look. She dreaded each moment +a return of that tornado-like passion that had so often appalled her. +But it did not come. His arms held her indeed, but without violence, and +in his stillness there was no tension to denote its presence. + +He spoke at length, almost whispering. "Dinah, who is the lucky fellow? +Tell me!" + +She started away from him. She almost cried out in her dismay. But he +stopped her. He took her face between his hands with an insistence that +would not be denied. He looked closely, searchingly, into her eyes. + +"Is it Scott?" he said. + +She did not answer him. She stood as one paralysed, and up over face and +neck and all her trembling body, enwrapping her like a flame, there rose +a scorching, agonizing blush. + +He held her there before him and watched it, and she saw that his eyes +were piercingly bright, with the brightness of burnished steel. She could +not turn her own away from them, though her whole soul shrank from that +stark scrutiny. In anguish of mind she faced him, helpless, unutterably +ashamed, while that burning blush throbbed fiercely through every vein +and gradually died away. + +He let her go at last very slowly. "I--see," he said. + +She put her hands up over her face with a childish, piteous gesture. She +felt as if he had ruthlessly torn from her the one secret treasure that +she cherished. She was free--she knew she was free. But at what a cost! + +"So," Eustace said, "that's it, is it? We've got at the truth at last!" + +She quivered at the words. Her whole being seemed to be shrivelled as +though it had passed through the fire. He had wrenched her secret from +her, and she had nothing more to hide. + +Sir Eustace walked to the end of the room and back. He halted close to +her, but he did not touch her. He spoke, briefly and sternly. + +"How long has this been going on?" + +She looked up at him, her face pathetically pinched and small. "It hasn't +been going on. I--only realized it to-day. He doesn't know. He never must +know!" A sudden sharp note of anxiety sounded in her voice. "He never +must know!" she reiterated with emphasis. + +"He hasn't made love to you then?" Sir Eustace spoke in the same curt +tone; his mouth was merciless. + +She started as if stung. "Oh no! Oh no! Of course he hasn't! He--he +doesn't care for me--like that. Why should he?" + +Eustace's grim lips twitched a little. "Why indeed? Well, it's lucky for +him he hasn't. If he had, I'd have half killed him for it!" + +There was concentrated savagery in his tone. His eyes shone with a fire +that made her shrink. And then very suddenly he put his hand upon her +shoulder. + +"Do you mean to tell me that you want to throw me over solely because you +imagine you care for a man who doesn't care for you?" he asked. + +She looked up at him piteously, "Oh, please don't ask me any more!" she +said. + +"But I want to know," he said stubbornly. "Is that your only reason?" + +With difficulty she answered him. "No." + +"Then what more?" he demanded. + +It was inevitable. She made a desperate effort to be brave. "I couldn't +be happy with you. I am afraid of you. And--and--you are not kind to--to +Isabel." + +"Who says I am not kind to Isabel?" His hand pressed upon her ominously; +his look was implacably stern. + +But the effort to be brave had given her strength. She stiffened in his +hold. "I know it," she said. "I have seen it. She is always miserable +when you are there." + +He frowned upon her heavily. "You don't understand. Isabel is very +hysterical. She needs a firm hand." + +"You are more than firm," Dinah said. "You are--cruel." + +Never in her wildest moments had she imagined herself making such an +indictment. She marvelled at herself even as it left her lips. But +something seemed to have entered into her, taking away her fear. Not till +long afterwards did she realize that it was her new-found womanhood that +had come upon her all unawares during that poignant interview. + +She faced him without a tremor as she uttered the words, and he received +them in a silence so absolute that she went on with scarcely a pause. +"Not only to Isabel, but to everyone; to Scott, to that poor poacher, to +me. You don't believe it, because it is your nature. But it is true all +the same. And I think cruelty is a most dreadful thing. It's a vice that +not all the virtues put together could counter-balance." + +"When have I been cruel to you?" he said. + +His tone was quiet, his face mask-like; but she thought that fury raged +behind his calm. And still she knew no fear, felt no faintest dread of +consequence. + +"All your love-making has been cruel," she said. "Only once--no, twice +now--have you been the least bit kind to me. It's no good talking. You'd +never understand. I've lain awake often in the night with the dread of +you. But"--her voice shook slightly--"I didn't know what I wanted, so +I kept on. Now that I do know--though I shall never have it--it's made a +difference, and I can't go on. You don't want me any more now I've told +you, so it won't hurt you so very badly to let me go." + +"You are wrong," he said, and suddenly she knew that out of his silence +or her speech had developed something that was strange and new. His voice +was quick and low, utterly devoid of its customary arrogance. "I want you +more than ever! Dinah--Dinah, I may have been a brute to you. You're +right. I often am a brute. But marry me--only marry me--and I swear to +you that I will be kind!" + +His calm was gone. He leaned towards her urgently, his dark face aglow +with a light that was not passion. She had deemed him furious, and +behold, she had him at her feet! Her ogre was gone for ever. He had +crumbled at a touch. She saw before her a man, a man who loved her, a +man whom she might eventually have come to love but for-- + +She caught her breath in a sharp sob, and put forth a hand in pleading. +"Eustace, don't! Please don't! I can't bear it. You--you must set me +free!" + +"You are free as air," he said. + +"Am I? Then don't--don't ask me to bind myself again! For I can't--I +can't. I want to go away. I want to be quiet." She broke down suddenly. +The strain was past, the battle over. She had vanquished him, how she +scarcely knew; but her own brief strength was tottering now. "Let me go +home!" she begged. "Tell Scott I've gone! Tell everyone there won't be a +wedding after all! Say I'm dreadfully sorry! It's my fault--all my fault! +I ought to have known!" Her tears blinded her, silenced her. She turned +towards the door. + +"Won't you say good-bye to me?" Eustace said. + +Her voice was low and very steady. The glow was gone. He was calm again, +absolutely calm. With the failure of that one urgent appeal, he seemed to +have withdrawn his forces, accepting defeat. + +She turned back gropingly. "Good-bye--good-bye--" she +whispered, "and--thank you!" + +He put his arm around her, and bending kissed her forehead. "Don't cry, +dear!" he said. + +His manner was perfectly kind, supremely gentle. She hardly knew him +thus. Again her heart smote her in overwhelming self-reproach. "Oh, +Eustace, forgive me for hurting you so--forgive me--for all I've said!" + +"For telling me the truth?" he said. "No, I don't forgive you for that." + +She broke down utterly and sobbed aloud. "I wish--I wish I hadn't! How +could I do it? I hate myself!" + +"No--no," he said. "It's all right. You've done nothing wrong. Run home, +child! Don't cry! Don't cry!" + +His hand touched her hair under the soft cap, touched and lingered. But +he did not hold her to him. + +"Run home!" he said again. + +"And--and--you won't--won't--tell--Scott?" she whispered through her +tears. + +"But I don't think even I am such a bounder as that!" he said gently. "Do +you?" + +She lifted her face impulsively. She kissed him with quivering lips. +"No--no. I didn't mean it. Good-bye Oh, good-bye!" + +He kissed her in return. "Good-bye!" he said. + +And so they parted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE FURNACE + + +The bridal dress with its filmy veil still lay in its white box--a fairy +garment that had survived the catastrophe. Dinah sat and looked at it +dully. The light of her single candle shimmered upon the soft folds. How +beautiful it was! + +She had been sitting there for hours, after a terrible scene with her +mother downstairs, and from acute distress she had passed into a state of +torpid misery that enveloped her like a black cloud. She felt almost too +exhausted, too numbed, to think. Her thoughts wandered drearily back and +forth. She was sure she had been very greatly to blame, yet she could not +fix upon any definite juncture at which she had begun to go wrong. Her +engagement had been such a whirlwind of Fate. She had been carried off +her feet from the very beginning. And the deliverance from the home +bondage had seemed so fair a prospect. Now she was plunged, back again +into that bondage, and she was firmly convinced that no chance of freedom +would ever be offered to her again. Yet she knew that she had done right +to draw back. Regret it though she might again and again in the bitter +days to come, she knew--and she would always know--that at the eleventh +hour she had done right. + +She had been true to the greatest impulse that had ever stirred +her soul. It had been at a frightful cost. She had sacrificed +everything--everything--to a vision that she might never realize. She +had cast away all the glitter and the wealth for this far greater thing +which yet could never be more to her than a golden dream. She had even +cast away love, and her heart still bled at the memory. But she had been +true--she had been true. + +Not yet was the sacrifice ended. She knew that a cruel ordeal yet awaited +her. There was the morrow to be faced, the morrow with its renewal of +disgrace and punishment. Her mother was furious with her, so furious that +for the first time in her life her father had intervened on her behalf +and temporarily restrained the flow of wrath. Perhaps he had seen her +utter weariness, for he had advised her, not unkindly, to go to bed. She +had gone to her room, thankful to escape, but neither tea nor supper had +followed her thither. Billy had come to bid her good night long ago, but, +though he had not said so, he also, it seemed, was secretly disgusted +with her, and he had not lingered. It would be the same with everyone, +she thought to herself wearily. No one would ever realize how terribly +hard it had all been. No one would dream of extending any pity to her. +And of course she had done wrong. She knew it, was quite ready to admit +it. But the wrong had lain in accepting that overweaning lover of hers, +not in giving him up. Also, she ought to have found out long ago. She +wondered how it was she hadn't. It had never been a happy engagement. + +Again her eyes wandered to the exquisite folds of that dress which she +was never to wear. How she had loved the thought of it and all the lovely +things that Isabel had procured for her! What would become of them all, +she wondered? All the presents downstairs would have to go back. Yes, and +Eustace's ring! She had forgotten that. She slipped it off her finger +with a little dry sob, and put it aside. And the necklace of pearls that +she had always thought so much too good for her, but which would have +looked so beautiful on the wedding-dress; that must be returned. Very +strangely that thought pierced the dull ache of her heart with a mere +poignant pain. And following it came another, stabbing her like a knife. +The sapphire for friendship--his sapphire--that would have to go too. +There would be nothing left when it was all over. + +And she would never see any of them any more. She would drop out of their +lives and be forgotten. Even Isabel would not want her now that she had +behaved so badly. She had made Sir Eustace the talk of the County. So +long as they remembered her they would never forgive her for that. + +Sir Eustace might forgive. He had been extraordinarily generous. A lump +rose in her throat as she thought of him. But the de Vignes, all those +wedding guests who were to have honoured the occasion, they would all +look upon her with contumely for evermore. No wonder her mother was +enraged against her! No wonder! No wonder! She would never have another +chance of holding up her head in such society again. + +A great sigh escaped her. What was the good of sitting there thinking? +She had undressed long ago, and she was cold from head to foot. Yet +somehow she had forgotten or been too miserable to go to bed. She +supposed she had been waiting for the soothing tears that did not come. +Or had she meant to pray? She could not remember, and in any case prayer +seemed out of the question. Her life had been filled with delight for a +few delirious weeks, but it had all drained away. She did not want it +back again. She scarcely knew what she wanted, save the great Impossible +for which she lacked the heart to pray. And no doubt God was angry with +her too, or she could not feel like this! So what was the good of +attempting it? + +Wearily she turned to put out her candle. But ere her hand reached it, +she paused in swift apprehension. + +The next instant sharply she started round to see the door open, and her +mother entered the room. + +Gaunt, forbidding, full of purpose, she walked in, and set her candle +down beside the one that Dinah had been about to extinguish. + +"Get up!" she said to the startled girl. "Don't sit there gaping at me! +I've come here to give you a lesson, and it will be a pretty severe one I +can tell you if you attempt to disobey me." + +"What do you want me to do?" breathed Dinah. + +She stood up at the harsh behest, but she was trembling so much that her +knees would scarcely support her. Her heart was throbbing violently, and +each throb seemed as if it would choke her. She had seen that inflexibly +grim look often before upon her mother's face, and she knew from bitter +experience that it portended merciless treatment. + +Mrs. Bathurst did not reply immediately. She went to a little table in a +corner which Dinah used for writing purposes, and opened a blotter that +lay upon it. From this she took a sheet of note-paper and laid it in +readiness, found Dinah's pen, opened the ink-pot. Then, over her +shoulder, she flung a curt command: "Come here!" + +Dinah went, every nerve in her body tingling, her face and hands cold as +ice. + +Mrs. Bathurst glanced at her with a contemptuous smile. "Sit down, you +little fool!" she said. "Now, you take that pen and write at my +dictation!" + +Dinah shrank at the rough words. She felt like a child about to receive +corporal punishment. The vindictive force of the woman seemed to beat her +down. Writhe and strain as she might, she was bound to suffer both the +pain and the indignity to the uttermost limit; for she lacked the +strength to break free. + +She did not sit down however. She remained standing by the little table. + +"Mother," she said through her white lips, "what do you want me to do?" + +She could scarcely keep her teeth from chattering, and Mrs. Bathurst +noted the fact with another grim smile. + +"What am I going to make you do would be more to the purpose, my girl, +wouldn't it?" she said. "Sit down there, and you'll find out!" + +Dinah leaned upon the little table to steady herself. "Tell me what it is +I am to do!" she said. + +"Ah! That's better." A note of bitter humour sounded in Mrs. Bathurst's +voice. "Sit down!" + +She thrust out a bony hand, and gripped her by the shoulder, forcing her +downwards. + +Dinah dropped into the chair, and sat motionless. + +"Take your pen!" Mrs. Bathurst commanded. + +She hesitated; and instantly, with a violent movement, her mother +snatched it up and held it in front of her. + +"Take it!" + +Dinah took it with fingers so numb that they were almost powerless. + +"Now," said Mrs. Bathurst, "I will tell you what you are going to do. You +are going to write to Sir Eustace at my dictation, and tell him that you +are very sorry, you have made a mistake, and beg him to forget it and +marry you to-morrow as arranged." + +"Mother! No!" Dinah started as if at a blow; the pen dropped from her +fingers. "Oh no! I can't indeed--indeed!" + +"You will!" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +Her hand gripped the slender shoulder with cruel force. She bent, +bringing her harsh features close to her daughter's blanched face. + +"Just you remember one thing!" she said, her voice low and menacing. +"You've never succeeded in defying me yet, and you won't do it now. I'll +conquer you--I'll break you--if it takes me all night to do it!" + +Dinah recoiled before the unshackled fury that suddenly blazed in the +gipsy eyes that looked into hers. Sheer horror sprang into her own. + +"Oh, but I can't--I can't!" she reiterated in an agony. "I don't love +him. He knows it. I ought to have found out before, but I didn't. +Mother--Mother--" piteously she began to plead--"you--you can't want to +make me marry a man I don't love? You--you would never--surely--have done +such a thing yourself!" + +Mrs. Bathurst made a sharp gesture as if something had pierced her. She +shook the shoulder she grasped. "Love!" she said. "Oh, don't talk to me +of love! Do you imagine--have you ever imagined--that I married that +fox-hunting booby--for love?" + +A great and terrible bitterness that was like the hunger of a famished +animal looked out of her eyes. Dinah gazed at her aghast. What new and +horrible revelation was this? She felt suddenly sick and giddy. + +Her mother shook her again roughly, savagely. "None of that!" she said. +"Don't think I'll put up with it, my fine lady, for I won't! What has +love to do with such a chance as this? Tell me that, you little fool! Do +you suppose that either you or I have ever been in a position to +marry--for love?" + +Her face was darkly passionate. Dinah felt as if she were in the clutches +of a tigress. "What--what do you mean?" she faltered through her +quivering lips. + +"What do I mean?" Mrs. Bathurst broke into a sudden brutal laugh. "Ha! +What do I mean?" she said. "I'll tell you, shall I? Yes, I'll tell you! +I'll show you the shame that I've covered all these years. I mean that I +married because of you--for no other reason. I married because I'd been +betrayed--and left. Now do you understand why it isn't for you to pick +and choose--you who have been the plague-spot of my life, the thorn in my +side ever since you first stirred there--a perpetual reminder of what I +would have given my very soul to forget? Do you understand, I say? Do you +understand? Or must I put it plainer still? You--the child of my +shame--to dare to set yourself up against me!" + +She ended upon what was almost a note of loathing, and Dinah shuddered +from head to foot. It was to her as if she had been rolled in pitch. She +felt overwhelmed with the cruel degradation of it, the unspeakable shame. + +Mrs. Bathurst watched her anguished distress with a species of bitter +satisfaction. "That'll take the fight out of you, my girl," she said. "Or +if it doesn't, I've another sort of remedy yet to try. Now, you start on +that letter, do you hear? It'll be a bit shaky, but none the worse for +that. Write and tell him you've changed your mind! Beg him humble-like to +take you back!" + +But Dinah only bowed her head upon her hands and sat crushed. + +Mrs. Bathurst gave her a few seconds to recover her balance. Then again +mercilessly she shook her by the shoulder. + +"Come, Dinah! I'm not going to be defied. Are you going to write that +letter at once? Or must I take stronger measures?" + +And then a species of wild courage entered into Dinah. She turned at last +at bay. "I will not write it! I would sooner die! If--if this thing is +true, it would be far easier to die! I couldn't marry any man now who had +any pride of birth." + +She was terribly white, but she faced her tormentor unflinching, her eyes +like stars. And it came to Mrs. Bathurst with unpleasant force that she +had taken a false step which it was impossible to retrace. It was then +that the evil spirit that had been goading her entered in and took full +possession. + +She gripped Dinah's shoulder till she winced with pain. "Mother, you--you +are hurting me!" + +"Yes, and I will hurt you," she made answer. "I'll hurt you as I've never +hurt you yet if you dare to disobey me! I'll crush you to the earth +before I will endure that from you. Now! For the last time! Will you +write that letter? Think well before you refuse again!" + +She towered over Dinah with awful determination, wrought up to a pitch of +fury by her resistance that almost bordered upon insanity. + +Dinah's boldness waned swiftly before the iron force that countered it. +But her resolution remained unshaken, a resolution from which no power on +earth could move her. + +"I can't do it--possibly," she said. + +"You mean you won't?" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +Dinah nodded, and gripped the table hard to endure what should follow. + +"You--mean--you won't?" Mrs. Bathurst said again very slowly. + +"I will not." The white lips spoke the words, and closed upon them. Dinah +sat rigid with apprehension. + +Mrs. Bathurst took her hand from her shoulder and turned from her. The +candle that had been burning all the evening was low in its socket. She +lifted it out and went to the fireplace. There were some shavings in the +grate. She pushed the lighted candle end in among them; then, as the fire +roared up the chimney, she turned. + +An open trunk was close to her with the dainty pale green dress that +Dinah had worn the previous evening lying on the top. She took it up, and +bundled the soft folds together. Then violently she flung it on to the +flames. + +Dinah gave a cry of dismay, and started to her feet. "Mother! What are +you doing? Mother! Are you mad?" + +Mrs. Bathurst looked at her with eyes of blazing vindictiveness. "If you +are not going to be married, you won't need a trousseau," she said +grimly. "These things are quite unfit for a girl in your station. For +Lady Studley they would of course have been suitable, but not for such as +you." + +She turned back to the open trunk with the words, and began to sweep +together every article of clothing it contained. Dinah watched her in +horror-stricken silence. She remembered with odd irrelevance how once in +her childhood for some petty offence her mother had burnt a favourite +doll, and then had whipped her soundly for crying over her loss. + +She did not cry now. Her tears seemed frozen. She did not feel as if she +could ever cry again. The cold that enwrapped her was beginning to reach +her heart. She thought she was getting past all feeling. + +So in mute despair she watched the sacrifice of all that Isabel's loving +care had provided. So much thought had been spent upon the delicate +finery. They had discussed and settled each dainty garment together. She +had revelled in the thought of all the good things which she was to +wear--she who had never worn anything that was beautiful before. And +now--and now--they shrivelled in the roaring flame and dropped into grey +ash in the fender. + +It was over at last. Only the wedding-dress remained. But as Mrs. +Bathurst laid merciless hands upon this also, Dinah uttered a bitter cry. + +"Oh, not that! Not that!" + +Her mother paused. "Will you wear it to-morrow if Sir Eustace will have +you?" she demanded. + +"No! Oh no!" Dinah tottered back against her bed and covered her eyes. + +She could not watch the destruction of that fairy thing. But it went so +quickly, so quickly. When she looked up again, it had crumbled away like +the rest, and the shimmering veil with it. Nothing, nothing was left of +all the splendour that had been hers. + +She sank down on the foot of the bed. Surely her mother would be +satisfied now! Surely her lust for vengeance could devise no further +punishment! + +She was nearing the end of her strength, and she was beginning to know +it. The room swam before her dizzy sight. Her mother's figure loomed +gigantic, scarcely human. + +She saw her poke down the last of the cinders and turn to the door. There +was a pungent smell of smoke in the room. She wondered if she would ever +be able to cross that swaying, seething floor to open the window. She +closed her eyes and listened with straining ears for the closing of the +door. + +It came, and following it, a sharp click as of the turning of a key. She +looked up at the sound, and saw her mother come back to her. She was +carrying something in one hand, something that dangled and east a +snake-like shadow. + +She came to the cowering girl and caught her by the arm. "Now get up!" +she ordered brutally. "And take the rest of your punishment!" + +Truly Dinah drank the cup of bitterness to the dregs that night. Mentally +she had suffered till she had almost ceased to feel. But physically her +powers of endurance had not been so sorely tried. But her nerves were +strung to a pitch when even a sudden movement made her tingle, and upon +this highly-tempered sensitiveness the punishment now inflicted upon her +was acute agony. It broke her even more completely than it had broken her +in childhood. Before many seconds had passed the last shred of her +self-control was gone. + +Guy Bathurst, lying comfortably in bed, was aroused from his first +slumber by a succession of sharp sounds like the lashing of a loosened +creeper against the window, but each sound was followed by an anguished +cry that sank and rose again like the wailing of a hurt child. + +He turned his head and listened. "By Jove! That's too bad of Lydia," he +said. "I suppose she won't be satisfied till she's had her turn, but I +shall have to interfere if it goes on." + +It did not go on for long; quite suddenly the cries ceased. The other +sounds continued for a few seconds more, then ceased also, and he turned +upon his pillow with a sigh of relief. + +A minute later he was roused again by the somewhat abrupt entrance of his +wife. She did not speak to him, but stood by the door and rummaged in the +pockets of his shooting-coat that hung there. + +Bathurst endured in silence for a few moments; then, "Oh, what on earth +are you looking for?" he said with sleepy irritation. "I wish you'd go." + +"I want your brandy flask," she said, and her words came clipped and +sharp. "Where is it?" + +"On the dressing-table," he said. "What have you been doing to the +child?" + +"I've given her as much as she can stand," his wife retorted grimly. "But +you leave her to me! I'll manage her." + +She departed with a haste that seemed to denote a certain anxiety +notwithstanding her words. + +She left the door ajar, and the man turned again on his pillow and +listened uneasily. He was afraid Lydia had gone too far. + +For a space he heard nothing. Then came the splashing of water, and again +that piteous, gasping cry. He caught the sound of his wife's voice, but +what she said he could not hear. Then there were movements, and Dinah +spoke in broken supplication that went into hysterical sobbing. Finally +he heard his wife come out of the room and close the door behind her. + +She came back again with the brandy flask. "She's had a lesson," she +observed, "that I rather fancy she'll never forget as long as she lives." + +"Then I hope you're satisfied," said Bathurst, and turned upon his side. + +Yes, Dinah had had a lesson. She had passed through a sevenfold furnace +that had melted the frozen fountain of her tears till it seemed that +their flow would never be stayed again. She wept for hours, wept till she +was sick and blind with weeping, and still she wept on. And bitter shame +and humiliation watched beside her all through that dreadful night, +giving her no rest. + +For she had gone through this fiery torture, this cruel chastisement of +mind and body, all for what? For love of a man who felt nought but +kindness for her,--for the dear memory of a golden vision that would +never be hers again. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE COMING OF GREATHEART + + +It was soon after nine on the following morning that Scott presented +himself on horseback at the gate of Dinah's home. It had been his +intention to tie up his animal and enter, but he was met in the entrance +by Billy coming out on a bicycle, and the boy at once frustrated his +intention. + +"Good morning, sir! Pleased to see you, but it's no good your coming in. +The pater's still in bed, and the mater's doing the house-work." + +"And Dinah?" said Scott. The question leapt from him almost +involuntarily. He had not meant to display any eagerness, and he sought +to cover it by his next words which were uttered with his usual careful +deliberation. "It's Dinah I have come to see. I have a message for her +from my sister." + +Billy's freckled face crumpled into troubled lines. "Dinah has cleared +out," he said briefly. "I'm just off to the station to try and get news +of her." + +"What?" Scott said, startled. + +The boy looked at him, his green eyes shrewdly confiding. "There's been +the devil of a row," he said. "The mater is furious with her. She gave +her a fearful licking last night to judge by the sounds. Dinah was +squealing like a rat. Of course girls always do squeal when they're hurt, +but I fancy the mater must have hit a bit harder than usual. And she's +burnt the whole of the trousseau too. Dinah was so mighty proud of all +her fine things. She'd feel that, you know, pretty badly." + +"Damnation!" Scott said, and for the second time he spoke without his own +volition. He looked at Billy with that intense hot light in his eyes that +had in it the whiteness of molten metal. "Do you mean that?" he said. +"Do you actually mean that your mother flogged her--flogged Dinah?" + +Billy nodded. "It's just her way," he explained half-apologetically. +"The mater is like that. She's rough and ready. She's always done it to +Dinah, had a sort of down on her for some reason. I guessed she meant +business last night when I saw the dog-whip had gone out of the hall. I +wished afterwards I'd thought to hide it, for it's rather a beastly +implement. But the mater's a difficult woman to baulk. And when she's in +that mood, it's almost better to let her have her own way. She's sure to +get it sooner or later, and a thing of that sort doesn't improve with +keeping." + +So spoke Billy with the philosophy of middle-aged youth, while the man +beside him sat with clenched hands and faced the hateful vision of Dinah, +the fairy-footed and gay of heart, writhing under that horrible and +humiliating punishment. + +He spoke at length, and some electricity within him made the animal under +him fidget and prance, for he stirred neither hand nor foot. "And you +tell me Dinah has run away?" + +"Yes, cleared out," said Billy tersely. "It was an idiotic thing to do, +for the mater is downright savage this morning, and she'll only give her +another hiding for her pains. She stayed away all day once before, years +ago when she was a little kid, and, my eye, didn't she catch it when she +came back! She never did it again--till now." + +"And you are going to the station to look for her?" Scott's voice was +dead level. He calmed the restive horse with a firm hand. + +"Yes; just to find out if she's gone by train. I don't believe she has, +you know. She's nowhere to go to. I expect she's hiding up in the woods +somewhere. I shall scour the country afterwards; for the longer she stays +away the worse it'll be for her. I'm sure of that," said Billy uneasily. +"When the mater lays hands on her again, she'll simply flay her." + +"She will not do anything of the sort," said Scott, and turned his +horse's head with resolution. "Come along and find her first! I will deal +with your mother afterwards." + +Billy mounted his bicycle and accompanied him. Though he did not see how +Scott was to prevent any further vengeance on his mother's part, it was a +considerable relief to feel that he had enlisted a champion on his +sister's behalf. For he was genuinely troubled about her, although the +cruel discipline to which she had been subjected all her life had so +accustomed him to seeing her in trouble that it affected him less than if +it had been a matter of less frequent occurrence. + +Scott's reception of his information had somewhat awed him. Like Dinah, +he had long ceased to look upon this man as insignificant. He rode beside +him in respectful silence. + +The country lane they followed crossed the railway by a bridge ere it ran +into the station road. There was a steep embankment on each side of the +line surmounted by woods, and as they reached the bridge Billy dismounted +to gaze searchingly into the trees. + +"She might be anywhere" he said. "This is a favourite place of hers +because the wind-flowers grow here. Somehow I've got a sort of +feeling--" He stopped short. "Why, there she is!" he exclaimed. + +Scott looked sharply in the same direction. Had he been alone, he would +not have perceived her, for she was crouched low against a thicket of +brambles and stunted trees midway down the embankment. She was clad in an +old brown mackintosh that so toned with her surroundings as to render her +almost invisible. Her chin was resting on her knees, and her face was +turned from them. She seemed to be gazing up the line. + +As they watched her, a signal near the bridge went down with a thud, and +it seemed to Scott that the little huddled figure started and stiffened +like a frightened doe. But she did not change her position, and she +continued to gaze up the long stretch of line as though waiting for +something. + +"What on earth is she doing?" whispered Billy. "There are no wind-flowers +there." + +Scott slipped quietly to the ground. "You wait here!" he said. "Hold my +animal, will you?" + +He left the bridge, retracing his steps, and climbed a railing that +fenced the wood. In a moment he disappeared among the trees, and Billy +was left to watch and listen in unaccountable suspense. + +The morning was dull, and a desolate wind moaned among the bare +tree-tops. He shivered a little. There was something uncanny in the +atmosphere, something that was evil. He kept his eyes upon Dinah, but she +was a considerable distance away, and he could not see that she stirred +so much as a finger. He wondered how long it would take Scott to reach +her, and began to wish ardently that he had been allowed to go instead. +The man was lame and he was sure that he could have covered the distance +in half the time. + +And then while he waited and watched, suddenly there came a distant +drumming that told of an approaching train. + +"The Northern express!" he said aloud. + +Many a time had he stood on the bridge to see it flash and thunder below +him. The sound of its approach had always filled him with a kind of +ecstasy before, but now--to-day--it sent another feeling through him,--a +sudden, wild dart of unutterable dread. + +"What rot!" he told himself, with an angry shake. "Oh, what rot!" + +But the dread remained coiled like a snake about his heart. + +The animal he held became restless, and he backed it off the bridge, but +he could not bring himself to go out of sight of that small, tragic +figure in the old mackintosh that sat so still, so still, there upon the +grassy slope. He watched it with a terrible fascination. Would Scott +never make his appearance? + +A white tuft of smoke showed against the grey of the sky. The throbbing +of the engine grew louder, grew insistent. A couple of seconds more and +it was within sight, still far away but rapidly drawing near. Where on +earth was Scott? Did he realize the danger? Ought he to shout? But +something seemed to grip his throat, holding him silent. He was powerless +to do anything but watch. + +Nearer came the train and nearer. Billy's eyes were starting out of his +head. He had never been so scared in all his life before. There was +something fateful in the pose of that waiting figure. + +The rush of the oncoming express dinned in his ears. It was close now, +and suddenly--suddenly as a darting bird--Dinah was on her feet. Billy +found his voice in a hoarse, croaking cry, but almost ere it left his +lips he saw Scott leap into view and run down the bank. + +By what force of will he made his presence known Billy never afterwards +could conjecture. No sound could have been audible above the clamour of +the train. Yet by some means--some electric battery of the mind--he made +the girl below aware of him. On the very verge of the precipice she +stopped, stood poised for a moment, then turned herself back and saw +him.... + +The train thundered by, shaking the ground beneath their feet, and rushed +under the bridge. The whole embankment was blotted out in white smoke, +and Billy reeled back against the horse he held. + +"By Jove!" he whispered shakily. "By--Jove! What a ghastly fright!" + +He wiped his forehead with a trembling hand, and led the animal away from +the bridge. Somehow he was feeling very sick--too sick to look any +longer, albeit the danger was past. + +The smoke cleared from the embankment, and two figures were left facing +one another on the grassy slope. Neither of them spoke a word. It was as +if they were waiting for some sign. Scott was panting, but Dinah did not +seem to be breathing at all. She stood there tense and silent, terribly +white, her eyes burning like stars. + +The last sound of the train died away in the distance, and then, such was +their utter stillness, from the thorn-bush close to them a thrush +suddenly thrilled into song. The soft notes fell balmlike into that awful +silence and turned it into sweetest music. + +Scott moved at last, and at once the bird ceased. It was as if an angel +had flown across the heaven with a silver flute of purest melody and +passed again into the unknown. + +He came to Dinah. "My dear," he said, and his voice was slightly shaky, +"you shouldn't be here." + +She stood before him, pillar-like, her two hands clenched against her +sides. Her lips were quite livid. They moved soundlessly for several +seconds before she spoke. "I--was waiting--for the express." + +Her voice was flat and emotionless. It sounded almost as if she were +talking in her sleep. And strangely it was that that shocked Scott even +more than her appearance. Dinah's voice had always held countless +inflections, little notes gay or sad like the trill of a robin. This was +the voice of a woman in whom the very last spark of hope was quenched. + +It pierced him with an intolerable pain. "Dinah--Dinah!" he said. "For +God's sake, child, you don't mean--that!" + +Her white, pinched face twisted in a dreadful smile. "Why not?" she said. +"There was no other way." And then a sudden quiver as of returning life +went through her. "Why did you stop me?" she said. "If you hadn't, it +would have been--all over by now." + +He put out a quick hand. "Don't say it,--in heaven's name! You are not +yourself. Come--come into the wood, and we will talk!" + +She did not take his hand. "Can't we talk here?" she said. + +He composed himself with an effort. "No, certainly not. Come into the +wood!" + +He spoke with quiet insistence. She gave him an inscrutable look. + +"You think you are going to help me,--Mr. Greatheart," she said, "but I +am past help. Nothing you can do will make any difference to me now." + +"Come with me nevertheless!" he said. + +He laid a gentle hand upon her shoulder, and she winced with a sharpness +that tore his heart. But in a moment she turned beside him and began the +ascent, slowly, labouringly, as if every step gave her pain. He moved +beside her, supporting her elbow when she faltered, steadily helping her +on. + +They entered the wood, and the desolate sighing of the wind encompassed +them. Dinah looked at her companion with the first sign of feeling she +had shown. + +"I must sit down," she said. + +"There is a fallen tree over there," he said, and guided her towards it. + +She leaned upon him, very near to collapse. He spread his coat upon the +tree and helped her down. + +"Now how long is it since you had anything to eat?" he said. + +She shook her head slightly. "I don't remember. But it doesn't matter. +I'm not hungry." + +He took one of her icy hands and began to rub it. "Poor child!" he said. +"You ought to be given some hot bread and milk and tucked up in bed with +hot bottles." + +Her face began to work. "That," she said, "is the last thing that will +happen to me." + +"Haven't you been to bed at all?" he questioned. + +Her throat was moving spasmodically; she bowed her head to hide her face +from him. "Yes," she said in a whisper. "My mother--my mother put me +there." And then as if the words burst from her against her will, "She +thrashed me first with a dog-whip; but dogs have got hair to protect +them, and I--had nothing. She only stopped because--I fainted. She hasn't +finished with me now. When I go back--when I go back--" She broke off. +"But I'm not going," she said, and her voice was flat and hard again. +"Even you can't make me do that. There'll be another express this +afternoon." + +Scott knelt down beside her, and took her bowed head on to his shoulder. +"Listen to me, Dinah!" he said. "I am going to help you, and you mustn't +try to prevent me. If you had only allowed me, I would have gone home +again with you yesterday, and this might have been avoided. My dear, +don't draw yourself away from me! Don't you know I am a friend you can +trust?" + +The pitiful tenderness of his voice reached her, overwhelming her first +instinctive effort to draw back. She leaned against him with painful, +long-drawn sobs. + +He held her closely to him with all a woman's understanding. "Oh, don't +cry any more, child!" he said. "You're worn out with crying." + +"I feel--so bad--so bad!" sobbed Dinah. + +"Yes, yes. I know. Of course you do. But it's over, it's over. No one +shall hurt you any more." + +"You don't--understand," breathed Dinah. "It never will be over--while I +live. I'm hurt inside--inside." + +"I know," he said again. "But it will get better presently. Isabel and I +are going to take you away from it all." + +"Oh no!" she said quickly. "No--no--no!" She lifted her head from his +shoulder and turned her poor, stained face upwards. "I couldn't do that!" +she said. "I couldn't! I couldn't!" + +"Wait!" he said gently. "Let me do what I can to help you now--before we +talk of that! Will you sit here quietly for a little, while I go and get +you some milk from that farm down the road?" + +"I don't want it," she said. + +"But I want you to have it," he made grave reply. "You will stay here? +Promise me!" + +"Very well," she assented miserably. + +He got up. "I shan't be gone long. Sit quite still till I come back!" + +He touched her dark head comfortingly and turned away. + +When he had gone a little distance he looked back, and saw that she was +crouched upon the ground again and crying with bitter, straining sobs +that convulsed her as though they would rend her from head to foot. With +tightened lips he hastened on his way. + +She had suffered a cruel punishment it was evident, and she was utterly +worn out in body and spirit. But was it only the ordeal of yesterday and +the physical penalty that she had been made to pay that had broken her +thus? + +He could not tell, but his heart bled for her misery and desolation. + +"Who is the other fellow?" he asked himself. "I wonder if Billy knows." + +He found Billy awaiting him in the road, anxious and somewhat +reproachful. "You've been such a deuce of a time," he said. "Is she all +right?" + +"She is very upset," he made answer. "And she is faint too for want of +food." + +"That's not surprising," commented Billy. "She can't have had anything +since lunch yesterday. What shall I do? Run home and get something? The +mater can't want her to starve." + +"No." Scott's voice rang on a hard note. "She probably doesn't. But you +needn't go home for it. Run back to that farm we passed just now, and see +if you can get some hot milk! Be quick like a good chap! Here's the +money! I'll wait here." + +Billy seized his bicycle and departed on his errand. + +Scott began to walk his horse up and down, for inactivity was unbearable. +Every moment he spent away from poor, broken Dinah was torturing. Those +dreadful, hopeless tears of hers filled him with foreboding. He yearned +to return. + +Billy's absence lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour, and he was +beginning to get desperate over the delay when at last the boy returned +carrying a can of milk and a mug. + +"I had rather a bother to get it," he explained. "People are so mighty +difficult to stir, and I didn't want to tell 'em too much. I've promised +to take these things back again. I say, can't I come along with you now?" + +"I'd rather you didn't," Scott said. "I can manage best alone. Besides, +I'm going to ask you to do something more." + +"Anything!" said Billy readily. + +"Thanks. Well, will you ride this animal into Great Mallowes, hire a +closed car, and send it to the bridge here to pick me up? Then take him +back to the Court, and if anyone asks any questions, say I've met a +friend and I'm coming back on foot, but I may not be in to luncheon. Yes, +that'll do, I think. I'll see about returning these things. Much obliged, +Billy. Good-bye!" + +Billy looked somewhat disappointed at this dismissal, but the prospect of +a ride was dear to his boyish heart, and in a moment he nodded cheerily. +"All right, I'll do that. I'll hide my bicycle in the wood and fetch it +afterwards. But where are you going to take her to?" + +Scott smiled also faintly and enigmatically. "Leave that to me, my good +fellow! I shan't run away with her." + +"But I shall see her again some time?" urged Billy, as he dumped his +long-suffering machine over the railing and propped it out of sight +behind the hedge. + +"No doubt you will." Scott's tone was kindly and reassuring. "But I think +I can help her better just now than you can, so I'll be getting back to +her. Good-bye, boy! And thanks again!" + +"So long!" said Billy, vaulting back and thrusting his foot into the +stirrup. "You might let me hear how you get on." + +"I will," promised Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION + + +When Scott reached the fallen tree again, Dinah's fit of weeping was +over. She was lying exhausted and barely conscious against his coat. + +She opened her eyes as he knelt down beside her. "You are--good," she +whispered faintly. + +He poured out some milk and held it to her. "Try to drink some!" he said +gently. + +She put out a trembling hand. + +"No; let me!" he said. + +She submitted in silence, and he lifted the glass to her lips and held it +very steadily while slowly she drank. + +Her eyes were swollen and burning with the shedding of many scalding +tears. Now and then a sharp sob rose in her throat so that she could not +swallow. + +"Take your time!" he said. "Don't hurry it!" + +But ere she finished, the tears were running down her face again. He set +down the glass, and with his own handkerchief he wiped them away. Then he +sat upon the low tree-trunk, and drew her to lean against him. + +"When you're feeling better, we'll have a talk," he said. + +She hid her face with a piteous gesture against his knee. "I don't +see--the good of talking," she said, in muffled accents. "It can't make +things--any better." + +"I'm not so sure of that," he said. "Anyhow we can't leave things as they +are. You will admit that." + +Dinah was silent. + +He went on with the utmost gentleness. "I want to get you away from here. +Isabel is going down to Heath-on-Sea and she wants you to come too. It's +a tiny place. We have a cottage there with the most wonderful garden for +flowers you ever saw. It isn't more than thirty yards square, and there +is a cliff path down to the beach. Isabel loves the place. The yacht is +there too, and we go for cruises on calm days. I am hoping Isabel may +pick up a little there, and she is always more herself when you are with +her. You won't disappoint her, will you?" + +A great-shiver went through Dinah. "I can't come," she said, almost under +her breath. "It just--isn't possible." + +"What is there to prevent?" he asked. + +She moved a little, and lifted her head from its resting-place. "Ever so +many things," she said. + +"You are thinking of Eustace?" he questioned. "He has gone already--gone +to town. He will probably go abroad; but in any case he will not get in +your way." + +"I wasn't thinking of him," Dinah said. + +"Then of what?" he questioned. "Your mother? I will see her, and make +that all right." + +She started and lifted her face. "Oh no! Oh no! You must never dream of +doing that!" she declared, with sudden fevered urgency. "I couldn't bear +you to see her. You mustn't think of it, indeed--indeed! Why I would +even--even sooner go back myself." + +"Then I must write to her," he said, gently ceding the point. "It is not +essential that I should see her. Possibly even, a letter would be +preferable." + +Dinah's face had flushed fiery red. She did not meet his eyes. "I don't +see why you should have anything to do with her," she said. "You would +never get her to consent." + +"Then I propose that we act first," said Scott. "Isabel is leaving +to-day. You can join her at Great Mallowes and go on together. I shall +follow in a couple of days. There are several matters to be attended to +first. But Isabel and Biddy will take care of you. Come, my dear, you +won't dislike that so very badly!" + +"Dislike it!" Dinah caught back another sob. "I should love it above all +things if it were possible. But it isn't--it isn't." + +"Why not?" he questioned. "Surely your father would not raise any +objection?" + +She shook her head. "No--no! He doesn't care what happens to me. I used +to think he did; but he doesn't--he doesn't." + +"Then what is the difficulty?" asked Scott. + +She was silent, and he saw the hot colour spreading over her neck as she +turned her face away. + +"Won't you tell me?" he urged gently. "Is there some particular reason +why you want to stay?" + +"Oh no! I'm not going to stay." Quickly she made answer. "I am never +going back. I couldn't after--after--" She broke off in quivering +distress. + +"I think your mother will be sorry presently," he said. "People with +violent tempers generally repent very deeply afterwards." + +Dinah turned upon him suddenly and hotly. "She will never repent!" she +declared. "She hates me. She has always hated me. And I hate her--hate +her--hate her!" + +The concentrated passion of her made her vibrate from head to foot. Her +eyes glittered like emeralds. She was possessed by such a fury of hatred +as made her scarcely recognizable. + +Scott looked at her steadily for a moment or two. Then: "But it does you +more harm than good to say so," he said. "And it doesn't answer my +question, does it? Dinah, if you don't feel that you can do this thing +for your own sake, won't you do it for Isabel's? She is needing you badly +just now." + +The vindictive look went out of Dinah's face. Her eyes softened, and he +saw the hopeless tears well up again. "But I couldn't help her any more," +she said. + +"The very fact of having you to care for would help her," Scott said. + +Dinah shook her head. She was sitting on the ground with her hands +clasped round her knees. As the tears splashed down again, she turned her +face away. + +"It wouldn't help her, it wouldn't help anybody, to have me as I am now," +she said. "I can't tell you--I can't explain. But--I am not fit to +associate with anyone good." + +Scott leaned towards her. "Dinah, my dear, you are torturing yourself," +he said. "It's natural, I know. You have had no sleep, and you have cried +yourself ill. But I am not going to give in to you. I am not going to +take No for an answer. You have no plans for yourself, and I doubt if in +your present state you are capable of forming any. Isabel wants you, and +it would be cruel to disappoint her. So you and I will join her at Great +Mallowes this afternoon. I will deal with your people in the matter, but +I do not anticipate any great difficulty in that direction. Now that is +settled, and you need not weary yourself with any further discussion. I +am responsible, and I will bear my responsibility." + +His tone was kind but it held unmistakable finality. + +Dinah uttered a heavy sigh, and said no more. She lacked the strength for +prolonged opposition. + +He persuaded her to drink some more of the milk, and made a cushion of +his coat for her against the tree. + +"Perhaps you will get a little sleep," he said, as she suffered herself +to relax somewhat. "Will it disturb you if I smoke?" + +"No," she said. + +He took out his case. "Shut your eyes!" he said practically. + +But Dinah's eyes remained open, watching him. He began to smoke as if +unaware of her scrutiny. + +After several moments she spoke. "Scott!" + +He turned to her. "Yes? What is it?" + +The piteous, shamed colour rose up under his eyes. Again she turned her +face away. "That--that sapphire pendant!" she murmured. "I brought it +with me. Of course--I know--the presents will have to be returned. I +didn't mean to--to run away with it. But--but--I loved it so. I couldn't +have borne my mother to touch it. Shall I--shall I give it you now?" + +"No, dear," he answered firmly. "Neither now nor at any time. I gave it +to you as a token of friendship, and I would like you to keep it always +for that reason." + +"Always?" questioned Dinah. "Even if--if I never marry at all?" + +"Certainly," he said. + +"Because I never shall marry now," she said, speaking with difficulty. +"I--have quite given up that idea." + +"I should like you to keep it in any case," Scott said. + +"You are very good," she said earnestly. "I--I wonder you will have +anything to do with me now that you know how--how wicked I am." + +"I don't think you wicked," he said. + +"Don't you?" She opened her heavy eyes a little. "You don't blame me +for--for--" She broke off shuddering, and as she did so, there came again +the rumble and roar of a distant train. "Then why did you stop me?" she +whispered tensely. + +Scott was silent for a moment or two. He was gazing straight before him. +At length, "I stopped you," he said, "because I had to. It doesn't matter +why. You would have done the same in my place. But I don't blame you, +partly because it is not my business, and partly because I know quite +well that you didn't realize what you were doing." + +"I did realize," Dinah said. "If it weren't for you--because you are so +good--nothing would have stopped me. Even now--even now--" again the hot +tears came--"I've nothing to live for, and--and--God--doesn't--care." +She turned her face into her arm and wept silently. + +Scott made a sudden movement, and threw his cigarette away. Then swiftly +he bent over her. + +"Dinah," he said, "stop crying! You're making a big mistake." + +His tone was arresting, imperative. She looked up at him almost in spite +of herself. His eyes gazed straight into hers, and it seemed to her that +there was something magnetic, something that was even unearthly, in their +close regard. + +"You are making a mistake," he repeated. "God always cares. He cared +enough to send a friend to look after you. Do you want any stronger proof +than that?" + +"I--don't--know," Dinah said, awe-struck. + +"Think about it!" Scott insisted. "Do you seriously imagine that it was +just chance that brought me along at that particular moment? Do you think +it was chance that made you draw back yesterday from giving yourself to a +man you don't love? Was it chance that sent you to Switzerland in the +first place? Don't you know in your heart that God has been guiding you +all through?" + +"I don't know," Dinah said again, but there was less of hopelessness in +her voice. The shining certainty in Scott's eyes was warring with her +doubt. "But then, why has He let me suffer so?" + +"Why did He suffer so Himself?" Scott said. "Except that He might learn +obedience? It's a bitter lesson to all of us, Dinah; but it's got to be +learnt." + +"You have learnt it!" she said, with a touch of her own impulsiveness. + +He smiled a little--smiled and sighed. "I wonder. I've learnt anyhow to +believe in the goodness of God, and to know that though we can't see Him +in all things, it's not because He isn't there. Even those who know Him +best can't realize Him always." + +"But still you are sure He is there?" Dinah questioned. + +"I am quite sure," he said, with a conviction so absolute that it placed +further questioning beyond the bounds of possibility. "Life is full of +problems which it is out of any man's power to solve. But to anyone who +will take the trouble to see them the signs are unmistakable. There is +not a single soul that is left unaccounted for in the reckoning of God. +He cares for all." + +There was no contradicting him; Dinah was too weary for discussion in any +case. But he had successfully checked her tears at last; he had even in a +measure managed to comfort her torn soul. She lay for a space pondering +the matter. + +"I am afraid I am one of those who don't take the trouble," she said at +length. "But I shall try to now. Thank you for all your goodness to me, +Mr. Greatheart." She smiled at him wanly. "I don't deserve it--not a +quarter of it. But I'm grateful all the same. Please won't you have your +smoke now, and forget me and my troubles?" + +That smile cheered Scott more than any words. He recognized moreover that +the delicate touch of reserve that characterized her speech was the first +evidence of returning self-control that she had manifested. + +He took out his cigarette-case again. "I hope you haven't found me +over-presumptuous," he said. + +Dinah reached up a trembling hand. "Presumptuous for helping me in the +Valley of Humiliation?" she said. + +He took the hand and held it firmly. "I am so used to it myself," he +said, in a low voice. "I ought to know a little about it." + +"Perhaps," said Dinah thoughtfully, "that is what makes you great." + +He raised his shoulders slightly. "You have always seen me through a +magnifying-glass," he said whimsically. "Some day the fates will reverse +that glass and then you will be unutterably shocked." + +Dinah smiled again and shook her head. "I know you," she said. + +He lighted his cigarette, and then brought out a pocket-book. "I want to +write a note to Isabel," he said. "You don't mind?" + +"About me?" questioned Dinah. + +"About the arrangements I am making. She is motoring to Great Mallowes in +any case to catch the afternoon express." + +"Oh!" said Dinah, and coloured vividly, painfully. + +Scott did not see. "I can get someone at the farm to take the message," +he said. "And when once you are with Isabel I shall feel easy about you." + +"And--and--my--mother?" faltered Dinah. + +"I shall write to her this afternoon while we are waiting for Isabel," +said Scott quietly. + +"What--shall you say?" whispered Dinah. + +"Do you mind leaving that entirely to me?" he said. + +"She will be--furious," she murmured. "She might--out of revenge come +after us. What then?" + +"She will certainly not do that," said Scott, "as she will not know your +address. Besides, people do not remain furious, you know. They cool down, +and then they are generally ashamed of themselves. Don't let us talk +about your mother!" + +"The de Vignes then," said Dinah, turning from the subject with relief. +"Tell me what happened! Was the Colonel very angry?" + +Scott's mouth twitched slightly. "Not in the least," he said. + +"Not really!" Dinah looked incredulous for a moment; then: "Perhaps he +thinks there is a fresh chance for Rose," she said. + +"Perhaps he does," agreed Scott dryly. "In any case, he is more disposed +to smile than frown, and as Eustace wasn't there to see it, it didn't +greatly matter." + +"Oh, poor Eustace!" she whispered. "It--was dreadful to hurt him so." + +"I think he will get over it," Scott said. + +"He was much--kinder--than--than I deserved," she murmured. + +Scott's faint smile reappeared. "Perhaps he found it difficult to be +anything else," he said. + +She shook her head. "I wonder--how I came to make--such a dreadful +mistake." + +"It wasn't your fault," said Scott. + +She looked at him quickly. "What makes you say that?" + +He met her look gravely. "Because I know just how it happened," he said. +"You were neither of you in earnest in the first place. I am afraid I had +a hand in making Eustace propose to you. I was afraid--and so was +Isabel--you would be hurt by his trifling." + +"And you interfered?" breathed Dinah. + +He nodded. "Yes, I told him it must be one thing or the other. I wanted +you to be happy. But instead of helping you, I landed you in this mess." + +Something in his tone touched her. She laid a small shy hand upon his +knee. "It was--dear of you, Scott," she said very earnestly. "Thank +you--ever so much--for what you did." + +He put his hand on hers. "My dear, I would have given all I had to have +undone it afterwards. It is very generous of you to take it like that. I +have often wanted to kick myself since." + +"Then you must never want to again," she said. "Do you know I'm so glad +you've told me? It was so--fine of you--to do that for me. I'm sure you +couldn't have wanted me for a sister-in-law even then." + +"I wanted you to be happy," Scott reiterated. + +She uttered a quick sigh. "Happiness isn't everything, is it?" + +"Not everything, no," he said. + +She grasped his hand hard. "I'm going to try to be good instead," she +said. "Will you help me?" + +He smiled at her somewhat sadly. "If you think my help worth having," he +said. + +"But of course it is," she made warm answer. "You are the strong man who +helps everyone. You are--Greatheart." + +He looked at her still smiling and slowly shook his head. "Now, if you +don't mind," he said, "I will write my note to Isabel." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SPOKEN IN JEST + + +The afternoon was well advanced when Scott returned to Perrythorpe Court. +No sounds of revelry greeted him as he entered. A blazing fire was +burning in the hall, but no one was there to enjoy the warmth. The gay +crowd that had clustered before the great hearth only yesterday had all +dispersed. The place was empty. + +"Can I get you anything, sir?" enquired the man who admitted him. + +His voice was sepulchral. Scott smiled a little. "Yes, please. A whisky +and soda. Where is everybody?" + +"The Colonel and Miss Rose went out riding, sir, after the guests had all +gone, and they have not yet returned. Her ladyship is resting in her +room." + +"Everyone gone but me?" questioned Scott, with a whimsical lift of the +eyebrows. + +The man bent his head decorously. "I believe so, sir. There was a general +feeling that it would be more fitting as the marriage was not to take +place as arranged. I understand, sir, that the family will shortly +migrate to town." + +"Really?" said Scott. + +He bent over the fire, for the evening was chilly, and he was tired to +the soul. The man coughed and withdrew. Again the silence fell. + +A face he knew began to look up at Scott out of the leaping +flames--a face that was laughing and provocative one moment, wistful +and tear-stained the next. + +He heaved a sigh as he followed the fleeting vision. "Will she ever be +happy again?" he asked himself. + +The last sight he had had of her had cut him to the heart. She had +conquered her tears at last, but her smile was the saddest thing he had +ever seen. It was as though her vanished childhood had suddenly looked +forth at him and bidden him farewell. He felt that he would never see +the child Dinah again. + +The return of the servant with his drink brought him back to his +immediate surroundings. He sat down in an easy-chair before the fire to +mix it. + +The man turned to go, but he had not reached the end of the hall when the +front-door bell rang again. He went soft-footed to answer it. + +Scott glanced over his shoulder as the door opened, and heard his own +name. + +"Is Mr. Studley here?" a man's voice asked. + +"Yes, sir. Just here, sir," came the answer, and Scott rose with a weary +gesture. + +"Oh, here you are!" Airily Guy Bathurst advanced to meet him. "Don't let +me interrupt your drink! I only want a few words with you." + +"I'll fetch another glass, sir" murmured the discreet man-servant, and +vanished. + +Scott stood, stiff and uncompromising, by his chair. There was a hint of +hostility in his bearing. "What can I do for you?" he asked. + +Bathurst ignored his attitude with that ease of manner of which he was a +past-master. "Well I thought perhaps you could give me news of Dinah" he +said. "Billy tells me he left you with her this morning." + +"I see" said Scott. He looked at the other man with level, unblinking +eyes. "You are beginning to feel a little anxious about her?" he +questioned. + +"Well, I think it's about time she came home," said Bathurst. He took out +a cigarette and lighted it. "Her mother is wondering what has become of +her," he added, between the puffs. + +"I posted a letter to Mrs. Bathurst about an hour ago," said Scott. "She +will get it in the morning." + +"Indeed!" Bathurst glanced at him. "And is her whereabouts to remain a +mystery until then?" + +"That letter will reassure you as to her safety," Scott returned quietly. +"But it will not enlighten you as to her whereabouts. She is in good +hands, and it is not her intention to return home--at least for the +present. Under the circumstances you could scarcely compel her to do so." + +"I never compel her to do anything," said Bathurst comfortably. "Her +mother keeps her in order, I have nothing to do with it." + +"Evidently not." A sudden sharp quiver of scorn ran through Scott's +words. "Her mother may make her life a positive hell, but it's no +business of yours!" + +A flicker of temper shone for a second in Bathurst's eyes. The scorn had +penetrated even his thick skin. "None whatever," he said deliberately. +"Nor of yours either, so far as I can see." + +"There you are wrong." Hotly Scott took him up. "It is the duty of every +man to prevent cruelty. Dinah has been treated like a bond-slave all her +life. What were you about to allow it?" + +He flung the question fiercely. The man's careless repudiation of all +responsibility aroused in him a perfect storm of indignation. He was +probably more angry at that moment than he had ever been before. + +Guy Bathurst stared at him for a second or two, his own resentment +quenched in amazement. Finally he laughed. + +"If you were married to my wife, you'd know," he said. "Personally I like +a quiet life. Besides, discipline is good for youngsters. I think Lydia +is disposed to carry it rather far, I admit. But after all, a woman can't +do much damage to her own daughter. And anyhow it isn't a man's business +to interfere." + +He broke off as the servant reappeared, and seated himself in a chair on +the other side of the fire. He drank some whisky and water in large, +appreciative gulps, and resumed his cigarette. + +"If Dinah had seriously wanted to get away from it, she should have +married your brother," he said then. "It was her own doing entirely, this +last affair. A girl shouldn't jilt her lover at the last moment if she +isn't prepared to face the consequences. She knows her mother's temper by +this time, I should imagine. She might have guessed what was in store for +her." He looked across at Scott as one seeking sympathy. "You'll admit it +was a tomfool thing to do," he said. "I don't wonder at her mother +wanting to make her smart for it. I really don't. Dinah ought to have +known her own mind." + +"She knows it now," said Scott grimly. + +"Yes. So it appears. By the way, have you any idea what induced her to +throw your brother over in that way just at the last minute? It would be +interesting to know." + +"Did she give you no reason?" said Scott. He hated parleying with the +man, but something impelled him thereto. + +Guy Bathurst leaning back at his ease with his cigarette between his +lips, uttered a careless laugh. "She seemed to think she wasn't in love +with him. We couldn't get any more out of her than that. As a matter of +fact her mother was too furious to attempt it. But there must have been +some other reason. I wondered if you knew what it was." + +"I shouldn't have thought it essential that there should have been any +other reason," Scott said deliberately. "If there is--I am not in her +confidence." + +He was still on his feet as if he wished it to be clearly understood that +he did not intend their conversation to develop into anything of the +nature of friendly intercourse. + +Bathurst continued to smoke, but a faint air of insolence was apparent in +his attitude. He was not accustomed to being treated with contempt, and +the desire awoke within him to find some means of disconcerting this +undersized whippersnapper who had almost succeeded in making him feel +cheap. + +"You haven't been making love to her on your own account by any chance, I +suppose?" he enquired lazily. + +Scott's eyes flashed upon him a swift and hawk-like regard, and the +hauteur that so often characterized his brother suddenly descended upon +him and clothed him as a mantle. + +"I have not," he said. + +"Quite sure?" persisted Bathurst, still amiably smiling. "It's my belief +she's smitten with you, you know. I've thought so all along. Funny idea, +isn't it? Never occurred to you of course?" + +Scott made no reply, but his silence was more scathing than speech. It +served to arouse all the rancour of which Bathurst's indolent nature was +capable. + +"No accounting for women's preference, is there?" he said. "You ought to +feel vastly flattered, my good sir. It isn't many women would put you +before that handsome brother of yours. How did you work it, eh? Come, +you're caught! So you may as well own up." + +Scott shrugged his shoulders abruptly, disdainfully, and turned from him. +"If you choose to amuse yourself at your daughter's expense, I cannot +prevent you," he said. "But there is not a grain of truth in your +insinuation. I repudiate it absolutely." + +"My dear fellow, that's a bit thick," laughed Bathurst; he had found +the vulnerable spot, and he meant to make the most of it. "Do you +actually expect me to believe that you won her away from your brother +without knowing it? That's rather a tough proposition, too tough for my +middle-aged digestion. You've been trifling with her young affections, +but you are not man enough to own it." + +"You are wrong, utterly wrong," Scott said. He restrained himself with +difficulty; for still something was at work within him urging him to be +temperate. "Dinah has never dreamed of falling in love with me. As you +say, the bare idea is manifestly absurd." + +"Then who is she in love with?" demanded Bathurst, with lazy insistence. +"You're the only other man she knows, and there's certainly someone. No +girl would throw up such a catch as your brother for the mere sentiment +of the thing. It stands to reason there must be someone else. And there +is no one but you. She doesn't know anyone else, I tell you. She has no +opportunities. Her mother sees to that." + +Scott was bending over the fire, his face to the flame. His indignation +had died down. He was very still, as one deep in thought. Could it be the +true word spoken in ill-timed jest which he had just heard? He wondered; +he wondered. + +A golden radiance was spreading forth to him from the heart of those +leaping flames, like the coming of the dawnlight over the dark earth. He +watched it spell-bound, utterly unmindful of the man behind him. If this +thing were true! Ah, if this thing were true! + +A sudden sound made him turn to see Colonel de Vigne and his daughter +enter. + +They came forward to greet him and Bathurst. Rose was smiling; her eyes +were softly bright. + +"How happy she looks!" was the thought that occurred to him, but it was +only a passing thought. It vanished in a moment as he heard her accost +Bathurst. + +"How is our poor little Dinah by this time?" + +"You had better ask this gentleman," airily responded Bathurst. "He has +elected to make himself responsible for her welfare." + +Rose's delicate brows went up, but very strangely Scott no longer felt in +the least disconcerted. He replied to her unspoken query without +difficulty. + +"Dinah felt that she could not face the gossips," he said, "and as Isabel +was badly wanting her, they have gone away together. Except for old +Biddy, they will be quite alone, and it will do them both all the good in +the world." + +Rose's brow cleared. "What an excellent arrangement!" she murmured +sympathetically. "And--your brother?" + +Scott smiled. "Needless to say, he is not of the party. His plans are +somewhat uncertain. He may go abroad for a time, but I doubt if he +banishes himself for long when the London season is in full swing." + +Rose's smile answered his. "I think he is very wise," she said. "When +Easter is over, we shall probably follow his example. I hope we shall +have the pleasure of meeting you when we are all in town." + +"Ha! So do I," said the Colonel. "You must look me up at the Club--any +time. I shall be delighted." + +"You are very kind," Scott said. "But I go to town very rarely, and I +never stay there. My brother is far more of a society man than I am." + +"You will have to come out of your shell," smiled Rose. + +"Quite so--quite so," agreed the Colonel. "It isn't fair to cheat +society, you know. If we can't dance at your brother's wedding, you might +give us the pleasure of dancing at yours." + +Bathurst uttered a careless laugh. "I've just been accusing him of +cutting his brother out," he said lightly. "But he denies all knowledge +of the transaction." + +"Oh, but what a shame!" interposed Rose quickly. "Mr. Studley, we won't +listen to this gossip. Will you come up to my sitting-room, and show me +that new game of Patience you were talking about yesterday? Bring your +drink with you!" + +He went with her almost in silence. + +In her own room she turned upon him with a wonderful, illumined smile, +and held out her hand. + +"I won't have you badgered," she said. "But--it is true, is it not?" + +He took her hand, looking straight into her beautiful eyes. There was +more life in her face at that moment than he had ever seen before. She +was as one suddenly awakened. "What is true, Miss de Vigne?" he +questioned. + +"That you care for her," she answered, "that she cares for you." + +His look remained full upon her. "In a friendly sense, yes," he said. + +"In no other sense?" she insisted. Her eyes were shining, as if her whole +soul were suddenly alight with animation. "Tell me," she said, as he did +not speak immediately, "have you ever cared for her merely as a friend?" + +There was no evading the question, neither for some reason could he +resent it. He hesitated for a second or two; then, "You have guessed +right," he said quietly. "But she has never suspected it, and--she never +will." + +To his surprise Rose frowned. "But why not tell her?" she said. "Surely +she has a right to know!" + +He smiled and shook his head. "Pardon me! No one has the smallest right +to know. Would you say that of yourself if you cared for someone who did +not care for you?" + +She blushed under his eyes suddenly and very vividly, and in a moment +turned from him. "Ah, but that is different!" she said. "A woman is +different! If she gives her heart where it is not wanted, that is her +affair alone." + +He did not pursue his advantage; he liked her for the blush. + +"Isn't it rather an unprofitable discussion?" he said gently. "Suppose we +get to our game of Patience!" + +And Rose acquiesced in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE KNIGHT IN DISGUISE + + +A long, curling wave ran up the shingle and broke in a snow-white sheet +of foam just below Dinah's feet. She was perched on a higher ridge of +shingle, bareheaded, full in the glare of the mid-June sunlight. Her +brown hands were locked tightly around her knees. Her small, pointed face +looked wistfully over the sea. + +She had been sitting in that position for a long time, her green eyes +unblinking but swimming in the heat and glare. The dark ringlets on her +forehead danced in the soft breeze that came over the water. There was +tension in her attitude, the tension of deep and concentrated thought. + +Into the midst of her meditations, there came a slow, halting step. It +fell on the shingle behind her, reaching her above the roar of the +breakers, and instantly a flood of colour rushed up over her face and +neck. + +Sharply she turned. "Scott!" + +She was on her feet in a second with hand outstretched in welcome. + +"Oh, how you startled me! How good of you to come so soon! I--shouldn't +have left the house if I had known." + +"I came at once," he said simply. "But I have only just got here. I saw +you sitting on the shore and came straight to you. What news?" + +His quiet, deliberate voice was in striking contrast to her agitated +utterance. The hand that held hers was absolutely steady. + +She met his look with confidence. "Scott, she is going. You knew +it--didn't you?--when you were here last Sunday? She knew it too. She +didn't want you to go really. And so--directly I realized she was +worse--I sent for you. But--they say--even now she may linger for a +little. But you'll stay, won't you? You won't go again?" + +His grave eyes looked into hers. "Of course I will stay," he said. + +She drew a quick sigh of relief. "She scarcely slept last night. Her +breathing was so bad. It was very hot, you know. The nurse or I were +fanning her nearly all the time, till the morning breeze came at last. +And then she got quieter. She is asleep now. They say she will sleep +for hours. And so I slipped out just for a little, so as to be quite +fresh again when she wakes." + +"Don't you sleep at all?" Scott asked gently. + +The colour was fading from her face; it returned at his question. "Oh +yes, any time. It doesn't matter for me. I am so strong. And I can +sleep--afterwards." + +He looked down at the thin little hand he still held. "You mustn't wear +yourself out, Dinah," he said. + +Her lip quivered suddenly, "What does it matter?" she said. "I've nothing +else to live for." + +"I don't think we can any of us say that," he answered. "There is always +something left." + +She turned her face and looked over the sea. "I'm sure I don't know +what," she said, with a catch in her voice. "If--Isabel--were going to +live, if--if I could only have her always, I should be quite happy. I +shouldn't want anything else. But without her--life without her--after +these two months,--" her voice broke and ceased. + +"I know," Scott said. "I should have felt the same myself not so long +ago. I have let you slip into my place, you see; and it comes hard on you +now. But don't forget our friendship, Dinah! Don't forget I'm here!" + +She turned back, swallowing her tears with difficulty and gave him a +quivering smile. "Oh, I know. You are so good. And it was dear of you +to--to let me take your place with her. None but you would have done such +a thing." + +"My dear, it was far better for her, and she wished it," he interposed. +"Besides, with Eustace away, I had plenty to do. You mustn't twist that +into a virtue. It was the only course open to me. I knew that it would +lift her out of misery to have you, and--naturally--I wished it too." + +She nodded. "It was just like you. And I--I ought to have remembered that +it couldn't last. It has been such a comfort to--to have my darling to +love and care for. But oh, the blank when she is gone!" + +Scott was silent. + +"It's wrong to want to keep her, I know," Dinah went on wistfully. "She +has got so wonderfully happy of late; and I know it is the thought of +nearing the end of the journey that makes her so. And when I am with her, +I feel happy too for her sake. But when I am away from her--it--it's +all so dreary. I--feel so frightened and--alone." + +"Don't be frightened!" Scott said gently. "You never are alone." + +"Ah, but life is so difficult," she whispered. + +"It would be," he answered, "if we had to face it all at once. But, thank +God, that is not so. We can only see a little way ahead. We can only do a +little at a time." + +"Do you think that is a help?" she said. "I would give +anything--sometimes--to look into the future." + +"I think the burden would be greater than we could bear," Scott said. + +"Oh, do you? I think it would be such a relief to know." Dinah uttered a +sharp sigh. "It's no good talking," she said. "Only one thing is certain. +I'm not going to break with Billy of course, but I'll never go back to +Perrythorpe again, never as long as I live!" + +There was a quiver of passion in her voice. She looked at Scott with what +was almost a challenge in her eyes. + +He did not answer it. His face wore a look of perplexity. But, "If I were +in your place," he said quietly, "I think I should say the same." + +"I am sure you would," she said warmly. "I only tolerated it so long +because I didn't know what freedom was like. When I went to Switzerland, +I found out; and when I came back, it just wasn't endurable any longer. +But I wish I knew--I do wish I knew--what I were going to do." + +The words were out before she could stop them, but the moment they were +uttered she made a sharp gesture as though she would recall them. + +"I'm silly to talk like this," she said. "Please forget it!" + +He smiled a little. "Not silly, Dinah," he said, "but mistaken. Believe +me, the future is already provided for." + +Her brows contracted slightly. "Ah, you are good," she said. "You believe +in God." + +"So do you," he said, with quiet conviction. + +Her lip quivered. "I believe He would help anyone like you, but--but He +wouldn't bother Himself about me. There are too many others of the same +sort." + +Scott looked at her in genuine astonishment. "What a curious idea!" he +said. "You don't really think that, do you?" + +She nodded. "I can't help it. Life is such a maze of difficulties, and +one has to face them all alone." + +"You won't face yours alone," he said quickly. + +She smiled rather piteously. "I've faced all the worst bits alone so +far." + +"I know," Scott said. "But you are through the worst now." + +She shook her head doubtfully. "I'm afraid of life," she said. + +He saw that she did not wish to pursue the subject and put it gently +aside. "Shall we go in?" he said. "I should like to be at hand when +Isabel wakes." + +She turned beside him at once. Their talk went back to Isabel. They spoke +of her tenderly, as one nearing the end of a long and wearisome journey, +and as they approached the little white house on the heath above the sea, +Dinah gave somewhat hesitating utterance to a thought that had been +persistently in her mind of late. + +"Do you," she said, speaking with evident effort, "think that--Eustace +should be sent for?" + +"Does she want him?" said Scott. + +"I don't know. She never speaks of him. But then--that may be--for my +sake." Dinah's voice was very low and not wholly free from distress. "And +again--it may be on my account he is keeping away. She hasn't seen him +for these two months--not since we left Perrythorpe." + +"No," Scott said gravely. "I know." + +Dinah was silent for a brief space; then she braced herself for another +effort. "Scott, I--don't want to be--in anyone's way. If--if she would +like to see him, and if he--doesn't want to come--because of me, I--must +go, that's all." + +She spoke with resolution, and pausing at the gate that led off the heath +into the garden looked him straight in the face. + +"I want you," she said rather breathlessly, "to find out if--that is so. +And if it is--if it is--" + +"My dear, you needn't be afraid," Scott said. "I am quite sure that +Eustace wouldn't wish to drive you away. He might be doubtful as to +whether you would care to meet him again so soon, but if you had no +objection to his coming, he wouldn't deliberately stay away on his own +account. You know--I don't think you've ever realized it--he loves +Isabel." + +"Then he must want to come," she said quickly. "Oh, Scott, do you know--I +said a dreadful--a cruel--thing to him--that last day. If he really loves +her, it must have hurt him--terribly." + +"What did you say?" Scott asked. + +"I said--" the quick tears sprang to her eyes--"I said that he was unkind +to her, and that--that she was always miserable when he was there. Scott, +what made me say it? It was hateful of me! It was hateful!" + +"It was the truth," Scott said. He looked at her thoughtfully for a few +seconds, then very kindly he patted her hand as it rested on the gate. +"Don't be so distressed!" he said. "It probably did him good--even if it +did hurt. But I think you are right. If Isabel has the smallest wish to +see him, he must come. I will see what I can do." + +Dinah gave him a difficult smile. "You always put things right," she +said. + +He lifted his shoulders with a whimsical expression. "The +magnifying-glass again!" he said. + +"No," she protested. "No. I see you as you are." + +"Then you see a very ordinary citizen," he said. + +But Dinah shook her head. "A knight in disguise," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MOUNTAIN SIDE + + +When Isabel opened her eyes after a slumber that had lasted for the +greater part of the day, it was to find Scott seated beside her quietly +watching her. + +She reached a feeble hand to him with a smile of welcome. "Dear Stumpy, +when did you come?" + +"An hour or two ago," he said, and put the weak hand to his lips. "You +have had a good sleep, dear?" + +"Yes," she said. "Yes. It has done me good." She lay looking at him with +a smile still in her eyes. "I hope little Dinah is resting," she said. +"She was with me nearly all night. I didn't wish it, Stumpy, but the dear +child wouldn't leave till I was more comfortable." + +"She is resting for a little now," he said. "I am so sorry you had a bad +time last night." + +"Oh, don't be sorry for me!" she said softly. "My bad times are so nearly +over now. It is a waste of time to talk about them. She sent for you, did +she?" + +He bent his head. "She knew I would wish to be sent for. She fancied you +might be wanting me." + +"I do want you," she said, and into her wasted face there came a look of +unutterable tenderness. "Oh, Stumpy darling, need you leave me again?" + +He was still holding her hand; his fingers closed upon it at her words. + +"I think the last part may be--a little steep," she said wistfully. "I +would like to feel that you are near at hand. You have helped me so +often--so often. And then too--there is--my little Dinah. I want you to +help her too." + +"God knows I will do my best, dear," he said. + +Her fingers returned his pressure. "She has been so much to me--so much +to me," she whispered. "When I came here, I had no hope. But the care of +her, the comforting of her, opened the dungeon-door for me. And now no +Giant Despair will ever hold me captive again. But I am anxious about +her, Stumpy. There is some trouble in the background of which she has +never spoken--of which she can never bear to speak. Have you any idea +what it is?" + +He moved with an unwonted touch of restlessness. "I think she worries +about the future," he said. + +"That isn't all," Isabel said with conviction. "There is more than that. +It hangs over her like a cloud. It weighs her down." + +"She hasn't confided in me," he said. + +"Ah! But perhaps she will," Isabel's eyes still dwelt upon him with a +great tenderness. "Stumpy," she murmured under her breath, "forgive me +for asking! I must ask! Stumpy, why don't you win her for yourself, dear? +The way is open. I know--I know you can." + +He moved again, moved with a gesture of protest. "You are mistaken, +Isabel," he said. "The way is not open." He spoke wearily. He was looking +straight before him. "If I were to attempt what you suggest," he said +slowly, "I should deprive her of the only friend to whom she can turn +with any confidence besides yourself. She trusts me now implicitly. She +believes my friendship for her to be absolutely simple and disinterested. +And I would rather die than fail her." + +"Then you think she doesn't care?" Isabel said. + +Scott turned his eyes upon her. "Personally, I came to that conclusion +long ago," he said. "No woman could ever hang a serious romance around +me, Isabel. I am not the right sort. If Dinah imagined for a moment that +I were capable of making love in the ordinary way, our friendship would +go to the bottom forthwith. No, my dear; put the thought out of your +mind! The Stumpys of this world must be resigned to go unpaired. They +must content themselves with the outer husk. It's that or nothing." + +Isabel's smile was full of tenderness. "You talk as one who knows," she +said. "But I wonder if you do." + +"Oh yes," Scott said. "I've learned my lesson. I've been given an +ordinary soul in an extraordinary body, and I've got to make the best of +it. You can't ignore the body, you know, Isabel. It plays a mighty big +part in this mortal life. The idea of any woman falling in love with me +in my present human tenement is ridiculous, and I have put it out of my +mind for good." + +Isabel's eyes were shining. She clasped his hand closer. "I think you are +quite wrong, Stumpy dear," she said. "If your soul matched your body, +then there might be something in your argument. But it doesn't. And--if +you don't mind my saying so--your soul is far the most extraordinary +part of your personality. Little Dinah found out long ago that you +were--greathearted." + +Scott smiled a little. "Oh yes, I know she views me through a +magnifying-glass and reveres me accordingly. Hence our friendship. But, +my dear, that isn't being in love. I believe that somewhere there is a +shadowy person whom she cherishes in the very inner secrecy of her heart. +Who he is or what he is, I don't know. He is probably something very +different from the dream-being she worships. We all are. But I feel that +he is there. Probably I have never met the actual man. I have only seen +his shadow and that by inadvertence. I once penetrated the secret chamber +for one moment only, and then I was driven forth and the door securely +locked. I am not good at trespassing, you know, for all my greatness. I +have never been near the secret chamber since." + +"Do you mean that she admitted to you that--she cared for someone?" +Isabel asked. + +Scott's pale eyes had a quizzical look. "I had the consideration to back +out before she had time to do anything so unmaidenly," he said. "Possibly +the shadowman may never materialize. In fact it seems more than possible. +In which case the least said is soonest mended." + +"That may be what is troubling her," Isabel said thoughtfully. + +She lay still for a while, and Scott leaned back in his chair and watched +the little pleasure-boats that skimmed the waters of the bay. The merry +cries of bathers came up to the quiet room. The world was full to the +brim of gaiety and sunshine on that hot June day. + +"Stumpy," gently his sister's voice recalled him, "do you never mean to +marry, dear? I wish you would. You will be so lonely." + +He lifted his shoulders. "What can I say Isabel? If the right woman comes +along and proposes, I will marry her with pleasure. I would never dare to +propose on my own,--being what I am." + +"Being a very perfect knight whom any woman might be proud to marry," +Isabel said. "That is only a pose of yours, Stumpy, and it doesn't become +you. I wonder--how I wonder!--if you are right about Dinah." + +"Yes, I am right," he said with conviction. "But Isabel, you will +remember--it was spoken in confidence." + +She gave a sharp sigh. "I shall remember dear," she said. + +Again a brief silence fell between them; but Scott's eye no longer sought +the sparkling water. They dwelt upon his sister's face. Pale as +alabaster, clear-cut as though carven with a chisel, it rested upon the +white pillow, and the stamp of a great peace lay upon the calm forehead +and in the quiet of the deeply-sunken eyes. There were lines of suffering +that yet lingered about the mouth, lines of weariness and of sorrow, but +the old piteous look of craving had faded quite away. The bitter despair +that had so haunted Dinah had passed into the stillness of a great +patience. There was about her at that time the sacred hush that falls +before the dawn. + +After a little she became aware of his quiet regard, and turned her head +with a smile. "Well, Stumpy? What is it?" + +"I was just wondering what had happened to you," he made answer. + +Her smile deepened. "I will tell you, dear," she said. "I have come +within sight of the mountain-top at last." + +"And you are satisfied?" he said, in a low voice. + +Her eyes shone with a soft brightness that seemed to illumine her whole +face. "Satisfied that my beloved is waiting for me and that I shall meet +him in the dawning?" she said. "Oh yes, I have known that in my heart for +a long time. It troubled me terribly when I lost his letters. They had +been such a link, and for a while I was in outer darkness. And then--by +degrees, after little Dinah came back to me--I began to find that after +all there were other links. Helping her in her trouble helped me to bear +my own. And I came to see that ministering to a need outside one's own is +the surest means of finding comfort in sorrow for oneself. I have been +very selfish Stumpy. I have been gradually waking to that fact for a long +while. I used to immerse myself in those letters to try and get the +feeling of his dear presence. Very, very often I didn't succeed. And I +know now that it was because I was forcing myself to look back and not +forward. I think material things are apt to make one do that. But when +material things are taken quite away, then one is forced upon the +spiritual. And that is what has happened to me. No one can take anything +from me now because what I possess is laid up in store for me. I am +moving forward towards it every day." + +She ceased to speak, and again for the space of seconds the silence fell. + +Scott broke it, speaking slowly, as if not wholly certain of the wisdom +of speech. "I did not know," he said, "that you had lost those letters." + +Her face contracted momentarily with the memory of a past pain. "Eustace +destroyed them," she stated simply. + +His brows drew sharply together. "Isabel! Do you mean that?" + +She pressed his hand. "Yes, dear. I knew you would feel it badly so I +didn't tell you before. He acted for the best. I see that quite clearly +now. And--in a sense--the best has come of it." + +Scott got to his feet with the gesture of a man who can barely restrain +himself. "He did--that?" he said. + +She reached up a soothing hand. "My dear, it doesn't matter now. Don't be +angry with him. I know that he meant well." + +Scott's eyes looked down into hers, intensely bright, burningly alive. +"No wonder," he said, breathing deeply, "that you never want to see him +again!" + +"No, Stumpy; that is not so." Gently she made answer; her hand held his +almost pleadingly. "For a long time I felt like that, it is true. But now +it is all over. There is no bitterness left in my heart at all. We have +grown away from each other, he and I. But we were very close friends +once, and because of that I would give much--oh, very much--to be friends +with him again. It was in a very great measure my selfishness that came +between us, my pride too. I had influence with him, Stumpy, and I didn't +try to use it. I simply threw him off because he disapproved of my +husband. I might have won him, I feel that I could have won him if I had +tried. But I wouldn't. And afterwards, when my mind was clouded, my +influence was all gone. I wish I could get it back again. I feel as if I +might. But he is keeping away now because of Dinah. And I am afraid too +that he feels I do not want him--" her eyes were suddenly dim with tears. +"That is not so, Stumpy. I do want him. Sometimes--in the night--I long +for him. But, for little Dinah's sake--" + +She paused, for Scott had suddenly turned and was pacing the room +rapidly, unevenly, as if inaction had become unendurable. + +She lay and watched him while the great tears gathered and ran down her +wasted face. + +He came back to her at length and saw them. He stood a moment looking +downwards, then knelt beside her and very tenderly wiped them away. + +"My dear," he said softly, "you mustn't ever cry again. It breaks my +heart to see you. If you want Eustace, he shall come to you. Dinah was +speaking to me about it only a short time ago. She will not stand in the +way of his coming. In fact, I gathered that if you wish it, she wishes it +also." + +"That is so like little Dinah," whispered Isabel. "But, Stumpy, do you +think we ought to let her face that?" + +"I shall be here," he said. + +"Oh, yes, dear. You will be here." She regarded him wistfully. "Stumpy, +don't'--don't let yourself get bitter against Eustace!" she pleaded. "You +have always been so splendid, so forbearing, till now." + +Scott's lips were stern. "Some things are hard to forgive, Isabel," he +said. + +"But if I forgive--" she said. + +His face changed; he bowed his head suddenly down upon her pillow. +"Nothing will give you back to me--when you are gone," he whispered. + +Her hand was on his head in a moment. "Oh, my dear, are you grieving +because of that? And I have been such a burden to you!" + +"A burden beloved," he said, speaking with difficulty. "And you were +getting better. You were better. He--threw you back again. He brought +you--to this." + +Her fingers pressed his forehead. "Not entirely, Stumpy. Be generous, +dear! It may have hastened matters a little--only a very little. And even +so, what of it, if the journey has been shortened? Perhaps the way has +been a little steeper, but it has brought me more quickly to my goal. +Stumpy, Stumpy, if it weren't for leaving you, I would go as gladly--as +gladly--as a happy bride--to her wedding." + +She broke off, breathing fast. + +He lifted his head swiftly, and saw the shadow of mortal pain gathering +in her eyes. He commanded himself on the instant and rose. Self-contained +and steady, he found and administered the remedy that was always kept at +hand. + +Then, as the spasm passed, he stooped and quietly kissed the white +forehead. "Don't trouble about me, dear!" he said. "God knows I would not +keep you from your rest." + +And with that calmly he turned and left her. + +But Biddy, whom he sought a few moments later to send her to her +mistress, saw in him notwithstanding his composure, an intensity of +suffering that struck dismay to her honest heart. "The Lord preserve us!" +she said. "But Master Scott has the look of a man with a sword in his +soul!" She wiped her own tears away with a trembling hand. "And what'll +he do at all when Miss Isabel's gone," she said, "unless Miss Dinah does +the comforting of him?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE TRUSTY FRIEND + + +The trains from the junction to Heath-on-Sea were few and invariably +late. Scott had been pacing the platform for half an hour on the evening +of the day that followed his own arrival ere a line of distant smoke told +of the coming of the train he was awaiting. + +His movements were slow and weary, but there was about him the strained +look of a man who cannot rest. There was no gladness of welcome in his +eyes as the train drew near. It was rather as if he braced himself for a +coming ordeal. + +He searched the carriages intently as they ran past him, and a flicker of +recognition came into his face at the sight of a tall figure leaning from +one of them. He lifted a hand in salutation, and limped along the +platform to meet the newcomer. + +Sir Eustace was out of the train before anyone else. He met his brother +with the impetuosity of one who cannot stop for greeting. + +"Ah, Stumpy! I'm not too late?" + +There was strain upon his face also as he flung the question, and in an +instant Scott's look had changed. He grasped the outflung hand. + +"No, no, old fellow! It's all right. She is looking forward to seeing +you." + +Sir Eustace drew a sharp breath. His dark face relaxed a little. "I've +had a hell of a time," he said. + +"My dear chap, I'm sorry," impulsively Scott made answer. "I'd have met +you at the junction, only it was difficult to get away for so long. Do +you mind walking up? They'll see to fetching your traps along presently." + +"Oh, all right. Yes, let us walk by all means!" Eustace expanded his +chest, and breathed again, deeply. He put his hand on Scott's shoulder as +they passed through the barrier. "What's the matter with you, my lad?" he +said. + +Scott glanced up at him--a swift, surprised glance. "With me? Nothing. I +am--as usual." + +Eustace's hawk-eyes scanned him closely. "I've never seen you look +worse," he said. + +Scott raised his shoulder slightly under his hand, and said nothing. The +first involuntary kindliness of greeting passed wholly away, as if it had +not been. + +Eustace linked the hand in his arm as they walked. "Tell me about her!" +he said. + +"About Isabel?" Scott spoke with very obvious constraint. "There isn't +much to tell. She is just--going. These breathless attacks come very +frequently, and she is weaker after each one. The doctor says it would +not be surprising if she went in her sleep, or in fact at any time." + +"And she asked for me?" The question fell curtly; Eustace was looking +straight ahead up the white, dusty road as he uttered it. + +"Yes; she wanted you." Equally curtly came Scott's reply. He ignored the +hand on his arm, limping forward at his own pace and leaving his brother +to accommodate himself to it as best he could. + +Sir Eustace sauntered beside him in silence for a space. They were +approaching the heath-clad common that gave the place its name, when he +spoke again. + +"And Dinah?" he said then. + +Again Scott glanced upwards, his pale eyes very resolute. "Yes, Dinah is +still here. Her people seem quite indifferent as to what becomes of her, +and Isabel wishes to keep her with her. I hope--" he hesitated +momentarily--"I hope you will bear in mind the extreme difficulty of her +situation." + +Sir Eustace passed over the low words. "And what is going to happen to +her--afterwards?" he said. + +"Heaven knows!" Scott spoke as one compelled. + +Sir Eustace continued to gaze straight before him. "Haven't you thought +of any solution to the difficulty?" he asked. + +"What do you mean?" Scott's voice rang suddenly stern. + +A faint smile touched his brother's face; it was like the shadow of his +old, supercilious sneer. "It occurred to me that you, being a chivalrous +knight, might be moved to offer her your protection," he explained +coolly. "You are quite at liberty to do so, so far as I am concerned. I +give you my free consent." + +Scott started, as if he had been stung. "Man, don't sneer at me!" he said +in a voice that quivered. "I've a good many things against you, and I'm +damned if I can stand any more!" + +There was desperation in his words. Sir Eustace's brows went up, and his +smile departed. But there came no answering anger in his eyes. + +He was silent for several moments, pacing forward, his hand no longer +linked in Scott's arm. Then at last very quietly he spoke. "You're right. +You have a good many things against me. But this is not one of them. I +was not sneering at you." + +There was a note of most unwonted sincerity in his voice that gave +conviction to his words. Scott turned and regarded him in open amazement. + +The steel-blue eyes met his with an odd, half-shamed expression. "You +mustn't bully me, you know, Stumpy!" he said. "Remember, I can't hit +back." + +Scott stood still. He had never in his life been more astounded. Even +then, with the direct evidence before him, he could hardly believe that +the old haughty dominance had given place to something different. + +"Why--can't you--hit back?" he said, almost stammering in his +uncertainty. + +Sir Eustace smiled again with rueful irony. "Because I've nothing to hit +with, my son. Because you can break through my defence every time. If I +were to kick you from here to the sea, you'd still have the best of me. +Haven't you realized that yet?" + +"I hadn't--no!" Scott's eyes still regarded him with a puzzled, +half-suspicious expression. + +Sir Eustace turned from their scrutiny, and began to walk on. "You will +presently," he said. "The man who masters himself is always the man to +master the rest of the world in the end. I never thought I should live to +envy you, my boy. But I do." + +"Envy me! Why? Why on earth?" Embarrassment mingled with the curiosity in +Scott's voice. His hostility had gone down utterly before the +unaccustomed humility of his brother's attitude. + +Sir Eustace glanced at him sideways. "I'll tell you another time," he +said. "Now look here, Stumpy! You're in command, and I shan't interfere +with you so long as you take reasonable care of yourself. But you must do +that. It is the one thing I am going to insist upon. That's understood, +is it?" + +Scott smiled, his tired, gentle smile. "Oh, certainly, my dear chap. +Don't you worry yourself about that! It isn't of the first importance in +any case." + +"It's got to be done," Sir Eustace insisted. "So keep it in mind!" + +"I haven't been doing anything, you know," Scott protested mildly. "I +only came down yesterday." + +"That may be. But you haven't been sleeping for some time. You needn't +trouble to deny it. I know the signs. What have you been doing at +Willowmount?" + +It was a welcome change of subject, and Scott was not slow to avail +himself of it. They began to talk upon matters connected with the estate, +and the personal element passed completely out of the conversation. + +When they reached the white house on the cliff they almost seemed to have +slipped into the old casual relations; but the younger brother was well +aware that this was not so. The change that had so amazed him was +apparent to him at every turn. The overbearing mastery to which he had +been accustomed all his life had turned in some miraculous fashion into +something that was oddly like deference. It was fully evident that +Eustace meant to keep his word and leave him in command. + +Dinah met them in the rose-twined portico. There was a deep flush in her +cheeks; her eyes were very bright, resolutely unafraid. She shook hands +with Eustace, and he alone was aware of the tremor that ran through her +whole being as she did so. + +"Isabel is asleep," she said. "She often gets a sleep in the afternoon, +and she is always the stronger for it when she wakes. Will you have some +tea before you go to her?" + +They had tea in the sunny verandah overlooking the sea. Sir Eustace was +very quiet and grave, and it was Scott who gently conversed with the +girl, smoothing away all difficulties. She was plainly determined to +conquer her nervousness, and she succeeded to a great extent before the +ordeal was over. But there was obvious relief in her eyes when Sir +Eustace set down his cup and rose to go. + +"I think I will go to her now," he said. "I shall not wake her." + +He went, and a great stillness fell behind him. Scott dropped into +silence, and they sat together, he smoking, she leaning back in her chair +idle, with wistful eyes upon the silvery sea. + +Up in Isabel's room overhead there was neither sound nor movement, but +presently there fell a soft footfall upon the stairs and the nurse came +quietly through and spoke to Dinah. + +"Mrs. Everard is still asleep. Her brother is watching her and Biddy is +within call. I thought I would take a little walk on the shore, as I +shall not be wanted just at present." + +"Oh, of course," Dinah said. "Don't hurry back!" + +The nurse smiled and flitted away into the golden evening sunlight. + +Dinah turned her head towards her silent companion. "I wonder," she said, +"if I could learn to be a nurse." + +He blew a cloud of smoke into the air. "Are you still worrying about the +future?" he said. + +"I don't know that I am exactly worrying," she made low reply. "But I +shall have to decide about it very soon." + +Scott was silent for a space while he finished his cigarette. Then at +last slowly, haltingly, he spoke. "Dinah,--I have been thinking about the +future too. If I touch upon anything that hurts you, you must stop me, +and I will not say another word. But, child, it seems to me that we shall +both be--rather lost--when Isabel is gone. I wonder--would it shock you +very much--if I suggested to you--as a solution of the difficulty--that +we should some day in the future enter into partnership together?" + +He spoke with obvious effort; his hands were gripped upon the arms of his +chair. The wicker creaked in the strain of his grasp, but he himself +remained lying back with eyes half-closed in compulsory inaction. + +Dinah also sat absolutely still. If his words amazed her, she gave no +sign. Only the wistfulness about her mouth deepened as she made answer +below her breath. "It--is just like you to suggest such a thing; +but--it is quite impossible." + +He opened his eyes and looked at her very steadily and kindly. "Quite?" +he said. + +She bent her head, swiftly lowering her own. "Yes--thank you a million +times--quite." + +"Even if I promise never to make love to you?" he said, his voice +half-quizzical, half-tender. + +She put out a trembling hand and laid it on his arm. "Oh, +Scott,--it--isn't that!" + +He took the hand and held it. "My dear, don't cry!" he urged gently. "I +knew you wouldn't have me really. I only thought I would just place +myself completely at your disposal in case--some day--you might be +willing to give me the chance to serve you in any capacity whatever. +There! It is over. We are as we were--friends." + +He smiled at her with the words, and after a moment stooped and lightly +touched her fingers with his lips. + +"Come!" he said gently. "I haven't frightened you anyway. Have I?" + +"No," she whispered. + +His hand clasped hers for a second or two longer, then quietly let it go. +"Don't be distressed!" he said, "I will never do it again. I am now--and +always--your trusty friend." + +And with that he rose in his slow way, paused to light another cigarette, +smiled again upon her, and softly went indoors. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE LAST SUMMONS + + +There is nought in life more solemn than the waiting hush that falls +before the coming of that great Change which men call Death. And it is to +the watchers rather than to the passing soul itself that the wonder seems +to draw most close. To stand before the veil, to know that very soon it +must be lifted for the loved one to pass beyond, to wait for the glimpse +of that spirit-world from which only the frail wall of mortality divides +even the least spiritual, to watch as it were for the Gate of Death to +open and the great Revelation to flash for one blinding moment upon the +dazzled eyes that may not grasp the meaning of what they see; this is to +stand for a space within the very Sanctuary of God. + +The awe of it and the wonder hung night and day over the little +rose-covered house on the heath above the sea where Isabel was breathing +forth the last of her broken earthly life. Dinah moved in that strange +atmosphere as one in a dream. She spent most of her time with Scott in a +silent companionship in which no worldly thoughts seemed to have any +part. The things of earth, all worry, all distress, were in abeyance, had +sunk to such infinitesimal proportions that she was scarcely aware of +them at all. It was as though they had climbed the steep mountain with +Isabel, and not till they turned again to descend could they be aware of +those things which lay so far below. + +Without Scott, both doubts and fears would have been her portion, but +with him all terrors fell shadow-like away before her. She hardly +realized all that his presence meant to her during those days of waiting, +but she leaned upon him instinctively as upon a sure support. He never +failed her. + +Of Eustace she saw but little. From the very first it was evident that +his place was nearer to Isabel than Scott's had ever been. He did not +shoulder Scott aside, but somehow as a matter of course he occupied the +position that the younger brother had sought to fill for the past seven +years. It was natural, it was inevitable. Dinah could have resented this +superseding at the outset had she not seen how gladly Scott gave place. +Later she realized that the ground on which they stood was too holy for +such considerations to have any weight with either brother. They were +united in the one supreme effort to make the way smooth for the sister +who meant so much to them both; and during all those days of waiting +Dinah never heard a harsh or impatient word upon the elder's lips. All +arrogance, all hardness, seemed to have fallen away from him as he trod +with them that mountain-path. Even old Biddy realized the change and +relented somewhat towards him though she never wholly brought herself to +look upon him as an ally. + +It was on a stormy evening at the beginning of July that Dinah was +sitting alone in the little creeper-grown verandah watching the wonderful +greens and purples of the sea when Eustace came soft-footed through the +window behind her and sat down in a chair close by, which Scott had +vacated a few minutes before. + +Scott had just gone to the village post-office with some letters, +but she had refused to accompany him, for it was the hour when she +usually sat with Isabel. She glanced at Eustace swiftly as he sat down, +half-expecting a message from the sick-room. But he said nothing, merely +leaning back in the wicker-chair, and fixing his eyes upon the sombre +splendour of endless waters upon which hers had been resting. There was a +massive look about him, as of a strong man deliberately bent to some +gigantic task. A little tremor went through her as furtively she watched +him. His silence, unlike the silences of Scott, was disquieting. She +could never feel wholly at ease in his presence. + +He turned his head towards her after a few seconds of absolute stillness, +and in a moment her eyes sank. She sat in palpitating silence, as one +caught in some disgraceful act. + +But still he did not speak, and the painful colour flooded her face under +his mute scrutiny till in sheer distress she found herself forced to take +the initiative. + +"Is--Isabel expecting me?" she faltered. "Ought I to go?" + +"No," he said quietly. "She is dozing. Old Biddy is with her." + +It seemed as if the intolerable silence were about to fall again. She +cast about desperately for a means of escape. "Biddy was up and down +during the night. I think I will relieve her for a little while and let +her rest." + +She would have risen with the words, but unexpectedly he reached forth a +detaining hand. "Do you mind waiting a minute?" he said. "I will not +say--or do--anything to frighten you." + +He spoke with a faint smile that somehow hurt her almost unbearably. She +remained as she was, leaning forward in her chair. "I--am not afraid," +she murmured almost inaudibly. + +His hand seemed to plead for hers, and in a moment she laid her own +within it. "That's right," he said. "Dinah, will you try and treat me as +if I were a friend--just for a few minutes?" + +The tone of his voice--like his smile--pierced her with a poignancy that +sent the quick tears to her eyes. She forced them back with all her +strength. + +"I would like to--always," she whispered. + +"Thank you," he said. "You are kinder than I deserve. I have done nothing +to win your confidence, so it is all the more generous of you to bestow +it. On the strength of your generosity I am going to ask you a question +which only a friend could ask. Dinah, is there any understanding of any +sort--apart from friendship--between you and Scott?" + +She started slightly at the question, and in a moment firmly, with a +certain authority, his hand closed upon hers. + +"You needn't be afraid to speak on Scott's account," he said, with that +rather grim humility that seemed so foreign to his proud nature that +every sign of it stabbed her afresh. "I am not such a dog in the manger +as that and he knows it." + +"Oh no!" Dinah said, and her words came with a rush. "But--I told you +before, didn't I?--he doesn't care for me like that. He never has--never +will." + +"I wonder why you say that," Eustace said. + +"Because it's true!" With a species of feverish insistence she answered +him. "How could I help knowing? Of course I know! Oh, please don't let us +talk about it! It--it hurts me." + +"I want you to bear with me," he said gently, "just for a few minutes. +Dinah, what if you are making a mistake? Mistakes happen, you know. Scott +is a shy sort of chap, and immensely reserved. Doesn't it occur to you +that he may care for you and yet be afraid--just as you are afraid--to +let you know?" + +"No," Dinah said. "He doesn't. I know he doesn't!" + +She spoke with her eyes upon the ground, her voice sunk very low. She +felt as if she were being drawn down from the heights she desired to +tread. She did not want to contemplate the problems that she knew very +surely awaited her upon the lower level. She did not want to quit her +sanctuary before the time. + +Sir Eustace received her assurance in silence, but he kept her hand in +his, and the power of his personality seemed to penetrate to the very +centre of her being. + +He spoke at last almost under his breath, still closely watching her +downcast face. "Are you quite sure you still care for him--in that way?" + +She made a quick, appealing gesture. "Oh, need I answer that? I feel +so--ashamed." + +"No, you needn't answer," he made steady reply. "But you've nothing to be +ashamed about. Stumpy's an awful ass, you know,--always has been. He's +been head over heels in love with you ever since he met you. No, you +needn't let that shock you. He's such a bashful knight he'll never tell +you so. You'll have to do that part of it." He smiled with faint irony. +"But you may take my word for it, it is so. He has thought of nothing but +you and your happiness from the very beginning of things. And--unlike +someone else we know--he has had the decency always to put your happiness +first." + +He paused. Dinah's eyes had flashed up to his, green, eager, intensely +alive, and behind those eyes her soul seemed to be straining like a thing +in leash. "Oh, I knew he had cared for someone," she breathed, "But it +couldn't--it couldn't have been me!" + +"Yes," Sir Eustace said slowly. "You and none other. You wonder if it's +true--how I know. He's an awful ass, as I said before, one of the few +supreme fools who never think of themselves. I knew that he was caught +all right ages back in Switzerland, and--being a low hound of mean +instincts--I set to work to cut him out." + +"Oh!" murmured Dinah. "That was just what I did with Rose de Vigne." + +His mouth twisted a little. "It's a funny world, Dinah," he said. "Our +little game has cost us both something. I got too near the candle myself, +and the scorch was pretty sharp while it lasted. Well, to get back to my +story. Scott saw that I was beginning to give you indigestion, and--being +as I mentioned before several sorts of a fool--he tackled me upon the +subject and swore that if I didn't put an end to the game, he would put +you on your guard against me, tell you in fact the precise species of +rotter that I chanced to be. I was naturally annoyed by his interference. +Anyone would have been. I gave him the kicking he deserved. That was low +of me, wasn't it?" as she made a quick movement of shrinking. "You won't +forgive me for that, or for what came after. The very next day--to spite +the little beast--I proposed to you." + +Dinah's eyes were fiercely bright. "I wish I'd known!" she said. + +"I wish to heaven you had, my dear," Eustace spoke with a grim hint of +humour. "It would have saved us both a good deal of unnecessary trouble +and humiliation. However, Scott was too big a fool to tell you. There is +a martyrlike sort of cussedness about him that is several degrees worse +than any pride. So he let things be, still cheating himself into the +belief that the arrangement was for your happiness, till, as you are +aware, it turned out so manifestly otherwise that he found himself +obliged once more to come to the rescue of his lady love. But his +exasperating humility was such that he never suspected the real reason +for your change of mind, and when I accused him of cutting me out, he was +as scandalized as only a righteous man knows how to be. You can't do much +with a fellow like that, you know,--a fool who won't believe the evidence +of his own senses. Besides, it was not for me to enlighten him, +particularly as you didn't want him to know the real state of things just +then. So I left him alone. The next day--only the next day, mind you--the +silent knight opened his heart; to whom, do you think? You'll be horribly +furious when I tell you." + +He looked into the hot eyes with an expression half-tender in his own. + +"Tell me!" breathed Dinah. + +"Really? Well, prepare for a nasty shock! To Rose de Vigne!" + +"To Rose!" Indignation gave place to bewilderment in Dinah's eyes. + +"Even so; to Rose. She guessed the truth, and he frankly admitted she was +right, but gave her to understand that as he hadn't a chance in the +world, you were never to know. I am telling you the truth, Dinah. You +needn't look so incredulous. She naturally considered that he was not +treating you very fairly and said so. But--" he raised his shoulders +slightly--"you know Scott. Mules can't compete with him when he has made +up his mind to a thing. He gracefully put an end to the discussion and +doubtless he has buried the whole subject in a neat little corner of his +heart where no one can ever tumble over it, and resigned himself to a +lonely old age. Now, Dinah, I am going to give you the soundest piece of +advice I have ever given anyone. If you are wise, you will dig it up +before the moss grows, bring it into the air and call it back to life. It +is the greatest desire of Isabel's heart to see you two happy together. +She told me so only to-day. And I am beginning to think that I wish it +too." + +His look was wholly kind as he uttered the last words. He held her hand +in the close grip of a friend. + +"Don't let that insane humility of his be his ruin!" he urged. "He's a +fool. I've always said so. But his foolishness is the sort that attacks +only the great. Once let him know you care, and he'll be falling over +himself to propose." + +"Oh, don't!" Dinah begged, and her voice sounded chill and yet somehow +piteous. "I couldn't--ever--marry him. I told him so--only the other +day." + +"What? He proposed, did he?" Sheer amazement sounded in Eustace's voice. + +Dinah was not looking at him any longer. She sat rather huddled in her +chair, as if a cold wind had caught her. + +"Yes," she said in the same small, uneven voice. "He proposed. He didn't +make love to me. In fact he--promised that he never would. But he +thought--yes, that was it--he thought that presently I should be lonely, +and he wanted me to know that he was willing to protect me." + +"What a fool!" Eustace said. "And so you refused him! I don't wonder. I +should have pitched something at him if I'd been you." + +"Oh no! That wasn't why I refused. I had another reason." Dinah's head +was bent low; he saw the hot colour she sought to hide. "I didn't know he +cared," she whispered. "But even if--if I had known, I couldn't have said +Yes. I never can say Yes now." + +"Good heavens above!" he said. "Why not?" + +"It's a reason I can't tell anyone," faltered Dinah. + +"Nonsense!" he said, with a quick touch of his old imperiousness. "You +can tell me." + +She shook her head. "No. Not you. Not anyone." + +"That is absurd," he said, with brief decision. "What is the reason? Out +with it--quick, like a good child! If you could marry me, you can marry +him." + +"But I couldn't have married you," she protested, "if I'd known." + +"It's something that's cropped up lately, is it?" He bent towards her, +watching her keenly. "It can't be so very terrible." + +"It is," she told him in distress. + +He was silent a moment; then very suddenly he moved, put his arm around +her, drew her close. "What is it, my elf? Tell me!" he whispered. + +She hid her face against him with a little sob. It was odd, but at that +moment she felt no fear of the man. He, whose fiery caresses had once +appalled her, had by some means unknown possessed himself of her +confidence so that she could not keep him at a distance. She did not even +wish to do so. + +After a few seconds, quiveringly she began to speak. "I don't know how to +tell you. It's an awful thing to tell. You know, I--I've never been happy +at home. My mother never liked me,--was often cruel to me." She shuddered +suddenly and violently. "I never knew why--till that awful night--the +last time I saw her. And then--and then she told me." She drew a little +closer to him like a frightened child. + +He held her against his breast. She was trembling all over. "Well?" he +said gently. + +Desperately she forced herself to continue. "I don't belong to--to my +father--at all; only--only--to her." + +"What?" he said. + +She buried her shamed face a little deeper. "That was why--she married," +she whispered. + +"Your mother herself told you that?" Sir Eustace's voice was very low, +but there was in it a danger-note that made her quail. + +Someone was coming along the garden-path, but neither of them heard. +Dinah was crying with piteous, long-drawn sobs. The telling of that +tragic secret had wrung her very soul. + +"Oh, don't be angry! You won't be angry?" she pleaded brokenly. + +His hand was on her head. "My child, I am not angry with you," he said. +"You were not to blame. There, dear! There! Don't cry! Isabel will be +distressed if she finds out. We mustn't let her know of this." + +"Or Scott either!" She lifted her face appealingly. "Eustace, +please--please--you won't tell Scott? I--I couldn't bear him to know." + +He looked into her beseeching eyes, and his own softened. "It may be he +will have to know some day," he said. "But--not yet." + +The halting steps drew nearer, uneven, yet somehow purposeful. + +Abruptly Eustace became aware of them. He looked up sharply. "You had +better go, dear," he whispered to the girl in his arms. "Isabel may be +wanting you at any time. We must think of her first now. Run in quickly +and dry your eyes before anyone sees! Come along!" + +He rose, supporting her, turned her towards the window, and gently but +urgently pushed her within. + +She went swiftly, enough as he released her, went with her hands over her +face and not a backward glance. And Eustace wheeled back with a movement +that was almost fierce and met his brother as he set foot upon the +verandah. + +Scott's face was pale as death, and there was that in his eyes that could +not be ignored. Eustace answered it on the instant, briefly, with a +restraint that obviously cost him an effort. "It's all right, Dinah is a +bit upset this evening. But she will be all right directly if we leave +her alone." + +Scott did not so much as pause. "Let me pass!" he said. + +His voice was perfectly quiet, but the command of it was such that +Eustace, taken unawares, gave ground as it were instinctively. But the +next moment impulsively he caught Scott's arm. + +"I say,--Stumpy!" An odd embarrassment possessed him; he shook it off +half-angrily. "You needn't go making mistakes--jumping to idiotic +conclusions. I'm not cutting you out this time." + +Scott looked at him. His light eyes held contempt. "Oh, I know that," he +said, and there was in his slow voice a note of bitter humour that cut +like a whip. "You are never in earnest. You were always the sort to make +sport for yourself out of suffering, and then to toss the dregs of your +amusement to those who are not--sportsmen." + +Eustace was as white as he was himself. He held him in a grip of iron. +"What the--devil do you mean?" he said, his voice husky with the strong +effort he made to control it. + +The younger brother was absolutely controlled, but his eyes shone like a +dazzling white flame. "Ask yourself that question!" he said, and his +words, though low, had a burning quality, almost as if some force apart +from the man himself inspired them. "You know the answer as well as I do. +You have studied the damnable game so long, offered so many victims upon +the altar of your accursed sport. There is nothing to prevent your going +on with it. You will go on no doubt till you tire of the chase. And then +your turn will come. You will find yourself alone among the ruins, and +you will pay the price. You may repent then--but repentance sometimes +comes too late." + +He was gone with the words, gone as if an inner force compelled, shaking +off the hand that had detained him, and passing scatheless within. + +He went up the stairs as calmly as if he had entered the house without +interruption. Someone was sobbing piteously behind a closed door, but he +did not turn in that direction. He moved straight to the door of Isabel's +room, as if a voice had called him. + +And on the threshold Biddy met him, her black eyes darkly mysterious, her +wrinkled face drawn with awe rather than grief. + +"Ah, Master Scott, and is it yourself?" she whispered. "I was coming to +fetch ye--coming to tell ye. It's the call; she's had her last summons. +Faith, and I almost heard it meself. She'll be gone by morning, the +blessed lamb. There'll be no holding her after this." + +Scott passed her by without a word. He went straight to his sister's +bedside. + +She was lying with her face turned up to the evening sky, but on the +instant her eyes met his, and in them was that look of a great +expectation which many term the Shadow of Death. + +"Oh, Stumpy, is it you?" she said. Her breathing was quick and irregular, +but it did not seem to hurt her. "I've had--such a wonderful--dream. Or +could it have been--a vision?" + +He bent and took her hand in his. His eyes were infinitely tender. All +the passion had been wiped out of his face. + +"It may have been a vision, dear," he said. + +Her look brightened; she smiled. "He was here--in this room--with me," +she said. "He was standing there--at the foot of the bed. And--and--I +held out my arms to him. Oh, Stumpy, I almost thought--I was going with +him then. But--I think he heard you coming, for he laughed and drew back. +'We shall meet in the morning,' he said. And while I was still looking, +he was gone." + +She began to pant. He stooped and raised her. She clung to him with all +her waning strength. "Stumpy! Stumpy! You will help me--through the +night?" + +"My darling, yes," he said. + +She clung to him still. "It won't be--good-bye," she urged softly. "You +will be coming too--very soon." + +"God grant it!" he said, under his breath. + +Her look dwelt upon him. Again faintly she smiled. "Ah, Stumpy," she +said, "but you are going to be very happy first, my dear,--my dear." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE MOUNTAIN-TOP + + +The night fell like a black veil, starless and still. Up in Isabel's room +the watchers came and went, dividing the hours. Only the nurse and old +Biddy remained always at their posts, the one seated near one of the +wide-flung windows, the other crouched on an ottoman at the foot of the +bed, her beady eyes perpetually fixed upon the white, motionless face +upon the pillow. + +Only by the irregular and sometimes difficult breathing did they know +that Isabel still lived, for she gave no sign of consciousness, uttered +no word, made no voluntary movement of any sort. Like those who watched +about her, she seemed to be waiting, waiting for the amazing revelation +of the Dawn. + +They had propped her high with pillows; her pale hands lay outside the +coverlet. Her eyes were closed. She did not seem to notice who came or +went. + +"She may slip away without waking," the nurse whispered once to Dinah who +had crept to her side. "Or she may be conscious just at the last. There +is no telling." + +Dinah did not think that she was asleep, but yet during all her vigil the +white lids had not stirred, no spark of vitality had touched the marble +face. She was possessed by a great longing to speak to her, to call her +out of that trance-like silence; but she did not dare. She was as one +bound by a spell. The great stillness was too holy to break. All her +own troubles were sunk in oblivion. She felt as if she moved in a +shadow-world where no troubles could penetrate, where no voice was +ever lifted above a whisper. + +As she crept from the room, she met Eustace entering. He looked gaunt and +haggard in the dim light. Nothing seemed natural on that night of +waiting. + +He paused a moment, touched her shoulder. "Go and rest, child!" he +muttered. "I will call you if she wakes." + +She sent him a faint smile and flitted by him into the passage. How +could she rest on a night like this, with the vague whisperings of the +spirit-world all about her? Besides, in another hour the darkness would +be over--the Dawn would come! Not for all the world would she miss that +wonderful coming of a new day--the day which Isabel was awaiting in that +dumb passivity of unquestioning patience. They had come so far up the +mountain-track together; she must be with her when the morning found +them on the summit. + +But it was Eustace's turn to watch, and she moved towards her +own room, through the open windows of which the vague murmur and +splash of the sleeping sea drifted like the accompaniment of far-off +music--undreamed-of Alleluias. + +The dim glow of a lamp lay across her path, like a barrier staying her +feet. Almost involuntarily she paused before a half-open door. It was as +though some unseen force compelled her. And, so pausing, there came to +her a sound that gripped her like a hand upon her heart--it was the +broken whispering of a man in an agony of prayer. + +It was not by her own desire that she stood to listen. The anguish of +that voice held her, so that she was powerless to move. + +"O God! O God!" The words pierced her with their entreaty; it was a cry +from the very depths. "The mistake was mine. Let me bear the +consequences! But save her--O save her--from further suffering!" A +momentary silence, and then, more desperately still: "O God--if Thou art +anywhere--hear--and help! Let me bear whatever Thou wilt! But spare +her--spare her! She has borne so much!" + +A terrible sob choked the gasping utterance. There fell a silence so +tense, so poignant with pain, that the girl upon the threshold trembled +as one physically afraid. Yet she could not turn and flee. She felt as if +it were laid upon her to stand and witness this awful struggle of a soul +in torment. But that it should be Scott--the wise, the confident, the +unafraid--passing alone through this place of desolation, sent the blood +to her heart in a great wave of consternation. If Scott failed--if the +sword of Greatheart were broken--it seemed to her that nothing could be +left in all the world, as if even the coming Dawn must be buried in +darkness. + +Was it for Isabel he was praying thus? She supposed it must be, though +she had felt all through this night of waiting that no prayer was needed. +Isabel was so near the mountain-top that surely she was safe--nearer +already to God than any of their prayers could bring her. + +And yet Scott was wrestling here as one overwhelmed with evil. Wherefore? +Wherefore? The steady faith of this good friend of hers had never to her +knowledge flickered before. What had happened to shake him thus? + +He was praying again, more coherently but in words so low that they were +scarcely audible. She crept a little nearer, and now she could see him, +kneeling at the table, his head sunk upon it, his arms flung wide with +clenched fists that seemed impotently to beat the air. + +"I'm praying all wrong," he whispered. "Forgive me, but I'm all in the +dark to-night. Thou knowest, Lord, how awful the dark can be. I'm not +asking for an answer. Only guide our feet! Deliver us from evil--deliver +her--O God--deliver my Dinah--by that love which is of Thee and which +nothing will ever alter! If I may not help her, give me strength--to +stand aside!" + +A great shiver went through him; he gripped his hands together suddenly +and passionately. + +"O my God," he groaned, "it's the hardest thing on earth--to stand and do +nothing--when I love her so." + +Something seemed to give way within him with the words. His shoulders +shook convulsively. He buried his face in his arms. + +And in that moment the power that had stayed Dinah upon the threshold +suddenly urged her forward. + +Almost before she realized it, she was there at his side, stooping over +him, holding him--holding him fast in a clasp that was free from any +hesitation or fear, a clasp in which all her pulsing womanhood rushed +forth to him, exulting, glorying in its self-betrayal. + +"My dear! Oh, my dear!" she said. "Are you praying for me?" + +"Dinah!" he said. + +Just her name, no more; but spoken in a tone that thrilled her through +and through! He leaned against her for a few moments, almost as if he +feared to move. Then, as one gathering strength, he uttered a great sigh +and slowly got to his feet. + +"You mustn't bother about me," he said, and the sudden rapture had all +gone out of his voice; it had the flatness of utter weariness. "I shall +be all right." + +But Dinah's hands yet clung to his shoulders. Those moments of yielding +had revealed to her more than any subsequent word or action could belie. +Her eyes, shining with a great light, looked straight into his. + +"Dear Scott! Dear Greatheart!" she said, and her voice trembled over the +tender utterance of the name. "Are you in trouble? Can't I help?" + +He took her face between his hands, looking straight back into the +shining eyes. "You are the trouble, Dinah," he told her simply. "And I'd +give all I have--I'd give my soul--to make life easier for you." + +She leaned towards him, and suddenly those shining eyes were blurred +with a glimmer of tears. "Life is dreadfully difficult," she said. "But +you have never done anything but help me. And, oh, Scott, I--don't know +if I ought to tell you--forgive me if it's wrong--but--but I feel I +must--" her breath came so quickly that she could hardly utter the +words--"I love you--I love you--better than anyone else in the world!" + +"Dinah!" he said, as one incredulous. + +"It's true!" she panted. "It's true! Eustace knows it--has known it +almost as long as I have. It isn't the only thing I have to tell you, +but it's the first--and biggest. And even though--even though--I shall +never be anything more to you than I am now--I'm glad--I'm proud--for +you to know. There's nothing else that counts in the same way. And +though--though I refused you the other day--I wanted you--dreadfully, +dreadfully. If--if I had only been good enough for you--But--but--I'm +not!" She broke off, battling with herself. + +He was still holding her face between his hands, and there was something +of insistence, something that even bordered upon ruthlessness, in his +hold. Though the tears were running down her face, he would not let her +go. + +"Will you tell me what you mean by that?" he said, his voice very low. +"Or--must I ask Eustace?" + +She started. There was that in his tone that made her wince inexplicably. +"Oh no," she said, "no! I'll tell you myself--if--if you must know." + +"I am afraid I must," he said, and for all their resolution, the words +had a sound of deadly weariness. He let her go slowly as he uttered them. +"Sit down!" he said gently. "And please don't tremble! There is nothing +to make you afraid." + +She dropped into the chair he indicated, and made a desperate effort to +calm herself. He stood beside her with the absolute patience of one +accustomed to long waiting. + +After a few moments, she put up a quivering hand, seeking his. He took it +instantly, and as his fingers closed firmly upon her own, she found +courage. + +"I didn't want you to know," she whispered. "But I--I see now--it's +better that you should. There's no other way--of making you understand. +It's just this--just this!" She swallowed hard, striving to control the +piteous trembling of her voice. "I am--one of those people--that--that +never ought to have been born. I don't belong--anywhere--except +to--my mother who--who--who has no use for me,--hated me before ever I +came into the world. You see, she--married because--because--another +man--my real father--had played her false. Oh, do you wonder--do you +wonder--" she bowed her forehead upon his hand with a rush of +tears--"that--that when I knew--I--I felt as if--I couldn't--go on +with life?" + +Her weeping was piteous; it shook her from head to foot. + +But--in the very midst of her distress--there came to her a wonder so +great that it checked her tears at the height of their flow. For very +suddenly it dawned upon her that Scott--Scott, her knight of the golden +armour--was kneeling at her feet. + +Half in wonder and half in awe, she lifted her head and looked at him. +And in that moment he took her two hands and kissed them, tenderly, +reverently, lingeringly. + +"Was this what you and Eustace were talking about this afternoon?" he +said. + +She nodded. "I had to tell him--why--I couldn't marry you. He--he had +been--so kind." + +"But, my own Dinah," he said, and in his voice was a quiver +half-quizzical yet strangely charged with emotion, "did you ever +seriously imagine that I should allow a sordid little detail like +that to come between us? Surely Eustace knew better than that!" + +She heard him in amazement, scarcely believing that she heard. "Do +you--can you mean--" she faltered, "that--it really--doesn't count?" + +"I mean that it is less than nothing to me," he made answer, and in his +eyes as they looked into hers was that glory of worship that she had once +seen in a dream. "I mean, my darling, that since you want me as I want +you, nothing--nothing in the world--can ever come between us any more. +Oh, my dear, my dear, I wish you'd told me sooner." + +"I knew I ought to," she murmured, still hardly believing. "And +yet--somehow--I couldn't bear the thought of your knowing,--particularly +as--as--till Eustace told me--I never dreamed you--cared. You are +so--great. You ought to have someone so much--better than I. I'm not +nearly good enough--not nearly." + +He was drawing her to him, and she went with a little sob into his arms; +but she turned her face away over his shoulder, avoiding his. + +"I ought not--to have told you--I loved you," she said brokenly. +"It wasn't right of me. Only--when I saw you so unhappy--I +couldn't--somehow--keep it in any longer. Dear Scott, don't you +think--before--before we go any further--you had better--forget it +and--give me up?" + +"No, I don't think so." Scott spoke very softly, with the utmost +tenderness, into her ear. "Don't you realize," he said, "that we belong +to each other? Could there possibly be anyone else for either you or me?" + +She did not answer him; only she clung a little closer. And, after a +moment, as she felt the drawing of his hold, "Don't kiss me---yet!" she +begged him tremulously. "Let us wait till--the morning!" + +His arms relaxed, "It is very near the morning now," he said. "Shall we +go and watch for it?" + +They rose together. Dinah's eyes sought his for one shy, fleeting second, +falling instantly as if half-dazzled, half-afraid. He took her hand and +led her quietly from the room. + +It was no longer dark in the passage outside. A pearly light was growing. +The splash of the sea sounded very far below them, as the dim surging of +a world unseen might rise to the watchers on the mountain-top. + +They moved to an open window at the end of the passage. No sound came +from Isabel's room close by, and after a few seconds Scott turned +noiselessly aside and entered. + +Dinah remained at the open window waiting with a throbbing heart in the +great silence that wrapped the world. She was not afraid, but she longed +for Scott to come back; she was conscious of an urgent need of him. + +Several moments passed, and then softly he returned. "No change!" he +whispered. "Eustace will call us--when it comes." + +She slipped her hand back into his, without speaking. He made her sit +upon the window-seat, and knelt himself upon it, his arm about her +shoulders, his fingers clasping hers. + +She could see his face but vaguely in the dimness, but many times during +that holy hour before the dawn, though he spoke no word, she felt that he +was praying or giving thanks. + +Slowly the twilight turned into a velvet dusk. The great Change was +drawing near. The silence lay like a thinning veil of mist upon the +mountain-top. The clouds were parting in the East, all tinged with gold, +like burnished gates flung back for the royal coming of the sun-god. The +stillness that lay upon all the waiting earth was sacred as the hush of +prayer. + +Their faces were turned towards the spreading glow. It shone upon them as +it shone upon all beside, widening, intensifying, till the whole earth +lay wrapped in solemn splendour--and then at last, through the open +gates, red, royal, triumphant, the sun-god came. + +There came a moment in which all things were touched with the glory, all +things were made new. And in that moment, sudden as a flash of light, a +bird of pure white plumage appeared before their eyes, hovered an +instant; then flew, mounting on wide, gleaming wings, straight into the +dawn.... + +Even while they watched, it vanished through the gates of gold. And only +the gracious sunshine of a new day remained.... + +A low voice spoke from the chamber of Death. They turned from the vision +and saw Eustace standing in the doorway. + +He was very white, but absolutely calm. There was a nobility about him at +that moment that sent a queer little throb to Dinah's heart. He held out +his hand, not to her, but to Scott. "She is gone," he said. + +Scott went to him; she saw their hands meet. There was no agitation about +either of them. + +"In her sleep?" Scott said. + +"Yes. We didn't even know--till it was over." + +They turned into the room, still hand grasping hand. + +And Dinah knelt up and stretched out her arms to the shining morning sky. +Something within her was whispering that she and Scott had seen more of +the passing of Isabel than any of those who had watched beside her bed. +And in the quiet of that wonderful morning, she offered her quivering +thanks to God. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CONSOLATION + + +Of the long hours that followed that wonderful dawning Dinah never had +any very distinct recollection. Even Scott seemed to forget her for a +while, and it was old Biddy who presently found her curled up on the +window-seat with her head upon the sill asleep--Biddy with her eyes very +bright and alert, albeit deeply rimmed with red. + +She came to the childish, drooping figure, murmuring tender words. She +put wiry arms about her and lifted her to her feet. + +"There! Come to your own room and rest, my lamb!" she said. "Old Biddy'll +take care of ye, aroon." + +Dinah submitted with the vague docility of a brain but half-awakened. To +be cared for and petted by Biddy was no new thing in her experience. She +even felt as if the old crystal Alpine days had returned, as Biddy +undressed her and presently tucked her into bed. Later, still in +semi-consciousness, she drank the hot milk that the old woman brought +her, and then sank into a deep, deep sleep. + +She awakened from that sleep with a sense of well-being such as she had +never known before, a feeling of complete security and rest. The house +was very quiet, and through the curtained window there came to her the +soft, slumberous splash of the waves. + +She lay very still, listening to the soothing murmur, gradually focusing +her mind again after its long oblivion. The memory of the previous night +and of the coming of the dawn came back to her, and with it the thought +of Isabel; but without grief and without regret. They had left her on the +mountain-top, and she knew that all must be well. + +A great peace seemed to have fallen like a veil upon the whole house. +Surely no one could be mourning over that glad release! She saw again the +flashing of those free wings in the dawn-light, and her heart thrilled +afresh. She remembered too the close, strong clasp of Scott's hand as +he had watched with her. + +Where was Scott now? The wonder darted suddenly through her brain, and +with it, swift as a flying cloud-shadow, came the want of him, the +longing for the quiet voice, the quivering delight of his near presence. +She half-raised herself, and then, caught by another thought, sank down +again to hide her burning face in the pillow. It would be a little +difficult to meet him again. On the old easy terms of friendship it +could not be, and they had hardly begun to be lovers yet. He--had not +even--kissed her! + +Another thought came to her--of an even more disturbing nature. Save for +old Biddy and the nurse, she was alone with the two brothers now. Would +they--would they insist upon sending her home until--until Scott was +ready to come and take her away? Oh, surely--surely Scott would never ask +that of her! + +Nevertheless the thought tormented her. She did not see any way out of +the difficulty, and she was terribly afraid that Scott would be equally +at a loss. + +"I don't think I could bear it," she whispered to herself. "And yet--if +he says so--if he says so--I suppose I must. I couldn't refuse--if he +said so." + +The soft opening of the door recalled her to the immediate present. She +saw old Biddy's face with its watchful, guardian look peep stealthily in +upon her. + +"Ah, mavourneen!" she whispered fondly, coming forward. "And is it awake +ye are? I've peeped round at ye this five times, and ye were sleeping +like a new-born babe. Lie still, darlint, while I fetch ye a cup o' tay +then!" + +She was gone with the words, but in a very little she was back again with +her own especial brew. She set her tray down by Dinah's side, but Dinah +did not even look at it. She raised herself instead, and threw warm arms +around the old woman's neck. "Oh, Biddy," she said, "Biddy, darling, I +can't think what ever I'd do without you!" + +Biddy uttered a sharp sob, and gathered her close. But in a moment, +half-angrily, "And what is it that I'd be crying for at all?" she said. +"Isn't my dear Miss Isabel safer with the Almighty than ever she was with +me? Isn't she gone to the blessed saints in Paradise? And would I have +her back? No, no! I'm not that selfish, Miss Dinah. I'm an old woman +moreover, and be the same token me own time can't be so far off now." + +But Dinah clung faster to her. "Please, Biddy, please--don't talk like +that! I want you," she said. + +"Ah, bless the dear lamb!" said Biddy, and tenderly kissed the upturned, +pleading face. "Miss Isabel said ye would now. But when ye've got Master +Scott to take care of ye, it's not old Biddy that ye'll be wanting any +longer." + +"I shall," Dinah vowed. "I shall. I shall always want my Biddy." + +"And may the Lord Almighty bless ye for the word!" said Biddy. + +When Dinah was dressed, a great shyness fell upon her, born partly of the +still mystery of the presence of Death that wrapped the little house. +She stood by the window of her room, looking forth, irresolute, over the +evening sea. + +The blinds were drawn only in the room of Death, for Scott had so +decreed, and the air blew in sweet and fresh from the rippling water. + +After a few minutes, Biddy came softly up behind her. "And is it himself +ye're looking for, mavourneen?" she murmured at Dinah's shoulder. + +Dinah started a little and flushed. She wondered if Biddy knew all or +only guessed. "I don't know--what to do," she said rather confusedly. + +Biddy gave her a quick, wise look. "Will I tell ye a secret, Miss Dinah +dear?" she whispered. + +Dinah looked at her. The old woman's face was full of shrewd +understanding. "Yes, tell me!" she said somewhat breathlessly. + +Biddy's brown hand grasped her arm. "Master Scott went to town this +morning," she said. "He'll be back any minute now. Sir Eustace is +downstairs. He wants to see ye--to tell ye something--before Master Scott +gets back." + +"Oh, what--what?" gasped Dinah. + +"There, now, there! Don't ye be afraid!" said Biddy, her beady eyes +softening. "It's something ye'll like. Master Scott--he's not the +gentleman to make ye do anything ye don't want to do. Don't ye trust him, +Miss Dinah?" + +"Of course--of course," Dinah said, with trembling lips. + +"Then ye've nothing to be afraid of," said Biddy wisely. "Faith, it's +only the marriage-licence he's been to fetch!" + +"Oh--Biddy!" Dinah wheeled from the window, with both her hands over her +heart. + +Biddy nodded with grave triumph. "It was Sir Eustace made him go. Master +Scott--he didn't think it would be dacent, not at first. But, as Sir +Eustace said, there's more ways than one of being ondacent, and after all +it was the dearest wish of Miss Isabel's heart. 'Don't you be a +conventional fool!' he said. And for once I agreed with him," said Biddy +naïvely, "though I think he needn't have used bad language over it." + +"Oh--Biddy!" Dinah said again, and then very oddly she began to smile, +and the tension went out of her attitude. She kissed the wrinkled cheek, +and turned. "I think perhaps I will go down and speak to Sir Eustace," +she said. + +She went quickly, aware that if she suffered herself to pause, that +overpowering shyness would seize upon her again. + +Guided by the scent of cigarette-smoke, she entered the dining-room. Sir +Eustace was seated at a writing-table near the window. He looked up +swiftly at her entrance. + +"Awake at last!" he said, and would have risen with the words, but she +reached him first and checked him. + +"Eustace! Oh, Eustace!" she said. "I--I--Biddy has just told me--" + +He frowned, as she stopped in confusion, steadying herself rather +piteously against his shoulder. But in a moment, seeing her agitation, he +put a kindly arm around her. + +"Biddy is an old fool--always was. Don't take any notice of her! What a +ferment you're in, child! What's the matter? There, sit down!" + +He drew her down on to the arm of his chair, and she leaned against him, +striving for self-control. + +"You--you are so--so much too good," she murmured. + +He smiled rather grimly. "No one ever accused me of that before! Was that +the staggering piece of information that Biddy has imparted to you?" + +"No," she said, a fleeting smile upon her awn face. "It was--it +was--about Scott. It took my breath away,--that's all." + +"That all?" said Eustace with a faintly wry lift of one eyebrow. + +She slipped a shy arm around his neck. "Eustace, do you--do you think +I--ought to let Scott marry me?" + +"I'm quite sure you'll break his heart if you don't," responded Eustace. + +"Oh, I couldn't do that!" she said quickly. + +"No. I shouldn't if I were you. It isn't a very amusing game for anyone +concerned." Sir Eustace took up his pen with his free hand. "He's rather +a good chap, you know," he said, "beastly good sometimes. He'll take a +little living up to. But you'll manage that, I daresay. When he told me +how things stood between you, I saw directly that there was only one +thing to be done, and I made him do it. The idea is to get you married +before the nurse goes, and she is off to-morrow." He paused, looking at +her critically, and again half-cynically, half-sadly, smiled. "You took +that well," he said. "If it had been to me, you'd have jumped sky-high. +You're a wise little creature, Dinah. You've chosen the best man, and +you'll never be sorry. I congratulate you on your choice." + +He turned his face fully to her, and she stooped swiftly and kissed him. +"I'm--dreadfully sorry I--treated you so badly first," she whispered. + +"You needn't be," he said. "It did me good. You showed me myself from a +point of view that I had never taken before. You taught me to be human. I +told Isabel so. She--poor girl--" he stopped a second, and she saw that +momentarily he was moved; but he continued almost at once--"she was +grateful to you too," he said. "You removed the outer crust at a single +stroke--just in time to prevent atrophy. Of course," he glanced down at +the letter under his hand, "it was a more or less painful process, but it +may comfort you to know that it didn't go quite so deep with me as I +thought it had at the time. There's no sense in crying over spilt milk +anyhow. I never was that sort of ass. You may--or may not--be pleased to +hear that I am already well on the way to consolation." He lifted his +eyes suddenly with an expression in them that completely baffled her. It +was almost as if he had detached himself for the moment from all +participation in his own doings, contemplating them with a half-pathetic +irony. "Shall I tell you what I was doing when you came in just now?" he +said. "I was writing to the girl you nearly sacrificed your happiness to +cut out." + +"Rose de Vigne?" she said quickly. + +He nodded. "Yes, Rose de Vigne" He paused for a second, just a second; +then: "The girl I am going to marry," he said quietly. + +"Oh, Eustace!" There was no mistaking the gladness in Dinah's tone. "I am +pleased!" she said earnestly. "I know you will be happy together. You +were simply made for each other." + +He smiled, still in that strange, half-rueful fashion. "I am doing the +best I can under the circumstances. It is kind of you to be pleased. But +now once more to your affairs. They are more pressing than mine just now. +It may interest you to know that Scott--although under Isabel's will he +is made absolutely independent of me--is willing to live at the Dower +House, if that arrangement meets with your approval." + +"Of course--I shall love it," Dinah said. + +"I am glad of that, for it will be a great help to me to have him there. +You will be able to have Billy to stay with you in the holidays and roam +about as you like. Scott is making all sorts of plans. I am going to +settle the place on him as a wedding-present." + +"Oh, Eustace! How kind! What a lovely gift!" + +Sir Eustace smiled at her. "I am giving him more than that, Dinah. I am +giving him his wife and--the wedding-ring." The irony was uppermost +again, but it held no sting. "It will fit no other hand but yours, and it +will serve to keep you in constant remembrance of your good luck. I can +hear him coming up the path. Aren't you going to meet him?" + +She sprang up like a startled fawn. "Oh, I can't--I can't meet him yet," +she said desperately. + +There was a curious glint in Eustace's eyes as he watched her, a flash of +mockery that came and went. + +"What?" he said. "Do you want me to help you to run away from him now?" + +She looked at him quickly, and in a moment her hesitation was gone. + +"Oh, no!" she said. "No!" and with a little breathless sound that might +have been a tremor of laughter, she fled away from him out into the +evening sunshine to meet her lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE SEVENTH HEAVEN + + +They were married in the early morning at the little old church that had +nestled for centuries among its trees in the village on the cliff. The +absolute simplicity of the service deprived it of all terrors for Dinah. +Standing with Scott in the glow of sunlight that smote full upon them +through the mellow east window, she could not feel afraid. The whole +world was so bright, so full of joy. + +"Do you think Isabel can see us now?" she whispered to him, as they rose +together from kneeling before the altar. + +He did not answer her in words, but his pale eyes were shining with that +steadfast light of the spirit which she had come to know. She wished she +could have knelt there by his side a little longer. They seemed to be so +near to the Gates of Heaven. + +But they were not alone, and they could not linger. Sir Eustace who had +given her away, Biddy who had tenderly supported her, the nurse who +carried the fragrant bouquet of honeysuckle--the bond of love--which she +had herself gathered for the bride, all were waiting to draw them back +to earth again; and with Scott's hand clasping hers she turned +regretfully and left the holy place. + +Later, when Sir Eustace kissed her with the careless observation that he +always kissed a bride, she had a moment of burning shyness, and she would +gladly have hidden her face. But Scott did not kiss her. He had not +offered to do so since that wonderful moment when he had first held her +against his heart. He had not attempted to make love to her, and she had +not felt the need of it. Grave and practical, he had laid his plans +before her, and with the supreme confidence that he had always inspired +in her she had acquiesced to all. + +At his desire she had refrained from entering Isabel's death-chamber. At +his desire she was to leave that day for the Dower House that was to be +their home. Biddy would accompany her thither. The place was ready for +occupation, for by Isabel's wish the work had gone on, though both she +and Scott had known that they would never share a home there. It almost +seemed as if she had foreseen the fulfilment of her earnest wish. And +here Dinah was to await her husband. + +"I won't come to you till the funeral is over," he said to her. "I must +be with Eustace. You won't be unhappy?" + +No, she would not be unhappy. She had never been so near to Death before, +but she was neither frightened nor dismayed. She stood in the shadow +indeed, but she looked forth from it over a world of such sunshine as +filled her heart with quivering gladness. + +He did not want her to attend the funeral at Willowmount, would not, if +he could help it, suffer her so much as to see the trappings of woe; and +in this Dinah acquiesced also, comprehending fully the motive that +underlay his wish. She knew that the earthly formalities, though they +had to be faced, were to Scott something of the nature of a grim farce in +which, while he could not escape it himself, he was determined that she +should take no part. He was not mourning for Isabel. He would not pretend +to mourn. Her death was to him but as the opening wide of a prison-door +to one who had long lain captive, pining for liberty. He would follow the +poor worn body to its grave rather with thanksgiving than with grief. And +realizing so well that this was his inevitable feeling, even as in a +smaller degree it had become her own, Dinah agreed without demur to his +wish to spare her all the jarring details, the travesty of mourning, that +could not fail to strike a false chord in her soul. + +It was well for her that she had Biddy to think of. The old woman was +pathetically eager to serve her. She had in fact attached herself to +Dinah in a fashion that went to her heart. It was Miss Isabel's wish that +she should take care of her, she told her tremulously, and Dinah, knew +that it had been equally her friend's wish that she should care for +Biddy. + +And Biddy was very good. Probably in accordance with Scott's desire, she +made a great effort to throw off all gloom, and undoubtedly her own sense +of loss and bereavement was greatly lessened by the consciousness of +Dinah's need of her. + +"Time enough to weep later," she told herself, as she lay down in the +room adjoining Dinah's on that first night in the Dower House. "She'll +not be wanting old Biddy when Master Scott comes to her." + +The two days that followed were very fully occupied. There were curtains +and pictures to hang, furniture to be arranged, and many things to be +unpacked. Dinah went to the work with zest. She did not know when Scott +would come. But it would be soon, she knew it would be soon; and she +thrilled to the thought. Everything must be ready for him. She wanted him +to feel that it was home from the moment he crossed the threshold. + +So, with Biddy's help, she went about her preparations, enlisting the old +nurse's sympathies till at last she succeeded in arousing her enthusiasm +also. There was certainly no time to weep. + +That second day after her arrival was the day of the funeral. It was +a beautiful still day of summer, and in the afternoon Dinah and Biddy +sat in the garden overlooking the winding river, and read the Burial +Service together. It was Dinah's suggestion, somewhat shyly proffered, +and--though she knew it not--from that time forward Biddy's heart was +at her feet. Whatever tears there might be yet to shed had lost all +bitterness from that hour. + +"I'll never be lonely so long as there's you to love, Miss Dinah +darlint," Biddy murmured, when the young arms closed about her neck for a +moment ere they went back to their work. "Ye've warmed and comforted me +all through." + +It was late in the evening when dusk was falling that there came the +sound of an uneven tread on the gravel path before the Dower House. + +Dinah was the first to hear it. Dinah wearing one of Biddy's voluminous +aprons and mounted on a pair of steps, arranging china on a high shelf +that ran round the old square hall. + +The front-door was open, and the birds were singing in the gloaming. She +had been listening to them while she worked, when suddenly this new sound +came. Her heart gave a wild leap and stood still. She had not expected +him to-night. + +She sat down on the top of the steps with a swift, indescribable rush of +feeling that seemed to deprive her of all her strength. She could not +have said for the moment if she were glad or dismayed at the sound of +that quiet footfall. But she was quite powerless to go and meet him. A +great wave of shyness engulfed her, possessing her, overwhelming her. + +He entered. He came straight to her. She wondered afterwards what he must +have thought of her, sitting there on her perch in burning embarrassment +with no word or sign of welcome. But whatever he thought, he dealt with +the situation with unerring instinct. + +He mounted a couple of steps with hands stretched up to hers. "Why, my +Dinah!" he said. "How busy you are! Let me help!" + +Her heart throbbed on again, fast and hard. But still for a few seconds +she could not speak. She stooped with a soft endearing sound and laid her +face upon the hands that had clasped her own. + +He suffered her for a moment or two in silence; she thought his hands +trembled slightly. Then: "Let's get finished, little wife!" he said +gently. "Isn't the day's work nearly over? Can't we take off our +sandals--and rest?" + +"I have just done," she said, finding her voice. "Biddy and I have got +through such a lot. Oh, Scott," as the light fell upon his face, "how +tired you look!" + +"It has been rather a tiring day," he made answer. "I didn't think I +could get over here to-night; but Eustace insisted." + +"How good of him!" she said, with quick gratitude. + +"Yes, he is good," Scott's voice was tender. "I couldn't sleep last +night, and he came into my room, and we had a long talk. He is one of the +best, Dinah; one of the best. I'm afraid you've made--rather a poor +exchange." + +Something in his tone banished the last of Dinah's shyness. She gave him +her basket of china and prepared to descend. He stretched up a courteous +hand to help her, but she would have none of it. "You are never to say +that--or anything like it--again," she said severely. "If--if you weren't +so dreadfully tired, I believe I'd be really angry. As it is--" she +reached the ground and stood there before him, a small, purposeful figure +clad in the great apron that wrapped about her like a garment. + +"As it is--" he suggested meekly, setting the basket on a chair and +turning back to face her. + +Two quivering hands came out to him in the gloaming, and fastened +resolutely on his coat. "Oh, Greatheart," whispered a tremulous voice, "I +love you so much--so much--I want--to kiss you!" + +"My darling," answered Greatheart softly, "you can't want it--more than I +do." + +His arms closed about her; he drew her to his breast. + + * * * * * + +"Arrah thin, what would I cry for at all?" said Biddy, as she lay +down that night. "I've got herself and Master Scott to care for, and +maybe--some day--the Almighty will remember old Biddy for good, and give +another little one into her care." + + * * * * * + +"And you left them quite happy?" smiled Rose to her lover two days later. +"It's a very suitable arrangement, isn't it? I always used to think that +Dinah and your brother should make a match." + +"Oh, quite suitable," agreed Eustace lazily, an odd blend of irony and +satisfaction in his tone. "They will be happy enough. Stumpy, you know, +is just the sort of chivalrous ass that a child like Dinah can +appreciate. They'll probably live in the seventh heaven, and fancy that +no one else has ever been within a million miles of it." + +"Poor little Dinah!" murmured Rose. "She will never know what she has +missed." + +And, "Just as well perhaps," said Sir Eustace, with his faintly cynical +smile. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13497 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..688c84a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13497 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13497) diff --git a/old/13497-8.txt b/old/13497-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6703bc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13497-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18420 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Greatheart, by Ethel M. Dell + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Greatheart + +Author: Ethel M. Dell + +Release Date: September 18, 2004 [eBook #13497] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREATHEART*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects, +Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +GREATHEART + +by + +ETHEL M. DELL + +Author of the Hundredth Chance, The Lamp in the Desert, +The Swindler, etc. + +1918 + + + + + + + +"NOW MR. GREATHEART WAS A STRONG MAN." +--_The Pilgrims Progress_. + + + +I Dedicate This Book to A. G. C. + +Friend of My Heart and to the Memory of All the Happy Days We have Spent +Together. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + + I. The Wanderer + II. The Looker-On + III. The Search + IV. The Magician + V. Apollo + VI. Cinderella + VII. The Broken Spell + VIII. Mr. Greatheart + IX. The Runaway Colt. + X. The House of Bondage + XI. Olympus + XII. The Wine of the Gods + XIII. Friendship in the Desert + XIV. The Purple Empress + XV. The Mountain Crest + XVI. The Second Draught + XVII. The Unknown Force + XVIII. The Escape of the Prisoner + XIX. The Cup of Bitterness + XX. The Vision of Greatheart + XXI. The Return + XXII. The Valley of the Shadow + XXIII. The Way Back + XXIV. The Lights of a City + XXV. The True Gold + XXVI. The Call of Apollo + XXVII. The Golden Maze + XXVIII. The Lesson + XXIX. The Captive + XXX. The Second Summons + + +PART II + + I. Cinderella's Prince + II. Wedding Arrangements + III. Despair + IV. The New Home + V. The Watcher + VI. The Wrong Road + VII. Doubting Castle + VIII. THE VICTORY + IX. THE BURDEN + X. THE HOURS OF DARKNESS + XI. THE NET + XII. THE DIVINE SPARK + XIII. THE BROKEN HEART + XIV. THE WRATH OF THE GODS + XV. THE SAPPHIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP + XVI. THE OPEN DOOR + XVII. THE LION IN THE PATH + XVIII. THE TRUTH + XIX. THE FURNACE + XX. THE COMING OF GREATHEART + XXI. THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION + XXII. SPOKEN IN JEST + XXIII. THE KNIGHT IN DISGUISE + XXIV. THE MOUNTAIN SIDE + XXV. THE TRUSTY FRIEND + XXVI. THE LAST SUMMONS + XXVII. THE MOUNTAIN-TOP + XXVIII. CONSOLATION + XXIX. THE SEVENTH HEAVEN + + + + +PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WANDERER. + + +Biddy Maloney stood at the window of her mistress's bedroom, and surveyed +the world with eyes of stern disapproval. There was nothing of the smart +lady's maid about Biddy. She abominated smart lady's maids. A flyaway +French cap and an apron barely reaching to the knees were to her the very +essence of flighty impropriety. There was just such a creature in +attendance upon Lady Grace de Vigne who occupied the best suite of rooms +in the hotel, and Biddy very strongly resented her existence. In her own +mind she despised her as a shameless hussy wholly devoid of all ideas of +"dacency." Her resentment was partly due to the fact that the indecent +one belonged to the party in possession of the best suite, which they had +occupied some three weeks before Biddy and her party had appeared on the +scene. + +It was all Master Scott's fault, of course. He ought to have written to +engage rooms sooner, but then to be sure the decision to migrate to this +winter paradise in the Alps had been a sudden one. That had been Sir +Eustace's fault. He was always so sudden in his ways. + +Biddy sighed impatiently. Sir Eustace had always been hard to manage. She +had never really conquered him even in the days when she had made him +stand in the corner and go without sugar in his tea. She well remembered +the shocking occasion on which he had flung sugar and basin together into +the fire so that the others might be made to share his enforced +abstinence. She believed he was equal to committing a similar act of +violence if baulked even now. But he never was baulked. At thirty-five he +reigned supreme in his own world. No one ever crossed him, unless it were +Master Scott, and of course no one could be seriously angry with him, +poor dear young man! He was so gentle and kind. A faint, maternal smile +relaxed Biddy's grim lips. She became aware that the white world below +was a-flood with sunshine. + +The snowy mountains that rose against the vivid blue were dream-like in +their beauty. Where the sun shone upon them, their purity was almost too +dazzling to behold. It was a relief to rest the eyes upon the great +patches of pine-woods that clothed some of the slopes. + +"I wonder if Miss Isabel will be happy here," mused Biddy. + +That to her mind was the only thing on earth that really mattered, +practically the only thing for which she ever troubled her Maker. Her own +wants were all amalgamated in this one great desire of her heart--that +her darling's poor torn spirit should be made happy. She had wholly +ceased to remember that she had ever wanted anything else. It was for +Miss Isabel that she desired the best rooms, the best carriages, +the best of everything. Even her love for Master Scott--poor dear young +man!--depended largely upon the faculty he possessed for consoling and +interesting Miss Isabel. Anyone who did that earned Biddy's undying +respect and gratitude. Of the rest of the world--save for a passing +disapproval--she was scarcely aware. Nothing else mattered in the same +way. In fact nothing else really mattered at all. + +Ah! A movement from the bed at last! Her quick ears, ever on the alert, +warned her on the instant. She turned from the window with such +mother-love shining in her old brown face under its severe white cap as +made it as beautiful in its way as the paradise without. + +"Why, Miss Isabel darlint, how you've slept then!" she said, in the soft, +crooning voice which was kept for this one beloved being alone. + +Two white arms were stretched wide outside the bed. Two dark eyes, +mysteriously shadowed and sunken, looked up to hers. + +"Has he gone already, Biddy?" a low voice asked. + +"Only a little way, darlint. He's just round the corner," said Biddy +tenderly. "Will ye wait a minute while I give ye your tay?" + +There was a spirit-kettle singing merrily in the room. She busied herself +about it, her withered face intent over the task. + +The white arms fell upon the blue travelling-rug that Biddy had spread +with loving care outside the bed the night before to add to her +mistress's comfort. "When did he go, Biddy?" the low voice asked, and +there was a furtive quality in the question as if it were designed for +none but Biddy's ears. "Did he--did he leave no message?" + +"Ah, to be sure!" said Biddy, turning her face for a moment. "And the +likes of me to have forgotten it! He sent ye his best love, darlint, and +ye were to eat a fine breakfast before ye went out." + +The sad eyes smiled at her from the bed, half-gratified, +half-incredulous, like the eyes of a lonely child who listens to a +fairy-tale. "It was like him to think of that, Biddy. But--I wish he had +stayed a little longer. I must get up and go and find him." + +"Hasn't he been with ye through the night?" asked Biddy, bent again to +her task. + +"Nearly all night long!" The answer came on a note of triumph, yet there +was also a note of challenge in it also. + +"Then what more would ye have?" said Biddy wisely. "Leave him alone for a +bit, darlint! Husbands are better without their wives sometimes." + +A low laugh came from the bed. "Oh, Biddy, I must tell him that! He would +love your _bon-mots_. Did he--did he say when he would be back?" + +"That he did not," said Biddy, still absorbed over the kettle. "But +there's nothing in that at all. Ye can't be always expecting a man to +give account of himself. Now, mavourneen, I'll give ye your tay, and +ye'll be able to get up when ye feel like it. Ah! There's Master Scott! +And would ye like him to come in and have a cup with ye?" + +Three soft knocks had sounded on the door. The woman in the bed raised +herself, and her hair fell in glory around her, hair that at twenty-five +had been raven-black, hair that at thirty-two was white as the snow +outside the window. + +"Is that you, Stumpy dear? Come in! Come in!" she called. + +Her voice was hollow and deep. She turned her face to the door--a +beautiful, wasted face with hungry eyes that watched and waited +perpetually. + +The door opened very quietly and unobtrusively, and a small, +insignificant man came in. He was about the size of the average schoolboy +of fifteen, and he walked with a slight limp, one leg being a trifle +shorter than the other. Notwithstanding this defect, his general +appearance was one of extreme neatness, from his colourless but carefully +trained moustache and small trim beard to his well-shod feet. His +clothes---like his beard--fitted him perfectly. + +His close-cropped hair was also colourless and grew somewhat far back on +his forehead. His pale grey eyes had a tired expression, as if they had +looked too long or too earnestly upon the turmoil of life. + +He came to the bedside and took the thin white hand outstretched to him +on which a wedding ring hung loose. He walked without awkwardness; there +was even dignity in his carriage. + +He bent to kiss the uplifted face. "Have you slept well, dear?" + +Her arms reached up and clasped his neck. "Oh, Stumpy, yes! I have had a +lovely night. Basil has been with me. He has gone out now; but I am going +to look for him presently." + +"Many happy returns of the day to ye, Master Scott!" put in Biddy rather +pointedly. + +"Ah yes. It is your birthday. I had forgotten. Forgive me, Stumpy +darling! You know I wish you always the very, very best." The clinging +arms held him more closely, + +"Thank you, Isabel." Scott's voice was as tired as his eyes, and yet it +had a certain quality of strength. "Of course it's a very important +occasion. How are we going to celebrate it?" + +"I have a present for you somewhere. Biddy, where is it?" Isabel's voice +had a note of impatience in it. + +"It's here, darlint! It's here!" Biddy bustled up to the bed with a +parcel. + +Isabel took it from her and turned to Scott. "It's only a silly old +cigarette-case, dear, but I thought of it all myself. How old are you +now, Stumpy?" + +"I am thirty," he answered, smiling. "Thank you very much, dear. It's +just the thing I wanted--only too good!" + +"As if anything could be too good for you!" his sister said tenderly. +"Has Eustace remembered?" + +"Oh yes. Eustace has given me a saddle, but as he didn't think I should +want it here, it is to be presented when we get home again." He sat down +on the side of the bed, still inspecting the birthday offering. + +"Haven't you had anything from anyone else?" Isabel asked, after a +moment. + +He shook his head. "Who else is there to bother about a minnow like me?" + +"You're not a minnow, Scott. And didn't--didn't Basil give you anything?" + +Scott's tired eyes looked at her with a sudden fixity. He said nothing; +but a piteous look came into Isabel's face under his steady gaze, and she +dropped her own as if ashamed. + +"Whisht, Master Scott darlint, for the Lord's sake, don't ye go upsetting +her!" warned Biddy in a sibilant whisper. "I had trouble enough last +night. If it hadn't been for the draught, she wouldn't have slept at all, +at all." + +Scott did not look at her. "You should have called me," he said, and +leaning forward took his sister's hand. "Isabel, wouldn't you like to +come out and see the skaters? There is some wonderful luging going on +too." + +She did not raise her eyes; her whole demeanour had changed. She seemed +to droop as if all animation had gone; "I don't know," she said +listlessly. "I think I would almost as soon stay here." + +"Have your tay, darlint!" coaxed Biddy, on her other side. + +"Eustace will be coming to look for you if you don't," said Scott. + +She started at that, and gave a quick shiver. "Oh no, I don't want +Eustace! Don't let him come here, Stumpy, will you?" + +"Shall I go and tell him you are coming then?" asked Scott, his eyes +still steadily watching her. + +She nodded. "Yes, yes. But I don't want to be made. Basil never made me +do things." + +Scott rose. "I will wait for you downstairs. Thank you, Biddy. Yes, I'll +drink that first. No tea in the world ever tastes like your brew." + +"Get along with your blarney, Master Scott!" protested Biddy. "And you +and Sir Eustace mustn't tire Miss Isabel out. Remember, she's just come a +long journey, and it's not wonderful at all that she don't feel like +exerting herself." + +A red fire of resentment smouldered in the old woman's eyes, but Scott +paid no attention to it. "You'd better get some sleep yourself, Biddy, if +you can," he said. "No more, thanks. You will be out in an hour then, +Isabel?" + +"Perhaps," she said. + +He paused, standing beside her. "If you are not out in an hour I shall +come and fetch you," he said. + +She put forth an appealing hand like a child. "I will come out, Stumpy. I +will come out," she said tremulously. + +He pressed the hand for a moment. "In an hour then, I want to show you +everything. There is plenty to be seen." + +He turned to the door, looked back with a parting smile, and went out. + +Isabel did not see the smile. She was staring moodily downwards with eyes +that only looked within. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LOOKER-ON + + +Down on the skating-rink below the hotel, a crowd of people were making +merry. The ice was in splendid condition. It sparkled in the sun like a +sheet of frosted glass, and over it the skaters glided with much mirth +and laughter. + +Scott stood on the road above and watched them. There were a good many +accomplished performers among them, and there were also several +beginners. But all seemed alike infected with the gaiety of the place. +There was not one face that did not wear a smile. + +It was an invigorating scene. From a slope of the white mountain-side +beyond the rink the shouts and laughter of higers came through the +crystal air. A string of luges was shooting down the run, and even as +Scott caught sight of it the foremost came to grief, and a dozen people +rolled ignominiously in the snow. He smiled involuntarily. He seemed to +have stepped into an atmosphere of irresponsible youth. The air was full +of the magic fluid. It stirred his pulses like a draught of champagne. + +Then his eyes returned to the rink, and almost immediately singled out +the best skater there. A man in a white sweater, dark, handsome, +magnificently made, supremely sure of himself, darted with the swift +grace of a swallow through the throng. His absolute confidence and +splendid physique made him conspicuous. He executed elaborate figures +with such perfect ease and certainty of movement that many turned to look +at him in astonished admiration. + +"Great Scott!" said a cracked voice at Scott's shoulder. + +He turned sharply, and met the frank regard of a rosy-faced schoolboy a +little shorter than himself. + +"Look at that bloomin' swell!" said the new-comer in tones of deep +disgust. "He seems to have sprouted in the night. I've no use for these +star skaters myself. They're all so beastly sidey." + +He addressed Scott as an equal, and as an equal Scott made reply. "P'raps +when you're a star skater yourself, you'll change your mind about 'em." + +The boy grinned. "Ah! P'raps! You're a new chum, aren't you?" + +"Very new," said Scott. + +"Can you skate?" asked the lad. "But of course you can. I suppose you're +another dark horse. It's too bad, you know; just as Dinah and I are +beginning to fancy ourselves at it. We began right at the beginning too." + +"Consider yourself lucky!" said Scott rather briefly. + +"What do you mean?" The boy's eyes flashed over him intelligently, green +eyes humorously alert. + +Scott glanced downwards. "I mean my legs are not a pair, so I can't even +begin." + +"Oh, bad luck, sir!" The equality vanished from the boy's voice. He +became suddenly almost deferential, and Scott realized that he was no +longer regarded as a comrade. "Still"--he hesitated--"you can luge, I +suppose?" + +"I don't quite see myself," said Scott, looking across once more to the +merry group on the distant run. + +"Any idiot can do that," the boy protested, then turned suddenly a deep +red. "Oh, lor, I didn't mean that! Hi, Dinah!" He turned to cover his +embarrassment and sent a deafening yell at the sun-bathed _façade_ of the +hotel. "Are you never coming, you cuckoo? Half the morning's gone +already!" + +"Coming, Billy!" at once a clear gay voice made answer, and the merriest +face that Scott had ever seen made a sudden appearance at an open window. +"Darling Billy, do keep your hair on for just two minutes longer! Yvonne +has been trying on my fancy dress, but she's nearly done." + +The neck and shoulders below the laughing face were bare and a bare arm +waved in a propitiatory fashion ere it vanished. + +"Looks as if the fancy dress is a minus quantity," observed Billy to his +companion with a grin. "I didn't see any of it, did you?" + +Scott tried not to laugh. "Your sister?" he asked. + +Billy nodded affirmation. "She ain't a bad urchin," he observed, "as +sisters go. We're staying here along with the de Vignes. Ever met 'em? +Lady Grace is a holy terror. Her husband is a horrible stuck-up bore of +an Anglo-Indian,--thinks himself everybody, and tells the most awful +howlers. Rose--that's the daughter--is by way of being very beautiful. +There she goes now; see? That golden-haired girl in red! She's another of +your beastly star skaters. I'll bet she'll have that big bounder cutting +capers with her before the day's out." + +"Think so?" said Scott. + +Billy nodded again. "I suppose he's a prince at least. My word, doesn't +he fancy himself? Look at that now? Side--sheer side!" + +The skater under discussion had just executed a most intricate figure not +far from them. Having accomplished it with that unerring and somewhat +blatant confidence that so revolted Billy's schoolboy soul, he +straightened his tall figure, and darted in a straight line for the end +of the rink above which they stood. His hands were in his pockets. His +bearing was superb. He described a complete circle below them before he +brought himself to a stand. Then he lifted his dark arrogant face. He +wore a short clipped moustache which by no means hid the strength of a +well-modelled though slightly sneering mouth. His eyes were somewhat +deeply set, and shone extraordinarily blue under straight black brows +that met. The man's whole expression was one of dominant self-assertion. +He bore himself like a king. + +"Well, Stumpy," he said, "where's Isabel?" + +Scott's companion jumped, and beat a swift retreat. Scott smiled a little +as he made reply. + +"I have been up to see her. She will be out presently. Biddy had to give +her a sleeping-draught last night." + +"Damn!" said the other in a fierce undertone. "Did she call you first?" + +"No." + +"Then why the devil didn't she? I shall sack that woman. Isabel hasn't a +chance to get well with a mischievous old hag like that always with her." + +"I think Isabel would probably die without her," Stumpy responded in his +quiet voice which presented a vivid contrast to his brother's stormy +utterance. "And Biddy would probably die too--if she consented to go, +which I doubt." + +"Oh, damn Biddy! The sooner she dies the better. She's nothing but a +perpetual nuisance. What is Isabel like this morning?" + +Scott hesitated, and his brother frowned. + +"That's enough. What else could any one expect? Look here, Scott! This +thing has got to end. I shall take that sleeping-stuff away." + +"If you can get hold of it," put in Scott drily. + +"You must get hold of it. You have ample opportunity. It's all very well +to preach patience, but she has been taking slow poison for seven years. +I am certain of it. It's ridiculous! It's monstrous! It's got to end." He +spoke with impatient finality, his blue eyes challenging remonstrance. + +Scott made none. Only after a moment he said, "If you take away one prop, +old chap, you must provide another. A broken thing can't stand alone. But +need we discuss it now? As I told you, she is coming out presently, and +this glorious air is bound to make a difference to her. It tastes like +wine." + +It was at this point that the golden-haired girl in red suddenly glided +up and sat down on the bank a few yards away to adjust a skate. + +Sir Eustace turned his head, and a sparkle came into his eyes. He watched +her for a moment, then left his brother without further words. + +"Can I do that for you?" he asked. + +She lifted a flushed face. "Oh, how kind of you! But I have just managed +it. How lovely the ice is this morning!" + +She rose with the words, balancing herself with a grace as finished as +his own, and threw him a dazzling smile of gratitude. Scott, from his +post of observation on the bank, decided that she certainly was +beautiful. Her face was almost faultless. And yet it seemed to him that +there was infinitely more of witchery in the face that had laughed from +the window a few minutes before. Almost unconsciously he was waiting to +see the owner of that face emerge. + +He watched the inevitable exchange of commonplaces between his brother +and the beautiful Miss de Vigne whose graciousness plainly indicated her +willingness for a nearer acquaintance, and presently he saw them move +away side by side. + +"What did I tell you?" said Billy's voice at his shoulder. "But you might +have said that chap belonged to you. How was I to know?" + +"Oh, quite so," said Scott. "Pray don't apologize! He doesn't belong to +me either. It is I who belong to him." + +Billy's green eyes twinkled appreciatively. "You're his brother, aren't +you?" + +Scott looked at him. "Now how on earth did you know that?" + +He looked back with his frank, engaging grin. "Oh, there's the same hang +about you. I can't tell you what it is. Dinah would know directly. You'd +better ask her." + +"I don't happen to have the pleasure of your sister's acquaintance," +observed Scott, with his quiet smile. + +"Oh, I'll soon introduce you if that's what you want," said Billy. "Come +along! There she is now, just crossing the road. By the way, I don't +think you told me your name." + +"My name is Studley--Scott Studley, Stumpy to my friends," said Scott, in +his whimsical, rather weary fashion. + +Billy laughed. "You're a sport," he said. "When I know you a bit better, +I shall remember that. Hi, Dinah! What a deuce of a time you've been. +This is Mr. Studley, and he saw you at the window without anything on." + +"I'm sure he didn't! Billy, how dare you?" Dinah's brown face burned an +indignant red; she looked at Scott with instant hostility. + +"Oh, please!" he protested mildly. "That's not quite fair on me." + +"Serves you right," declared Billy with malicious delight. "You played me +a shabby trick, you know." + +Dinah's brow cleared. She smiled upon Scott. "Isn't he a horrid little +pig? How do you do? Isn't it a ripping day? It makes you want to climb, +doesn't it? I wish I'd got an alpenstock." + +"Can't you get one anywhere?" asked Scott. "I thought they were always to +be had." + +"Yes, but they cost money," sighed Dinah. "And I haven't got any. It +doesn't really matter though. There are lots of other things to do. Are +you keen on luging? I am." + +Her bright eyes smiled into his with the utmost friendliness, and he knew +that she would not commit Billy's mistake and ask him if he skated. + +Her smile was infectious. The charm of it lingered after it had passed. +Her eyes were green like Billy's, only softer. They had a great deal of +sweetness in them, and a spice--just a spice of devilry as well. The rest +of the face would have been quite unremarkable, but the laughter-loving +mouth and pointed chin wholly redeemed it from the commonplace. She was a +little brown thing like a woodland creature, and her dainty air and quick +ways put Scott irresistibly in mind of a pert robin. + +In reply to her question he told her that he had arrived only the night +before. "And I am quite a tyro," he added. "I have been watching the +luging on that slope, and thanking all the stars that control my destiny +that I wasn't there." + +She laughed, showing a row of small white teeth. "Oh, you'd love it once +you started. It's a heavenly sport if the run isn't bumpy. Isn't this a +glorious atmosphere? It makes one feel so happy." + +She came and stood by his side to watch the skaters. Billy was seated on +the bank, impatiently changing his boots. + +"I'm not going to wait for you any longer, Dinah," he said. "I'm fed up." + +"Don't then!" she retorted. "I never asked you to." + +"What a lie!" said Billy, with all a brother's gallantry. + +She threw him a sister's look of scorn and deigned no rejoinder. But in a +moment the incident was forgotten. "Oh, look there!" she suddenly +exclaimed. "Isn't that just like Rose de Vigne? She's always sure to +appropriate the most handsome man within sight. I've been watching that +man from my window. He is a perfect Apollo, and skates divinely. And now +she's got him!" + +Deep disgust was audible in her voice. Billy looked up with a sideways +grin. "You don't suppose he'd look at a sparrow like you, do you?" he +said. "He prefers a swan, you bet." + +"Be quiet, Billy!" commanded Dinah, making an ineffectual dig at him with +her foot. "I don't want him to look at me. I hate men. But it is too bad +the way Rose always chooses the best. It's just the same with everything. +And I long--oh, I do long sometimes--to cut her out!" + +"I should myself," said Scott unexpectedly. "But why don't you. I'm sure +you could." + +She threw him a whimsical smile. "I!" she said. "Why that's about as +likely as--" she stopped short in some confusion. + +He laughed a little. "You mean I might as soon hope to cut out Apollo? +But the cases are not parallel, I assure you. Besides, Apollo happens to +be my brother, which makes a difference." + +"Oh, is he your brother? What a good thing you told me!" laughed Dinah. +"I might have said something rude about him in a minute." + +"Like me!" said Billy, stumbling to his feet. "I made a most horrific +blunder, didn't I, Mr. Studley? I called him a bounder!" + +Dinah looked at him witheringly. "You would!" she said. "Well, I hope you +apologized." + +Billy stuck out his tongue at her. "I didn't then!" he returned, and +skated elegantly away on one leg. + +"Billy," remarked Dinah dispassionately, "is not really such a horrid +little beast as he seems." + +Scott smiled his courteous smile. "I had already gathered that," he said. + +Her green eyes darted him a swift look, as if to ascertain if he were in +earnest. Then: "That was very nice of you," she said. "I wonder how you +knew." + +He still smiled, but without much mirth. "A looker-on sees a good many +things, you know," he said. + +Dinah's eyes flashed understanding. She said no more. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE SEARCH + + +When Isabel came slowly forth at length from the hotel door whither Biddy +had conducted her, Scott was sitting alone on a bench in the sunshine. + +He rose at once to join her. "Why, how quick you have been! Or else the +time flies here. Eustace is still skating. I had no idea he was so +accomplished. See, there he is!" + +But Isabel set her haggard face towards the mountain-road that wound up +beyond the hotel. "I am going to look for Basil," she said. + +"It is waste of time," said Scott quietly. + +But he did not attempt to withstand her. They turned side by side up the +hard, snowy track. + +For some time they walked in silence. At a short distance from the hotel, +the road ascended steeply through a pine-wood, dark and mysterious as an +enchanted forest, through which there rose the sound of a rushing stream. + +Scott paused to listen, but instantly his sister laid an imperious hand +upon him. + +"I can't wait," she said. "I am sure he is just round the corner. I heard +him whistle." + +He moved on in response to her insistence. "I heard that whistle too," he +said. "But it was a mountain-boy." + +He was right. At a curve in the road, they met a young Swiss lad who went +by them with a smile and salute, and fell to whistling again when he had +passed. + +Isabel pressed on in silence. She had started in feverish haste, but her +speed was gradually slackening. She looked neither to right nor left; her +eyes perpetually strained forward as though they sought for something +just beyond their range of vision. For a while Scott limped beside her +without speaking, but at last as they sighted the end of the pine-wood he +gently broke the silence. + +"Isabel dear, I think we must turn back very soon." + +"Oh, why?" she said. "Why? You always say that when--" There came a break +in her voice, and she ceased to speak. + +Her pace quickened so that he had some difficulty in keeping up with her, +but he made no protest. With the utmost patience he also pressed on. + +But it was not long before her strength began to fail. She stumbled once +or twice, and he put a supporting hand under her elbow. As they neared +the edge of the pines it became evident that the road dwindled to a mere +mountain-path winding steeply upwards through the snow. The sun shone +dazzlingly upon the great waste of whiteness. + +Very suddenly Isabel stopped. "He can't have gone this way after all," +she said, and turned to her brother with eyes of tragic hopelessness. +"Stumpy, Stumpy, what shall I do?" + +He drew her hand very gently through his arm. "We will go back, dear," he +said. + +A low sob escaped her, but she did not weep. "If I only had the strength +to go on and on and on!" she said. "I know I should find him some day +then." + +"You will find him some day," he answered with grave assurance. "But not +yet." + +They went back to the turn in the road where the sound of the stream rose +like fairy music from an unseen glen. The snow lay pure and untrodden +under the trees. + +Scott paused again, and this time Isabel made no remonstrance. They stood +together listening to the rush of the torrent. + +"How beautiful this place must be in springtime!" he said. + +She gave a sharp shiver. "It is like a dead world now." + +"A world that will very soon rise again," he answered. + +She looked at him with vague eyes. "You are always talking of the +resurrection," she said. + +"When I am with you, I am often thinking of it," he said with simplicity. + +A haunted look came into her face. "But that implies--death," she said, +her voice very low. + +"And what is Death?" said Scott gently, as if he reasoned with a child. +"Do you think it is more than a step further into Life? The passing of a +boundary, that is all." + +"But there is no returning!" she protested piteously. "It must be more +than that." + +"My dear, there is never any returning," he said gravely. "None of us can +go backwards. Yesterday is but a step away, but can we retrace that step? +No, not one of us." + +She made a sudden, almost fierce gesture. "Oh, to go back!" she cried. +"Oh, to go back! Why should we be forced blindly forward when we only +want to go back?" + +"That is the universal law," said Scott. "That is God's Will." + +"It is cruel! It is cruel!" she wailed. + +"No, it is merciful. So long as there is Death in the world we must go +on. We have got to get past Death." + +She turned her tragic eyes upon him. "And what then? What then?" + +Scott was gazing steadfastly into her face of ravaged beauty. "Then--the +resurrection," he said. "There are millions of people in the world, +Isabel, who are living out their lives solely for the sake of that, +because they know that if they only keep on, the Resurrection will give +back to them all that they have lost. My dear, it is not going back that +could help anyone. The past is past, the present is passing; there is +only the future that can restore all things. We are bound to go forward, +and thank God for it!" + +Her eyes fell slowly before his. She did not speak, but after a moment +gave him her hand with a shadowy smile. They continued the descent side +by side. + +Another curve of the road brought them within sight of the hotel. + +Scott broke the silence. "Here is Eustace coming to meet us!" + +She looked up with a start, and into her face came a curious, veiled +expression, half furtive, half afraid. + +"Don't tell him, Stumpy!" she said quickly. + +"What, dear?" + +"Don't tell him I have been looking for Basil this morning. He--he +wouldn't understand. And--and--you know--I must look for him sometimes. I +shall lose him altogether if I don't." + +"Shall we pretend we are enjoying ourselves?" said Scott with a smile. + +She answered him with feverish earnestness. "Yes--yes! Let us do that! +And, Stumpy, Stumpy dear, you are good, you can pray. I can't, you know. +Will you--will you pray sometimes--that I may find him?" + +"I shall pray that your eyes may be opened, Isabel," he answered, "so +that you may know you have never really lost him." + +She smiled again, her fleeting, phantom smile. "Don't pray for the +impossible, Stumpy!" she said. "I--I think that would be a mistake." + +"Is anything impossible?" said Scott. + +He raised his hand before she could make any answer, and sent a cheery +holloa down to his brother who waved a swift response. They quickened +their steps to meet him. + +Eustace was striding up the hill with the easy swing of a giant. He held +out both hands to Isabel as he drew near. She pulled herself free from +Scott, and went to him as one drawn by an unseen force. + +"Ah, that's right," he said, and bent to kiss her. "I'm glad you've been +for a walk. But you might have come and spoken to me first. I was only on +the rink." + +"I didn't want to see a lot of people," said Isabel, shrinking a little. +"I--I don't like so many strangers, Eustace." + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said lightly. "You have been buried too long. It's +time you came out of your shell. I shan't take you home again till you +have quite got over that." + +His tone was kindly but it held authority. Isabel attempted no protest. +Only she looked away over the sparkling world of white and blue with +something near akin to despair in her eyes. + +Scott took out his cigarette-case, and handed it to his brother. +"Isabel's birthday present to me!" he said. + +Eustace examined it with a smile. "Very nice! Did you think of it all by +yourself, Isabel?" + +"No," she said with dreary listlessness. "Biddy reminded me." + +Eustace's face changed. He frowned slightly and gave the case back to his +brother. + +"Have a cigarette!" said Scott. + +He took one absently, and Scott did the same. + +"How did you get on with the lady in red?" he asked. + +Eustace threw him a glance half-humorous, half-malicious. "If it comes to +that, how did you get on with the little brown girl?" + +"Oh, very nicely," smiled Scott. "Her name is Dinah. Your lady's name is +Rose de Vigne, if you care to know." + +"Really?" said Eustace. "And who told you that?" + +"Dinah, of course, or Dinah's brother. I forget which. They belong to the +same party." + +"I should think that little snub-nosed person feels somewhat in the +shade," observed Eustace. + +"I expect she does. But she has plenty of wits to make up for it. She +seems to find life quite an interesting entertainment." + +"She can't skate a bit," said Eustace. + +"Can't she? You'll have to give her a hint or two. I am sure she would be +very grateful." + +"Did she tell you so?" + +"I'm not going to tell you what she told me. It wouldn't be fair." + +Eustace laughed with easy tolerance. "Oh, I've no objection to giving her +a hand now and then if she's amusing, and doesn't become a nuisance. I'm +not going to let myself be bored by anybody this trip. I'm out for sport +only." + +"It's a lovely place," observed Scott. + +"Oh, perfect. I'm going to ski this afternoon. How do you like it, +Isabel?" + +Abruptly the elder brother accosted her. She was walking between them as +one in a dream. She started at the sound of her name. + +"I don't know yet," she said. "It is rather cold, isn't it? I--I am not +sure that I shall be able to sleep here." + +Eustace's eyes held hers for a moment. "Oh, no one expects to sleep +here," he said lightly. "You skate all day and dance all night. That's +the programme." + +Her lips parted a little. "I--dance!" she said. + +"Why not?" said Eustace. + +She made a gesture that was almost expressive of horror. "When I dance," +she said, in her deep voice, "you may put me under lock and key for good +and all, for I shall be mad indeed." + +"Don't be silly!" he said sharply. + +She shrank as if at a blow, and on the instant very quietly Scott +intervened. "Isabel and I prefer to look on," he said, drawing her hand +gently through his arm. "I fancy it suits us both best." + +His eyes met his brother's quick frown deliberately, with the utmost +steadiness, and for a few electric seconds there was undoubted tension +between them. Isabel was aware of it, and gripped the supporting arm very +closely. + +Then with a shrug Eustace turned from the contest. "Oh, go your own way! +It's all one to me. You're one of the slow coaches that never get +anywhere." + +Scott said nothing whatever. He smoked his cigarette without a sign of +perturbation. Save for a certain steeliness in his pale eyes, his +habitually placid expression remained unaltered. + +He walked in silence for a few moments, then without effort began to talk +in a general strain of their journey of the previous day. Had Isabel +cared about the sleigh-ride? If so, they would go again one day. + +She lighted up in response with an animation which she had not displayed +during the whole walk. Her eyes shone a little, as with a far-off fire of +gratitude. + +"I should like it if you would, Stumpy," she said. + +"Then we will certainly go," he said. "I should enjoy it very much." + +Eustace came out of a somewhat sullen silence to throw a glance of +half-reluctant approval towards his brother. He plainly regarded Scott's +move as an achievement of some importance. + +"Yes, go by all means!" he said. "Enjoy yourselves. That's all I ask." + +Isabel's faint smile flitted across her tired face, but she said nothing. + +Only as they reached and entered the hotel, she pressed Scott's hand for +a moment in both her own. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAGICIAN + + +"Well, Dinah, my dear, are you ready?" + +Rose de Vigne, very slim and graceful, with her beautiful hair mounted +high above her white forehead and falling in a shower of golden ringlets +behind after the style of a hundred years ago, stood on the threshold of +Dinah's room, awaiting permission to enter. Her dress was of palest green +satin brocade, a genuine Court dress of a century old. Her arms and neck +gleamed with a snowy whiteness. She looked as if she had just stepped out +of an ancient picture. + +There came an impatient cry from within the room. "Oh, come in! Come in! +I'm not nearly ready,--never shall be, I think. Where is Yvonne? Couldn't +she spare me a single moment?" + +The beautiful lady entered with a smile. She could afford to smile, being +complete to the last detail and quite sure of taking the ballroom by +storm. She found Dinah scurrying barefooted about the room with her hair +in a loose bunch on her neck, her attire of the scantiest description, +her expression one of wild desperation. + +"I've lost my stockings. Where can they be? I know I had them this +morning. Can Yvonne have taken them by mistake? She put everything ready +for me,--or said she had." + +The bed was littered with articles of clothing all flung together in +hopeless confusion. Rose came forward. "Surely Yvonne didn't leave your +things like this?" she said. + +"No. I've been hunting through everything for the stockings. Where can +they be? I shall have to go without them, that's all." + +"My dear child, they can't be far away. You had better get on with your +hair while I look for them. I am afraid you will not be able to count on +any help from Yvonne to-night. She has only just finished dressing me, +and has gone now to help Mother. You know what that means." + +"Oh, goodness, yes!" said Dinah. "I wish I'd never gone in for this +stupid fancy dress at all. I shall never be done." + +Rose smiled in her indulgent way. She was always kind to Dinah. "Well, I +can help you for a few minutes. I can't think how you come to be so late. +I thought you came in long ago." + +"Yes, but Billy wanted some buttons sewn on, and that hindered me." Dinah +was dragging at her hair with impatient fingers. "What a swell you look, +Rose! I'm sure no one will dare to ask you for any but square dances." + +"Do you think so, dear?" said Rose, looking at herself complacently in +the glass over Dinah's head. + +Dinah made a sudden and hideous grimace. "Oh, drat my hair! I can't do +anything with it. I believe I shall cut it all off, put on just a +pinafore, and go as a piccaninny." + +"That sounds a little vulgar," observed Rose. "There are your stockings +under the bed. You must have dropped them under. I should think the more +simply you do your hair the better if you are going to wear a coloured +kerchief over it. You have natural ringlets in front, and that is the +only part that will show." + +"And they will hang down over my eyes," retorted Dinah, "unless I fasten +them back with a comb, which I haven't got. Oh, don't stay, Rose! I know +you are wanting to go, and you can't help me. I shall manage somehow." + +"Are you quite sure?" said Rose turning again to survey herself. + +"Quite--quite! I shall get on best alone. I'm in a bad temper too, and I +want to use language--horrid language," said Dinah, tugging viciously at +her dark hair. + +Rose lowered her stately gaze and watched her for a moment. Then as +Dinah's green eyes suddenly flashed resentful enquiry upon her she +lightly touched the girl's flushed cheek, and turned away. "Poor little +Dinah!" she said. + +The door closed upon her graceful figure in its old-world, sweeping robe +and Dinah whizzed round from the glass like a naughty fairy in a rage. +"Rose de Vigne, I hate you!" she said aloud, and stamped her unshod foot +upon the floor. + +A period of uninterrupted misfortune followed this outburst. Everything +went wrong. The costume which the French maid had so deftly fitted upon +her that morning refused to be adjusted properly. The fastenings baffled +her, and finally a hook at the back took firm hold of the lawn of her +sleeve and maliciously refused to be disentangled therefrom. + +Dinah struggled for freedom for some minutes till the lawn began to tear, +and then at last she became desperate. "Billy must do it," she said, and +almost in tears she threw open the door and ran down the passage. + +Billy's room was round a corner, and this end of the corridor was dim. As +she turned it, she almost collided with a figure coming in the opposite +direction--a boyish-looking figure in evening dress which she instantly +took for Billy. + +"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed. "Do come along and help me like a +saint! I'm in such a fix." + +There was an instant's pause before she discovered her mistake, and then +in the same moment a man's voice answered her. + +"Of course I will help you with pleasure. What is wrong?" + +Dinah started back, as if she would flee in dismay. But perhaps it was +the kindness of his response, or possibly only the extremity of her +need--something held her there. She stood her ground as it were in spite +of herself. + +"Oh, it is you! I do beg your pardon. I thought it was Billy. I've got my +sleeve caught up at the back, and I want him to undo it." + +"I'll undo it if you will allow me," said Scott. + +"Oh, would you? How awfully kind! My arm is nearly broken with trying to +get free. You can't see here though," said Dinah. "There's a light by my +door." + +"Let us go to it then!" said Scott. "I know what it is to have things go +wrong at a critical time." + +He accompanied her back again with the utmost simplicity, stopped by the +light, and proceeded with considerable deftness to remedy the mischief. + +"Oh, thank you!" said Dinah, with heart-felt gratitude as he freed her at +last. "Billy would have torn the stuff in all directions. I'm dressing +against time, you see, and I've no one to help me." + +"Do you want any more help?" asked Scott, looking at her with a quizzical +light in his eyes. + +She laughed, albeit she was still not far from tears. "Yes, I want +someone to pin a handkerchief on my head in the proper Italian fashion. I +don't look much like a _contadina_ yet, do I?" + +He surveyed her more critically. "It's not a bad get-up. You look very +nice anyhow. If you like to bring me the handkerchief, I will see what I +can do. I know a little about it from the point of view of an amateur +artist. You want some earrings. Have you got any?" + +Dinah shook her head. "Of course not." + +"I believe my sister has," said Scott. "I'll go and see." + +"Oh no, no! What will she think?" cried Dinah in distress. + +He uttered his quiet laugh. "I will present you to her by-and-bye if I +may. I am sure she will be interested and pleased. You finish off as +quickly as you can! I shall be back directly." + +He limped away again down the passage, moving more quickly than was his +wont, and Dinah hastened back into her room wondering if this informality +would be regarded by her chaperon as a great breach of etiquette. + +"Rose thinks I'm vulgar," she murmured to herself. "I wonder if I really +am. But really--he is such a dear little man. How could I possibly help +it?" + +The dear little man's return put an end to her speculations. He came back +in an incredibly short time, armed with a leather jewel-case which he +deposited on the threshold. + +Dinah came light-footed to join him, all her grievances forgotten. Her +hair, notwithstanding its waywardness, clustered very prettily about her +face. There was a bewitching dimple near one corner of her mouth. + +"You can come in if you like," she said. "I'm quite dressed--all except +the handkerchief." + +"Thank you; but I won't come in," he answered. "We mustn't shock anybody. +If you could bring a chair out, I could manage quite well." + +She fetched the chair. "If anyone comes down the passage, they'll wonder +what on earth we are doing," she remarked. + +"They will take us for old friends," said Scott in a matter of-fact tone +as he opened the jewel-case. + +She laughed delightedly. There was a peculiarly happy quality about her +laugh. Most people smiled quite involuntarily when they heard it, though +Billy compared it to the neigh of a cheery colt. + +"Now," said Scott, looking at her quizzically, "are you going to sit in +the chair, or am I going to stand on it?" + +"Oh, I'll sit," she said. "Here's the handkerchief! You will fasten it so +that it doesn't flop, won't you? May I hold that case? I won't touch +anything." + +He put it open into her lap. "There is a chain of coral there. Perhaps +you can find it. I think it would look well with your costume." + +Dinah pored over the jewels with sparkling eyes. "But are you sure--quite +sure--your sister doesn't mind?" + +"Quite sure," said Scott, beginning to drape the handkerchief adroitly +over her bent head. + +"How very sweet of her--of you both!" said Dinah. "I feel like Cinderella +being dressed for the ball. Oh, what lovely pearls! I never saw anything +so exquisite." + +She had opened an inner case and was literally revelling in its contents. + +"They were--her husband's wedding present to her," said Scott in his +rather monotonous voice. + +"How lovely it must be to be married!" said Dinah, with a little sigh. + +"Do you think so?" said Scott. + +She turned in her chair to regard him. "Don't you?" + +"I can't quite imagine it," he said. + +"Oh, can't I!" said Dinah. "To have someone in love with you, wanting no +one but you, thinking there's no one else in the world like you. Have you +never dreamt that such a thing has happened? I have. And then waked up to +find everything very flat and uninteresting." + +Scott was intent upon fastening an old gold brooch in the red kerchief +above her forehead. He did not meet the questioning of her bright eyes. + +"No," he said. "I don't think I ever cajoled myself, either waking or +sleeping, into imagining that anybody would ever fall in love with me to +that extent." + +Dinah laughed, her upturned face a-brim with merriment. "If any woman +ever wants to marry you, she'll have to do her own proposing, won't she?" +she said. + +"I think she will," said Scott. + +"I wish Rose de Vigne would fall in love with you then," declared Dinah. +"Men are always proposing to her, she leads them on till they make +perfect idiots of themselves. I think it's simply horrid of her to do it. +But she says she can't help being beautiful. Oh, how I wish--" Dinah +broke off. + +"What do you wish?" said Scott. + +She turned her face away to hide a blush. "You must think me very silly +and childish. So I am, but I'm not generally so. I think it's in the air +here. I was going to say, how I wished I could outshine her for just one +night! Isn't that piggy of me? But I am so tired of being always in the +shade. She called me 'Poor little Dinah!' only to-night. How would you +like to be called that?" + +"Most people call me Stumpy," observed Scott, with his whimsical little +smile. + +"How rude of them! How horrid of them!" said Dinah. "And do you actually +put up with it?" + +He bent with her over the jewel-case, and picked out the coral chain. "I +don't care the toss of a halfpenny," he said. + +She gave him a quick, searching glance. "Not really? Not in your secret +heart?" + +"Not in the deepest depth of my unfathomable soul," he declared. + +"Then you're a great man," said Dinah, with conviction. + +Scott's laugh was one of genuine amusement. "Oh, does that follow? I've +never seen myself in that light before." + +But Dinah was absolutely serious and remained so. There was even a touch +of reverence in her look. "You evidently don't know yourself in the +least," she said. "Anyhow, you've made me feel a downright toad." + +"I don't know why," said Scott. "You don't look like one if that's any +comfort." He stooped to fasten the necklace. "Now for the earrings, and +you are complete." + +"It is good of you," she said gratefully. "I am longing to go and look at +myself. But can you fasten them first? I'm sure I can't." + +He complied with his almost feminine dexterity, and in a few moments a +sparkling and glorified Dinah rose and skipped into her room to see the +general effect of her transformation. + +Scott lingered to close the jewel-case. Frankly, he had enjoyed himself +during the last ten minutes. Moreover he was sure she would be pleased +with the result of his labours. But he was hardly prepared for the cry of +delight that reached him as he turned to depart. + +He paused as he heard it, and in a moment Dinah flashed out again like a +radiant butterfly and gave him both her hands. + +"You--magician!" she cried. "How did you do it? How can I thank you? I've +never been so nearly pretty in my life!" + +He bowed in courtly fashion over the little brown hands. "Then you have +never seen yourself with the eyes of others," he said. "I congratulate +you on doing so to-night." + +She laughed her merry laugh. "Thank you! Thank you a hundred times! I've +only one thing left to wish for." + +"What is that?" he said. + +She told him with a touch of shyness. "That--Apollo--will dance with me!" + +Scott laughed and let her go. "Oh, is that all? Then I will certainly see +that he does." + +"Oh, but don't tell him!" pleaded Dinah. + +"I never repeat confidences," declared Scott. "Good-bye, _Signorina_!" + +And with another bow, he left her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +APOLLO + + +The _salon_ was a blaze of lights and many shifting colours. The +fantastic crowd that trooped thither from the _salle-à-manger_ was like a +host of tropical flowers. The talking and laughter nearly drowned the +efforts of the string band in the far corner. + +Scott in ordinary evening-dress stood near the door talking to an immense +Roman Emperor, looking by contrast even smaller and more insignificant +than usual. Yet a closer observation would have shown that the same +instinctive dignity of bearing characterized them both. Utterly unlike +though they were, yet in this respect it was not difficult to trace their +brotherhood. Though moulded upon lines so completely dissimilar, they +bore the same indelible stamp--the stamp of good birth which can never be +attained by such as have it not. Sir Eustace Studley was the handsomest +man in the room. His imperial costume suited his somewhat arrogant +carriage. He looked like a man born to command. His keen eyes glanced +hither and thither with an eagle-like intensity that missed nothing. He +seemed to be on the watch for someone. + +"Who is it?" asked Scott, with a smile. "The lady of the rink?" + +The black brows went up haughtily for a moment, then descended in an +answering smile. "She is the only woman I've seen here yet that's worth +looking at," he observed. + +"Don't you be too sure of that!" said Scott. "I can show you a little +Italian peasant girl who is well worth your august consideration. I think +you ought to bestow a little favour on her as you have each chosen to +assume the same nationality." + +Sir Eustace laughed. "A _protégée_ of yours, eh? That little brown girl, +I suppose? Charming no doubt, my dear fellow; but ordinary--distinctly +ordinary." + +"You haven't seen her yet," said Scott. "You had your back to her in the +_salle-à-manger._" + +"Where is she then? You had better find her before the beautiful Miss de +Vigne makes her appearance. I don't mind giving her a dance or two, but +you must take her off my hands if we don't get on." + +"I will certainly do that," said Scott in his quiet voice that seemed to +veil a touch of irony. "I believe she is in the vestibule now. No, here +she is!" + +Dinah, with laughing lips and sparkling eyes, had just ventured to the +door with Billy. "We'll just peep," she said to her brother in the gay +young tones that penetrated so much further than she realized. "But I +shall never dare to dance. Why, I've never even seen the inside of a +ballroom before. And as to dancing with a real live man--" She broke off +as she caught sight of the two brothers standing together near the +entrance. + +Eustace turned his restless eyes upon her, gave her a swift, critical +glance and muttered something to Scott. + +The latter at once stepped forward, receiving a smile so radiant that +even Eustace was momentarily dazzled. The little brown girl certainly had +points. + +"May I introduce my brother?" said Scott. "Sir Eustace Studley--Miss--I +am afraid I don't know your surname." + +"Sketchy," murmured Eustace, as he bowed. + +But Dinah only laughed her ringing, merry laugh. "Of course you don't +know. How could you? Our name is Bathurst. I'm Dinah and this is Billy. I +am years older than he is, of course." She gave Eustace a shy glance. +"How do you do?" + +"She's just thirty," announced Billy, in shrill, cracked tones. "She's +just pretending to be young to-night, but she ain't young really. You +should see her without her warpaint." + +The music became somewhat more audible at this point. Eustace bent +slightly, looking down at the girl with eyes that were suddenly soft as +velvet. "They are beginning to dance," he said. "May I have the pleasure? +It's a pity to lose time." + +Her red lips smiled delighted assent. She laid her hand with a feathery +touch upon the arm he offered. "Oh, how lovely!" she said, and slid into +his hold like a giddy little water-fowl taking to its own beloved +element. + +"Well, I'm jiggered!" said Billy. "And she's never danced with a +man--except of course me--before!" + +"Live and learn!" said Scott. + +He watched the couple go up the great room, and he saw that, as he had +suspected, Dinah was an exquisite dancer. Her whole being was merged in +movement. She was as an instrument in the hand of a skilled player. + +Sir Eustace Studley was an excellent dancer too, though he did not +often trouble himself to dance as perfectly as he was dancing now. It +was not often that he had a partner worthy of his best, and it was a +semi-conscious habit of his never voluntarily to give better than he +received. + +But this little gipsy-girl of Scott's discovery called forth all his +talent. She did not want to talk. She only wanted to dance, to spend +herself in a passion of dancing that was an ecstasy beyond all speech. +She was as sensitive as a harp-string to his touch; she was music, she +was poetry, she was charm. The witchery of her began to possess him. Her +instant response to his mood, her almost uncanny interpretation thereof, +became like a spell to his senses. From wonder he passed to delight, and +from delight to an almost feverish desire for more. He swayed her to his +will with a well-nigh savage exultation, and she gave herself up to it so +completely, so freely, so unerringly, that it was as if her very +individuality had melted in some subtle fashion and become part of his. +And to the man there came a moment of sheer intoxication, as though he +drank and drank of a sparkling, inspiriting wine that lured him, that +thrilled him, that enslaved him. + +It was just when the sensation had reached its height that the music +suddenly quickened for the finish. That brought him very effectually to +earth. He ceased to dance and led her aside. + +She turned her bright face to him for a moment, in her eyes the dazed, +incredulous look of one awaking from an enthralling dream. "Oh, can't we +dance it out?" she said, as if she pleaded against being aroused. + +He shook his head. "I never dance to a finish. It's too much like the +clown's turn after the transformation scene. It is bathos on the top of +the superb. At least it would be in this case. Who in wonder taught you +to dance like that?" + +Dinah opened her eyes a little wider and gave him the Homage of shy +admiration; but she met a look in return that amazed her, that sent the +blood in a wild unreasoning race to her heart. For those eyes of burning, +ardent blue had suddenly told her something, something that no eyes had +ever told her before. It was incredible but true. Homage had met homage, +aye, and more than homage. There was mastery in his look; but there was +also wonder and a curious species of half-grudging reverence. She had +amazed him, this witch with the sparkling eyes that shone so alluringly +under the scarlet kerchief. She had swept him as it were with a fan of +flame. She had made him live. And he had pronounced her ordinary! + +"I have always loved to dance," she said in answer to his almost +involuntary question. "Do you like my dancing? I'm so glad." + +"Like it!" He laughed with an odd shamefacedness. "I could dance with you +the whole evening. But I should probably end by making a fool of myself +like a man who has had too much champagne." + +Dinah laughed. She had an exhilarating sense of having achieved a +conquest undreamed of. She also was feeling a little giddy, a little +uncertain of the ground under her feet. + +"Do you know," she said, dropping her eyes instinctively before the fiery +intensity of his, "I've never danced with a man before? I--I was a little +afraid just at first lest you should find me--gawky." + +"Ye gods!" said Sir Eustace. "And you have really never danced with a man +before! Tell me! How did you like it?" + +"It was--heavenly!" said Dinah, drawing a deep breath. + +"Will you dance with me again?" he asked. + +She nodded. "Yes." + +"The very next dance?" + +She nodded again. "Yes." + +"And again after that?" said Sir Eustace. + +She threw him a glance half-shy, half-daring. "Don't you think it might +be too much for you?" + +He laughed. "I'll risk it if you will." + +She turned towards him with a small, confidential gesture. "What about +Rose de Vigne?" she said. "Don't you want to dance with her?" + +"Oh, presently," he said. "She'll keep." + +Dinah broke into her high, sweet laugh. "And what about--all my other +partners?" she said, with more assurance. + +He bent to her. "They must keep too. Seriously, you don't want to dance +with any other fellow, do you?" + +"I'm not a bit serious," said Dinah. + +"Do you?" he insisted. + +She lifted her eyes momentarily. + +"You don't?" he insinuated. + +She surrendered without conditions. "Of course I don't." + +"Then you mustn't," he said. "Consider yourself booked to me for +to-night, and when you're not dancing with me, you can rest. Sit out with +Scott if you like! Will you do that?" + +"Why?" whispered Dinah. + +Again her heart was beating very fast; she wondered why. + +He answered her with an impetuosity that seemed to carry her along with +it. "Because your dancing is superb, magnificent, and I want to keep it +for myself. It may not be the same when you've danced with another man. A +flower fresh plucked is always sweeter than one that someone else has +worn." + +Dinah's hands clasped each other unconsciously. She had never dreamed +that Apollo could so stoop to favour her. + +"I will do as you like," she murmured after a moment. "But I don't +suppose for an instant that anyone else would want to dance with me. I +don't know anyone else." + +He smiled. "I'm glad of that. It would be sheer sacrilege for you to +dance with a young oaf who didn't know how. It's a bargain then. I'll +give you all I can. You mustn't tell, of course." + +"Oh, I won't tell," laughed Dinah. + +He gave her his arm. "They are tuning up. We won't lose a minute. I +always like a clear floor, before the rabble begin." + +He led her to the top of the room, stood for a moment; then, as the music +began, caught her to him, and they floated once more into the shining, +enchanted mazes of their dreamland. + +And Dinah danced as one inspired, for it seemed to her that her feet +moved upon air as though winged. Apollo had drawn her up to Olympus, and +she drifted in his arm in spheres unknown, far above the clouds. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CINDERELLA + + +"Come and sit down!" said Scott. + +Dinah gave a little start. She was standing close to him, but she had not +seen him. She looked at him for a second with far-away eyes, as if she +did not know him. + +Then recognition flashed into them. She smiled an eager greeting. "Oh, +Mr. Studley, I want to thank you for the very happiest evening of my +life." + +He smiled also as he sat down beside her. "You are enjoying yourself?" + +"Oh yes, indeed I am!" she assured him. "Thank you a hundred million +times!" + +"Why thank me?" questioned Scott. + +She drew a long, long breath. "Because you were the magician who pulled +the strings. I should never have got dressed in the first place but for +you." + +He gave a laugh of amused protest. "Oh, surely! I don't feel I deserve +that!" + +She laughed with him. "You did it anyhow. And in the second place you got +me out of a villainous bad temper and turned an ugly goblin into a very +happy butterfly. I'm downright ashamed of myself for being so horrid +about Rose de Vigne. She isn't at all a bad sort though she is so +impossibly beautiful. Your brother is going to dance with her now. See! +There they go!" + +She looked after them with a smile of complete content. + +"You're feeling generous," remarked Scott. + +She turned to him again, flushed and radiant. "I can afford to--though +it's for the first time in my life. I've never had such a happy +time,--never, never, never! Isn't your brother wonderful? His dancing +is--" Words failed her. She raised her hands and let them fall with a +gesture expressive of unbounded admiration. + +"You mustn't let him monopolize you," said Scott. "He has plenty to +choose from, you know. Others haven't." + +She laughed. "He says--I wonder if it's true!--he says I am the best +dancer he has ever met!" + +Scott smiled at her beaming face. "That is very nice--for him," he +observed. "I thought you seemed to be getting on very well." + +Her eyes travelled across the room again to her late partner and the +beautiful Miss de Vigne. She watched them intently for a few seconds. + +"Poor Rose!" she said suddenly. + +Scott was watching her. "Isn't she a good dancer?" he asked. + +She turned back to him. "Oh yes, I believe she is. She always has plenty +of partners anyway. At least I've always heard so. Is your sister +dancing? I don't think I can have seen her yet." + +"No. She is in her sitting-room upstairs. I wanted her to come down, but +she wouldn't be persuaded. She--" Scott hesitated a moment--"is not fond +of gaiety." + +"Then I shan't see her!" said Dinah in tones of genuine disappointment. +"I did so want to thank her for lending me these lovely things." + +"I can take you to her if you'll come," said Scott. + +"Oh, can you? Yes, I'll come. I can come now. But are you sure she will +like it?" Dinah's bright eyes met his with frank directness. "I don't +want to intrude on her, you know," she said. + +He smiled a little. "I am sure you won't intrude. Shall we go then? Are +you sure there is no one else you want to dance with here?" + +"Oh, quite sure." Again momentarily Dinah's look sought her late partner; +then briskly she stood up. + +Scott rose also, and gave her his arm. She bestowed a small, friendly +squeeze upon it. "I've never enjoyed myself so much before," she said. +"And it's all your doing." + +"Oh, not really!" he said. + +She nodded vigorously. "But it is! I should never have been presentable +but for you. And I should certainly never have danced with your brother. +He has actually promised to help me with my skating to-morrow. Isn't it +kind of him?" + +"I wonder," said Scott. + +"What do you wonder?" Dinah looked at him curiously. + +But he only smiled a baffling smile, and turned the subject. "Wouldn't +you like something to drink before we go up?" + +Dinah declined. She was not in the least thirsty. She did not feel as if +she would ever want to eat or drink again. + +"Only to dance!" said Scott. "Well, I mustn't keep you long then. Who is +that lady making signs to you? Hadn't you better go and speak to her?" + +"Oh, bother!" said Dinah. "You come too, then. It's only Lady +Grace--Rose's mother. I'm sure it can't be anything important." + +Scott piloted her across the vestibule to the couch on which Lady Grace +sat. She was a large, fair woman with limpid eyes and drawling speech. +She extended a plump white hand to the girl. + +"Dinah, my dear, I think you have had almost enough for to-night. And +they were so very behind time in starting. Your mother would not like you +to stay up late, I feel sure. You had better go to bed when this dance is +over. You are not accustomed to dissipation, remember." + +A swift cloud came over Dinah's bright face. "Oh, but, Lady Grace, I'm +not in the least tired. And I'm not a baby, you know. I'm nearly twenty. +I really couldn't go yet." + +"You will have plenty more opportunities, dear," said Lady Grace, quite +unruffled. "Rose has decided to retire after this dance, and I shall do +the same. The Colonel is suffering with dyspepsia, and he does not wish +us to be late." + +Dinah bit her lip. "Oh, very well," she said somewhat shortly; and to +Scott, "We had better go at once then." + +He led her away obediently. They ascended the stairs together. + +As they reached the top of the flight Dinah's indignation burst its +bounds. "Isn't it too bad? Why should I go to bed just because the +Colonel's got dyspepsia? I don't believe it's that at all really. It's +Rose who can't bear to think that I am having as good a time--or +Better--than she is." + +"May I say what I think?" asked Scott politely. + +She stopped, facing him. "Yes, do!" + +He was smiling somewhat whimsically. "I think that--like Cinderella--you +may break the spell if you stay too long." + +"But isn't it too bad?" protested Dinah. "Your brother too--I can't +disappoint him." + +Scott's smile became a laugh. "Oh, believe me, it would do him good, Miss +Bathurst. He gets his own way much too often." + +She smiled, but not very willingly. "It does seem such a shame. He has +been--so awfully nice to me." + +"That's nothing," said Scott airily. "We can all be nice when we are +enjoying ourselves." + +Dinah looked at him with sudden attention. "Are you pointing a moral?" +she asked severely. + +"Trying to," said Scott. + +She tried to frown upon him, but very abruptly and completely failed. Her +pointed chin went up in a gay laugh. "You do it very nicely," she said. +"Thank you, Mr. Studley. I won't be grumpy any more. It would be a pity +to break the spell, as you say. Will you explain to the prince?" + +"Certainly," he said, leading her on again. "I shall make it quite clear +to him that Cinderella was not to blame. Here is our sitting-room at the +end of this passage!" + +He stopped at the door and would have opened it, but Dinah, smitten with +sudden shyness, drew back. + +"Hadn't you better go in first and--and explain?" she said. + +"Oh no, quite unnecessary," he said, and turned the handle. + +At once a woman's voice accosted him. "For the Lord's sake, Master +Stumpy, come in quick and shut the door behind ye! The racket downstairs +is sending Miss Isabel nearly crazy, poor lamb. And it's meself that's +wondering what we'll do to-night, for there's no peace at all in this +wooden shanty of a place." + +"Be quiet, Biddy!" Scott's voice made calm, undaunted answer. "You can go +if you like. I've come to sit with Miss Isabel for a while. And I've +brought her a visitor. Isabel, my dear, I've brought you a visitor." + +Dinah moved forward in response to his gentle insistence, but her shyness +went with her. She was aware of something intangible in the atmosphere +that startled, that almost frightened, her. + +The gaunt figure of a woman clad in a long, white robe sat at a table in +the middle of the room with a sheaf of letters littered before her. Her +emaciated arms were flung wide over them, her white head was bowed. + +But at Scott's quiet announcement, it was raised with the suddenness of +eager expectancy. For the fraction of a second Dinah saw dark, sunken +eyes ablaze with a hope that was almost terrible in its intensity. + +It was gone on the instant. They looked at her with a species of dull +wonder. "Are you a friend of Scott's? I am very pleased to meet you," a +hollow voice said. + +A thin hand was extended to her, and as Dinah clasped it a sudden great +pity surged through her, dispelling her doubt. Something in her responded +swiftly, even passionately, to the hunger of those eyes. The moment's +shock passed from her like a cloud. + +"My sister Mrs. Everard," said Scott's voice at her shoulder. "Isabel, +this is Miss Bathurst of whom I was telling you." + +"You lent me your jewels," said Dinah, looking into the wasted face with +a sympathy at her heart that was almost too poignant to be borne. "Thank +you so very, very much for them! It was so very kind of you to lend them +to a total stranger like me." + +The strange eyes were gazing at her with a curious, growing interest. A +faint, faint smile was in their depths. "Are we strangers, child?" the +low voice asked. "I feel as if we had met before. Why do you look at me +so kindly? Most people only stare." + +Dinah was suddenly conscious of a hot sensation at the throat that made +her want to cry. "It is you who have been kind," she said, and her little +hand closed with confidence upon the limp, cold fingers. "I am wearing +your things still, and I have had such a lovely time. Thank you again for +letting me have them. I am going to return them now." + +"You need not do that." Isabel spoke with her eyes still fixed upon the +girlish face. "Keep them if you like them! I shall never wear them again. +They tell me--they tell me--I am a widow." + +"Miss Isabel darlint!" Biddy spoke sibilantly from the background. "Don't +be talking to the young lady of such things! Won't ye sit down then, +miss? And maybe I can get ye a cup o' tay." + +"Ah, do, Biddy!" Scott put in his quiet word. "There is no tea like +yours. Isabel, Miss Bathurst is a keen dancer. She and Eustace have been +most energetic. It was a pity you couldn't come down and see the fun." + +"Oh! Did you enjoy it?" Isabel still looked into the brown, piquant face +as though loth to turn her eyes away. + +"I loved it," said Dinah. + +"Was Eustace kind to you?" + +"Oh, most kind." Dinah spoke with candid enthusiasm. + +"I am glad of that," Isabel's voice held a note of satisfaction. "But I +should think everyone is kind to you, child," she said, with her faint, +glimmering smile. "How beautiful you are!" + +"Me!" Dinah opened her eyes in genuine astonishment. "Oh you wouldn't +think so if you saw me in my ordinary dress," she said. "I'm nothing at +all to look at really. It's just a case of 'Fine feathers,'--nothing +else." + +"My dear," Isabel said, "I am not looking at your dress. I seldom notice +outer things. I am looking through your eyes into your soul. It is that +that makes you beautiful. I think it is the loveliest thing that I have +ever seen." + +"Oh, you wouldn't say so if you knew me!" cried Dinah, +conscience-stricken. "I have horrid thoughts often--very often." + +The dark, watching eyes still smiled in their far-off way. "I should like +to know you, dear child," Isabel said. "You have helped me--you could +help me in a way that probably you will never understand. Won't you sit +down? I will put my letters away, and we will talk." + +She began to collect the litter before her, laying the letters together +one by one with reverent care. + +"Can I help?" asked Dinah timidly. + +But she shook her head. "No, child, your hands must not touch them. They +are the ashes of my life." + +An open box stood on the table. She drew it to her, and laid the letters +within it. Then she rose, and drew her guest to a lounge. + +"We will sit here," she said. "Stumpy, why don't you smoke? Ah, the music +has stopped at last. It has been racking me all the evening. Yes, you +love it, of course. That is natural. I loved it once. It is always sweet +to those who dance. But to those who sit out--those who sit out--" Her +voice sank, and she said no more. + +Dinah's hand slipped softly into hers. "I like sitting out too +sometimes," she said. "At least I like it now." + +Isabel's eyes were upon her again. They looked at her with a kind of +incredulous wonder. After a moment she sighed. + +"You would not like it for long, child. I am a prisoner. I sit in chains +while the world goes by. They are all hurrying forward so eager to get +on. But there is never any going on for me. I sit and watch--and watch." + +"Surely we must all go forward somehow," said Dinah shyly. + +"Surely," said Scott. + +But Isabel only shook her head with dreary conviction. "Not the +prisoners," she said. "They die by the wayside." + +There fell a brief silence, then impetuously Dinah spoke, urged by the +fulness of her heart. "I think we all feel like that sometimes. I know at +home it's just like being in a cage. Nothing ever happens worth +mentioning. And then quite suddenly the door is opened and out we come. +That's partly why I am enjoying everything so much," she explained. "But +it won't be a bit nice going back." + +"What about your mother?" said Scott. + +Dinah's bright face clouded again. "Yes, of course, there's Mother," she +agreed. + +She looked across at Scott as if she would say more; but he passed +quietly on. "Where is your home, Miss Bathurst?" + +"Right in the very heart of the Midlands. It is pretty country, but oh, +so dull. The de Vignes are the rich people of the place. They belong to +the County. We don't," said Dinah, with a sigh. + +Scott laughed, and she looked momentarily hurt. + +"I don't see what there is funny in that. The County people and the shop +people are the only ones that get any fun. It's horrid to be between the +two." + +"Forgive me!" Scott said. "I quite see your point. But if you only knew +it, the people who call themselves County are often the dullest of the +dull." + +"You say that because you belong to them, I expect," retorted Dinah. "But +if you were me, and lived always under the shadow of the de Vignes, you +wouldn't think it a bit funny." + +"Who are the de Vignes?" asked Isabel suddenly. + +Dinah turned to her. "We are staying here with them, Billy and I. My +father persuaded the Colonel to have us. He knew how dreadfully we wanted +to go. The Colonel is rather good-natured over some things, and he and +Dad are friends. But I don't think Lady Grace wanted us much. You see, +she and Rose are so very smart." + +"I see," said Scott. + +"Rose has been presented at Court," pursued Dinah. "They always go up for +the season. They have a house in town. We always say that Rose is waiting +to marry a marquis; but he hasn't turned up yet. You see, she really is +much too beautiful to marry an ordinary person, isn't she?" + +"Oh, much," said Scott. + +Dinah heaved another little sigh; then suddenly she laughed. "But your +brother has promised to help me with my skating to-morrow anyhow," she +said. "So she won't have him all the time." + +"Perhaps the marquis will come along to-morrow," suggested Scott. + +"I wish he would," said Dinah, with fervour. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BROKEN SPELL + + +Biddy was in the act of handing round the tea when there came the sound +of a step outside, and an impatient hand thrust open the door. + +"Hullo, Stumpy!" said a voice. "Are you here? What have you done with +Miss Bathurst? She's engaged to me for the next dance." Eustace entered +with the words, but stopped short on the threshold. "Hullo! You are here! +I thought you had given me the slip." + +Dinah looked up at him with merry eyes. "So I have--practically. I am on +my way to bed." + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said, with his easy imperiousness. "I can't spare you +yet. I must have one more dance just to soothe my nerves. I've been +dancing with a faultless automaton who didn't understand me in the least. +Now I want the real thing again." + +"Have some tea!" said Scott. + +"Thanks!" Sir Eustace sat down on the edge of the table, facing his +sister and Dinah. "You're not going to let me down, now are you?" he +said. "I'm counting on that dance, and I haven't enjoyed myself at all +since I saw you last. That girl is machine-made. There isn't a flaw in +her. She's been turned out of a mould; I'm certain of it. Miss Bathurst, +why are you laughing?" + +"Because I'm pleased," said Dinah. + +"Pleased? I thought you'd be sorry for me. You're going to take pity on +me anyway, I hope. The beautiful automaton has gone back to her band-box +for the night, so we can enjoy ourselves quite unhindered. Is that for +me? Thanks, Biddy! I'm needing refreshment badly." + +"You would have preferred coffee," observed Isabel. + +It was the first time she had spoken since his entrance. He gave her a +keen, intent look. "Oh, this'll do, thanks," he said. "It is all nectar +to-night. Why haven't you been down to the ballroom, Isabel? You would +have enjoyed it." + +Her lips twisted a little. "I have been listening to the music upstairs," +she said. + +"You ought to have come down," he said imperiously. "I shall expect you +next time." His hand inadvertently touched the box on the table and he +looked sharply downwards. "Here, Biddy! Take this thing away!" he ordered +with a frown. + +Isabel leaned swiftly forward. "Give it to me!" she said. + +His hand closed upon it. "No. Let Biddy take it!" + +"Let me!" said Dinah suddenly, and sprang to her feet. + +She took it from him before he had time to protest, and gave it forthwith +into Isabel's outstretched hands. + +Eustace took up his cup in heavy silence, and drained it. + +Then he rose. "Come along, Miss Bathurst!" + +But Dinah remained seated. "I am very sorry," she said. "But I can't." + +"Oh, nonsense!" He smiled very suddenly and winningly upon her. "Surely +you won't disappoint me!" + +She shook her head. Her eyes were wistful. "I'm disappointing myself +quite as much. But I mustn't. The Colonel has gone to bed with dyspepsia, +and Lady Grace and Rose have gone too by this time. I can't come down +again." + +"Nonsense!" he said again. "You want to. You know you do. No one pays any +attention to Mrs. Grundy out here. She simply doesn't exist. Scott can +come and play propriety. He's staid enough to chaperon a whole girls' +school." + +"Thanks, old chap," said Scott. "But I'm not coming down again, either." + +Eustace looked over his head. "Then you must, Isabel. Come along! Just to +oblige Miss Bathurst! It won't hurt you to sit in a safe corner for one +dance." + +Isabel looked up at him with a startled expression, as of one trapped. +"Oh, don't ask me!" she said. "I couldn't!" + +"No, don't!" said Dinah. "It isn't, fair to bother anyone else on my +account! I'm dreadfully sorry to have to refuse. But--in any case--I +ought not to come." + +"What of that?" said Eustace lightly. "Do you always do what you ought? +What a dull programme!" + +Dinah flushed. "Dull but respectable," she said, with a touch of spirit. + +He laughed. "But I'm not asking you to do anything very outrageous, and I +shouldn't ask it at all if I didn't know you wanted to do it. Besides, +you promised. It's generally considered the respectable thing to do to +keep one's promises." + +That reached Dinah. She wavered perceptibly. "Lady Grace will be so +vexed," she murmured. + +He snapped his fingers in careless disdain. + +She turned appealingly to Scott. "I think I might go--just for one dance, +don't you?" + +Scott's pale eyes met hers with steady comradeship. "I think I +shouldn't," he said. + +Eustace turned as if he had not heard and strolled to the door. He opened +it, and at once the room was filled with the plaintive alluring strains +of waltz-music. He stood and looked back. Dinah met the look, and +suddenly she was on her feet. + +He held out his hand to her with a smile half-mocking, half-persuasive. +The music swung on with a subtle enchantment. Dinah uttered a little +quivering laugh, and went to him. + +In another moment the door closed, and they stood alone in the passage. + +"I knew you wanted to," said Eustace, smiling down into her eyes with the +arrogance of the conqueror. + +Dinah was panting a little as one who had suffered a sudden strain. "Of +course I wanted to," she returned. "But that doesn't make it right." + +He pressed her hand to his heart for a moment, and she caught again a +glimpse of that fire in his eyes that had so thrilled her. She could not +meet it. She stood in palpitating silence. + +"Where is the use of fighting against fate?" he asked her softly. "A gift +of the gods is never offered twice." + +She did not understand him, but her heart was beating wildly, +tumultuously, and an inner voice urged her to be gone. + +She slipped her hand free. "Aren't we--wasting time?" she whispered. + +He laughed again in that subtle, half-mocking note, but he met her wish +instantly. They went downstairs to the _salon_. + +There were not so many dancers now. The de Vignes had evidently retired. +One rapid glance told Dinah this, and she dismissed them therewith from +her mind. The rhythm and lure of the music caught her. She slid into the +dance with delicious abandonment. The wonder and romance of it had got +into her veins. No stolen pleasure was ever more keenly enjoyed than was +that last perfect dance. Her very blood was a-fire with the strange, +intoxicating joy of life. She wanted to go on for ever. + +But it ended at length. She came to earth after her rapturous flight, and +found herself standing with her partner in a curtained recess of the +ballroom from which a glass door led on to the verandah that ran round +the hotel. + +"Just a glimpse of the moonlight on the mountains," he said, "before we +say good-night!" + +She went with him without a moment's thought. She was as one caught in +the meshes of a great enchantment. He opened the door, and she passed +through on to the verandah. + +The music throbbed into silence behind them. Before them lay a +fairy-world of dazzling silver and deepest, darkest sapphire. The +mountains stood in solemn grandeur, domes of white mystery. The great +vault of the sky was alight with stars, and a wonderful moon hung like a +silver shield almost in the zenith. + +"How--beautiful!" breathed Dinah. + +The air was crystal clear, cold but not piercing. The absolute stillness +held her spell-bound. + +"It is like a dream-world," she whispered. + +"In which you reign supreme," he murmured back. + +She glanced at him with uncomprehending eyes. Her veins were still +throbbing with the ecstasy of the dance. + +"Oh, how I wish I had wings!" she suddenly said. "To swim through that +glorious ether right above the mountain-tops as one swims through the +sea! Don't you think flying must be very like swimming?" + +"With variations," said Eustace. + +His eyes dwelt upon her. They were fierily blue in that great flood of +moonlight. His hand still rested upon her waist. + +"But what a mistake to want the impossible!" he said, after a moment. + +"I always do," said Dinah. "At least," she glanced up at him again, "I +always have--until to-night." + +"And to-night?" he questioned, dropping his voice. + +"Oh, I am quite happy to-night," she said, with a little laugh, "even +without the wings. If I hadn't thought of them, I should have nothing +left to wish for." + +"I wish I could say the same," said Sir Eustace, with the faint mocking +smile at the corners of his lips. + +"What can you want more?" asked Dinah innocently. + +He leaned to her. "A big thing--a small thing! Would you give it to me, +my elf of the mountains, if I dared to tell you what it was?" + +Her eyes fluttered and fell before the flaming ardour of his. "I--I don't +know," she faltered, in sudden confusion. "I expect so--if I could." + +His arm slipped round her. "Would you?" he whispered. "Would you?" + +She gave a little gasp, caught unawares like a butterfly on the wing. All +the magic of the night seemed suddenly to be concentrated upon her like +fairy batteries. Her first feeling was dismay, followed instantly by the +wonder if she could be dreaming. And then, as she felt the drawing of his +arm, something vehement, something almost fierce, awoke within her, +clamouring wildly for freedom. + +It was a blind instinct, but she obeyed it without question. She had no +choice. + +"Oh no!" she cried. "Oh no! I couldn't!" and wrested herself from him in +a panic. + +He let her go, and she heard him laugh as she broke away. But she did not +wait for more. To linger was unthinkable. Urged by that imperative, inner +prompting she turned and fled, not pausing for a moment's thought. + +The glass door closed behind her. She burst impetuously into the deserted +ballroom. And here, on the point of entering the small recess from which +she was escaping, she came suddenly face to face with Scott. + +So headlong was her flight that she actually ran into him. He put out a +steadying hand. + +"I was just coming to look for you," he said in his quiet, composed +fashion. + +She stopped unwillingly. "Oh, were you? How kind! I--I think I ought to +go up now. It's getting late, isn't it? Good-night!" + +He did not seek to detain her. She wondered with a burning sense of shame +what he could have thought of her wild rush. But she was too agitated to +attempt any excuse, too agitated to check her retreat. Without a backward +glance she hastened away like Cinderella overtaken by fate; the spell was +broken, the glamour gone. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MR. GREATHEART + + +It was a very meek and subdued Dinah who made her appearance in the +_salle-à-manger_ on the following morning. + +She and Billy were generally in the best of spirits, and the room usually +rang with their young laughter. But that morning even Billy was +decorously quiet, and his sister scarcely spoke or raised her eyes. + +Colonel de Vigne, white-moustached and martial, sat at the table with +them, but neither Lady Grace nor Rose was present. The Colonel's face was +stern. He occupied himself with letters with scarcely so much as a glance +for the boy and girl on either side of him. + +There was a letter by Dinah's plate also, but she had not opened it. Her +downcast face was very pale. She ate but little, and that little only +when urged thereto by Billy, whose appetite was rampant notwithstanding +the decorum of his behaviour. + +Scott, breakfasting with his brother at a table only a few yards distant, +observed the trio with unobtrusive interest. + +He had made acquaintance with the Colonel on the previous evening, and +after a time the latter caught his eye and threw him a brief greeting. +Most people were polite to Scott. But the Colonel's whole aspect was +forbidding that morning, and his courtesy went no further. + +Sir Eustace did not display the smallest interest in anyone. His black +brows were drawn, and he looked even more haughtily unapproachable than +the Colonel. + +He conversed with his brother in low tones on the subject of the +morning's mail which lay at Scott's elbow and which he was investigating +while he ate. Now and then he gave concise and somewhat peremptory +instructions, which Scott jotted down in a note-book with business-like +rapidity. No casual observer would have taken them for brothers that +morning. They were employer and secretary. + +Only when the last letter had been discussed and laid aside did the elder +abruptly abandon his aloof attitude to ask a question upon a more +intimate matter. + +"Did Isabel go without a sleeping-draught last night?" + +Scott shook his head. + +Eustace's frown became even more pronounced. "Did Biddy administer it on +her own?" + +"No. I authorized it." Scott's voice was low. He met his brother's look +with level directness. + +Eustace leaned towards him across the table. "I won't have it, Stumpy," +he said very decidedly. "I told you so yesterday." + +"I know." Very steadily Scott made answer. "But last night there was no +alternative. It is impossible to do the thing suddenly. She has hardly +got over the journey yet." + +"Rubbish!" said Eustace curtly. + +Scott slightly raised his shoulders, and said no more. + +"It comes to this," Eustace said, speaking with stern insistence. "If you +can't--or won't--assert your authority, I shall assert mine. It is all a +question of influence." + +"Or forcible persuasion," said Scott, with a touch of irony. + +"Very well. Call it that! It is in a good cause. If you haven't the +strength of mind, I have; and I shall exercise it. These drugs must be +taken away. Can't you see it's the only possible thing to do?" + +"Not yet," Scott said. He was still facing his brother's grim regard very +gravely and unflinchingly. "I tell you, man, it is too soon. She is +better than she used to be. She is calmer, more reasonable. We must do +the thing gradually, if at all. To interfere forcibly would do infinitely +more harm than good. I know what I am saying. I know her far better than +you do now. I am in closer touch with her. You are out of sympathy. You +only startle her when you try to persuade her to anything. You must leave +her to me. I understand her. I know how to help her." + +"You haven't achieved much in the last seven years," Eustace observed. + +"But I have achieved something." Scott's answer was wholly free from +resentment. He spoke with quiet confidence. "I know it's a slow process. +But she is moving in the right direction. Give her time, old chap! I +firmly believe that she will come back to us by slow degrees." + +"Damnably slow," commented Eustace. "You're so infernally deliberate +always. You talk as if it were your life-work." + +Scott's eyes shone with a whimsical light. "I begin to think it is," he +said. "Have you finished? Suppose we go." He gathered up the sheaf of +papers at his elbow and rose. "I will attend to these at once." + +Eustace strode down the long room looking neither to right nor left, +moving with a free, British arrogance that served to emphasize somewhat +cruelly the meagreness and infirmity of the man behind him. Yet it was +upon the latter's slight, halting figure that Dinah's eyes dwelt till it +finally limped out of sight, and in her look were wonder and a vagrant +admiration. There was an undeniable attraction about Scott that affected +her very curiously, but wherein it lay she could not possibly have said. +She was furious when a murmured comment and laugh from some girls at the +next table reached her. + +"What a dear little lap-dog!" said one. + +"Yes, I've been wanting to pat its head for a long time," said another. + +"Warranted not to bite," laughed a third. "Can it really be full-grown?" + +"Oh, no doubt, my dear! Look at its pretty little whiskers! It's just a +toy, you know, nothing but a toy." + +Dinah turned in her chair, and gazed scathingly upon the group of +critics. Then, aware of the Colonel's eyes upon her, she turned back and +gave him a swift look of apology. + +He shook his head at her repressively, his whole air magisterial and +condemnatory. "You may go if you wish," he said, in the tone of one +dismissing an offender. "But be good enough to bear in mind what I have +said to you!" + +Billy leapt to his feet. "Can I go too, sir?" he asked eagerly. + +The Colonel signified majestic assent. His mood was very far from genial +that morning, and he had not the smallest desire to detain either of +them. In fact, if he could have dismissed his two young charges +altogether, he would have done so with alacrity. But that unfortunately +was out of the question--unless by their behaviour they provoked him to +fulfil the very definite threat that he had pronounced to Dinah in the +privacy of his wife's room an hour before. + +He was very seriously displeased with Dinah, more displeased than he had +been with anyone since his soldiering days, and he had expressed himself +with corresponding severity. If she could not conduct herself becomingly +and obediently, he would take them both straight home again and thus put +a summary end to temptation. His own daughter had never given him any +cause for uneasiness, and he did not see why he should be burdened with +the escapades of anyone else's troublesome offspring. It was too much to +expect at his time of life. + +So a severe reprimand had been Dinah's portion, to which she, very meek +and crestfallen, shorn of all the previous evening's glories, had +listened with a humility that had slightly mollified her judge though he +had been careful not to let her know it. She had been wild and flighty, +and he was determined that she should feel the rod of discipline pretty +smartly. + +But when he finally rose from the table and stalked out of the room, it +was a little disconcerting to find the culprit awaiting him in the +vestibule to slip a shy hand inside his arm and whisper, "Do forgive me! +I'm so sorry." + +He looked down into her quivering face, saw the pleading eyes swimming in +tears, and abruptly found that his displeasure had evaporated so +completely that he could not even pretend to be angry any longer. He had +never taken much notice of Dinah before, treating her, as did his wife +and daughter, as a mere child and of no account. But now he suddenly +realized that she was an engaging minx after all. + +"Ashamed of yourself?" he asked gruffly, his white moustache twitching a +little. + +Dinah nodded mutely. + +"Then don't do it again!" he said, and grasped the little brown hand for +a moment with quite unwonted kindness. + +It was a tacit forgiveness, and as such Dinah treated it. She smiled +thankfully through her tears, and slipped away to recover her composure. + +Nearly an hour later, Scott, having finished his letters, came upon her +sitting somewhat disconsolately in the verandah. He paused on his way +out. + +"Good morning, Miss Bathurst! Aren't you going to skate this morning?" + +She turned to him with a little movement of pleasure. "Good morning, Mr. +Studley! I have been waiting here for you. I have brought down your +sister's trinkets. Here they are!" She held out a neat little paper +parcel to him. "Please will you thank her again for them very, very much? +I do hope she didn't think me very rude last night,--though I'm afraid I +was." + +Her look was wistful. He took the packet from her with a smile. + +"Of course she didn't. She was delighted with you. When are you coming to +see her again?" + +"I don't know," said Dinah. + +"Come to tea!" suggested Scott. + +Dinah hesitated, flushing. + +"You've something else to do?" he asked in his cheery way. "Well, come +another time if it won't bore you!" + +"Oh, it isn't that!" said Dinah, and her flush deepened. "I--I would love +to come. Only--" She glanced round at an elderly couple who had just come +out, and stopped. + +"I'm going down to the village with my letters," said Scott. "Will you +come too?" + +She welcomed the idea. "Oh yes, I should like to. It's such a glorious +morning again, isn't it? It's a shame not to go out." + +"Sure you're not wanting to skate?" he questioned. + +"Yes, quite sure. I--I'm rather tired this morning, but a walk will do me +good." + +They passed the rink without pausing, though Scott glanced across to see +his brother skimming along in the distance with a red-clad figure beside +him. He made no comment upon the sight, and Dinah was silent also. Her +gay animation that morning was wholly a minus quantity. + +They went on down the hill, talking but little. Speech in Scott's society +was never a necessity. His silences were so obviously friendly. He had a +shrewd suspicion on this occasion that the girl beside him had something +to say, and he waited for it with a courteous patience, abstaining from +interrupting her very evident preoccupation. + +They walked between fields of snow, all glistening in the sunshine. The +blue of the sky was no longer sapphire but glorious turquoise. The very +air sparkled, diamond-clear in the crystal splendour of the day. + +Suddenly Dinah spoke. "I suppose one always feels horrid the next +morning." + +"Are you feeling the reaction?" asked Scott. + +"Oh, it isn't only that, I'm feeling--ashamed," said Dinah, blushing very +deeply. + +He did not look at her. "I don't see why," he said gently, after a +moment. + +"Oh, but you do!" she said impatiently. "At least you can if you try. You +knew I was wrong to go down again for that last dance, just as well as I +did. Why, you tried to stop me!" + +"Which was very presumptuous of me," said Scott. + +"No, it wasn't. It was kind. And I--I was a perfect pig not to listen. I +want you to know that, Mr. Studley. I want you to know that I'm very, +very sorry I didn't listen." She spoke with trembling vehemence. + +Scott smiled a little. He was looking tired that morning. There were +weary lines about his eyes. "I don't know why you should be so very +penitent, Miss Bathurst," he said. "It was quite a small thing." + +"It got me into bad trouble anyway," said Dinah. "I've had a tremendous +wigging from the Colonel this morning, and if--if I ever do anything so +bad again, we're to be sent home." + +"I call that unreasonable," said Scott with decision. "It was not such a +serious matter as all that. If you want my opinion, I think it was a +mistake--a small mistake--on your part; nothing more." + +"But that wasn't all," said Dinah, looking away from him and quickening +her pace, "I--I have offended your brother too." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott. "And is that serious too?" + +"Don't laugh!" protested Dinah. "Of course it's serious. He--he won't +even look at me this morning." The sound of tears came suddenly into +her voice. "I was waiting for you on the verandah a little while ago, +and--and he went by with Rose and never glanced my way. All +because--because--oh, I am a little fool!" she declared, with an angry +stamp of the foot as she walked. + +"He's the fool!" said Scott rather shortly. "I shouldn't bother myself +over that if I were you." + +"I can't help it," said Dinah, her voice squeaking on a note +half-indignant, half-piteous. "I--I behaved so idiotically, just like a +raw schoolgirl. And I hate myself for it now!" + +Scott looked at her for the first time since the beginning of her +confidences. "Do you know, Miss Bathurst," he said, "I have a suspicion +that you are much too hard on yourself. Of course I don't know what +happened, but I do know that my brother is much more likely to have been +in the wrong than you were. The best thing you can do is simply to +dismiss the matter from your mind. Behave as if nothing had happened! Cut +him next time! It's far the best way of treating him." + +Dinah smiled woefully. "And he will spread himself at Rose's feet like +all the rest, and never come near me again." + +Scott frowned a little. "Miss de Vigne won't have the monopoly, I can +assure you." + +"She will," protested Dinah. "She knows how to flirt without being +caught. I don't." + +"Thank the gods for that!" said Scott with fervour. "So he tried to +flirt, did he? And you objected. Was that it?" + +"Something like that," murmured Dinah, with hot face averted. + +"Then in heaven's name, continue to object!" he said, with unusual +vehemence. "You did the right thing, child. Don't be drawn into doing +what others do! Strike out a straight line for yourself, and stick to it! +Above all, don't be ashamed of sticking to it! No woman was ever yet the +better or the more attractive for cultivating her talent for flirting. +Don't you know that it is your very genuineness and straightforwardness +that is your charm?" + +Dinah looked at him in sheer surprise. "I haven't got any charm," she +said. "That's just the trouble. It was only my dancing that made your +brother fancy I had last night." + +Scott's frown deepened, became almost formidable, then suddenly vanished +in a laugh. "That's just your point of view," he said. "Perhaps it's a +pity to open your eyes. But whatever you do, don't try to humour my +brother's whims! It would be very bad for him, and you certainly wouldn't +gain anything by it. Put up with me for a change, and come to tea +instead!" + +A flash of gaiety gleamed for a moment in Dinah's eyes. It was the first +he had seen that morning. "I'll come," she said, "if Lady Grace will let +me. But I think I had better ask first, don't you?" + +"Perhaps it would be safer," agreed Scott. "Tell her my sister is an +invalid! I don't think she will object. I made the acquaintance of the +doughty Colonel last night." + +"You know he isn't a bad sort," said Dinah. "He is much nicer than Lady +Grace or Rose. Of course he's rather stuck up, but that's only natural. +He's lived so long in India, and now he's a J.P. into the bargain. It +would be rather wonderful if he were anything else. Billy can't bear him, +but then Billy's a boy." + +"I like Billy," observed Scott. + +"Yes, and Billy likes you," she answered warmly. "He's quite an +intelligent boy." + +"Evidently," agreed Scott, with a smile. "Now here is the village! Where +do I post my letters?" + +Dinah directed him with cheerful alacrity. She was feeling much happier; +her tottering self-respect was almost restored. + +"He is a dear little man!" she said to herself with enthusiasm, as she +waited for him to purchase some stamps. + +"You've done me no end of good," she said frankly to the man himself as +they turned back. + +"I am very pleased to hear it," said Scott. "And it is extremely kind of +you to say so." + +"It's the truth," she maintained. "And, oh, you haven't been smoking all +this time. Don't you want to?" + +He stopped at once, and took out his cigarette-case. "Now you mention it, +I think I do. But I mustn't dawdle. I have got to get back to Isabel." + +Dinah waited while the cigarette kindled. Then, with a touch of shyness, +she spoke. + +"Mr. Studley, has--has your sister been an invalid for long?" + +He looked at her. "Do you want to hear about her?" + +"Yes, please," said Dinah. "If you don't mind." + +He began to walk on. It was evident that the hill was something of a +difficulty to him. He moved slowly, and his limp became more pronounced. +"No, I should like to tell you about her," he said. "You were so good +yesterday, and I hadn't prepared you in the least. I hope it didn't give +you a shock." + +"Of course it didn't," Dinah answered. "I'm not such a donkey as that. I +was only very, very sorry." + +"Thank you," he said, as if she had expressed direct sympathy with +himself. "It's hard to believe, isn't it, that seven years ago she +was--even lovelier than the beautiful Miss de Vigne, only in a very +different style?" + +"Not in the least," Dinah assured him. "She is far lovelier than Rose +now. She must have been--beautiful." + +"She was," said Scott. "She was like Eustace, except that she was always +much softer than he is. You would scarcely believe either that she is +three years younger than he is, would you?" + +"I certainly shouldn't," Dinah admitted. "But then, she must have come +through years of suffering." + +"Yes," Scott spoke with slight constraint, as though he could not bear to +dwell on the subject. "She was a girl of intensely vivid feelings, very +passionate and warmhearted. She and Eustace were inseparable in the old +days. They did everything together. He thought more of her than of anyone +else in the world. He does still." + +"He wasn't very nice to her last night," Dinah ventured. + +"No. He is often like that, and she is afraid of him. But the reason of +it is that he feels her trouble so horribly, and whenever he sees her in +that mood it hurts him intolerably. He is quite a good chap underneath, +Miss Bathurst. Like Isabel, he feels certain things intensely. Of course +he is five years older than I am, and we have never been pals in the +sense that he and she were pals. I was always a slow-goer, and they went +like the wind. But I know him. I know what his feelings are, and what +this thing has been to him. And though I am now much more to Isabel than +he will probably ever be again, he has never resented it or been anything +but generous and willing to give place to me. That, you know, indicates +greatness. With all his faults, he is great." + +"He shouldn't make her afraid of him," Dinah said. + +"I am afraid that is inevitable. He is strong, and she has lost her +strength. Her marriage too alienated them in the first place. She had +refused so many before Basil Everard came along, and I suppose he had +begun to think that she was not the marrying sort. But Everard caught her +almost in a day. They met in India. Eustace and she were touring there +one winter. Everard was a senior subaltern in a Ghurka regiment--an +awfully taking chap evidently. They practically fell in love with one +another at sight. Poor old Eustace!" Scott paused, faintly smiling. "He +meant her to marry well if she married at all, and Basil was no more than +the son of a country parson without a penny to his name. However, the +thing was past remedy. I saw that when they came home, and Isabel told me +about it. I was at Oxford then. She came down alone for a night, and +begged me to try and talk Eustace over. It was the beginning of a barrier +between them even then. It has grown high since. Eustace is a difficult +man to move, you know. I did my level best with him, but I wasn't very +successful. In the end of course the inevitable happened. Isabel lost +patience and broke away. She was on her way out again before either of us +knew. Eustace--of course Eustace was furious." Scott paused again. + +Dinah's silence denoted keen interest. Her expression was absorbed. + +He went on, the touch of constraint again apparent in his manner. It was +evident that the narration stirred up deep feelings. "We three had always +hung together. The family tie meant a good deal to us for the simple +reason that we were practically the only Studleys left. My father had +died six years before, my mother at my birth. Eustace was the head of the +family, and he and Isabel had been all in all to each other. He felt her +going more than I can possibly tell you, and scarcely a week after the +news came he got his things together and went off in the yacht to South +America to get over it by himself. I stayed on at Oxford, but I made up +my mind to go out to her in the vacation. A few days after his going, I +had a cable to say they were married. A week after that, there came +another cable to say that Everard was dead." + +"Oh!" Dinah drew a short, hard breath. "Poor Isabel!" she whispered. + +"Yes." Scott's pale eyes were gazing straight ahead. "He was killed two +days after the marriage. They had gone up to the Hills, to a place he +knew of right in the wilds on the side of a mountain, and pitched camp +there. There were only themselves, a handful of Pathan coolies with +mules, and a _shikari_. The day after they got there, he took her up the +mountain to show her some of the beauties of the place, and they lunched +on a ledge about a couple of hundred feet above a great lonely tarn. It +was a wonderful place but very savage, horribly desolate. They rested +after the meal, and then, Isabel being still tired, he left her to bask +in the sunshine while he went a little further. He told her to wait for +him. He was only going round the corner. There was a great bastion of +rock jutting on to the ledge. He wanted to have a look round the other +side of it. He went,--and he never came back." + +"He fell?" Dinah turned a shocked face upon him. "Oh, how dreadful!" + +"He must have fallen. The ledge dwindled on the other side of the rock to +little more than four feet in width for about six yards. There was a +sheer drop below into the pool. A man of steady nerve, accustomed to +mountaineering, would make nothing of it; and, from what Isabel has told +me of him, I gather he was that sort of man. But on that particular +afternoon something must have happened. Perhaps his happiness had +unsteadied him a bit, for they were absolutely happy together. Or it may +have been the heat. Anyhow he fell, he must have fallen. And no one +ever knew any more than that." + +"How dreadful!" Dinah whispered again. "And she was left--all alone?" + +"Quite alone except for the natives, and they didn't find her till the +day after. She was pacing up and down the ledge then, up and down, up and +down eternally, and she refused--flatly refused--to leave it till he +should come back. She had spent the whole night there alone, waiting, +getting more and more distraught, and they could do nothing with her. +They were afraid of her. Never from that day to this has she admitted for +a moment that he must have been killed, though in her heart she knows it, +poor girl, just as she knew it from the very beginning." + +"But what happened?" breathed Dinah. "What did they do? They couldn't +leave her there." + +"They didn't know what to do. The _shikari_ was the only one with any +ideas among them, and he wasn't especially brilliant. But after another +day and night he hit on the notion of sending one of the coolies back +with the news while he and the other men waited and watched. They kept +her supplied with food. She must have eaten almost mechanically. But she +never left that ledge. And yet--and yet--she was kept from taking the one +step that would have ended it all. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't +have been better--more merciful--" He broke off. + +"Perhaps God was watching her," murmured Dinah shyly. + +"Yes, I tell myself that. But even so, I can't help wondering sometimes." +Scott's voice was very sad. "She was left so terribly desolate," he said. +"Those letters that you saw last night are all she has of him. He has +gone, and taken the mainspring of her life with him. I hate to think of +what followed. They sent up a doctor from the nearest station, and she +was taken away,--taken by force. When I got to her three weeks later, she +was mad, raving mad, with brain fever. I had the old nurse Biddy with me. +We nursed her between us. We brought her back to what she is now. Some +day, please God, we shall get her quite back again; but whether it will +be for her happiness He only knows." + +Scott ceased to speak. His brows were drawn as the brows of a man in +pain. + +Dinah's eyes were full of tears. "Oh, thank you for telling me! Thank +you!" she murmured. "I do hope you will get her quite back, as you say." + +He looked at her, saw her tears, and put out a gentle hand that rested +for a moment upon her arm. "I am afraid I have made you unhappy. Forgive +me! You are so sympathetic, and I have taken advantage of it. I think we +shall get her back. She is coming very, very gradually. She has never +before taken such an interest in anyone as she took in you last night. +She was talking of you again this morning. She has taken a fancy to you. +I hope you don't mind." + +"Mind!" Dinah choked a little and smiled a quivering smile. "I am +proud--very proud. I only wish I deserved it. What--what made you bring +her here?" + +"That was my brother's idea. Since we brought her home she has never been +away, except once on the yacht; and then she was so miserable that we +were afraid to keep her there. But he thought a thorough change--mountain +air--might do her good. The doctor was not against it. So we came." + +"And do you never leave her?" questioned Dinah. + +"Practically never. Ever since that awful time in India she has been very +dependent upon me. Biddy of course is quite indispensable to her. And I +am nearly so." + +"You have given yourself up to her in fact?" Quick admiration was in +Dinah's tone. + +He smiled. "It didn't mean so much to me as it would have meant to some +men, Miss Bathurst,--as it would have meant to Eustace, for instance. I'm +not much of a man. To give up my college career and settle down at home +wasn't such a great wrench. I'm not especially clever. I act as my +brother's secretary, and we find it answers very well. He is a rich man, +and there is a good deal of business in connection with the estate, and +so on. I am a poor man. By my father's will nearly everything was left to +him and to Isabel. I was something of an offence to him, being the cause +of my mother's death and misshapen into the bargain." + +"What a wicked shame!" broke from Dinah. + +"No, no! Some people are like that. They are made so. I don't feel in the +least bitter about it. He left me enough to live upon, though as a matter +of fact neither he nor anyone else expected me to grow up at the time +that will was made. It was solely due to Biddy's devotion, I believe, +that I managed to do so." He uttered his quiet laugh. "I am talking +rather much about myself. It's kind of you not to be bored." + +"Bored!" echoed Dinah, with shining eyes. "I think you are simply +wonderful. I hope--I hope Sir Eustace realizes it." + +"I hope he does," agreed Scott with a twinkle. "He has ample +opportunities for doing so. Ah, there he is! He is actually skating +alone. What has become of the beautiful Miss de Vigne, I wonder." + +They walked on, nearing the rink. "I'm not going to be horrid about her +any more," said Dinah suddenly. "You must have thought me a perfect +little cat. And so I was!" + +"Oh, please!" protested Scott. "I didn't!" + +She laughed. "That just shows how kind you are. It doesn't make me feel +the least bit better. I was a cat. There! Oh, your brother is calling +you. I think I'll go." + +She blushed very deeply and quickened her steps. Sir Eustace had come to +the edge of the rink. + +"Stumpy!" he called. "Stumpy!" + +"How dare he call you that?" said Dinah. "I can't think how you can put +up with it." + +Scott raised his shoulders slightly, philosophically. "Doesn't the cap +fit?" he said. + +"Not a bit," Dinah declared with emphasis. "I have another name for you +that suits you far better." + +"Oh! What is that?" he looked at her with smiling curiosity. + +Dinah's blush deepened from carmine to crimson. "I call you--Mr. +Greatheart," she said, her voice very low. "Because you help everybody." + +A gleam of surprise crossed his face. He flushed also; but she saw that +though embarrassed, he was not displeased. + +He put a hand to his cap. "Thank you, Miss Bathurst," he said simply, and +turned without further words to answer his brother's summons. + +Dinah walked quickly on. That stroll with Scott had quite lifted her out +of her depression. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RUNAWAY COLT + + +"It really is very tiresome," complained Lady Grace. "I knew that child +was going to be a nuisance from the very outset." + +"What has she done now?" growled the Colonel. + +He was lounging in the easiest chair in the room, smoking an excellent +cigar, preparatory to indulging in his afternoon nap. His wife reclined +upon a sofa with a French novel which she had not begun to read. Through +the great windows that opened on to the balcony the sunshine streamed in +a flood of golden light. Rose was seated on the balcony enjoying the +warmth. Lady Grace's eyes rested upon her slim figure in its scarlet coat +as she made reply. + +"These people--these Studleys--won't leave her alone. Or else she runs +after them. I can't quite make out which. Probably the latter. Anyhow the +sister--who, I believe is what is termed slightly mental--has asked her +to go to tea in their private sitting-room. I have told her she must +decline." + +"Quite right," said the Colonel. "What did she say?" + +Lady Grace uttered a little laugh. "Oh, she was very ridiculous and +high-flown, as you may imagine. But, as I told her, I am directly +responsible to her mother for any friendships she may make out here, and +I am not disposed to take any risks. We all know what Mrs. Bathurst can +be like if she considers herself an injured party." + +"A perfect she-dragon!" agreed the Colonel. "I fancy the child herself is +still kept in order with the rod. Why, even Bathurst--great hulking +ox--is afraid of her. Billy isn't, but then Billy apparently can do no +wrong." + +"She certainly loves no one else," said Lady Grace. "I never met anyone +with such an absolutely vixenish and uncontrolled temper. I am sorry for +Dinah. I have always pitied her, for she certainly works hard, and gets +little praise for it. But at the same time, I can't let her run wild now +she is off the rein for a little. It wouldn't be right. And these people +are total strangers." + +"I believe they are of very good family," said the Colonel. "The title is +an old one, and Sir Eustace is evidently a rich man. I had the +opportunity for a little talk with the brother yesterday evening. A very +courteous little chap--quite unusually so. I think we may regard them as +quite passable." His eyes also wandered to the graceful, lounging figure +on the balcony. "At the same time I shouldn't let Dinah accept +hospitality from them, anyhow at this stage. She is full young. She must +be content to stay in the background--at least for the present." + +"Just what I say," said Lady Grace. "Of course if the younger brother +should take a fancy to her--and he certainly seems to be attracted--it +might be a very excellent thing for her. Her mother can't hope to keep +her as maid of all work for ever. But I can't have her pushing herself +forward. I was very glad to hear you reprimand her so severely this +morning." + +"She deserved it," said the Colonel judicially. "But at the same time if +there is any chance of what you suggest coming to pass, I have no wish to +stand in the child's way. I have a fancy that she will find the bondage +at home considerably more irksome after this taste of freedom. It might, +as you say, be a good thing for her if the little chap did fall in love +with her. Her mother can't expect much of a match for her." + +"Oh, if that really happened, her mother would be charmed," said Lady +Grace. "She is a queer, ill-balanced creature, and I don't believe she +has ever had the smallest affection for her. She would be delighted to +get her off her hands, I should say. But things mustn't move too quickly, +or they may go in the wrong direction." Again her eyes sought her +daughter's graceful outline. "You say Sir Eustace is rich?" she asked, +after a moment. + +"Extremely rich, I should say. He has his own yacht, a house in town as +well as a large place in the country, and he will probably get a seat in +Parliament at the next election. I'm not greatly taken with the man +myself," declared Colonel de Vigne. "He is too overbearing. At the same +time," again his eyes followed his wife's, "he would no doubt be a +considerable catch." + +"I don't mean Dinah to have Sir Eustace," said Lady Grace very decidedly. +"It would be most unsuitable. Yes, what is it?" as a low knock came at +the door. "Come in!" + +It opened, and Dinah, looking flushed and rather uncertain, made her +appearance. + +"I wish you would have the consideration not to disturb us at this hour, +my dear Dinah," said Lady Grace peevishly. "What is it you want now?" + +"I am sorry," said Dinah meekly. "But I heard your voices, so I knew you +weren't asleep. I just came in to say that Billy and I are going luging +if you don't mind." + +"What next?" said Lady Grace, still fretful. "Of course I don't mind so +long as you don't get up to mischief." + +"Dinah, come here!" said the Colonel suddenly. + +Dinah, on the point of beating a swift retreat, stood still with obvious +reluctance. + +"Come here!" he repeated. + +She went to him hesitatingly. + +He reached up a hand and grasped her by the arm. "Were you eavesdropping +just now?" he demanded. + +Dinah started as if stung. "I--I--of course I wasn't!" she declared, with +vehemence. "How can you suggest such a thing?" + +"Quite sure?" said the Colonel, still holding her. + +She wrenched herself from him in a sudden fury. "Colonel de Vigne, +you--you insult me! I am not the sort that listens outside closed doors. +How dare you? How dare you?" + +She stamped her foot with the words, gazing down at him with blazing +eyes. + +The Colonel stiffened slightly, but he kept his temper. "If I have done +you an injustice, I apologize," he said. "You may go." + +And Dinah went like a whirlwind, banging the door behind her. + +"Well, really!" protested Lady Grace in genuine displeasure. + +Her husband smiled somewhat grimly. "A vixen's daughter, my dear! What +can you expect?" + +"She behaves like a fishwife's daughter," said Lady Grace. "And if she +wasn't actually eavesdropping I am convinced she heard what I said." + +"So am I," said the Colonel drily. "I was about to tax her with it. Hence +her masterly retreat. But she was not deliberately eavesdropping or she +would not have given herself away so openly. I quite agree with you, my +dear. A match between her and Sir Eustace would not be suitable. And I +also think Sir Eustace would be the first to see it. Anyhow, I shall take +an early opportunity of letting him know that her birth is by no means a +high one, and that her presence here is simply due to our kindness. At +the same time, should the rather ludicrous little younger brother take it +into his head to follow her up, so far as family goes he is of course too +good for her, but I am sorry for the child and I shall put no obstacle in +the way." + +"All the same she shall not go to tea there unless Rose is invited too," +said Lady Grace firmly. + +"There," said the Colonel pompously, "I think that you are right." + +Lady Grace simpered a little, and opened her novel. "It really wouldn't +surprise me to find that she is a born fortune-hunter," she said. "I am +certain the mother is avaricious." + +"The mother," said Colonel de Vigne with the deliberation of one arrived +at an unalterable decision, "is the most disagreeable, vulgar, and wholly +objectionable person that I have ever met." + +"Oh, quite," said Lady Grace. "If she were in our set, she would be +altogether intolerable. But--thank heaven--she is not! Now, dear, if you +don't mind, I am going to read myself to sleep. I have promised Rose to +go to the ice carnival to-night, and I need a little relaxation first." + +"I suppose Dinah is going?" said the Colonel. + +"Oh, yes. But she is nothing of a skater." Lady Grace suddenly broke into +a little laugh. "I wonder if the redoubtable Mrs. Bathurst does really +beat her when she is naughty. It would be excellent treatment for her, +you know." + +"I haven't a doubt of it," said the Colonel. "She is absolutely under her +mother's control. That great raw-boned woman would have a heavy hand too, +I'll be bound." + +"Oh, there is no doubt Dinah stands very much in awe of her. I never knew +she had any will of her own till she came here. I always took her for the +meekest little creature imaginable." + +"There is a good deal more in Miss Dinah than jumps to the eye," said the +Colonel. "In fact, if you ask me, I should say she is something of a dark +horse. She is just beginning to feel her feet and she'll surprise us all +one of these days by turning into a runaway colt." + +"Not, I do hope, while she is in my charge," said Lady Grace. + +"We will hope not," agreed the Colonel. "But all the same, I rather think +that her mother will find her considerably less tame and tractable when +she sees her again than she has ever been before. Liberty, you know, is a +dangerous joy for the young." + +"Then we must be more strict with her ourselves," said Lady Grace. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE + + +Dinah ran swiftly down the corridor to her own room. + +As a matter of fact, she had intruded upon the Colonel and Lady Grace in +the secret hope of finding a propitious moment for once again pressing +her request to be allowed to accept Scott's invitation to tea. Her +failure to do so added fuel to the flame, arousing in her an almost +irresistible impulse to rebel openly. + +The fear of consequences alone restrained her, for to be escorted home in +disgrace after only a week in this Alpine paradise was more than she +could face. All her life the dread of her mother's wrath had overhung +Dinah like a cloud, sometimes near, sometimes distant, but always +present. She had been brought up to fear her from her cradle. All through +her childhood her punishments had been bitterly severe. She winced still +at the bare thought of them; and she was as fully convinced as was Lady +Grace that her mother had never really loved her. To come under the ban +of her displeasure meant days of harsh treatment, nor, now that her +childhood was over, had the discipline been relaxed. She never attempted +to rebel openly. Her fear of her mother had become an integral part of +herself. Her spirit shrank before her fits of violence. But for her +father and Billy she sometimes thought that home would be an impossible +place. + +But her affection for her father was of a very intense order. Lazy, +self-indulgent, supremely easy-going, yet possessed of a fascination that +had held her from babyhood, such was Guy Bathurst. Despised at least +outwardly by his wife and adored by his daughter, he went his indifferent +way, enjoying life as he found it and quite impervious to snubs. + +"I never interfere with your mother," was a very frequent sentence on his +lips, and by that axiom he ruled his life, looking negligently on while +Dinah was bent without mercy to the wheel of tyranny. + +He was fond of Dinah,--her devotion to him made that inevitable--but he +never obtruded his fondness to the point of interference on her behalf; +for both of them were secretly aware that the harshness meted out to her +had much of its being in a deep, unreasoning jealousy of that very +selfish fondness. They kept their affection as it were for strictly +private consumption, and it was that alone that made life at home +tolerable to Dinah. + +For upon one point her father was insistent. He would not part with her +unless she married. He did not object to her working at home for his +comfort, but the idea of her working elsewhere and making her living was +one which he refused to consider. With rare self-assertion, he would not +hear of it, and when he really asserted himself, which was seldom, his +wife was wont to yield, albeit ungraciously enough, to his behest. + +Besides Dinah was undoubtedly useful at home, and would certainly grow +out of hand if she left her. + +Not very willingly had she agreed to let her go upon this Alpine jaunt +with the de Vignes, but Billy had been so keen, and the invitation would +scarcely have been extended to him alone. + +The whole idea had originated between the heads of the two families, +riding home together after a day's hunting. Dinah had chanced to come +into the conversation, and the Colonel, comparing her with that of his +own daughter and being stirred to pity, had suggested that the two +children might like to join them on their forthcoming expedition. +Bathurst had at once accepted the tentative proposal, and had blurted +forth the whole matter to his assembled family on his return with the +result that Billy's instant and eager delight had made it virtually +impossible for his mother to oppose the suggestion. + +Dinah had been delighted too, almost deliriously so; but she had kept her +pleasure to herself, not daring to show it in her mother's presence till +the actual arrival of the last day. Then indeed she had lost her head, +had sung and danced and made merry, till some trifling accident had +provoked her mother's untempered wrath and a sound boxing of ears had +quite sobered her enthusiasm. She had fared forth finally upon the +adventure with tearful eyes and drooping heart, her mother's frigid kiss +of farewell hurting her more poignantly than her drastic punishment of an +hour before. For Dinah was intensely sensitive, keenly susceptible to +rebuke and coldness, and her warm heart shrank from unkindness with a +shrinking that was actual pain. + +She knew that the little social world of Perrythorpe looked down upon her +mother though not actually refusing to associate with her. Bathurst had +married a circus-girl in his green Oxford days; so the story went,--a +hard, handsome woman older than himself, and fiercely, intensely +ambitious. Lack of funds had prevented her climbing very high, and +bitterly she resented her failure. He had never done a day's work in his +life, but, unlike his wife, he had plenty of friends. He was well-bred, a +good rider, a straight shot, and an entertaining guest. He knew everyone +within a radius of twenty miles, and was upon terms of easy intimacy with +the de Vignes and many others who received him with pleasure, but very +seldom went out of their way to encounter his wife. + +Dinah shrewdly suspected that this fact accounted for much of the +bitterness of her mother's outlook. Her ambition had apparently died of +starvation long since, but her resentment remained. Her hand was against +practically all the world, including her daughter, whose fairy-like +daintiness and piquancy were so obvious a contrast to the somewhat coarse +and flashy beauty that had once been hers. For all that Dinah inherited +from her mother was her gipsy darkness. Mrs. Bathurst was not flashy now, +and any attempt at personal adornment on Dinah's part was always very +sternly repressed. She had met and writhed under the eye of scornful +criticism too often, and she distrusted her own taste. She was determined +that Dinah should never be subjected to the same humiliation. + +She humiliated her often enough herself. It was the only means she knew +of asserting her authority; for she had no intention of ever being the +object of her daughter's contempt. She was harsh to the point of +brutality, so that the girl's heart was wont to quicken apprehensively +whenever she heard her step. She scolded, she punished, she coerced. But +from an outsider, the bare thought of a snub was unendurable, and the +possibility that Dinah might by any means lay herself open to one was +enough to bring down the vials of wrath upon her head. Dinah remembered +still with shivering vividness the whipping she had received on one +occasion for demeaning herself by running after the de Vignes's carriage +to deliver a message. Her mother's whippings had always been very +terrible, vindictively thorough. The indignity of them lashed her soul +even more cruelly than the unsparing thong her body. Because of them she +went in daily trepidation, submissive almost to the point of abjectness, +lest this hateful and demoralizing form of punishment should be inflicted +upon her. For some time now, by great wariness and circumspection she had +evaded it, and she had begun to entertain the trembling hope that she was +at last considered to have passed the age for such childish correction. +But her mother's outbreak of violence on the day of their departure had +been a painful disillusion, and she knew well what it would mean to +return home in disgrace with the de Vignes. Her cheeks burned and tingled +still with the shame of the discovery. She felt that another of the old +dreadful chastisements would overwhelm her utterly. And yet that she +would most certainly have to endure it if she were unruly now was +conviction that pressed like a cold weight upon her heart. Had not the +letter she had received from her mother only that morning contained a +stern injunction to her to behave herself, as though she had been a +naughty, wayward child? + +"It would kill me!" she told herself passionately. "Oh, why, why, why +can't I grow up quick and marry? But I never shall grow up at home. +That's the horrible, horrible part of it. And I shall never have a chance +of marrying with mother looking on. I'm just a slave--a slave. Other +girls can have a good time, do as they like, flirt when they like. But +I--never--never!" + +Her fit of rebellion lasted long. The emancipation from the home bondage +was beginning to work within her as the Colonel had predicted. Seen from +a distance, the old tyranny seemed outrageous and impossible, to go back +into it monstrous. And yet, so far as she could see, there was no way of +escape. She was not apparently to be allowed to make any friends outside +her own sphere. The freedom she had begun to enjoy so feverishly had very +suddenly been circumscribed, and if she dared to overstep the bounds +marked out for her, she knew what to expect. + +And yet she longed for freedom as she had never longed in her life +before. She was nearly desperate with longing, so sweet had been the +first, intoxicating taste thereof. For the first time she had seen life +from the standpoint of the ordinary, happy girl, and the contrast to the +life she knew had temporarily upset her equilibrium. Her mother's +treatment, harsh before, seemed unendurable now. Her cheeks burned afresh +with a fierce, intolerable shame. No, no! She could never face it again. +She could not! She could not! Already her brief emancipation had begun to +cost her dear. She must--she must--find a way of escape ere she went back +into thraldom. For she knew her mother's strength so terribly well. It +would conquer all resistance by sheer, overwhelming weight. She could not +remember a single occasion upon which she had ever in the smallest degree +held her own against it. Her will had been broken to her mother's so +often that the very thought of prolonged resistance seemed absurd. She +knew herself to be incapable of it. She was bound to crumple under the +strain, bound to be humbled to the dust long ere the faintest hope of +outmatching her mother's iron will had begun to dawn in her soul. The +very thought made her feel puny and contemptible. If she resisted to the +very uttermost of her strength, yet would she be crushed in the end, and +that end would be more horribly painful than she dared to contemplate. +All her childhood it had been the same. She had been conquered ere she +had passed the threshold of rebellion. She had never been permitted to +exercise a will of her own, and the discovery that she possessed one had +been something of a surprise to Dinah. + +It was partly this discovery that made her long so passionately for +freedom. She wanted to grow, to develop, to get beyond the stultifying +influence of that unvarying despotism. She longed to get away from the +perpetual dread of consequences that so haunted her. She wanted to +breathe her own atmosphere, live her own life, be herself. + +"I believe I could do lots of things if I only had the chance," she +murmured to herself; and then she was suddenly plunged into the memory of +another occasion when she had received summary and austere punishment for +omitting scales from her practising. But then no one ever liked doing +what they must, and she had never had any real taste for music; or if she +had had, it had vanished long since under the uninspiring goad of +compulsion. + +All her morning depression came back while these bitter meditations +racked her brain. Oh, if only--if only--her father had chosen a lady for +his wife! It was disloyal, she knew, to indulge such a thought, but her +mood was black and her soul was in revolt. She was sure--quite sure--that +marriage presented the only possibility of deliverance, and deliverance +was beginning to seem imperative. Her whole individuality, which this +past week of giddy liberty had done so much to develop, cried aloud for +it. + +She went to the window. Billy had grown tired of waiting and gone off +without her. She fancied she could see his sturdy figure on the further +slope. Her eyes took in the whole lovely scene, and suddenly, +effervescently, her spirits began to rise. The inherent gaiety of her +bubbled to the surface. What a waste of time to stay here grizzling while +that paradise lay awaiting her! The sweetness of her nature began to +assert itself once more, and an almost fevered determination to live in +the present, to be happy while she could, entered into her. With +impetuous energy she pushed the evil thoughts away. She would be happy. +She would! She would! And happiness was not difficult to Dinah. It +bubbled in her, a natural spring, that ever flowed again even after the +worst storms had forced it from its course. + +She even laughed to herself as she prepared to join Billy. Life was +good,--oh yes, life was good! And home and the trials thereof were many +miles away. Who could be unhappy for long in such a world as this, where +the air sparkled like champagne, and the magic of it ran riot in the +blood? + +The black mood passed away from her spirit like a cloud. She threw on cap +and coat and ran to join the merry-makers. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OLYMPUS + + +All through that afternoon Dinah and Billy played like cubs in the snow. +They were very inexperienced in the art of luging, but they took their +spills with much heartiness and a total disregard of dignity that made +for complete enjoyment. + +When the sun went down they forsook the sport, and joined in a +snowballing match with a dozen or more of their fellow-visitors. But +Dinah proved herself so adroit and impartial at this game that she +presently became a general target, and found it advisable to retreat +before she was routed. This she did with considerable skill and no small +strategy, finally darting flushed and breathless into the hotel, covered +with snow from head to foot, but game to the last. + +"Well done!" commented a lazy voice behind her. "Now raise the drawbridge +and lower the portcullis, and the honours of war are assured." + +She turned with the flashing movement of a bird upon the wing, and found +herself face to face with Sir Eustace. + +His blue eyes met hers with deliberate nonchalance. "Sit down," he said, +"while I fetch you some tea!" + +Her heart gave an odd little leap that was half of pleasure and half of +dread. She stammered incoherently that he must not take the trouble. + +But he was evidently bent upon so doing, for he pressed her into the seat +which he had just vacated. "Keep the place in the corner for me!" he +commanded, and lounged away upon his errand with imperial leisureliness. + +Dinah watched his tall figure out of sight. The encounter both astounded +and thrilled her. She wondered if she were cheapening herself by meekly +obeying his behest, wondered what Rose--that practised coquette--would +have done under such circumstances; but to depart seemed so wholly out of +the question that she dismissed the wonder as futile. She could only wait +for the play to develop, and trust to her own particular luck, which had +so favoured her the night before, to give her a cue. + +He returned with tea and cake which he set before her on a little table +that he had apparently secured beforehand for the purpose. "I am sure you +must be ravenous," he said, in those high-bred, somewhat insolent accents +of his. + +"I am," Dinah admitted frankly. + +"Then let me see you satisfy your hunger!" he said, seating himself in +the corner he had reserved. + +"Oh, but not alone!" she protested. "You--you must have some too." + +He laughed. "No. I am going to smoke--with your permission. It will do me +more good." + +"Oh, pray do!" said Dinah, embarrassed still but strangely elated. "It +makes me feel rather greedy, that's all." + +"I am greedy too," he told her, his blue eyes still upon her vivid, +sparkling face. "And--always with your permission--I am going to indulge +my greed." + +She did not understand him, but prudence restrained her from telling him +so. Seated as she was he was the only person in the vestibule whom she +could see, her back being turned to all beside. She wondered, again with +that delightful yet half-startled thrill, if his meaning were in any way +connected with this fact. He certainly absorbed the whole of her +attention, if that were what he wanted. Her hunger faded completely into +the background. + +He lighted a cigarette and began to smoke. The space beyond them was full +of moving figures and laughing voices; but the turmoil scarcely reached +Dinah. An invisible barrier seemed to shut them off from all the rest. +They were not merely aloof; they were alone, and a curiously intimate +touch pervaded their solitude. She felt her spirit start in quivering +response to the call of his, just as the night before when she had +floated with him above the clouds. What was happening to her she had not +the least idea, but the consciousness of his near presence pulsed +magnetically through and through her. Scott's brief advice of the morning +was scattered from her memory like feathers before the wind. She had no +memory. She lived only in this burning splendid ardour of a moment. + +She drank her tea mechanically, finding nothing enigmatic in his silence. +The direct look of his blue eyes discomfited her strangely, but it was a +sublime discomfiture--the discomfiture of the moth around the flame. She +longed to meet it, but did not wholly dare. With veiled glances she +yielded to the attraction, not yet bold enough for complete surrender. + +He spoke at last, and she started. + +"Well? Am I forgiven?" + +The nonchalant enquiry sent the blood in another hot wave to her cheeks. +Had she ever presumed to be angry with this godlike person? + +"For what?" she asked, her voice very low. + +He leaned towards her. "Did I only fancy that by some evil chance I had +offended you?" + +She kept her eyes lowered. "I thought you were the offended one," she +said. + +"I?" She caught the note of surprise in his voice, and it sent a very +curious little sense of shame through her. + +With an effort she raised her eyes. "Yes. I thought you were offended. +You went by me this morning without seeing me." + +His look was very intent, almost as if he were searching for something; +but it did not disconcert her as she had half-expected to be +disconcerted. His eyes were more caressing than dominant just then. + +"What if I didn't see you because I didn't dare?" he said. + +That gave her confidence. "I should think you couldn't be so silly as +that," she said with decision. + +He smiled a little. "Thank you, _miladi_. Then wasn't it--almost equally +silly--your word, not mine!--of you to be afraid of me last night?" + +She felt the thrust in a moment, and went white, conscious of the weak +sick feeling that so often came over her at the sound of her mother's +step when she was in disgrace. + +He saw her distress, but he allowed several moments to elapse before he +came to the rescue; Then lightly, "Pray don't let the matter disturb +you!" he said. "Only--for your peace of mind--let me tell you that you +really have nothing to fear. Out here we live in fairyland, and no one +is in earnest. We just enjoy ourselves, and Mrs. Grundy simply doesn't +exist. We are not ashamed of being frivolous, and we do whatever we like. +And there are no consequences. Always remember that, Miss Bathurst! There +are never any consequences in fairyland." + +His eyes suddenly laughed at her, and Dinah was vastly reassured. Her +dismay vanished, leaving a blithe sense of irresponsibility in its place. + +"I shall remember that," she said, with her gay little nod. "I dreamt +last night that we were in Olympus." + +"We?" he said softly. + +She nodded again, flushed and laughing, confident that she had received +her cue. "And you--were Apollo." + +She saw his eyes change magically, flashing into swift life, and dropped +her own before the mastery that dawned there. + +"And you," he questioned under his breath, "were Daphne?" + +"Perhaps," she said enigmatically. After all, flirting was not such a +difficult art, and since he had declared that there could be no +consequences, she did not see why she should bury this new-found talent +of hers. + +"What a charming dream!" he commented lazily. "But you know what happened +to Daphne when she ran away, don't you?" + +She flung him a laughing challenge. "He didn't catch her anyway." + +"True!" smiled Sir Eustace. "But have you never wondered whether it +wouldn't have been more sport for her if he had? It wouldn't be very +exciting, you know, to lead the life of a vegetable." + +"It isn't!" declared Dinah, with abrupt sincerity. + +"Oh, you know something about it, do you?" he said. "Then the modern +Daphne ought to have too much sense to run away." + +She laughed with a touch of wistfulness. "I wonder how she felt about it +afterwards." + +"I wonder," he agreed, tipping the ash off his cigarette. "It didn't +matter so much to Apollo, you see. He had plenty to choose from." + +Dinah's wistfulness vanished in a swift breath of indignation. "Really!" +she said. + +He looked at her. "Yes, really," he told her, with deliberation. "And he +didn't need to run after them either. But, possibly," his gaze softened +again, "possibly that was what made him want Daphne the most. Elusiveness +is quite a fascinating quality if it isn't carried too far. Still--" he +smiled--"I expect he got over it in the end, you know; but in her case I +am not quite so sure." + +"I don't suppose he did get ever it," maintained Dinah with spirit. "All +the rest must have seemed very cheap afterwards." + +"Perhaps he was more at home with the cheap variety," he suggested +carelessly. + +His eyes had wandered to the buzzing throng behind her, and she saw a +glint of criticism--or was it merely easy contempt?--dispel the smile +with which he had regarded her. His mouth wore a faint but unmistakable +sneer. + +But in a moment his look returned to her, kindled upon her. "Are you for +the ice carnival to-night?" he asked. + +She drew a quick, eager breath. "Oh, I do want to come! But I don't +know--yet--if I shall be allowed." + +"Why ask?" he questioned. + +She hesitated, then ingenuously she told him her difficulty. "I got into +trouble last night for dancing so late with you. And--and--I may be sent +to bed early to make up for it." + +He frowned. "Do you mean to say you'd go?" + +She coloured vividly. "I'm only nineteen, and I have to do as I'm told." + +"Heavens above!" he said. "You belong to the generation before the last +evidently. No girl ever does as she is told now-a-days. It isn't the +thing." + +"I do," whispered Dinah, in dire confusion. "At least--generally." + +"And what happens if you don't?" he queried. "Do they whip you and put +you to bed?" + +She clenched her hands hard. "Don't!" she said. "You're only joking, I +know. But--I hate it!" + +His manner changed in a moment, became half-quizzical, half-caressing. +"Poor little brown elf, what a shame! Well, come if you can! I shall look +out for you. I may have something to show you." + +"May you? Oh, what?" cried Dinah, all eagerness in a moment. + +He laughed. There was a provoking hint of mystery in his manner. "Ah! +That lies in the future, _miladi_." + +"But tell me!" she persisted. + +"Will you come then?" he asked. + +"Perhaps," she said. "If I can!" + +"Ah! And perhaps not!" he said. "What then?" + +Dinah's mouth grew suddenly firm. "I will come," she said. + +"You will?" His keen eyes held hers with smiling compulsion. + +"Yes, I will." + +He made a gesture as if he would take her hand, but restrained himself, +and paused to tip the ash once more off his cigarette. + +"Now tell me!" commanded Dinah. + +"I don't think I will," he said deliberately. + +"But you must!" said Dinah. + +His eyes sought hers again with that look which she found it impossible +to meet. She bent over her cup. + +"What will you show me?" she persisted. "Tell me!" + +"I didn't say I would show you anything," he pointed out. "I said I +might." + +"Tell me what it was anyhow!" she said. + +He leaned nearer to her, and suddenly it seemed to her that they were +quite alone, very far removed from the rest of the world. "It may not be +to-night," he murmured. "Or even to-morrow. But some day--in this land +where there are no consequences--I will show you--when the fates are +propitious, not before--some of the things that Daphne missed when she +ran away." + +He ceased to speak. Dinah's face was burning. She could not look at him. +She felt as if a magic flame had wrapped her round. Her whole body was +tingling, her heart wildly a-quiver. There was a rapture in that moment +that was almost too intense, too poignant, to be borne. + +He was the first to move. Calmly he leaned back, and resumed his +cigarette. Through the aromatic smoke his voice came to her again. + +"Are you angry?" + +Her whole being stirred in response. She uttered a little quivering laugh +that was near akin to tears. + +"No--of course--no! But I--I think I ought to go and dress! It's getting +late, isn't it? Thank you for giving me tea!" She rose, her movements +quick and dainty as the flight of a robin. "Good-bye!" she murmured +shyly. + +He rose also with a sweeping bow. "_A bientôt_,--Daphne!" he said. + +She gave him a single swift glance from under fluttering lashes, and +turned away in silence. + +She went up the stairs with the speed of a bird on the wing, but she +could not outpace the wonder and the wild delight at her heart. As she +entered her own room at length, she laughed, a breathless, rippling +laugh. How amazing--and how gorgeous--was this new life! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WINE OF THE GODS + + +The rink was ablaze with fairy-lights under the starry sky. Rose de +Vigne, exquisitely fair in ruby velvet and ermine furs paused on the +verandah, looking pensively forth. + +Very beautiful she looked standing there, and Captain Brent of the +Sappers striding forth with his skates jingling in his hand stopped as +one compelled. + +"Are you waiting for someone, Miss de Vigne? Or may I escort you?" + +She looked at him with a faint smile as if in pity for his +disappointment. "Too late, I am afraid, Captain Brent. I have promised +Sir Eustace to skate with him." + +"Who?" Brent glanced towards the rink. "Why, he's down there already +dancing about with your little cousin. That's her laugh. Don't you hear +it?" + +Dinah's laugh, clear and ringing, came to them on the still air. Rose's +slim figure stiffened very slightly, barely perceptibly, at the sound. +"Sir Eustace has forgotten his engagement," she said icily. "Yes, Captain +Brent, I will come with you." + +"Good business!" he said heartily. "It's a glorious night. Somebody said +there was a change coming; but I don't believe it. Maddening if a thaw +comes before the luging competition. The run is just perfection now. I'm +going up there presently. It's glorious by moonlight." + +He chattered inconsequently on, happy in the fact that he had secured the +prettiest girl in the hotel for his partner, and not in the least +disturbed by any lack of response on her part. To skate with her hand in +hand was the utmost height of his ambition just then, his brain not being +of a particularly aspiring order. + +Down on the rink all was gaiety and laughter. The lights shone ruby, +emerald, and sapphire, upon the darting figures. The undernote of the +rushing skates made magic music everywhere. The whole scene was +fantastic--a glittering fairyland of colour and enchantment. + +"Each evening seems more splendid than the last," declared Dinah. + +"They always will if you spend them in my company," said Sir Eustace. "Do +you know I could very soon teach you to skate as perfectly as you dance?" + +"I believe you could teach me anything," she answered happily. + +"Given a free hand I believe I could," he said. "But the gift is yours, +not mine. You have the most wonderful knack of divining a mood. You adapt +yourself instinctively. I never knew anyone respond so perfectly to the +unspoken wish. How is it, I wonder?" + +"I don't know," she answered shyly. "But I can't help understanding what +you want." + +"Does that mean that we are kindred spirits?" he asked, and suddenly the +clasp of his hands was close and intimate. + +"I expect it does," said Dinah; but she said it with a touch of +uneasiness. The voice that had spoken within her the night before, +warning her, urging her to be gone, was beginning to murmur again, +bidding her to beware. + +She turned from the subject with ready versatility, obedient to the +danger-signal. "Oh, there is Rose! I am afraid I ran away from her after +dinner. They went upstairs for coffee, but I was so dreadfully afraid of +being stopped that I hung behind and escaped. I do hope the Colonel won't +be in a wax again. But I don't see that there was anything wicked in it; +for Lady Grace herself is coming to look on presently." + +"I skated with Miss de Vigne nearly all the afternoon," observed Sir +Eustace. "But she is a regular ice-maiden. I couldn't get any enthusiasm +out of her. Tell me, is she like that all through? Or is it just a pose?" + +"Oh, I don't know," Dinah said. "I've never got through the outer crust. +But then of course I'm far beneath her." + +"How so?" asked Sir Eustace. + +She laughed up at him with the happy confidence of a child. "Can't you +see it for yourself? I--I am a mere guttersnipe compared to the de +Vignes. They live in a great house with lots of servants and cars. They +never do a thing for themselves. I don't suppose Rose could do her hair +to save her life. While we--we live in a tumble-down, ramshackle old +place, and do all the work ourselves. I've never been away from home in +my life before. You see, we're poor, and Billy's schooling takes up a lot +of money. I had to leave school when he first went as a boarder. And that +is three years ago now. So I have forgotten all I ever learnt." + +"Except dancing," he suggested. + +"Oh, well, that's born in me. I couldn't very well forget that. My +mother--" Dinah hesitated momentarily--"my mother was a dancer before she +married." + +"And she taught you?" asked Sir Eustace. + +"No, no! She never taught me anything except useful things--like cooking +and sewing and house-work. And I detest them all," said Dinah frankly. "I +like sweeping the garden and digging the potatoes far better." + +"She keeps you busy then," commented Sir Eustace, with semi-humorous +interest. + +"Busy isn't the word for it," declared Dinah. "I'm going from morning +till night. We do the washing at home too. I get up at five and go to bed +at nine. I make nearly all my own clothes too. That's why I haven't got +any," she ended naively. + +He laughed. "Not really! But what makes you work so hard as that? You're +wasting all your best time. You'll never be so young again, you know." + +"I know!" cried Dinah, and suddenly a wild gust of rebellion went +through her. "It's hateful! I never knew how hateful till I came here. +Going back will be--too horrible for words. But--" her voice fell +abruptly flat--"what am I to do?" + +"I should go on strike," he said lightly. "Tell your good mother that she +must find someone else to do the work! You are going to take it easy and +enjoy yourself." + +Dinah uttered a short, painful laugh. + +"Wouldn't that do?" he asked. + +"No." + +"Why not?" he questioned with indolent amusement. "Surely you're not +afraid of the broomstick!" + +Dinah gave a great start, and suddenly, as they skated, pressed close to +him with the action of some small, terrified creature seeking shelter. +"Oh, don't--don't let us spoil this perfect night by talking of my home +affairs!" she pleaded, her voice quick and passionate. "I want to put +everything right away. I want to forget there is such a place as home." + +His arm was around her in a moment. He held her caught to him. "I can +soon make you forget that, my Daphne," he said. "I can lead you through +such a wonderland as will dazzle you into complete forgetfulness of +everything else. But you must trust me, you know. You mustn't be afraid." + +He was drawing her away from the glare of coloured lights as he spoke, +drawing her to the further end of the rink where stood a tiny, rustic +pavilion. + +She went with him with a breathless sense of high adventure, skimming the +ice in time with his rhythmic movements, mesmerized into an enchanted +quiescence. + +They reached the pavilion, and he paused. The other skaters were left +behind. They stood as it were in a magic circle all their own. And only +the moon looked on. + +"Ah, Daphne!" he said, and took her in his arms. + +There came to Dinah then a wild and desperate sense of fear, fear that +was coupled with a wholly unreasoning and instinctive shame. She strained +back from him. "Oh no! Oh no!" she gasped. "I mustn't! I'm sure it's +wrong!" + +But he mastered her very slowly, wholly without violence, yet wholly +irresistibly. His dark face with its blue, compelling eyes dominated her, +conquered her. And all her life resistance had been quelled in her. Her +will wavered and was down. + +"Why should it be wrong?" he whispered. "I tell you that nothing +matters--nothing matters. We take our pleasures, and we tell no one. It +is no one's business but our own, sweetheart. And nothing is wrong, if no +harm is done to anyone." + +Subtle, alluring, half-laughing, half-relentless, he drew her closer yet, +he bent and pressed his lips upon her upturned face. But she quivered +still and shrank, though unresisting. She could not give her lips to his. +His kiss burned through and through her, so that she longed to flee away +and hide. + +For though that kiss sent a thrill of wild ecstasy through her, there was +anguish mingled therewith. Even while she exulted over her unexpected +victory, she was smitten with the thought that it had cost her too dear. +Had she told him too much about herself that he held her thus cheaply? +Would he--however urgent his desire to do so--would he have dreamed of +treating Rose thus? Or any other girl of his own standing? + +The thought went through her like a dagger. She bent herself back over +his arm avoiding his lips a second time. That one kiss had opened her +eyes. + +"Oh, let me go!" she said, her voice muffled and tremulous. "You +mustn't--ever--do it again." + +"Why not?" he whispered softly. "What does it matter? This is the land of +no consequences." + +"I can't help it," she whispered back. "It may not mean anything to you. +But--but--it makes me feel--wicked." + +He laughed at her with tender ridicule. His arms still held her, but no +longer closely. + +"Don't be afraid, my elf of the mountains!" he said. "I won't do it +again--yet. But there is nothing in it I tell you. And what does it +matter if no one knows? Why shouldn't you have all the fun you can get?" + +Dinah straightened herself, and passed her hands over her face with an +oddly childish gesture. He behaved as though he had conferred a favour +upon her; but yet the horrible feeling of shame lingered. Her mother's +most drastic punishments had never humbled her more completely. + +She drew herself from his hold. "I feel it does matter," she said, her +voice pathetically small and shy. "But--I know you didn't mean to--to +offend me. So let's forget it, please! Let's go back!" + +She gave him her hand with a timid gesture, and he took it with a smile +that held arrogance as well as amusement. "We will go back certainly," he +said. "But we shall not forget. We have tasted the wine of the gods, my +Daphne, and there is magic in the draught. Those who drink once are bound +to come again for more." + +"Oh no! Oh no!" said Dinah. + +But even as she said it, she felt herself to be battling against destiny. + +In that moment she knew beyond all doubting that by some means of which +she had no understanding he had caught her will and made it captive. +Elude him though she might for a time, she was bound to be his helpless +prisoner at the last. + +Yet his magnetism was such that she yielded herself to him almost +mechanically as they went back into the giddy vortex of the carnival. +Even in the midst of her dismay and uncertainty, she was strangely, +almost deliriously happy. + +Romance with gold-tipped wings unfurled had suddenly descended from the +high heavens and flitted before her, luring her on. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FRIENDSHIP IN THE DESERT + + +On the edge of the rink immediately below the hotel, a slight figure was +standing, patient as the Sphinx, awaiting them. + +Sir Eustace's keen eyes lighted upon it from afar. "There is my brother," +he said. "We will go and speak to him if you have no objection." + +Dinah received the suggestion with eagerness. She was possessed for the +moment by an urgent desire to get back to the commonplace. She had been +whirled off her feet, and albeit the flight had held rapture, she had a +desperate longing to tread solid ground once more. + +Possibly her companion shared something of this feeling. The game was +his, but there was no more to be won from her that night. The time had +come to descend from the heights to the dull and banal levels. He divined +her wish to return to earth, and he had no reason for thwarting it. With +a careless laugh he put on speed and rushed her dizzily through the +throng. + +To Dinah it was as a rapid fall through space. She felt as if she had +been suddenly shot from the gates of Olympus. She reached Scott, flushed +and breathless and quivering still with the wonder of it. + +He greeted her courteously. "Are you having a good time, Miss Bathurst?" + +She answered him gaspingly. Somehow it was an immense relief to find +herself by his side. "Yes; a glorious time. But I am coming off now. Have +you--have you seen anything of Lady Grace or the Colonel?" + +"I have just had the pleasure of making Lady Grace's acquaintance," he +said. "Are you really coming off now? Have you had enough?" + +She passed over his last question, for the wonder pierced her if she had +not had too much. "Yes, really. I am going to change my boots. I left +them somewhere here. I wonder where they are. Ah, there they are against +the railing! No, please don't! I can manage quite well. I would rather." + +She sat down on the bank, and bent her hot face over her task. + +The two brothers remained near her. Scott was apparently waiting for her. +They exchanged a few low words. + +"I'll do my level best, old chap," she heard Scott say. "But if I don't +succeed, it can't be helped. Rome wasn't built in a day." + +Eustace made an impatient sound, and muttered something in a whisper. + +"No," Scott said in answer. "Not that! Never with my consent. It wouldn't +do, man! I tell you it wouldn't do. Can't you take my word for it?" + +"You're as obstinate as a mule, Stumpy," his brother said, in tones of +irritation. "It'll come to it sooner or later. You're only prolonging the +agony." + +"I am doing my best," Scott said gravely. "Give me credit for that at +least!" + +Sir Eustace clapped a sudden hand on his shoulder. "No one doubts that, +my boy. You're true gold. But it's sheer foolishness to go on in the same +old way that's proved a failure a hundred times. In heaven's name, now +that we've hauled her out of that infernal groove, don't let idiotic +sentimentality spoil everything! Don't shy at the consequences! I'll be +responsible for them." + +Dinah glanced up. She saw that for the moment she was forgotten. The +light was shining upon Scott's face, and she read in it undeniable +perplexity, but the eyes were steadfast and wholly calm. + +He even smiled a little as he said, "My dear chap, have you ever +considered the consequences of anything--counted the cost before you came +to pay? No, never!" + +"Don't preach to me!" Eustace said sharply. + +"No. I won't. But don't you talk in that airy way about responsibility +to me! Because--" Scott's smile broadened and became openly +affectionate--"it just won't go down, dear fellow! I can't swallow +camels--never could." + +"You can strain at gnats though," commented Sir Eustace, pivoting round +on his skates. "Well, you know my sentiments. I haven't put my foot down +yet. But I'm going to--pretty soon. It's got to be done. And if you can't +bring yourself to it,--well, I shall, that's all." + +He was gone with the words, swift as an arrow, leaving behind him a space +so empty that Dinah felt a sudden queer little pang of desolation. + +Scott remained motionless, deep in thought, for the passage of several +seconds. Then abruptly the consciousness of her presence came upon him, +and he turned to her. She was sitting on the bank looking up at him with +frank interest. Their eyes met. + +And then a very curious thing happened to Dinah. She flinched under his +look, flinched and averted her own. A great shyness suddenly surged +through her, a quivering, overmastering sense of embarrassment. For in +that moment she viewed the flight to Olympus as he would have viewed it, +and was horribly, overwhelmingly ashamed. She could not break the +silence. She had no words to utter--no possible means at hand by which to +cover her discomfiture. + +It was he who spoke, in his voice a tinge of restraint. "I was going to +ask if it would bore you to come and see my sister again this evening. I +have obtained Lady Grace's permission for you to do so." + +She sprang to her feet. "Of course--of course I would love to!" she said +rather incoherently. "How could it bore me? I--I should like it--more +than anything." + +He smiled faintly, and held out his hand for the boots she had just +discarded. "That is more than kind of you," he said. "My sister was +afraid you might not want to come." + +"Of course I want to come!" maintained Dinah. "Oh no, thank you; I +couldn't let you carry my boots. How clever of you to tackle Lady Grace! +What did she say?" + +"Neither she nor the Colonel made any difficulty about it at all," Scott +said. "I told them my sister was an invalid. Lady Grace said that I must +not keep you after ten, and I promised I wouldn't." + +His manner was kindly and quizzical, and Dinah's embarrassment began to +pass. But he discomfited her afresh as they walked across the road by +saying, "You have made it up with my brother, I see." + +Dinah's cheeks burned again. "Yes," she said, after a moment. "We made it +up this afternoon." + +"That was very lucky--for him," observed Scott rather dryly. + +Dinah made a swift leap for the commonplace. "I hate being cross with +people," she said, "or to have them cross with me; don't you?" + +"I think it is sometimes unavoidable," said Scott gravely. + +"Oh, surely you are never cross!" said Dinah impetuously. "I can't +imagine it." + +"Wait till you see it!" said Scott, with a smile. + +They entered the hotel together. Dinah was tingling with excitement. She +had managed to escape from her discomfiture, but she still felt that any +prolonged intercourse with the man beside her would bring it back. She +was beginning to know Scott as one who would not hesitate to say exactly +what he thought, and not for all she possessed in the world would she +have had him know what had passed in that far corner of the rink so short +a time before. + +She chattered inconsequently upon ordinary topics as they ascended the +stairs together, but when they reached the door of Isabel's sitting-room +she became suddenly shy again. + +"Hadn't I better run and take off my things?" she whispered. "I feel so +untidy." + +He looked at her. She was clad in the white woollen cap and coat that she +had worn in the day. Her eyes were alight and sparkling, her brown face +flushed. She looked the very incarnation of youth. + +"I think she will like to see you as you are," said Scott. + +He knocked upon the door three times as before, and in a moment opened +it. + +"Go in, won't you?" he said, standing back. + +Dinah entered. + +"Ah! She has come!" A hollow voice said, and in a moment her shyness was +gone. + +She moved forward eagerly, saw Isabel seated in a low chair, and +impulsively went to her. "How kind you are to ask me to come again!" she +said. + +And then all in a moment Isabel's arms came out to her, and she slipped +down upon her knees beside her into their close embrace. + +"How kind of you to come, dear child!" Isabel murmured. "I am afraid it +is a visit to the desert for you." + +"But I love to come!" Dinah told her with warm lips raised. "I can't tell +you how much. I was never so happy before. Each day seems lovelier than +the last." + +Isabel kissed her lingeringly, tenderly. "My dear, you have a happy +heart," she said. "Tell me what you have been doing since I saw you +last!" + +She would have let her go, but Dinah clung to her still, her cheek +against her shoulder. "I have been very frivolous, dear Mrs. Everard," +she said. "I have done lots of things. This afternoon we were luging, and +now I have just come from the carnival, I wish you could have been there. +Some people are wearing the most horrible masks. Billy--my brother--has a +beauty. He made it himself. I rather wanted it to wear, but he wouldn't +part with it." + +"You could never wear a mask, sweetheart," Isabel said, clasping the +small brown hand in hers. "Your face is too sweet a thing to hide." + +Dinah hugged her in naïve delight. "I always thought I was ugly before," +she said. + +Isabel's face wore a wan smile. She stroked the girl's soft cheek. "My +dear, no one with a heart like yours could have an ugly face. How did you +enjoy your dance with Eustace last night?" + +Dinah bent her head a little, wishing earnestly that Scott were not in +the room. "I loved it," she said in a low voice. + +"And afterwards?" questioned Isabel. "No one was vexed with you, I hope?" + +Dinah hesitated. "Colonel de Vigne wasn't best pleased, I'm afraid," she +said, after a moment. + +"He scolded you!" said Isabel, swift regret in her voice. "I am so sorry, +dear child. I ought to have gone to look after you. I was selfish." + +"Oh no--indeed!" Dinah protested. "It was entirely my own fault. He would +have been cross in any case. They are like that." + +Isabel uttered a sigh. "I shall have to try to meet them. Naturally they +will not let you come to total strangers. Stumpy, remind me in the +morning! I must manage somehow to meet this child's guardians." + +"Of course, dear," said Scott. + +Dinah, glancing towards him, saw him exchange a swift look with the old +nurse in the background, but his voice held neither surprise nor +gratification. He took out a cigarette and began to smoke. + +Isabel leaned back in her chair with abrupt weariness as if in reaction +from the strain of a sudden unwonted exertion. "Let me see! Do I know +your Christian name? Ah yes,--Dinah! What a pretty gipsy name! I think +you are a little gipsy, are you not? You have the charm of the woods +about you. Won't you sit in that chair, dear? You can't be comfortable on +the floor." + +But Dinah preferred to sit down against her knee, still holding the +slender, inert hand. + +"Tell me about your home!" Isabel said, closing languid eyes. "I can't +talk much more, but I can listen. It does not tire me to listen." + +Dinah hesitated somewhat. "I don't think you would find it very +interesting," she said. + +"But I am interested," Isabel said. "You live in the country, I think you +said." + +"At a place called Perrythorpe," Dinah said. "It's a great hunting +country. My father hunts a lot and shoots too." + +"Do you hunt?" asked Isabel. + +"Oh no, never! There's never any time. I go for rambles sometimes on +Sundays. Other days I am always busy. Fancy me hunting!" said Dinah, with +a little laugh. + +"I used to," said Isabel. "They always said I should end with a broken +neck. But I never did." + +"Are you very fond of riding?" asked Dinah. + +"Not now, dear. I am not fond of anything now. Tell me some more, won't +you? What makes you so busy that you never have time for any fun?" + +Again Dinah hesitated. "You see, we're poor," she said. "My mother and I +do all the work of the house and garden too." + +"And your father is able to hunt?" Isabel's eyes opened. Her hand closed +upon Dinah's caressingly. + +"Oh yes, he has always hunted," Dinah said. "I don't think he could do +without it. He would find it so dull." + +"I see," said Isabel. "But he can't afford pleasures for you." + +There was no perceptible sarcasm in her voice, but Dinah coloured a +little and went at once to her father's defence. + +"He sends Billy to a public school. Of course I--being only a girl--don't +count. And he has sent us out here, which was very good of him--the +sweetest thing he has ever done. He had a lucky speculation the other +day, and he has spent it nearly all on us. Wasn't that kind of him?" + +"Very kind, dear," said Isabel gently. "How long are you to have out +here?" + +"Only three weeks, and half the time is gone already," sighed Dinah. "The +de Vignes are not staying longer. The Colonel is a J.P., and much too +important to stay away for long. And they are going to have a large +house-party. There isn't much more than a week left now." She sighed +again. + +"And then you will have no more fun at all?" asked Isabel. + +"Not a scrap--nothing but work." Dinah's voice quivered a little. "I +don't suppose it has been very good for me coming out here," she said. +"I--I believe I'm much too fond of gaiety really." + +Isabel's hand touched her cheek. "Poor little girl!" she said. "But you +wouldn't like to leave your mother to do all the drudgery alone." + +"Oh yes, I should," said Dinah, with a touch of recklessness. "I'd never +go back if I could help it. I love Dad of course; but--" She paused. + +"You don't love your mother?" supplemented Isabel. + +Dinah leaned her face suddenly against the caressing hand. "Not much, I'm +afraid," she whispered. + +"Poor little girl!" Isabel murmured again compassionately. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PURPLE EMPRESS + + +Colonel De Vigne once more wore his most magisterial air when after +breakfast on the following morning he drew Dinah aside. + +She looked at him with swift apprehension, even with a tinge of guilt. +His lecture of the previous morning was still fresh in her mind. Could he +have seen her on the ice with Sir Eustace on the previous night, she +asked herself? Surely, surely not! + +Apparently he had, however; for his first words were admonitory. + +"Look here, young lady, you're making yourself conspicuous with that +three-volume-novel baronet: You don't want to be conspicuous, I suppose?" + +Her face burned crimson at the question. Then he had seen, or at least he +must know, something! She stood before him, too overwhelmed for speech. + +"You don't, eh?" he insisted, surveying her confusion with grim +relentlessness. + +"Of course not!" she whispered at last. + +He put a hand on her shoulder. "Very well then! Don't let there be any +more of it! You've been a good girl up till now but the last two days +seem to have turned your head. I shan't be able to give a good report to +your mother when we get home if this sort of thing goes on." + +Dinah's heart sank still lower. The thought of the return home had begun +to dog her like an evil dream. + +With a great effort she met the Colonel's stern gaze. "I am very sorry," +she faltered. "But--but Lady Grace did say I might go and see Mrs. +Everard--the invalid sister--yesterday." + +"I know she did. She thought you had been flirting with Sir Eustace long +enough." + +Dinah's sky began to clear a little. "Then you don't mind my going to see +her?" she said. + +"So long as you are not there too often," conceded the Colonel. "The +younger brother is a nice little chap. There is no danger of your getting +up to mischief with him." + +Dinah's face burned afresh at the suggestion. He evidently did not +actually know; but he suspected very strongly. Still it was a great +relief to know that all intercourse with these wonderful new friends of +hers was not to be barred. + +"There was some talk of a sleigh-drive this afternoon," she ventured, +after a moment. "Mr. Studley is taking his sister and she asked me to go +too. May I?" + +"You accepted, I suppose?" demanded the Colonel. + +"I said I thought I might," Dinah admitted. And then very suddenly she +caught a kindly gleam in his eyes, and summoned courage for entreaty. "Do +please--please--let me go!" she begged, clasping his arm. "I shan't ever +have any fun again when this is over." + +"How do you know that?" said the Colonel gruffly. "Yes, you can +go--you can go. But behave yourself soberly, there's a good girl. And +remember--no running after the other fellow to-night! I won't have it. +Is that understood?" + +Dinah, too rejoiced over this concession to trouble about future +prohibitions, gave cheerful acquiescence to the fiat. Perhaps she was +beginning to realize that she would see quite as much of Sir Eustace as +was at all advisable or even to be desired, without running after him. In +fact, so shy had the previous night's flight with him made her, that she +did not feel the slightest wish to encounter him again at present. To go +out sleigh-driving with Scott and his sister was all that she asked of +life that day. + +It was a glorious morning despite all prophecies of a coming change, and +she spent it joyously luging with Billy. Sir Eustace had gone ski-ing +with Captain Brent, and the only glimpse she had of him was a very far +one, so far that she knew him only by the magnificence of his physique as +he descended the mountain-side as one borne upon wings. + +She recalled the brief conversation that the brothers had held in her +hearing the night before, and marvelled at the memory of Scott's attitude +towards him. + +"He isn't a bit afraid of him," she reflected. "In fact he behaves +exactly as if he were the bigger of the two." + +This phenomenon puzzled her very considerably, for Scott was wholly +lacking in the pomposity that characterizes many little men. She wondered +what had been the subject of their discussion. It had been connected with +Isabel, she felt sure. She was glad to think that she had Scott to +protect her, for there was something of tyranny about the elder brother +from which she shrank instinctively, his magnetism notwithstanding, and +the thought of poor, tragic Isabel being coerced by it was intolerable. + +The memory of the latter's resolution to make the acquaintance of the de +Vignes recurred to her as she and Billy returned for luncheon. Would she +carry it out? She wondered. The look that Scott had flung at the old +nurse dwelt in her mind. It would evidently be an extraordinary move if +she did. + +They reached the hotel, Rose and another girl had just come up from the +rink together. A little knot of people were gathered on the verandah. +Dinah and Billy kept behind Rose and her companion; but in a moment Dinah +heard her name. + +The group parted, and she saw Isabel Everard, very tall and stately in a +deep purple coat, standing with Lady Grace de Vigne. + +Billy gave her a push. "Go on! They're calling you." + +And Dinah found the strange sad eyes upon her, alight with a smile of +welcome. She went forward impetuously, and in a moment Isabel's cold +hands were clasped upon her warm ones. + +"I have been waiting for you, dear child," the low voice said. "What have +you been doing?" + +Dinah suddenly felt as if she were standing in the presence of a +princess. Isabel in public bore herself with a haughtiness fully equal to +that displayed by Sir Eustace, and she knew that Lady Grace was impressed +by it. + +"I would have come back sooner if I had known," she said, closely holding +the long, slender fingers. + +"My dear, you are woefully untidy now you have come," murmured Lady +Grace. + +But Isabel gently freed one hand to put her arm about the girl. "To me +she is--just right," she said, and in her voice there sounded the music +of a great tenderness. "Youth is never tidy, Lady Grace; but there is +nothing in the world like it." + +Lady Grace's eyes went to her daughter whose faultless apparel and +perfection of line were in vivid contrast to Dinah's harum-scarum +appearance. + +"I do not altogether agree with you in that respect, Mrs. Everard," she +said, with a smile. "I think young girls should always aim at being +presentable. But I quite admit that it is more difficult for some than +for others. Dinah, my dear, Mrs. Everard has been kind enough to ask you +to lunch in her sitting-room with her, and to go for a sleigh-drive +afterward; so you had better run and get respectable as quickly as you +can." + +"Oh, how kind you are!" Dinah said, with earnest eyes uplifted. "You know +how I shall love to come, don't you?" + +"I thought you might, dear," Isabel said. "Scott is coming to keep us +company. He has arranged for a sleigh to be here in an hour. We are going +for a twelve-mile round, so we must not be late starting. It gets so cold +after sundown." + +"I had better go then, hadn't I?" said Dinah. + +"I am coming too," Isabel said. Her arm was still about her. It remained +so as she turned to go. "Good-bye, Lady Grace! I will take great care of +the child. Thank you for allowing her to come." + +She bowed with regal graciousness and moved away, taking Dinah with her. + +"Exit Purple Empress!" murmured a man in the background close to Rose. +"Who on earth is she? I haven't seen her anywhere before." + +Rose uttered her soft, artificial laugh. "She is Sir Eustace Studley's +sister. Rather peculiar, I believe, even eccentric. But I understand they +are of very good birth." + +"That covers a multitude of sins," he commented. "She's been a mighty +handsome woman in her day. She must be many years older than Sir Eustace. +She looks more like his mother than his sister." + +"I believe she is actually younger," Rose said. "They say she has never +recovered from the sudden death of her husband some years ago, but I know +nothing of the circumstances." + +"A very charming woman," said Lady Grace, joining them. "We have had +quite a long chat together. Yes, her manner is a little strange, slightly +abstracted, as if she were waiting for something or someone. But a very +easy companion on the whole. I think you will like her, Rose dear." + +"She's dead nuts on Dinah," observed Billy with a chuckle. "She don't +look at anyone else when she's got Dinah." + +Lady Grace smiled over his head and took no verbal notice of the remark. + +"They are a distinguished-looking family," she said. "Run and wash your +hands, Billy. Are you thinking of ski-ing this afternoon, Rose?" + +"You bet!" murmured Billy, under his breath. He too had seen the distant +figure of Sir Eustace on the mountain-side. + +"It depends," said Rose, non-committally. + +"Captain Brent and Sir Eustace have been on skis all the morning," said +her mother. "We must see what they say about it." + +Billy spun a coin into the air behind her back. "Heads Sir Eustace and +tails Captain Brent," he muttered to the man who had commented upon +Isabel's beauty. "Heads it is!" + +Lady Grace turned round with a touch of sharpness at the sound of his +companion's laugh. "Billy! Did I not tell you to go and wash your hands?" + +Billy's green eyes smiled impudent acknowledgment. "You did, Lady Grace. +And I'm going. Good-bye!" + +He pocketed the coin, winked at his friend, and departed whistling. + +"A very unmannerly little boy!" observed Lady Grace, with severity. +"Come, my dear Rose! We must go in." + +"I don't like either the one or the other," said Rose, with a very +unusual touch of petulance. "They are always in the way." + +"I fully agree with you," said Lady Grace acidly. "But it is for the +first and last time in their lives. I have already told the Colonel so. +He will never ask them to accompany us again." + +"Thank goodness for that!" said Rose, with restored amiability. "Of +course I am sorry for poor little Dinah; but there is a limit." + +"Which is very nearly reached," said Lady Grace. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MOUNTAIN CREST + + +That sleigh-drive was to Dinah the acme of delight, and for ever after +the jingle of horse-bells was to recall it to her mind. The sight of the +gay red trappings, the trot of the muffled hoofs, the easy motion of the +sleigh slipping over the white road, and above all, Isabel, clad in +purple and seated beside her, a figure of royal distinction, made a +picture in her mind that she was never to forget. She rode in a magic +chariot through wonderland. + +She longed to delay the precious moments as they flew, like a child +chasing butterflies in the sunshine; but they only seemed to fly the +faster. She chattered almost incessantly for the first few miles, and +occasionally Isabel smiled and answered her; but for the most part it was +Scott, seated opposite, who responded to her raptures,--Scott, +unfailingly attentive and courteous, but ever watchful of his sister's +face. + +She gazed straight ahead when she was not looking at anything to which +Dinah called her attention. Her eyes had the intense look of one who +watches perpetually for something just out of sight. + +Quiet but alert, he marked her attitude, marked also the emaciation which +was so painfully apparent in the strong sunshine and formed so piteous a +contrast to the vivid youth of the girl beside her. Presently Dinah came +out of her rhapsodies and observed his vigilance. She watched him +covertly for a time while she still chatted on. And she noted that there +were very weary lines about his eyes, lines of anxiety, lines of +sleeplessness, that filled her warm heart with quick sympathy and a +longing to help. + +The road was one of wild beauty. It wound up a desolate mountain pass +along which great black boulders were scattered haphazard like the mighty +toys of a giant. The glittering snow lay all around them, making their +nakedness the more apparent. And far, far above, the white crags shone +with a dazzling purity in the sunlit air. + +Below them the snow lay untrodden, exquisitely pure, piled here in great +drifts, falling away there in wonderful curves and hollows, but always +showing a surface perfect and undesecrated by any human touch. And ever +the sleigh ran smoothly on over the white road till it seemed to Dinah as +if they moved in a dream. She fell silent, charmed by the swift motion, +and by the splendour around her. + +"You are quite warm, I hope?" Scott said, after an interval. + +She was wrapped in a fur cloak belonging to Isabel. She smiled an +affirmative, but she saw him as through a veil. The mystery and the +wonder of creation filled her soul. + +"I feel," she said, "I feel as if we were being taken up into heaven." + +"Oh, that we were!" said Isabel, speaking suddenly with a force that had +in it something terrible. "Do you see those golden peaks, sweetheart? +That is where I would be. That is where the gates of Heaven open--where +the lost are found." + +Dinah's hand was clasped in hers under the fur rug, and she felt the thin +fingers close with a convulsive hold. + +Scott leaned forward. "Heaven is nearer to us than that, Isabel," he said +gently. + +She looked at him for a moment, but her eyes at once passed beyond. "No, +no, Stumpy! You never understand," she said restlessly. "I must reach the +mountain-tops or die. I am tired--I am tired of my prison. And I stifle +in the valley--I who have watched the sun rise and set from the very edge +of the world. Why did they take me away? If I had only waited a little +longer--a little longer--as he told me to wait!" Her voice suddenly +vibrated with a craving that was passionate. "He would have come with the +next sunrise. I always knew that the dawn would bring him back to me. +But"--dull despair took the place of longing--"they took me away, and the +sun has never shone since." + +"Isabel!" Scott's voice was very grave and quiet. "Miss Bathurst will +wonder what you mean. Don't forget her!" + +Dinah pressed close to her friend's side. "Oh, but I do understand!" she +said softly. "And, dear Mrs. Everard, I wish I could help you. But I +think Mr. Studley must be right. It is easier to get to heaven than to +climb those mountain-peaks. They are so very steep and far away." + +"So is Heaven, child," said Isabel, with a sigh of great weariness. + +As it were with reluctance, she again met the steady gaze of Scott's +eyes, and gradually her mood seemed to change. Her brief animation +dropped away from her; she became again passive, inert, save that she +still seemed to be watching. + +Scott broke the silence, kindly and practically. "We ought to reach the +_châlet_ at the head of the pass soon," he said. "You will be glad of +some tea." + +"Oh, are we going to stop for tea?" said Dinah. + +"That's the idea," said Scott. "And then back by another way. We ought to +get a good view of the sunset. I hope it won't be misty, but they say a +change is coming." + +"I hope it won't come yet," said Dinah fervently. "The last few days have +been so perfect. And there is so little time left." + +Scott smiled. "That is the worst of perfection," he said. "It never +lasts." + +Dinah's eyes were wistful. "It will go on being perfect here long after +we have left," she said. "Isn't it dreadful to think of all the good +things--all the beauty--one misses just because one isn't there?" + +"It would be if there were nothing else to think of," said Scott. "But +there is beauty everywhere--if we know how to look for it." + +She looked at him uncertainly. "I never knew what it meant before I came +here," she told him shyly. "There is no time for beautiful things in my +life. It's very, very drab and ugly. And I am very discontented. I have +never been anything else." + +Her voice quivered a little as she made the confession. Scott's eyes were +so kind, so full of friendly understanding. Isabel had dropped out of +their intercourse as completely as though her presence had been +withdrawn. She lay back against her cushions, but her eyes were still +watching, watching incessantly. + +"I think the very dullest life can be made beautiful," Scott said, after +a moment. "Even the desert sand is gold when the sun shines on it. The +trouble is,--" he laughed a little--"to get the sun to shine." + +Dinah leaned forward eagerly, confidentially. "Yes?" she questioned. + +He looked her suddenly straight in the eyes. "There is a great store of +sunshine in you," he said. "One can't come near you without feeling it. +Isabel will tell you the same. Do you keep it only for the Alps? If +so,--" he paused. + +Dinah's face flushed suddenly under his look. "If so?" she asked, under +her breath. + +He smiled. "Well, it seems a pity, that's all," he said. "Rather a waste +too when you come to think of it." + +Dinah's eyes caught the reflection of his smile. "I shall remember that, +Mr. Greatheart," she said. + +"Forgive me for preaching!" said Scott. + +She put out a hand to him quickly, spontaneously. "You don't preach--and +it does me good," she said somewhat incoherently. "Please--always--say +what you like to me!" + +"At risk of hurting you?" said Scott. He held the small, impulsive hand a +moment and let it go. + +"You could never hurt me," Dinah answered. "You are far too kind." + +"I think the kindness is on your side," he answered gravely. "Most people +of my acquaintance would think me a bore--if nothing worse." + +"Most people have never really met you, Stumpy," said Isabel +unexpectedly. "Dinah is one of the privileged few, and I am glad she +appreciates it." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott, flushing a deep red. "Spare me, Isabel!" + +Dinah broke into her gay, infectious laugh. "Please--please don't be +upset about it! I'm glad I'm one of the few. I've felt you were a prince +in disguise all along." + +"Very much in disguise!" protested Scott. "Remove that, and there would +be nothing left." + +"Except a man," said Isabel, "You can't get away, Stumpy. You're caught." + +A fleeting smile crossed her face like a gleam of light and was gone. She +turned her look upon Dinah, and became silent again. + +Scott, much disconcerted, hunted in every pocket for his cigarette-case. +"You don't mind my smoking, I hope?" he murmured. + +"I like it," said Dinah. "Let me help you light up!" + +She made a screen with her hands, and guarded the flame from the draught. + +He thanked her courteously, recovering his composure with a smile that +was not without self-ridicule, and in a moment they were talking again +upon impersonal matters. But the episode, slight though it was, dwelt in +Dinah's mind thereafter with an odd persistence. She felt as if Isabel +had given her a flashlight glimpse of something which otherwise she would +scarcely have realized. In that single fleeting moment of revelation she +had seen that which no vision of knight in shining armour could have +surpassed. + +They reached the _châlet_ at the top of the pass, and descended for tea. +The windows looked right down the snow-clad valley up which they had +come. The sun had begun to sink, and the greater part of it lay in +shadow. + +Far away, rising out of the shadows, all golden amid floating mists, was +a mighty mountain crest, higher than all around. The sun-rays lighted up +its wondrous peaks. The glory of it was unearthly, almost more than the +eye could bear. + +Dinah stood on the little wooden verandah of the _châlet_ and gazed and +gazed till the splendour nearly blinded her. + +"Still watching the Delectable Mountains?" said Scott's voice at her +shoulder. + +She made a little gesture in response. She could not take her eyes off +the wonder. + +He came and stood beside her in mute sympathy while he finished his +cigarette. There was a certain depression in his attitude of which +presently she became aware. She summoned her resolution and turned +herself from the great vision that so drew her. + +He was leaning against a post of the verandah, and she read again in his +attitude the weariness that she had marked earlier in the afternoon. + +"Are you--troubled about your sister?" she asked him diffidently. + +He threw away the end of his cigarette and straightened himself. "Yes, I +am troubled," he said, in a low voice. "I am afraid it was a mistake to +bring her here." + +"I thought her looking better this morning," Dinah ventured. + +His grey eyes met hers. "Did you? I thought it a good sign that she +should make the effort to speak to strangers. But I am not certain now +that it has done her any good. We brought her here to wake her from her +lethargy. Eustace thought the air would work wonders, but--I am not sure. +It is certainly waking her up. But--to what?" + +His eyelids drooped heavily, and he passed his hand across his forehead +with a gesture that went to her heart. + +"It's rather soon to judge, isn't it?" she said. + +"Yes," he admitted. "But there is a change in her; there is an +undoubted change. She gets hardly any rest, and the usual draught at +night scarcely takes effect. Of course the place is noisy. That may have +something to do with it. My brother is very anxious to put a stop to the +sleeping-draught altogether. But I can't agree to that. She has never +slept naturally since her loss--never slept and never wept. Biddy--the +old nurse--declares if she could only cry, all would come right. But I +don't know--I don't know." + +He uttered a deep sigh, and leaned once more upon the balustrade. + +Dinah came close to him, her sweet face full of concern. "Mr. Studley," +she murmured, "you--you don't think I do her any harm, do you?" + +"You!" He gave a start and looked at her with that in his eyes that +reassured her in a moment. "My dear child, no! You are a perfect godsend +to her--and to me also, if you don't mind my saying so. No--no! The +mischief that I fear will probably develop after you have gone. As long +as you are here, I am not afraid for her. Yours is just the sort of +influence that she needs." + +"Oh, thank you!" Dinah said gratefully. "I was afraid just for a moment, +because I know I have been silly and flighty. I try to be sober when I am +with her, but--" + +"Don't try to be anything but yourself, Miss Bathurst!" he said. "I have +confided in you just because you are yourself; and I wouldn't have you +any different for the world. You help her just by being yourself." + +Dinah laughed while she shook her head. "I wish I were as nice as you +seem to think I am." + +He laughed also. "Perhaps you have never realized how nice you really +are," he returned with a simplicity equal to her own. "Ah! Here comes +Isabel! I expect she is ready. We had better go in." + +They met her as they turned inwards. The reflection of the sunset glory +was in her face recalling some of its faded beauty. She took Dinah's arm, +looking at her with a strangely wistful smile. + +"I want you now, sweetheart," she said. "Scott can have his +turn--afterwards." + +"I want you too," said Dinah instantly, squeezing her hand very closely. +"Come and look at the mountains! They are so glorious now that the sun is +setting." + +They turned back for a few moments and Isabel's eyes went to that far and +wonderful mountain crest. The gold was turning to rose. The glory +deepened even as they watched. + +"The peaks of Paradise," breathed Dinah softly. + +Isabel was silent for a space, her eyes fixed and yearning. Then at +length in a low voice that thrilled with an emotion beyond words she +spoke. + +"I know now where to look. That is where he is waiting for me. That is +where I shall find him." + +And then swiftly she turned, aware of her brother close behind her. + +He looked at her with eyes of deep compassion. "Some day, Isabel!" he +said gently. + +She made a swift gesture as of one who brushes aside every hindrance. +"Soon!" she said. "Very soon!" + +Scott's eyes met Dinah's for a single instant, and she thought they held +suffering as well as weariness. But they fell immediately. He stood back +in silence for them to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SECOND DRAUGHT + + +They returned to the hotel by a circuitous route that brought them by a +mountain-road into the village just below the hotel. The moon was rising +as they ascended the final slope. The chill of mist was in the air. + +Sir Eustace was waiting for them in the porch. He helped his sister to +alight, but she went by him at once with a rapt look as though she had +not seen him. She had sat in almost unbroken silence throughout the +homeward drive. + +Dinah would have followed her in, but Sir Eustace held her back a moment. +"There is to be a dance to-night," he murmured in her ear. "May I count +on you?" + +She looked at him, the ecstasy of the mountains still shining in her +starry eyes. "Yes--yes! If I am allowed!" And then, with a sudden memory +of her promise to the Colonel, "But I don't suppose I shall be. And I +haven't anything to wear except my fancy dress." + +"What of that?" he said lightly. "Call the fairies in to help!" + +She laughed, and ran in. + +Not for a moment did she suppose that she would be allowed to dance that +night; but it seemed that luck was with her, for the first person she met +was the Colonel, and he was looking so particularly well pleased with +himself and affairs in general that she stopped to tell him of her drive. + +"It's been so perfect," she said. "I have enjoyed it! Thank you ever so +many times for letting me go!" + +Her flushed and happy face was very fair to see, and the Colonel smiled +upon her with fatherly kindness. He could not help liking the child. She +was such a taking imp! + +"Glad you've had a good time," he said. "I hope you thanked your friends +for taking you." + +"I should think I did!" laughed Dinah; and then seeing that his +expression was so benignant she slipped an ingratiating hand through his +arm. "Colonel, please--please--may I dance to-night?" + +"What?" He looked at her searchingly, with a somewhat laboured attempt to +be severe. "Now--now--who do you want to dance with?" + +"Anyone or no one," said Dinah boldly. "I feel happy enough to dance by +myself." + +"That means you're in a mischievous mood," said the Colonel. + +"It's only a Cinderella affair," pleaded Dinah. "To-morrow's Sunday, you +know. There'll be no dancing to-morrow." + +"And a good thing too," he commented. "A pity Sunday doesn't come +oftener! What will Lady Grace say I wonder?" + +"But Rose is sure to dance," urged Dinah. + +"I'm not so sure of that, Sir Eustace Studley has been teaching her to +ski all the afternoon, and if she isn't tired, she ought to be." + +"Oh, lucky Rose!" Dinah knew an instant's envy. "But I expect she'll +dance all the same. And--and--I may dance with him--just once, mayn't I? +There couldn't be any harm in just one dance. No one would notice that, +would they?" + +She pressed close to the Colonel with her petition, and he found it hard +to refuse. She made it with so childlike an earnestness, and--all his +pomposity notwithstanding--he had a soft heart for children. + +"There, be off with you!" he said. "Yes, you may give him one dance if he +asks for it. But only one, mind! That's a bargain, is it?" + +Dinah beamed radiant acquiescence. "I'll save all the rest for you. +You're a dear to let me, and I'll be ever so good. Good-bye!" + +She went, flitting like a butterfly up the stairs, and the Colonel smiled +in spite of himself as he watched her go. "Little witch!" he muttered. "I +wonder what your mother would say to you if she knew." + +Dinah raced breathless to her room, and began a fevered toilet. It was +true that she possessed nothing suitable for ballroom wear; but then the +dance was to be quite informal, and she was too happy to fret herself +over that fact. She put on the white muslin frock which she had worn for +dinner ever since she had been with the de Vignes. It gave her a +fairylike daintiness that had a charm of its own of which she was utterly +unconscious. Perhaps fortunately, she had no time to think of her +appearance. When she descended again, her eyes were still shining with a +happiness so obvious that Billy, meeting her, exclaimed, "What have you +got to be so cheerful about?" + +She proceeded to tell him of the glorious afternoon she had spent, and +was still in the midst of her description when Sir Eustace came up and +joined them. + +"I thought you would manage it," he said, with smiling assurance. "And +now how many may I have? All the waltzes?" + +Dinah's laugh rang so gaily that several heads were turned in her +direction, and she smothered it in alarm. + +"I can only give you one," she said, with a great effort at sobriety. + +"What? Oh, nonsense!" he protested, his blue eyes dominating hers. "You +couldn't be so shabby as that!" + +Dinah's chin pointed merrily upwards. The situation had its humour. It +was certainly rather amusing to elude him. She knew he had caught her far +too easily the night before. + +"It's all I have to offer," she declared. + +"Meaning you're not going to dance more than one dance?" he asked. + +She opened her laughing eyes wide. "Why should it mean that? You're not +the only man in the room, are you?" + +Sir Eustace's jaw set itself suddenly after a fashion that made him +look formidable, albeit he laughed back at her with his eyes. "All +right--Daphne," he murmured. "I'll have the first." + +Dinah's heart gave a little throb of apprehension, but she quieted it +impatiently. What had she to fear? She nodded and lightly turned away. + +All through dinner she alternately dreaded and longed for the moment of +his coming to claim that dance from her. That haughty confidence of his +had struck a curious chord in her soul, and the suspense was almost +unbearable. + +She noticed that Rose was very serene and smiling, and she regarded her +complacency with growing resentment. Rose could dance as often as she +liked with him, and no one would find fault. Rose had had him all to +herself throughout the afternoon moreover. She knew very well that had +the ski-ing lesson been offered to her, she would not have been allowed +to avail herself of it. + +A wicked little spirit awoke within her. Why should she always be kept +thus in the background? Surely her right to the joys of life was as great +as--if not greater than--Rose's! With her it would all end so soon, while +Rose had the whole of her youth before her like a pleasant garden in +which she might wander or rest at will. + +Dinah began to feel feverish. It seemed so imperative that she should +miss nothing good during this brief, brief time of happiness vouchsafed +her by the gods. + +Her frame of mind when she entered the ballroom was curious. Mutiny and +doubt, longing and dread, warred strangely together. But the moment he +came to her, the moment she felt his arm about her, rapture came and +drove out all beside. She drank again of the wine of the gods, drank +deeply, giving herself up to it without reservation, too eager to catch +every drop thereof to trouble as to what might follow. + +He caught her mood. Possibly it was but the complement of his own. Freely +he interpreted it, feeling her body throb in swift accord to every +motion, aware of the almost passionate surrender of her whole being to +the delight of that one magic dance. She was reckless, and he was +determined. If this were to be all, he would take his fill at once, and +she should have hers. Before the dance was more than half through, he +guided her out of the labyrinth into the darkly curtained recess that led +out to the verandah, and there holding her, before she so much as +realized that they had ceased to dance, he gathered her suddenly and +fiercely to him and covered her startled, quivering face with kisses. + +She made no outcry, attempted no resistance. He had been too sudden for +that. His mastery was too absolute. Holding her fast in the gloom, he +took what he would, till with a little sob her arms clasped his neck and +she clung to him, giving herself wholly up to him. + +But when his hold relaxed at last, she hid her face panting against his +breast. He smoothed the dark hair with a possessive touch, laughing +softly at her agitation. + +"Did you think you could get away from me, you brown elf?" he whispered. + +"I--I could if I tried," she whispered back. + +His hold tightened again. "Try!" he said. + +She shook her head without lifting it. "No," she murmured, +with a shy laugh. "I don't want to. Shan't we go back--and +dance--before--before--" She broke off in confusion. + +"Before what?" he said. + +She made a motion to turn her face upwards, but, finding his still close, +buried it a little deeper. "I--promised the Colonel--I'd be good," she +faltered into his shoulder. "I think I ought to begin--soon; don't you?" + +"Is that why I am to have only this one dance?" he asked. + +"Yes," she admitted. + +His caressing hand found and lightly pressed her cheek. "What are you +going to do when it's over?" he asked. + +"I don't know," she said. "There's Billy. I may dance with him." + +He laughed. "That's an exciting programme. Shall I tell you what I should +do--if I were in your place?" + +"What?" said Dinah. + +Again she raised her face a few inches and again, catching a glimpse of +the compelling blue eyes, plunged it deeply into his coat. + +He laughed again softly, with a hint of mockery. "I should have one dance +with Billy, and one with the omnipotent Colonel. And then I should be +tired and say good night." + +"But I shan't be a bit tired," protested Dinah, faintly indignant. + +"Of course not," laughed Sir Eustace. "You will be just ripe for a little +fun. There's quite a cosy sitting-out place at the end of our corridor. I +should go to bed _viâ_ that route." + +"Oh!" said Dinah, with a gasp. + +She lifted her head in astonishment, and met the eyes that so thrilled +her. "But--but that would be wrong!" she said. + +"I've done naughtier things than that, my virtuous sprite," he said. + +But Dinah did not laugh. Very suddenly quite unbidden there flashed +across her the memory of Scott's look the night before and her own +overwhelming confusion beneath it. What would her friend Mr. Greatheart +say to such a proposal? What would he say could he see her now? The hot +blood rushed to her face at the bare thought. She drew herself away from +him. Her rapture was gone; she was burningly ashamed. The Colonel's +majestic displeasure was as nothing in comparison with Scott's wordless +disapproval. + +"Oh, I couldn't do that," she said. "I--couldn't. I ought not to be here +with you now." + +"My fault," he said easily. "I brought you here before you knew where you +were. If you go to confession, you can mention that as an extenuating +circumstance." + +"Oh, don't!" said Dinah, inexplicably stung by his manner. "It--it isn't +nice of you to talk like that." + +He put out his hand and touched her arm lightly, persuasively. "Then you +are angry with me?" he said. + +Her resentment melted. She threw him a fleeting smile. "No--no! But how +could you imagine I could tell anyone? You didn't seriously--you +couldn't!" + +"There isn't much to tell, is there?" he said, his fingers closing gently +over the soft roundness of her arm. "And you don't like that plan of +mine?" + +"I didn't say I didn't like it," said Dinah, her eyes lowered. +"But--but--I can't do it, that's all. I'm going now. Good-bye!" + +She turned to go, but his fingers still held. He drew a step nearer. + +"Daphne, remember--you are not to run away!" + +A transient dimple showed at the corner of Dinah's mouth. "You must let +me go then," she said. + +"And if I do--how will you reward me?" His voice was very deep; the tones +of it sent a sharp quiver through her. She felt unspeakably small and +helpless. + +She made a little gesture of appeal. "Please--please let me go! You know +you are much stronger than I am." + +He drew nearer, his face bent so low that his lips touched her shoulder +as she stood turned from him. "You don't know your strength yet," he +said. "But you soon will. Are you going away from me like this? Don't you +think you're rather hard on me?" + +It was a point of view that had not occurred to Dinah. Her warm heart had +a sudden twinge of self-reproach. She turned swiftly to him. + +"I didn't mean to be horrid. Please don't think that of me! I know I +often am. But not to you--never to you!" + +"Never?" he said. + +His face was close to her, and it wore a faint smile in which she +detected none of the arrogance of the conqueror. She put up a shy, +impulsive hand and touched his cheek. + +"Of course not--Apollo!" she whispered. + +He caught the hand and kissed it. She trembled as she felt the drawing of +his lips. + +"I--I must really go now," she told him hastily. + +He stood up to his full height, and again she quivered as she realized +how magnificent a man he was. + +"_A bientôt_, Daphne!" he said, and let her go. + +She slipped away from his presence with the feeling of being caught in +the meshes of a great net from which she could never hope to escape. She +had drunk to-night yet deeper of the wine of the gods, and she knew +beyond all doubting that she would return for more. + +The memory of his kisses thrilled her all through the night. When she +dreamed she was back again in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE UNKNOWN FORCE + + +"Arrah thin, Miss Isabel darlint, and can't ye rest at all?" + +Old Biddy stooped over her charge, her parchment face a mass of wrinkles. +Isabel was lying in bed, but raised upon one elbow in the attitude of one +about to rise. She looked at the old woman with a queer, ironical smile +in her tragic eyes. + +"I am going up the mountain," she said. "It is moonlight, and I know the +way. I can rest when I get to the top." + +"Ah, be aisy, darlint!" urged the old woman. "It's much more likely he'll +come to ye if ye lie quiet." + +"No, he will not come to me." There was unalterable conviction in +Isabel's voice. "It is I who must go to him. If I had waited on the +mountain I should never have missed him. He is waiting for me there now." + +She flung off the bedclothes and rose, a gaunt, white figure from which +all the gracious lines of womanhood had long since departed. Her silvery +hair hung in two great plaits from her shoulders, wonderful hair that +shone in the shaded lamplight with a lustre that seemed luminous. + +"Will I have to fetch Master Scott to ye?" said Biddy, eyeing her +wistfully. "He's very tired, poor young man. There's two nights he's had +no sleep at all. Won't ye try and rest aisy for his sake, Miss Isabel +darlint? Ye can go up the mountain in the morning, and maybe that little +Miss Bathurst will like to go with ye. Do wait till the morning now!" she +wheedled, laying a wiry old hand upon her. "It's no Christian hour at all +for going about now." + +"Let me go!" said Isabel. + +Biddy's black eyes pleaded with a desperate earnestness. "If ye'd only +listen to reason, Miss Isabel!" she said. + +"How can I listen," Isabel answered, "when I can hear his voice in my +heart calling, calling, calling! Oh, let me go, Biddy! You don't +understand, or you couldn't seek to hold me back from him." + +"Mavourneen!" Biddy's eyes were full of tears; the hand she had laid upon +Isabel's arm trembled. "It isn't meself that's holding ye back. It's God. +He'll join the two of ye together in His own good time, but ye can't +hurry Him. Ye've got to bide His time." + +"I can't!" Isabel said. "I can't! You're all conspiring against me. I +know--I know! Give me my cloak, and I will go." + +Biddy heaved a great sigh, the tears were running down her cheeks, but +her face was quite resolute. "I'll have to call Master Scott after all," +she said. + +"No! No! I don't want Scott. I don't want anyone. I only want to be up +the mountain in time for the dawn. Oh, why are you all such fools? Why +can't you understand?" There was growing exasperation in Isabel's voice. + +Biddy's hand fell from her, and she turned to cross the room. + +Scott slept in the next room to them, and a portable electric bell which +they adjusted every night communicated therewith. Biddy moved slowly to +press the switch, but ere she reached it Isabel's voice stayed her. + +"Biddy, don't call Master Scott!" + +Biddy paused, looking back with eyes of faithful devotion. + +"Ah, Miss Isabel darlint, will ye rest aisy then? I dursn't give ye the +quieting stuff without Master Scott says so." + +"I don't want anything," Isabel said. "I only want my liberty. Why are +you all in league against me to keep me in just one place? Ah, listen to +that noise! How wild those people are! It is the same every night--every +night. Can they really be as happy as they sound?" + +A distant hubbub had arisen in the main corridor, the banging of doors +and laughter of careless voices. It was some time after one o'clock, and +the merry-markers were on their way to bed. + +"Never mind them!" said Biddy. "They're just a set of noisy children. Lie +down again, Miss Isabel! They'll soon settle, and then p'raps ye'll get +to sleep. It's not this way they'll be coming anyway." + +"Someone is coming this way," said Isabel, listening with sudden close +attention. + +She was right. The quiet tread of a man's feet came down the corridor +that led to their private suite. A man's hand knocked with imperious +insistence upon the door. + +"Sir Eustace!" said Biddy, in a dramatic whisper. "Will I tell him ye're +asleep, Miss Isabel? Quick now! Get back to bed!" + +But Isabel made no movement to comply. She only drew herself together +with the nervous contraction of one about to face a dreaded ordeal. + +Quietly the door opened. Biddy moved forward, her face puckered with +anxiety. She met Sir Eustace on the threshold. + +"Miss Isabel hasn't settled yet, Sir Eustace," she told him, her voice +cracked and tremulous. "But she'll not be wanting anybody to disturb her. +Will your honour say good night and go?" + +There was entreaty in the words. Her eyes besought him. Her old gnarled +hands gripped each other, trembling. + +But Sir Eustace looked over her head as though she were not there. His +gaze sought and found his sister; and a frown gathered on his clear-cut, +handsome face. + +"Not in bed yet?" he said, and closing the door moved forward, passing +Biddy by. + +Isabel stood and faced him, but she drew back a step as he reached her, +and a hunted look crept into her wide eyes. + +"You are late," she said. "I thought you had forgotten to say good +night." + +He was still in evening dress. It was evident that he had only just come +upstairs. "No, I didn't forget," he said. "And it seems I am not too late +for you. I shouldn't have disturbed you if you had been asleep." + +She smiled a quivering, piteous smile. "You knew I should not be asleep," +she said. + +He glanced towards the bed which Biddy was setting in order with tender +solicitude. "I expected to find you in bed nevertheless," he said. "What +made you get up again?" + +She shook her head in silence, standing before him like a child that +expects a merited rebuke. + +He put a hand on her shoulder that was authoritative rather than kind. +"Lie down again!" he said. "It is time you settled for the night." + +She threw him a quick, half-furtive look. "No--no!" she said hurriedly. +"I can't sleep. I don't want to sleep. I think I will get a book and +read." + +His hand pressed upon her. "Isabel!" he said quietly. "When I say a thing +I mean it." + +She made a quivering gesture of appeal. "I can't go to bed, Eustace. It +is like lying on thorns. Somehow I can't close my eyes to-night. They +feel red-hot." + +His hold did not relax. "My dear," he said, "you talk like a hysterical +child! Lie down at once, and don't be ridiculous!" + +She wavered perceptibly before his insistence. "If I do, Scott must give +me a draught. I can't do without it--indeed--indeed!" + +"You are going to do without it to-night," Eustace said, with cool +decision. "Scott is worn out and has gone to bed. I made him promise to +stay there unless he was rung for. And he will not be rung for to-night." + +Isabel made a sharp movement of dismay. "But--but--I always have the +draught sooner or later. I must have it. Eustace, I must! I can't do +without it! I never have done without it!" + +Eustace's face did not alter. It looked as if it were hewn in granite. +"You are going to make a beginning to-night," he said. "You have been +poisoned by that stuff long enough, and I am going to put a stop to it. +Now get into bed, and be reasonable! Biddy, you clear out and do the +same! You can leave the door ajar if you like. I'll call you if you are +wanted." + +He pointed to the half-open door that led into the small adjoining room +in which Biddy slept. The old woman stood and stared at him with +consternation in her beady eyes. + +"Is it meself that could do such a thing?" she protested. "I never leave +my young lady till she's asleep, Sir Eustace. I'd sooner come under the +curse of the Almighty." + +He raised his brows momentarily, but he kept his hand upon his sister. He +was steadily pressing her towards the bed. "If you don't do as you are +told, Biddy, you will be made," he observed. "I am here to-night for a +definite purpose, and I am not going to be thwarted by you. So you had +better take yourself out of my way. Now, Isabel, you know me, don't you? +You know it is useless to fight against me when my mind is made up. Be +sensible for once! It's for your own good. You can't have that draught. +You have got to manage without it." + +"Oh, I can't! I can't!" moaned Isabel. She was striving to resist his +hold, but her efforts were piteously weak. The force of his personality +plainly dominated her. "I shall lie awake all night--all night." + +"Very well," he said inexorably. "You must. Sleep will come sooner or +later, and then you can make up for it." + +"Oh, but you don't understand." Piteously she turned and clasped his arm +in desperate entreaty. "I shall lie awake in torture. I shall hear him +calling all night long. He is there beyond the mountains, wanting me. And +I can't get to him. It is agony--oh, it is agony--to lie and listen!" + +He took her between his hands, very firmly, very quietly. "Isabel, you +are talking nonsense--utter nonsense! And I refuse to listen to it. Get +into bed! Do you hear? Yes, I insist. I am capable of putting you there. +If you mean to behave like a child, I shall treat you as one. Now for the +last time, get into bed." + +"Sir Eustace!" pleaded Biddy in a hoarse whisper. "Don't force her, Sir +Eustace! Don't now! Don't!" + +He paid no attention to her. His eyes were fixed upon his sister's +death-white face, and her eyes, strained and glassy were upturned to his. + +He said no more. Isabel's breath came in short sobbing gasps. She +resisted him no longer. Under the steady pressure of his hands, her body +yielded. She seemed to wilt under the compulsion of his look. Slowly, +tremblingly, she crumpled in his hold, sinking downwards upon the bed. + +He bent over her, laying her back, taking the bedclothes from Biddy's +shaking hands and drawing them over her. + +Then over his shoulder briefly he addressed the old woman. "Turn out the +light, and go!" + +Biddy stood and gibbered. There was that in her mistress's numb +acquiescence that terrified her. "Sure, you'll kill her, Sir Eustace!" +she gasped. + +He made a compelling gesture. "You had better do as I say. If I want your +help--or advice--I'll let you know. Do as I say! Do you hear me, Biddy?" + +His voice fell suddenly and ominously to a note so deep that Biddy drew +back still further affrighted and began to whimper. + +Sir Eustace turned back to his sister, lying motionless on the pillow. +"Tell her to go, Isabel! I am going to stay with you myself. You don't +want her, do you?" + +"No," said Isabel. "I want Scott." + +"You can't have Scott to-night." There was absolute decision in his +voice. "It is essential that he should get a rest. He looked ready to +drop to-night." + +"Ah! You think me selfish!" she said, catching her breath. + +He sat down by her side. "No," he answered quietly. "But I think you have +not the least idea how much he spends himself upon you. If you had, you +would be shocked." + +She moved restlessly. "You don't understand," she said. "You never +understand. Eustace, I wish you would go away." + +"I will go in half an hour," he made calm rejoinder, "if you have not +moved during that time." + +"You know that is impossible;" she said. + +"Very well then. I shall remain." His jaw set itself in a fashion that +brought it into heavy prominence. + +"You will stay all night?" she questioned quickly. + +"If necessary," he answered. + +Biddy had turned the lamp very low. The faint radiance shone upon him as +he sat imparting a certain mysterious force to his dominant outline. He +looked as immovable as an image carved in stone. + +A great shiver went through Isabel. "You want to see me suffer," she +said. + +"You are wrong," he returned inflexibly. "But I would sooner see you +suffer than give yourself up to a habit which is destroying you by +inches. It is no kindness on Scott's part to let you do it." + +"Don't talk of Scott!" she said quickly. "No one--no one--will ever know +what he is to me--how he has helped me--while you--you have only looked +on!" + +Her voice quivered. She flung out a restless arm. Instantly, yet without +haste, he took and held her hand. His fingers pressed the fevered wrist. +He spoke after a moment while he quelled her instinctive effort to free +herself. "I am not merely looking on to-night. I am here to help you--if +you will accept my help." + +"You are here to torture me!" she flung back fiercely. "You are here to +force me down into hell, and lock the gates upon me!" + +His hold tightened upon her. He leaned slightly towards her. "I am here +to conquer you," he said, "if you will not conquer yourself." + +The sudden sternness of his speech, the compulsion of his look, took +swift effect upon her. She cowered away from him. + +"You are cruel!" she whispered. "You always were cruel at heart--even in +the days when you loved me." + +Sir Eustace's lips became a single, hard line. His whole strength was +bent to the task of subduing her, and he meant it to be as brief a +struggle as possible. + +He said nothing whatever therefore, and so passed his only opportunity of +winning the conflict by any means save naked force. + +To Isabel in her torment that night was the culmination of sorrows. For +years this brother who had once been all the world to her had held aloof, +never seeking to pass the barrier which her widowed love had raised +between them. He had threatened many times to take the step which now at +last he had taken; but always Scott had intervened, shielding her from +the harshness which such a step inevitably involved. And by love he had +never sought to prevail. Her mental weakness seemed to have made +tenderness from him an impossibility. He could not bear with her. It was +as though he resented in her the likeness to one beloved whom he mourned +as dead. + +Possibly he had never wholly forgiven her marriage--that disastrous +marriage that had broken her life. Possibly her clouded brain was to him +a source of suffering which drove him to hardness. He had ever been +impatient of weakness, and what he deemed hysteria was wholly beyond his +endurance; and the spectacle of the one being who had been so much to him +crushed beneath a sorrow the very existence of which he resented was one +which he had never been able to contemplate with either pity or +tolerance. As he had said, he would rather see her suffering than a +passive slave to that sorrow and all that it entailed. + +So during the dreadful hours that followed he held her to her inferno, +convinced beyond all persuasion---with the stubborn conviction of an iron +will--that by so doing he was acting for her welfare, even in a sense +working out her salvation. + +He relied upon the force of his personality to accomplish the end he had +in view. If he could break the fatal rule of things for one night only, +he believed that he would have achieved the hardest part. But the process +was long and agonizing. Only by the sternest effort of will could he keep +up the pressure which he knew he must not relax for a single moment if he +meant to attain the victory he desired. + +There came a time when Isabel's powers of endurance were lost in the +abyss of mental suffering into which she was flung, and she struggled +like a mad creature for freedom. He held her in his arms, feeling her +strength wane with every paroxysm, till at last she lay exhausted, only +feebly entreating him for the respite he would not grant. + +But even when the bitter conflict was over, when she was utterly +conquered at last, and he laid her down, too weak for further effort, he +did not gather the fruits of victory. For her eyes remained wide and +glassy, dry and sleepless with the fever that throbbed ceaselessly in the +poor tortured brain behind. + +She was passive from exhaustion only, and though he closed the staring +eyes, yet they opened again with tense wakefulness the moment he took his +hand from the burning brow. + +The night was far advanced when Biddy, creeping softly came to her +mistress's side in the belief that she slept at last. She had not dared +to come before, had not dared to interfere though she had listened with a +wrung heart to the long and futile battle; for Sir Eustace's wrath was +very terrible, too terrible a thing to incur with impunity. + +But the moment she looked upon Isabel's face, her courage came upon a +flood of indignation that carried all before it. + +"Faith, I believe you've killed her!" she uttered in a sibilant whisper +across the bed. "Is it yourself that has no heart at all?" + +He looked back to her, dominant still, though the prolonged struggle had +left its mark upon him also. His face was pale and set. + +"This is only a phase," he said quietly. "She will fall asleep presently. +You can get her a cup of tea if you can do it without making a fuss." + +Biddy turned from the bed. That glimpse of Isabel's face had been enough. +She had no further thought of consequences. She moved across the room to +set about her task, and in doing so she paused momentarily and pressed +the bell that communicated with Scott's room. + +Sir Eustace did not note the action. Perhaps the long strain had weakened +his vigilance somewhat. He sat in massive obduracy, relentlessly watching +his sister's worn white face. + +Two minutes later the door opened, and a shadowy figure slipped into the +room. + +He looked up then, looked up sharply. "You!" he said, with curt +displeasure. + +Scott came straight to him, and leaned over his sister for a moment with +a hand on his shoulder. She did not stir, or seem aware of his presence. +Her eyes gazed straight upwards with a painful, immovable stare. + +Scott stood up again. His hand was still upon Eustace. He looked him in +the eyes. "You go to bed, my dear chap!" he said. "I've had my rest." + +Eustace jerked back his head with a movement of exasperation. "You +promised to stay in your room unless you were rung for," he said. + +Scott's brows went up for a second; then, "For the night, yes!" he said. +"But the night is over. It is nearly six. I shan't sleep again. You go +and get what sleep you can." + +Eustace's jaw looked stubborn. "If you will give me your word of honour +not to drug her, I'll go," he said. "Not otherwise." + +Scott's hand pressed his shoulder. "You must leave her in my care now," +he said. "I am not going to promise anything more." + +"Then I remain," said Eustace grimly. + +A muffled sob came from Biddy. She was weeping over her tea-kettle. + +Scott took his brother by the shoulders as he sat. "Go like a good +fellow," he urged. "You will do harm if you stay." + +But Eustace resisted him. "I am here for a definite purpose," he said, +"and I have no intention of relinquishing it. She has come through so far +without it, I am not going to give in at this stage." + +"And you think your treatment has done her good?" said Scott, with a +glance at the drawn, motionless face on the pillow. + +"Ultimate good is what I am aiming at," his brother returned stubbornly. + +Scott's hold became a grip. He leaned suddenly down and spoke in a +whisper. "If I had known you were up to this, I'm damned if I'd have +stayed away!" he said tensely. + +"Stumpy!" Eustace opened his eyes in amazement. Strong language from +Scott was so unusual as to be almost outside his experience. + +"I mean it!" Scott's words vibrated. "You've done a hellish thing! Clear +out now, and leave me to help her in my own way! Before God, I believe +she'll die if you don't! Do you want her to die?" + +The question fell with a force that was passionate. There was violence in +the grip of his hands. His light eyes were ablaze. His whole meagre body +quivered as though galvanized by some vital, electric current more potent +than it could bear. + +And very curiously Sir Eustace was moved by the unknown force. It struck +him unawares. Stumpy in this mood was a complete stranger to him, a being +possessed by gods or devils, he knew not which; but in any case a being +that compelled respect. + +He got up and stood looking down at him speculatively, too astonished to +be angry. + +Scott faced him with clenched hands. He was white as death. "Go!" he +reiterated. "Go! There's no room for you in here. Get out!" + +His lips twisted over the words, and for an instant his teeth showed with +a savage gleam. He was trembling from head to foot. + +It was no moment for controversy. Sir Eustace recognized the fact just as +surely as he realized that his brother had completely parted with his +self-control. He had the look of a furious animal prepared to spring at +his throat. + +Greek had met Greek indeed, but upon ground that was wholly unsuitable +for a tug of war. With a shrug he yielded. + +"I don't know you, Stumpy," he said briefly. "You've got beyond yourself. +I advise you to pull up before we meet again. I also advise you to bear +in mind that to administer that draught is to undo all that I have spent +the whole night to accomplish." + +Scott stood back for him to pass, but the quivering fury of the man +seemed to emanate from him like the scorching draught from a blast +furnace. As Eustace said, he had got beyond himself,--so far beyond that +he was scarcely recognizable. + +"Your advice be damned!" he flung back under his breath with a +concentrated bitterness that was terrible. "I shall follow my own +judgment." + +Sir Eustace's mouth curled superciliously. He was angry too, though by no +means so angry as Scott. "Better look where you go all the same," he +observed, and passed him by, not without dignity and a secret sense of +relief. + +The long and fruitless vigil of the night had taught him one thing at +least. Rome was not built in a day. He would not attempt the feat a +second time, though neither would he rest till he had gained his end. + +As for Scott, he would have a reckoning with him presently--a strictly +private reckoning which should demonstrate once and for all who was +master. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE ESCAPE OF THE PRISONER + + +Dinah spent her Sunday afternoon seated in a far corner of the verandah, +inditing a very laboured epistle to her mother--a very different affair +from the gay little missives she scribbled to her father every other day. + +The letter to her mother was a duty which must of necessity be +accomplished, and perhaps in consequence she found it peculiarly +distasteful. She never knew what to say, being uncomfortably aware that a +detailed account of her doings would only give rise to drastic comment. +The glories of the mountains were wholly beyond her powers of description +when she knew that any extravagance of language would be at once termed +high-flown and ridiculous. The sleigh-drive of the day before was +disposed of in one sentence, and the dance of the evening could not be +mentioned at all. The memory of it was like a flame in her inner +consciousness. Her cheeks still burned at the thought, and her heart +leapt with a wild longing. When would he kiss her again, she wondered? +Ah, when, when? + +There was another thought at the back of her wonder which she felt to be +presumptuous, but which nevertheless could not be kept completely in +abeyance. He had said that there would be no consequences; but--had he +really meant it? Was it possible ever to awake wholly from so perfect a +dream? Was it not rather the great reality of things to which she had +suddenly come, and all her past life a mere background of shadows? How +could she ever go back into that dimness now that she felt the glorious +rays of this new radiance upon her? And he also--was it possible that he +could ever forget? Surely it had ceased to be just a game to either of +them! Surely, surely, the wonder and the rapture had caught him also into +the magic web--the golden maze of Romance! + +She leaned her head on her hand and gave herself up to the great +enchantment, feeling again his kisses upon lips and eyes and brow, and +the thrilling irresistibility of his hold. Ah, this was life indeed! Ah, +this was life! + +A soft footfall near her made her look up sharply, and she saw Rose de +Vigne approaching. Rose was looking even more beautiful than usual, yet +for the first time Dinah contemplated her without any under-current of +envy. She moved slightly to make room for her. + +"I haven't come to stay," Rose announced with her quiet, well-satisfied +smile, as she drew near. "I have promised to sing at to-night's concert +and the padre wants to look through my songs. Well, Dinah, my dear, how +are you getting on? Is that a letter to your mother?" + +Dinah suppressed a sigh. "Yes. I've only just begun it. I don't know in +the least what to say." + +Rose lifted her pretty brows. "What about your new friend Sir Eustace +Studley's sister? Wouldn't she be interested to hear of her? Poor soul, +it's lamentably sad to think that she should be mentally deranged. Some +unfortunate strain in the family, I should say, to judge by the younger +brother's appearance also." + +Dinah's green eyes gleamed a little. "I don't see anything very unusual +about him," she remarked. "There are plenty of little men in the world." + +"And crippled?" smiled Rose. + +"I shouldn't call him a cripple," rejoined Dinah quickly. "He is quite +active." + +"Many cripples are, dear," Rose pointed out. "He has learnt to get the +better of his infirmity, but nothing can alter the fact that the +infirmity exists. I call him a most peculiar little person to look at. Of +course I don't deny that he may be very nice in other ways." + +Dinah bit her lip and was silent. To hear Scott described as nice was to +her mind less endurable than to hear him called peculiar. But somehow she +could not bring herself to discuss him, so she choked down her +indignation and said nothing. + +Rose seated herself beside her. "I call Sir Eustace a very interesting +man," she observed. "He fully makes up for the deficiencies of his +brother and sister. He seems to be very kind-hearted too. Didn't I see +him helping you with your skating the other night?" + +Dinah's eyes shone again with a quick and ominous light. "He helped you +with your ski-ing too, didn't he?" she said. + +"He did, dear. I had a most enjoyable afternoon." Rose smiled again as +over some private reminiscence. "He told me he thought you were coming +on, in fact he seems to think that you have the makings of quite a good +skater. It's a pity your opportunities are so limited, dear." Rose paused +to utter a soft laugh. + +"I don't see anything funny in that," remarked Dinah. + +"No, no! Of course not. I was only smiling at the way in which he +referred to you. 'That little brown cousin of yours' he said, 'makes me +think of a water-vole, there one minute and gone the next.' He seemed to +think you a rather amusing child, as of course you are." Rose put up a +delicate hand and playfully caressed the glowing cheek nearest to her. "I +told him you were not any relation, but just a dear little friend of mine +who had never seen anything of the world before. And he laughed and said, +'That is why she looks like a chocolate baby out of an Easter egg.'" + +"Anything else?" said Dinah, repressing an urgent desire to shiver at the +kindly touch. + +"No, I don't think so. We had more important matters to think of and talk +about. He is a man who has travelled a good deal, and we found that we +had quite a lot in common, having visited the same places and regarded +many things from practically the same point of view. He took the trouble +to be very entertaining," said Rose, with a pretty blush. "And his +trouble was not misspent. I am convinced that he enjoyed the afternoon +even more than I did. We also enjoyed the evening," she added. "He is an +excellent dancer. We suited each other perfectly." + +"Did you find him good at sitting out?" asked Dinah unexpectedly. + +Rose looked at her enquiringly, but her eyes were fixed upon the distant +mist-capped mountains. There was nothing in her aspect to indicate what +had prompted the question. + +"What a funny thing to ask!" she said, with her soft laugh. "No; we +enjoyed dancing much too much to waste any time sitting out. He gave you +one dance, I believe?" + +"No," Dinah said briefly. "I gave him one." + +She turned from her contemplation of the mountains. An odd little smile +very different from Rose's smile of complacency hovered at the corners of +her mouth. She gave Rose a swift and comprehensive glance, then slipped +her pen into her writing-case and closed it. + +"I am afraid I have interrupted you," said Rose. + +"Oh no, it doesn't matter." Dinah's dimple showed for a second and was +gone. "I can't write any more now. There's something about this air that +makes me feel now and then that I must get up and jump. Does it affect +you that way?" + +"You funny little thing!" said Rose. "Why, no!" + +Dinah's chin pointed upwards. She looked for the moment almost +aggressively happy. But the next her look went beyond Rose, and she +started. Her expression altered, became suddenly tender and anxious. + +"There is Mrs. Everard!" she said softly. + +Rose looked round. "Ah! Captain Brent's Purple Empress!" she said. "How +haggard the poor soul looks!" + +As if drawn magnetically, Dinah moved along the verandah. + +Isabel was dressed in the long purple coat she had worn the previous day. +She had a cap of black fur on her head. She stood as if irresolute, +glancing up and down as though she searched for someone. There was an odd +furtiveness in her bearing that struck Dinah on the instant. It also +occurred to her as strange that though the restless eyes must have seen +her they did not seem to take her in. + +The fact deterred her for a second, but only for a second. Then swiftly +she went forward and joined her. + +"Are you looking for someone, dear Mrs. Everard?" + +Isabel's eyes glanced at her, and instantly looked beyond. "I am looking +for my husband," she said, her voice quick and low. "He does not seem to +be here. You have not seen him, I suppose? He is tall and fair with a +boyish smile, and eyes that look straight at you. He laughs a good deal. +He is always laughing. You couldn't fail to notice him. He is one whom +the gods love." + +Again her eyes roamed over Dinah, and again they passed her to scan the +mist-wreathed mountains. + +Dinah slipped a loving hand through her arm. "He is not here, dear," she +said. "Come and sit down for a little! The sun won't be gone yet. We can +watch it go." + +She tried to draw her gently along the verandah, but Isabel resisted. +"No--no! I am not going that way. I have to go up the mountains to meet +him. Don't keep me! Don't keep me!" + +Dinah threw an anxious look around. There was no one near them. Rose had +moved away to join a group just returned from the rink. The laughter and +gay voices rose on the still air in merry chorus. No one knew or cared of +the living tragedy so near. + +Pleadingly she turned to Isabel. "Darling Mrs. Everard, need you go now? +Wait till the morning! It is so late now. It will soon be dark." + +Isabel made a sharp gesture of impatience. "Be quiet, child! You don't +understand. Of course I must go now. I have escaped from them, and if I +wait I shall be taken again. It would kill me to be kept back now. I must +meet him in the dawn on the mountain-top. What was it you called it? The +peaks of Paradise! That is where I shall find him. But I must start at +once--at once." + +She threw another furtive look around, and stepped forth. Dinah's hand +closed upon her arm. "If you go, I am coming too," she said, with quick +resolution. "But won't you wait a moment--just a moment--while I run +and get some gloves?" + +Isabel made a swift effort to disengage herself. "No, child, no! I can't +wait. If you met Eustace, he would make you tell him where you were +going, and then he would follow and bring me back. No, I must go now--at +once. Yes, you may come too if you like. But you mustn't keep me back. I +must go quickly--quickly--before they find out. Everything depends on +that." + +There was no delaying her. Dinah cast another look towards the chattering +group, and gave up hope. She dared not leave her, for she had no idea of +the whereabouts of either of the brothers. And there was no time to make +a search. The only course open to her was to accompany her friend +whithersoever the fruitless quest should lead. She was convinced that +Isabel's physical powers of endurance were slight, and that when they +were exhausted she would be able to bring her back unresisting. + +Nevertheless, she was conscious of a little tremor at the heart as they +set forth. There was an air of desperation about her companion that it +was impossible to overlook. Isabel's manner towards her was so wholly +devoid of that caressing element that had always marked their intimacy +till that moment. Without being actually frightened, she was very uneasy. +It was evident that Isabel was beyond all persuasion that day. + +The sun was beginning to sink towards the western peaks as they turned up +the white track, casting long shadows across the snow. The pine-wood +through which the road wound was mysteriously dark. The rush of the +stream in the hollow had an eerie sound. It seemed to Dinah that the +ground they trod was bewitched. She almost expected to catch sight of +goblin-faces peering from behind the dark trunks. Now and then muffled in +the snow, she thought she heard the scamper of tiny feet. + +Isabel went up the steep track with a wonderful elasticity, looking +neither to right nor left. Her eyes were fixed perpetually forwards, with +the look in them of one who strains towards a goal. Her lips were parted, +and the eagerness of her face went to Dinah's heart. + +They came out above the pine-wood. They reached and passed the spot where +she and Scott had turned back on their first walk together. The snow +crunched crisply underfoot. The ascent was becoming more and more acute. + +Dinah was panting. Light as she was, with all the activity of youth in +her veins, she found it hard to keep up, for Isabel was pressing, +pressing hard. She went as one in whom the fear of pursuit was ever +present, paying no heed to her companion, seeming indeed to have almost +forgotten her presence. + +On and on, up and up, they went on their rapid pilgrimage. The winding of +the road had taken them out of sight of the hotel, and the whole world +seemed deserted. The sun-rays slanted ever more and more obliquely. The +valley behind them had fallen into shadow. + +Before them and very far above them towered the great pinnacles, clothed +in the everlasting snows, beginning to turn golden above their floating +wreaths of mist. Even where they were, trails like the ragged edges of a +cloud drifted by them, and the coldness of the air held a clammy quality. +The sparkling dryness of the atmosphere seemed to be dissolving into +these thin, veil-like vapours. The cold was more penetrating than Dinah +had ever before experienced. + +Now and then an icy draught came swirling down upon them, making her +shiver, though it was evident that Isabel was unaware of it. The harder +the way became, the more set upon her purpose did she seem to be. Dinah +marvelled at her strength and unvarying determination. There was about it +an element of the wild, not far removed from ferocity. Her uneasiness was +growing with every step, and something that was akin to fear began to +knock at her heart. The higher they mounted, the more those trails of +mist increased. Very soon now the sun would be gone. Already it had +ceased to warm that world of snow. And what would happen then? What if +the dusk came upon them while still they pressed on up that endless, +difficult track? + +Timidly she clasped Isabel's arm at last. "It will be getting dark soon," +she said. "Shouldn't we be going back?" + +For a moment Isabel's eyes swept round upon her, and she marvelled at +their intense and fiery brilliance. But instantly they sought the +mountain-tops again, all rose-lit in the opal glow of sunset. + +"You can go back, child," she said. "I must go on." + +"But it is getting so late," pleaded Dinah. "And look at the mist! If we +keep on much longer, we may be lost." + +Isabel quickened her pace. "I am not afraid," she said, and her voice +thrilled with a deep rapture. "He is waiting for me, there where the +mountains meet the sky. I shall find him in the dawn. I know that I shall +find him." + +"But, dear Mrs. Everard, we can't go on after dark," urged Dinah. "We +should be frozen long before morning. It is terribly cold already. And +poor Biddy will be so anxious about you." + +"Oh no!" Isabel spoke with supreme confidence. "Biddy will know where I +have gone. She was asleep when I left, poor old soul. She had had a bad +night." A sudden sharp shudder caught her. "All night I was struggling +against the bars of my cage. It was only when Biddy fell asleep that I +found the door was open. But you can go back, child," she added. "You had +better go back. Eustace won't want to follow me if he has you." + +But Dinah's hold instantly grew close and resolute. "I shall not leave +you," she said, with decision. + +Isabel made no further attempt to persuade her. She seemed to regard it +as a matter of trifling importance. Her one aim was to reach those +glowing peaks that glittered far above the floating mists like the +glories half-revealed of another world. + +It was nothing to her that the road by which they had come should be +blotted out. She had no thought for that, no desire or intention to +return. If an earthquake had rent away the ground behind them, she would +not have been dismayed. It was only the forward path, leading ever +upwards to the desired country, that held her mind, and the memory of a +voice that called far above the mountain height. + +The sun sank, the glory faded. The dark and the cold wrapped them round. +But still was she undaunted. "When the dawn comes, we shall be there," +she said. + +And Dinah heard her with a sinking heart. She had no thought of leaving +her, but she knew and faced the fact that in going on, she carried her +life in her hand. Yet she kept herself from despair. Surely by now the +brothers would have found out, and they would follow! Surely they would +follow! And Eustace--Eustace would thank her for what she had done. + +She strained her ears for their coming; but she heard nothing--nothing +but their own muffled footsteps on the snow. And ever the darkness +deepened, and the mist crept closer around them. + +She gathered all her courage to face the falling night. She was sure she +had done right to come and so she hoped God would take care of them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CUP OF BITTERNESS + + +It was growing late on that same evening that Scott came through the +hotel vestibule after a rehearsal of the concert which was to take place +that evening and at which he had undertaken to play the accompaniments. +He glanced about him as he came as though in search of someone, and +finally passed on to the smoking-room. His eye were heavy and his face +worn, but there was an air of resolution about him that gave purpose to +his movements. + +In the smoking-room several men were congregated, and in a corner of it +sat Sir Eustace, writing a letter. Scott came straight to him, and bent +over him a hand on the back of his chair. + +"Can I have a word with you?" he asked in a low voice. + +Sir Eustace did not look round or cease to write. "Presently," he said. + +Scott drew back and sat down near him. He did not smoke or take up a +paper. His attitude was one of quiet vigilance. + +Minutes passed. Sir Eustace continued his task exactly as if he were not +there. Now and then he paused to flick the ash from his cigarette, but he +did not turn his head. The dressing-gong boomed through the hotel, but he +paid no attention to it. One after another the men in the room got up and +sauntered away, but Scott remained motionless, awaiting his brother's +pleasure. + +Sir Eustace finished his letter, and pulled another sheet of paper +towards him. Scott made no sign of impatience. + +Sir Eustace began to write again, paused, wrote a few more words, then +suddenly turned in his chair. They were alone. + +"Oh, what the devil is it?" he said irritably. "I haven't any time to +waste over you. What do you want?" + +Scott stood up. "It's all right, old chap," he said gently. "I'm going. I +only came in to tell you I was sorry for all the beastly things I said to +you last night--this morning, rather. I lost my temper which was fairly +low of me, considering you had been up all night and I hadn't." + +He paused. Eustace was looking up at him from under frowning brows, his +blue eyes piercing and merciless. + +"It's all very fine, Stumpy," he said, after a moment. "Some people think +that an apology more than atones for the offence. I don't." + +"Neither do I," said Scott quietly. "But it's better than nothing, isn't +it?" His eyes met his brother's very steadily and openly. His attitude +was unflinching. + +"It depends," Eustace rejoined curtly. "It is if you mean it. If you +don't, it's not worth--that," with a snap of the fingers. + +"I do mean it," said Scott, flushing. + +"You do?" Eustace looked at him still more searchingly. + +"I always mean what I say," Scott returned with deliberation. + +"And you meant what you said this morning?" Eustace pounced without mercy +upon the weak spot. + +But the armour was proof. Scott remained steadfast. "I meant it--yes. But +I might have put it in a different form. I lost my temper. I am sorry." + +Eustace continued to regard him with a straight, unsparing scrutiny. "And +you consider that to be the sort of apology I can accept?" he asked, +after a moment. + +"I think you might accept it, old chap," Scott made pacific rejoinder. + +Eustace turned back to the table, and began to put his papers together. +"I might do many things," he observed, "which, not being a weak-kneed +fool, I don't. If you really wish to make your peace with me, you had +better do your best to make amends--to pull with me and not against me. +For I warn you, Stumpy, you went too far last night. And it is not the +first time." + +He paused, as if he expected a disclaimer. + +Scott waited a second or two; then with a very winning movement he bent +and laid his arm across his brother's shoulders. "Try and bear with me, +dear chap!" he said. + +His voice was not wholly steady. There was entreaty in his action. + +Eustace made a sharp gesture of surprise, but he did not repel him. There +fell a brief silence between them; then Scott's hand came gently down and +closed upon his brother's. + +"Life isn't so confoundedly easy at the best of times," he said, speaking +almost under his breath. "I'm generally philosopher enough to take it as +it comes. But just lately--" he broke off. "Let it be _pax,_ Eustace!" he +urged in a whisper. + +Eustace's hand remained for a moment or two stiffly unresponsive; then +very suddenly it closed and held. + +"What's the matter with you?" he said gruffly. + +"Oh, I'm a fool, that's all," Scott answered, and uttered a shaky laugh. +"Never mind! Forget it like a dear fellow! God knows I don't want to pull +against you; but, old chap, we must go slow." + +It was the conclusion that events had forced upon Eustace himself during +the night, but he chafed against acknowledging it. "There's no sense in +drifting on in the same old hopeless way for ever," he said. "We have got +to make a stand; and it's now or never." + +"I know. But we must have patience a bit longer. There is a change +coming. I am certain of it. But--last night has thrown her back." Scott +spoke with melancholy conviction. + +"You gave her the draught?" Eustace asked sharply. + +"I gave her a sedative only; but it took no effect. In the middle of the +morning she was still in the same unsatisfactory state, and I gave her a +second sedative. After that she fell asleep, but it was not a very easy +sleep for a long time. This afternoon I saw Biddy for a moment, and she +told me she seemed much more comfortable. The poor old thing looked tired +out, and I told her to get a rest herself. She said she would lie down in +the room. If it hadn't been for this concert business, I would have +relieved her. But they couldn't muster anyone to take my place. I am just +going up now to see how she is getting on." + +Scott straightened himself slowly, with a movement that was unconsciously +very weary. Eustace gave him a keen glance. + +"You're wearing yourself out over her, Stumpy," he said. + +"Oh, rot!" Scott smiled upon him, a light that was boyishly affectionate +in his eyes. "I'm much tougher than I look. Thanks for being decent to +me, old chap! I don't deserve it. If there are any more letters to be +written, bring them along, and I'll attend to them to-night after the +concert." + +"No. Not this lot. I shall attend to them myself." Eustace got up, and +passed a hand through his arm. "You are working too hard and sleeping too +little. I'm going to take you in hand and put a stop to it." + +Scott laughed. "No, no! Thanks all the same, I'm better left alone. Are +you coming to the show to-night? The beautiful Miss de Vigne is going to +sing." + +Eustace looked supercilious. "Is there anything that young lady can't do, +I wonder? Her accomplishments are legion. She told me yesterday that she +could play the guitar. She can also recite, play bridge, and take cricket +scores. She is a scratch golf-player, plays a good game of tennis, rides +to hounds, and visits the poor. And that is by no means a complete list. +I don't wonder that she gives the little brown girl indigestion. Her +perfection is almost nauseating at times." + +Scott laughed again. It was a relief to have diverted his brother's +attention from more personal subjects. "She ought to suit you rather +well," he observed. "You are something of the perfect knight yourself. I +heard a lady exclaim only yesterday when you started off together on that +ski-ing expedition, 'What a positively divine couple! Apollo and +Aphrodite!' I think it was the parson's wife. You couldn't expect her to +know much about heathen theology." + +"Don't make me sick if you don't mind!" said Sir Eustace. "Look here, my +friend! We shall be late if we don't go. You can't spend long with +Isabel, if you are to turn up in time for this precious concert. Hullo! +What's the matter?" + +The door of the smoking-room had burst suddenly open, and Colonel de +Vigne, very red in the face and as agitated as his pomposity would allow, +stood glaring at them. + +"So you are here!" he exclaimed, his tone an odd blend of relief and +anxiety. + +"Do you mean me?" said Sir Eustace, with a touch of haughtiness. + +"Yes, sir, you! I was looking for you," explained the Colonel, pulling +himself together. "I thought perhaps you might be able to give me some +idea as to the whereabouts of my young charge, Miss Bathurst. She is +missing." + +Sir Eustace raised his black brows. "What should I know about her +whereabouts?" he said. + +Scott broke in quickly. "I saw her in the verandah this afternoon with +your daughter." + +"I know. She was there." The Colonel spoke with brevity. "Rose left her +there talking to your sister. No one seems to have seen her since. I +thought she might have been with Sir Eustace. I see I was mistaken. I +apologize. But where the devil can she be?" + +Sir Eustace raised his shoulders. "She was certainly not talking to my +sister," he remarked. "She has kept her room to-day. Miss Bathurst is +probably in her own room dressing for dinner." + +"That's just where she isn't!" exploded the Colonel. "I missed her at +tea-time but thought she must be out. Now her brother tells me that he +has been all over the place and can't find her. I suppose she can't be +upstairs with your sister?" He turned to Scott. + +"I'll go and see," Scott said. "She may be--though I doubt it. My sister +was not so well, and so stayed in bed to-day." + +He moved towards the stairs with the words; but ere he reached them there +came the sound of a sudden commotion on the corridor above, and a wailing +voice made itself heard. + +"Miss Isabel! Miss Isabel! Wherever are you, mavourneen? Ah, what'll I do +at all? Miss Isabel's gone!" + +Old Biddy in her huge white apron and mob cap appeared at the top of the +staircase and came hobbling down with skinny hands extended. + +"Ah, Master Scott--Master Scott--may the saints help us! She's gone! +She's gone! And meself sleeping like a hog the whole afternoon through! +I'll never forgive meself, Master Scott,--never, never! Oh, what'll I do? +I pray the Almighty will take my life before any harm comes to her!" + +She reached Scott at the foot of the stairs and caught his hand +hysterically between her own. + +Sir Eustace strode forward, white to the lips. "Stop your clatter, woman, +and answer me! How did Miss Isabel get away? Is she dressed?" + +The old woman cowered back from the blazing wrath in his eyes. "Yes, your +honour! No, your honour! I mean--Yes, your honour!" she stammered, still +clinging pathetically to Scott. "I was asleep, ye see. I never knew--I +never knew!" + +"How long did you sleep?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +"And how am I to tell at all?" wailed Biddy. "It didn't seem like five +minutes, and I opened me eyes, and she was all quiet in the dark. And +I said to meself, 'I won't disturb the dear lamb,' and I crept into me +room and tidied meself, and made a cup o' tay. And still she kept so +quiet; so I drank me tay and did a bit of work. And then--just a minute +ago it was--I crept in and went to her thinking it was time she woke +up,--and--and--and she wasn't there, your honour. The bed was laid up, +and she was gone! Oh, what'll I do at all? What'll I do?" She burst into +wild sobs, and hid her face in her apron. + +Two or three people were standing about in the vestibule. They looked at +the agitated group with interest, and in a moment a young man who had +just entered came up to Scott. + +"I believe I saw your sister in the verandah this afternoon," he said. + +"That's just what Rose said," broke in the Colonel. "And you wouldn't +believe me. She came out, and Dinah went to speak to her. And now the two +of them are missing. It's obvious. They must have gone off together +somewhere." + +"Not up the mountain. I hope," the young man said. + +"That is probably where they have gone," Scott said, speaking for the +first time. He was patting Biddy's shoulder with compassionate kindness. +"Why do you say that?" + +"It's just begun to snow," the other answered. "And the mist up the +mountain path is thick." + +"Damnation!" exclaimed Sir Eustace furiously. "And she may have been gone +for hours!" + +"Miss Bathurst was with her," said Scott. "She would keep her head. I am +certain of that." He turned to the Colonel who stood fuming by. "Hadn't +we better organize a search-party sir? I am afraid that there is not much +doubt that they have gone up the mountain. My sister, you know--" he +flushed a little--"my sister is not altogether responsible for her +actions. She would not realize the danger." + +"But surely Dinah wouldn't be such a little fool as to go too!" burst +forth the Colonel. "She's sane enough, when she isn't larking about with +other fools." He glared at Sir Eustace. "And how the devil are we to know +where to look, I'd like to know? We can't hunt all over the Alps." + +"There may be some dogs in the village," Scott said. "There is certainly +a guide. I will go down at once and see what I can find." + +"No, no, Stumpy! Not you!" Sharply Sir Eustace intervened. "I won't have +you go. It's not your job, and you are not fit for it." He laid a +peremptory hand upon his brother's shoulder. "That's understood, is it? +You will not leave the hotel." + +He spoke with stern insistence, looking Scott straight in the eyes; and +after a moment or two Scott yielded the point. + +"All right, old chap! I'm not much good, I know. But for heaven's sake, +lose no time." + +"No time will be lost." Sir Eustace turned round upon the Colonel. "We +can't have any but young men on this job," he said. "See if you can +muster two or three to go with me, will you? A doctor if possible! And we +shall want blankets and restoratives and lanterns. Stumpy, you can see to +that. Yes, and send for a guide too though he won't be much help in a +thick mist. And take that wailing woman away! Have everything ready for +us when we come back! They can't have gone very far. Isabel hasn't the +strength. I shall be ready immediately." + +He turned to the stairs and went up them in great leaps, leaving the +little group below to carry out his orders. + +There was a momentary inaction after his departure, then Scott limped +across to the door and opened it. Thick darkness met him, the clammy +darkness of fog, and the faint, faint rustle of falling snow. + +He closed the door and turned back, meeting the Colonel's eyes, "It's +hard to stay behind, sir," he said. + +The Colonel nodded. He liked Scott. "Yes, infernally hard. But we'll do +all we can. Will you find the doctor and get the necessaries together? +I'll see to the rest." + +"Very good, sir; I will." Scott went to the old woman who still sobbed +piteously into her apron. "Come along, Biddy! There's plenty to be done. +Miss Isabel's room must be quite ready for her when she comes back, and +Miss Bathurst's too. We shall want boiling water--lots of it. That's your +job. Come along!" + +He urged her gently to the stairs, and went up with her, holding her arm. + +At the top she stopped and gave him an anguished look. "Ah, Master Scott +darlint, will the Almighty be merciful? Will He bring her safe back +again?" + +He drew her gently on. "That's another thing you can do, Biddy," he said. +"Ask Him!" + +And before his look Biddy commanded herself and grew calmer. "Faith, +Master Scott," she said, "if it isn't yourself that's taught me the +greatest lesson of all!" + +A very compassionate smile shone in Scott's eyes as he passed on and left +her. "Poor old Biddy," he murmured, as he went. "It's easy to preach to +such as you. But, O God, there's no denying it's bitter work for those +who stay behind!" + +He knew that he and Biddy were destined to drink that cup of bitterness +to the dregs ere the night passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE VISION OF GREATHEART + + +The darkness of the night lay like a black pall upon the mountain. The +snow was falling thickly, and ever more thickly. It drifted in upon +Dinah, as she crouched in the shelter of an empty shed that had been +placed on that high slope for the protection of sheep from the spring +storms. They had come upon this shelter just as the gloom had become too +great for even Isabel to regard further progress as possible, and in +response to the girl's insistence they had crept in to rest. They had +lost the beaten track long since; neither of them had realized when. But +the certainty that they had done so had had its effect upon Isabel. Her +energies had flagged from the moment that it had dawned upon her. A +deadly tiredness had come over her, a feebleness so complete that Dinah +had had difficulty in getting her into the shelter. Return was utterly +out of the question. They were hopelessly lost, and to wander in that +densely falling snow was to court disaster. + +Very thankful Dinah had been to find even so poor a refuge in that waste +of drifting fog; but now as she huddled by Isabel's side it seemed to her +that the relief afforded was but a prolonging of their agony. The cold +was intense. It seemed to penetrate to her very bones, and she knew by +her companion's low moaning that she was suffering keenly also. + +Isabel seemed to have sunk into a state of semi-consciousness, and only +now and then did broken words escape her--words scarcely audible to +Dinah, but which testified none the less to the bitterness of despair +that had come upon her. + +She sat in a corner of the desolate place with Dinah pressed close to +her, while the snow drifted in through the door-less entrance and +sprinkled them both. But it was the darkness rather than the cold or the +snow that affected the girl as she crouched there with her arms about her +companion, striving to warm and shelter her while she herself felt frozen +to the very heart. It was so terrible, so monstrous, so nerve-shattering. +And the silence that went with it was like a nightmare horror to her +shrinking soul. For all Dinah's sensibilities were painfully on the +alert. No merciful dulness of perception came to her. Responsibility had +awakened in her a nervous energy that made her realize the awfulness of +their position with appalling vividness. That they could possibly survive +the night she did not believe. And Death--Death in that fearful +darkness--was a terror from which she shrank almost in panic. + +That she retained command of her quivering nerves was due solely to the +fact of Isabel's helplessness--Isabel's dependence upon her. She knew +that while she had any strength left, she must not give way. She must be +brave. Their sole chance of rescue hung upon that. + +Like Scott, she thought of the guide, though the hope was a forlorn one. +He might know of this shelter; but whether in the awful darkness he would +ever be able to find it she strongly doubted. Their absence must have +been discovered long since, she was sure; and Scott--Scott would be +certain to think of the mountain path. He would remember his sister's +wild words of the day before, and he would know that she, Dinah, had had +no choice but to accompany her upon the mad quest. It comforted her to +think that Scott would understand, and was already at work to help them. +If by any means deliverance could be brought to them she knew that Scott +would compass it. His quiet and capable spirit was accustomed to grapple +with difficulties, and the enormity of a task would never dismay him. He +had probably organized a search-party long ere this. He would not rest +until he had done his very utmost. She wondered if he would come himself +to look for them; but discarded the idea as unlikely. His infirmity made +progress on the mountains a difficult matter at all times, and he would +not wish to hamper the movements of the others. That was like Scott, she +reflected. He would always keep his own desires in the background, +subservient to the needs of others. No, he would not come himself. He +would stay behind in torturing inaction while fitter men fared forth. + +The thought of Eustace came again to her. He would be one of the +search-party. She pictured him forcing his way upwards, all his +magnificent strength bent to the work. Her heart throbbed at the memory +of that all-conquering presence--the arms that had held her, the lips +that had pressed her own. And he had stooped to plead with her also. She +would always remember that of him with a thrill of ecstasy. He the +princely and splendid--Apollo the magnificent! + +Always? A sudden chill smote her heart numbing her through and through. +Always? And Death waiting on the threshold to snatch her away from the +wonderful joy she had only just begun to know! Always! Ah, would she +remember even to-morrow--even to-morrow? And he--would he not forget? + +Isabel stirred in her arms and murmured an inarticulate complaint. +Tenderly she drew her closer. How cold it was! How cruelly, how bitingly +cold! All her bones were beginning to ache. A dreadful stiffness was +creeping over her. How long would her senses hold out, she wondered +piteously? How long? How long? + +It must be hours now since they had entered that freezing place, and with +every minute it seemed to be growing colder. Never in her life had she +imagined anything so searching, so agonizing, as this cold. It held her +in an iron rigour against which she was powerless to struggle. The +strength to clasp Isabel in her arms was leaving her. She thought that +her numbed limbs were gradually turning to stone. Even her lips were so +numbed with cold that she could not move them. The steam of her breath +had turned to ice upon the wool of her coat. + +The need for prayer came upon her suddenly as she realized that her +faculties were failing. Her belief in God was of that dim and far-off +description that brings awe rather than comfort to the soul. The sudden +thought of Him came upon her in the darkness like a thunderbolt. In all +her life Dinah had never asked for anything outside her daily prayers +which were of a strictly formal description. She had shouldered her own +troubles unassisted with the philosophy of a disposition that was +essentially happy. She had seldom given a serious thought to the life of +the spirit. It was all so vague to her, so far removed from the daily +round and the daily burden. But now--face to face with the coming +night--the spiritual awoke in her. Her soul cried out for comfort. + +With Isabel still clasped in her failing arms, she began a desperate +prayer for help. Her words came haltingly. They sounded strange to +herself. But with all the strength that remained she sent forth her cry +to the Infinite. And even as she prayed there came to her--whence she +knew not--the conviction that somewhere--probably not more than a couple +of miles from her though the darkness made the distance seem +immeasurable--Scott was praying too. That thought had a wonderfully +comforting effect upon her. His prayer was so much more likely to be +answered than hers. He was just the sort of man who would know how to +pray. + +"How I wish he were here!" she whispered piteously into the darkness. "I +shouldn't be afraid of dying--if only he were here." + +She was certain--quite certain--that had he been there with her, no fear +would have reached her. He wore the armour of a strong man, and by it he +would have shielded her also. + +"Oh, dear Mr. Greatheart," she murmured through her numb lips, "I'm sure +you know the way to Heaven." + +Isabel stirred again as one who moves in restless slumber. "We must scale +the peaks of Paradise to reach it," she said. + +"Are you awake, dearest?" asked Dinah very tenderly. + +Isabel's head was sunk against her shoulder. She moved it, slightly +raised it. "Yes, I am awake," she said. "I am watching for the dawn." + +"It won't come yet," whispered Dinah tremulously. "It's a long, long way +off." + +Isabel moved a little more, feeling for Dinah in the darkness. "Are you +frightened, little one?" she said. "Don't be frightened!" + +Dinah swallowed down a sob. "It is so dark," she murmured through +chattering teeth. "And so, so cold." + +"You are cold, dear heart?" Isabel sat up suddenly. "Why should you be +cold?" she said. "The darkness is nothing to those who are used to it. I +have lived in outer darkness for seven weary years. But now--now I think +the day is drawing near at last." + +With an energy that astounded Dinah she got upon her knees and by her +movements she realized, albeit too late, that she was divesting herself +of the long purple coat. + +With all her strength she sought to frustrate her, but her strength had +become very feebleness; and when, despite resistance, Isabel wrapped her +round in the garment she had discarded, her resistance was too puny to +take effect. + +"My dear," Isabel said, in her voice the deep music of maternal +tenderness, "I am not needing it. I shall not need any earthly things for +long. I am going to meet my husband in the dawning. But you--you will go +back." + +She fastened the coat with a quiet dexterity that made Dinah think again +of Scott, and sat down again in her corner as if unconscious of the cold. + +"Come and lie in my arms, little one!" she said. "Perhaps you will be +able to sleep." + +Dinah crept close. "It will kill you--it will kill you!" she sobbed. "Oh, +why did I let you?" + +Isabel's arms closed about her. "Don't cry, dear!" she murmured fondly. +"It is nothing to me. A little sooner--a little later! If you had +suffered what I have suffered you would say as I do, 'Dear God, let it be +soon!' There! Put your head on my shoulder, dear child! See if you can +get a little sleep! You have cared for me long enough. Now I am going to +care for you." + +With loving words she soothed her, calming her as though she had been a +child in nightmare terror, and gradually a certain peace began to still +the horror in Dinah's soul. An unmistakable drowsiness was stealing over +her, a merciful lethargy lulling the sensibilities that had been so +acutely tried. Her weakness was merging into a sense of almost blissful +repose. She was no longer conscious of the anguish of the cold. Neither +did the darkness trouble her. And the comfort of Isabel's arms was rest +to her spirit. + +As one who wanders in a golden maze she began to dream strange dreams +that yet were not woven by the hand of sleep. Dimly she saw as down a +long perspective a knight in golden armour climbing, ever climbing, the +peaks of Paradise, from which, as from an eagle's nest, she watched his +difficult but untiring progress. She thought he halted somewhat in the +ascent--which was unlike Apollo, who walked as walk the gods with a gait +both arrogant and assured. But still he came on, persistently, +resolutely, carrying his golden shield before him. + +His visor was down, and she wished that he would raise it. She yearned +for the sight of that splendid face with its knightly features and blue, +fiery eyes. She pictured it to herself as he came, but somehow it did not +seem to fit that patient climbing figure. + +And then as he gradually drew nearer, the thought came to her to go and +meet him, and she started to run down the slope. She reached him. She +gave him both her hands. She was ready--she was eager--to be drawn into +his arms. + +But he did not so draw her. To her amazement he only bowed himself before +her and stretched forth the shield he bore that it might cover them both. + +"It is Mr. Greatheart!" she said to herself in wonder. "Of course--it is +Mr. Greatheart!" + +And then, while she still gazed upon the glittering, princely form, he +put up a hand and lifted the visor. And she saw the kindly, steadfast +eyes all kindled and alight with a glory before which instinctively she +hid her own. Never--no, never--had she dreamed before that any man could +look at her so! It was not passion that those eyes held for her;--it was +worship. + +She stood with bated breath and throbbing heart, waiting, waiting, as one +in the presence of a vision, who longs--yet fears--to look. And while she +waited she knew that the sun was shining upon them both with a glowing +warmth that filled her soul abrim with such a rapture as she had never +known before. + +"How wonderful!" she murmured to herself. "How wonderful!" + +And then at last she summoned courage to look up, and all in a moment her +vision was shattered. The darkness was all about her again; Greatheart +was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RETURN + + +What happened after the passing of her vision Dinah never fully knew, so +slack had become her grip upon material things. Her spirit seemed to be +wandering aimlessly about the mountain-side while her body lay in icy +chains within that miserable shelter. Of Isabel's presence she was no +longer even dimly aware, and she knew neither fear nor pain, only a wide +desolation of emptiness that encompassed her as atmosphere encompasses +the world. + +Sometimes she fancied that the sound of voices came muffled through the +fog that hung impenetrably upon the great slope. And when this fancy +caught her, her spirit drifted back very swiftly to the near +neighbourhood of that inert and frozen body that lay so helpless in the +dark. For that strange freedom of the spirit seemed to her to be highly +dangerous and in a fashion wrong. It would be a terrible thing if they +found and buried the body, and the spirit were left alone to wander for +ever homeless on that desolate mountain-side. She could not imagine a +fate more awful. + +At the same time, being free from the body, she knew no physical pain, +and she shrank from returning before she need, knowing well the anguish +of suffering that awaited her. The desolation and loneliness made her +unhappy in a vague and not very comprehensible fashion, but she did not +suffer actively. That would come later when return became imperative. +Till then she flitted to and fro, intangible as gossamer, elusive as the +snow. She wondered what Apollo would say if he could see her thus. Even +he would fail to catch her now. She pictured the strong arms closing upon +her, and clasping--emptiness. That thought made her a little cold, and +sent her floating back to make sure that the lifeless body was still +there. + +And as she went, drifting through the silence, there came to her the +thought that Scott would be unutterably shocked if they brought her back +to him dead. It was strange how the memory of him haunted her that night. +It almost seemed as if his spirit were out there in the great waste, +seeking hers. + +She reached the shelter and entered, borne upon snowflakes. Yes, the body +was still there. She hovered over it like a bird over its nest. For +Scott's sake, should she not return? + +And then very suddenly there came a great sound close to her--the loud +barking of a dog;--and in a second--in less--she had returned. + +A long, long shiver went through the poor frozen thing that was herself, +and she knew that she moaned as one awaking.... + +Vaguely, through dulled senses, she heard the great barking yet again, +and something immense that was furry and soft brushed against her. She +heard the panting of a large animal close to her in the hut, and very +feebly she put out a hand. + +She did not like that loud baying. It went through and through her brain. +She was not frightened, only dreadfully tired. And now that she was back +again in the body, she longed unspeakably to sleep. + +But the noise continued, a perfect clamour of sound; and soon there came +other sounds, the shouting of men, the muffled tread of feet sorely +hampered by snow. A dim light began to shine, and gradually increased +till it became a single, piercing eye that swept searchingly around the +wretched shelter. An arc of fog surrounded it, obscuring all besides. + +Dinah gazed wide-eyed at that dazzling arc, wondering numbly, whence it +came. It drew nearer to her. Its brightness became intolerable. She tried +to shut her eyes, but the lids felt too stiff to move. Again, more +feebly, she moved her hand. It would be terrible if they thought her +dead, especially after all the trouble she had taken to return. + +And then very suddenly the deadly lethargy passed from her. All her +nerves were pricked into activity. For someone--someone--was kneeling +beside her. She felt herself gathered into strong arms. + +"Quick, Wetherby! The brandy!" Ah, well she knew those brief, peremptory +tones! "My God! We're only just in time!" + +Fast pressed against a man's heart, a faint warmth went through her. She +knew an instant of perfect serenity; but the next she uttered a piteous +cry of pain. For fire--liquid, agonizing--was on her bloodless lips and +in her mouth. It burned its ruthless way down her throat, setting her +whole body tingling, waking afresh in her the power to suffer. + +She turned, weakly gasping, and hid her face upon the breast that +supported her. + +Instantly she felt herself clasped more closely. "It's all right, little +darling, all right!" he whispered to her with an almost fierce +tenderness. "Take it like a good child! It'll pull you through." + +With steady insistence he turned her face back again, chafing her icy +cheek hard. And in a moment or two another burning dose was on its way. + +It made her choke and gurgle, but it did its work. The frozen heart in +her began to beat again with great jerks and bounds, sending quivering +shocks throughout her body. + +She tried to speak to him, to whisper his name; but she could only gasp +and gasp against his breast, and presently from very weakness she began +to cry. + +He gathered her closer still, murmuring fond words, while he rubbed her +face and hands, imparting the warmth of his own body to hers. His +presence was like a fiery essence encompassing her. Lying there against +his heart, she felt the tide of life turn in her veins and steadily flow +again. Like a child, she clung to him, and after a while, with an impulse +sublimely natural, she lifted her lips to his. + +He pressed his lips upon them closely, lingeringly. "Better now, +sweetheart?" he whispered. + +And she, clinging to him, found voice to answer, "Nothing matters now you +have come." + +The consciousness of his protecting care filled her with a rapture almost +too great to be borne. She throbbed in his arms, pressing closer, ever +closer. And the grim Shadow of Death receded from the threshold. She knew +that she was safe. + +It was soon after this that the thought of Isabel came to her, and +tremulously she begged him to go to her. But he would not suffer her out +of his arms. + +"The others can see to her," he said. "You are my care." + +She thrilled at the words, but she would not be satisfied. "She has been +so good to me," she told him pleadingly "See, I am wearing her coat." + +"But for her you would never have come to this," he made brief reply, and +she thought his words were stern. + +Then, as she would not be pacified, he lifted her like a child and held +her so that she could look down upon Isabel, lying inert and senseless +against the doctor's knee. + +"Oh, is she dead?" whispered Dinah, awe-struck. + +"I don't know," he made answer, and by the tightening of his arms she +knew that her safety meant more to him at the moment than that of Isabel +or anyone else in the world. + +But in a second or two she heard Isabel moan, and was reassured. + +"She is coming round," the doctor said. "She is not so far gone as the +other lassie." + +Dinah wondered hazily what he could mean, wondered if by any chance he +suspected that long and dreary wandering of her spirit up and down the +mountain-side. She nestled her head down against Eustace's shoulder with +a feeling of unutterable thankfulness that she had returned in time. + +Her impressions after that were of a very dim and shadowy description. +She supposed the brandy had made her sleepy. Very soon she drifted off +into a state of semi-consciousness in which she realized nothing but the +strong holding of his arms. She even vaguely wondered after a time +whether this also were not a dream, for other fantasies began to crowd +about her. She rocked on a sea of strange happenings on which she found +it impossible to focus her mind. It seemed to have broken adrift as it +were--a rudderless boat in a gale. But still that sense of security never +wholly left her. Dreaming or waking, the force of his personality +remained with her. + +It must have been hours later, she reflected afterwards, that she heard +the Colonel's voice exclaim hoarsely over her head, "In heaven's name, +say she isn't dead!" + +And, "Of course she isn't," came Eustace's curt response. "Should I be +carrying her if she were?" + +She tried to open her eyes, but could not. They seemed to be weighted +down. But she did very feebly close her numbed hands about Eustace's +coat. Emphatically she did not want to be handed over like a bale of +goods to the Colonel. + +He clasped her to him reassuringly, and presently she knew that he bore +her upstairs, holding her comfortably close all the way. + +"Don't go away from me!" she begged him weakly. + +"Not so long as you want me, little sweetheart," he made answer. But her +woman's heart told her that a parting was imminent notwithstanding. + +In all her life she had never had so much attention before. She seemed to +have entered upon a new and amazing phase of existence. Colonel de Vigne +faded completely into the background, and she found herself in the care +of Biddy and the doctor. Eustace left her with a low promise to return, +and she had to be satisfied with that thought, though she would fain have +clung to him still. + +They undressed her and put her into a hot bath that did much to lessen +the numb constriction of her limbs, though it brought also the most +agonizing pain she had ever known. When it was over, the limit of her +endurance was long past; and she lay in hot blankets weeping helplessly +while Biddy tried in vain to persuade her to drink some scalding mixture +that she swore would make her feel as gay as a lark. + +In the midst of this, someone entered quietly and stood beside her; and +all in a moment there came to Dinah the consciousness of an unknown force +very strangely uplifting her. She looked up with a quivering smile in the +midst of her tears. + +"Oh, Mr. Greatheart," she whispered brokenly, "is it you?" + +He smiled down upon her, and took the cup from Biddy's shaky old hand. + +"May I give you this?" he said. + +Dinah was filled with gratified confusion. "Oh, please, you mustn't +trouble! But--how very kind of you!" + +He took Biddy's place by her side. His eyes were shining with an odd +brilliance, almost, she thought to herself wonderingly, as if they held +tears. A sharp misgiving went through her. How was it they were bestowing +so much care upon her, unless Isabel--Isabel-- + +She did not dare to put her doubt into words, but he read it and +instantly answered it. "Don't be anxious!" he said in his kindly, tired +voice. "All is well. Isabel is asleep--actually sleeping quietly without +any draught. The doctor is quite satisfied about her." + +He spoke the simple truth, she knew; he was incapable of doing anything +else. A great wave of thankfulness went through her, obliterating the +worst of her misery. + +"I am so glad," she told him weakly. "I was--so dreadfully afraid. I--I +had to go with her, Mr. Studley. I do hope everyone understands." + +"Everyone does," he made answer gently. "Now let me give you this, and +then you must sleep too." + +She drank from the cup he held, and felt revived. + +He did not speak again till she had finished; then he leaned slightly +towards her, and spoke with great earnestness. "Miss Bathurst, do you +realize, I wonder, that you saved my sister's life by going with her? I +do; and I shall never forget it." + +She was sure now that she caught the gleam of tears in the grey eyes. She +slipped her hands out to him. "I only did what I could," she murmured +confusedly. "Anyone would have done it. And please, Mr. Greatheart, will +you call me Dinah?" + +"Or Mercy?" he suggested smiling, her hands clasped close in his. + +She smiled back with shy confidence. The memory of her dream was in her +mind, but she could not tell him of that. + +"No," she said. "Just Dinah. I'm not nice enough to be called anything +else. And thank you--thank you for being so good to me." + +"My dear child," he made quiet reply, "no one who really knows you could +be anything else." + +"Oh, don't you think they could?" said Dinah wistfully. "I wish there +were more people in the world like you." + +"No one ever thought of saying that to me before," said Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + + +After that interview with Scott there followed a long, long period of +pain and weakness for Dinah. She who had never known before what it meant +to be ill went down to the Valley of the Shadow and lingered there for +many days and nights. And there came a time when those who watched beside +her began to despair of her ever turning back. + +So completely had she lost touch with the ordinary things of life that +she knew but little of what went on around her, dwelling as it were +apart, conscious sometimes of agonizing pain, but more often of a +dreadful sinking as of one overwhelmed in the billows of an everlasting +sea. At such times she would cling piteously to any succouring hand, +crying to them to hold her up--only to hold her up. And if the hand were +the hand of Greatheart, she always found comfort at length and a sense of +security that none other could impart. + +Her fancy played about him very curiously in those days. She saw him in +many guises,--as prince, as knight, as magician; but never as the mean +and insignificant figure which first had caught her attention on that +sunny morning before the fancy-dress ball. + +This man who sat beside her bed of suffering for hours together because +she fretted when he went away, who held her up when the gathering billows +threatened to overwhelm her fainting soul, who prayed for her with the +utmost simplicity when she told him piteously that she could not pray for +herself, this man was above and beyond all ordinary standards. She looked +up to him with reverence, as one of colossal strength who had power with +God. + +But she never dreamed again that golden dream of Greatheart in his +shining armour with the light of a great worship in his eyes. That had +been a wild flight of presumptuous fancy that never could come true. + +His was not the only hand to which she clung during those terrible days +of fear and suffering. Another presence was almost constantly beside her +night and day,--a tender, motherly presence that watched over and +ministered to her with a devotion that never slackened. For some time +Dinah could not find a name for this gracious and comforting presence, +but one day when a figure clothed in a violet dressing-gown stooped over +her to give her nourishment an illuminating memory came to her, and from +that moment this loving nurse of hers filled a particular niche in her +heart which was dedicated to the Purple Empress. She could think of no +other name for her. That quiet and stately presence seemed to demand a +royal appellation. In her calmer moments Dinah liked to lie and watch the +still face with its crown of silvery hair. She loved the touch of the +white hands that always knew with unerring intuition exactly what needed +to be done. There seemed to be healing in their touch. + +Very strangely the thought of Eustace never came to her, or coming, but +flitted unrecorded and undetained across the surface of her mind. He had +receded with all the rest of the world into the far, far distance that +lay behind her. He had no place in this region of many shadows where +these others so tenderly guided her wandering feet. No one else had any +place there save old Biddy who, being never absent, seemed a part of the +atmosphere, and the doctor who came and went like a presiding genie in +that waste of desolation. + +She did not welcome his visits, although he was invariably kind, for on +one occasion she caught a low murmur from him to the effect that her +mother had better come to her, and this suggestion had thrown her into a +most painful state of apprehension. She had implored them weeping to let +her mother stay away, and they had hushed her with soothing promises; but +she never saw the doctor thereafter without a nervous dread that she +might also see her mother's gaunt figure accompanying him. And she was +sure--quite sure--that her mother would be very angry with her when she +saw her helplessness. + +Nightmares of her mother's advent began to trouble her. She would start +up in anguish of soul, scarcely believing in the soothing arms that held +her till their tenderness hushed her back to calmness. + +"No one can come to you, sweetheart, while I am here." How often she +heard the low words murmured lovingly over her head! "See, I am holding +you! You are quite safe. No one can take you from me." + +And Dinah would cling to her beloved empress till her panic died away. + +On one of these occasions Scott was present, and he presently left the +sick-room with a look in his eyes that gave him a curiously hard +expression. He went deliberately in search of Billy whom he found playing +a not very spirited game with the two little daughters of the +establishment. The weather had broken, and several people had left in +consequence. + +Billy was bored as well as anxious, and his attitude said as much as he +unceremoniously left his small playfellows to join Scott. + +"Just amusin' the kids," he observed explanatorily. "How is she now?" + +Scott linked his hand in the boy's arm. "She's pretty bad, Billy," he +said. "Both lungs are affected. The doctor thinks badly of her, though he +still hopes he may pull her through." + +"You may you mean," returned Billy. "Can't say the de Vignes have put +themselves out at all over her. There's Rose flirts all day long with +your brother, and Lady Grace grumbling continually about the folly of +undertaking other people's responsibilities. She swears she must get back +at the end of next week for their precious house-party. And the Colonel +fumes and says the same. I told him I shouldn't go unless she was out of +danger, though goodness knows, sir, I don't want to sponge on you." + +Scott's hand pressed his arm reassuringly. "Don't imagine such a thing +possible!" he said. "Of course you must stay if she isn't very much +better by that time. But now, Billy, tell me--if it isn't an unwelcome +question--why doesn't your sister want your mother to come to her?" + +Billy gave him one of his shrewd glances. "She's told you that, has she? +Well, you know the mater is rather a queer fish, and I doubt very much if +she'd come if you asked her." + +"My good fellow!" Scott said. "Not if she were dying?" + +"I doubt it," said Billy, unmoved. "You see, the mater hasn't much use +for Dinah, except as a maid-of-all work. Never has had. It's not +altogether her fault. It's just the way she's made." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott, and added, as if to himself, "That little +fairy thing!" + +"She can't help it," said Billy. "She can't get on with the female +species. It's like cats, you know,--a sort of jealousy." + +"And your father?" questioned Scott, the hard look growing in his eyes. + +"Oh, Dad!" said Billy, smiling tolerantly. "He's all right--quite a +decent sort. But you wouldn't get him to leave home in the middle of the +hunting season. He's one of the Whips." + +Scott's hand had tightened unconsciously to a grip. Billy looked at him +in surprised interrogation, and was amazed to see a heavy frown drawing +the colourless brows. There was a fiery look in the pale eyes also that +he had never seen before. + +He waited in silence for developments, being of a wary disposition, and +in a moment Scott spoke in a voice of such concentrated fury that Billy +felt as if a total stranger were confronting him. + +"An infernal and blackguardly shame!" he said. "It would serve them right +if the little girl never went back to them again. I never heard of such +damnable callousness in all my life before." + +Billy opened his eyes wide, and after a second or two permitted himself a +soft whistle. + +Scott's hold upon his arm relaxed. "Yes, I know," he said. "I've no right +to say it to you. But when the blood boils, you've got to let off the +steam somehow. I suppose you've written to tell them all about her?" + +"Oh yes, I wrote, and so did the Colonel. I had a letter from Dad this +morning. He said he hoped she was better and that she was being well +looked after. That's like Dad, you know. He never realizes a thing unless +he's on the spot. I daresay I shouldn't myself," said Billy +broadmindedly. "It's want of imagination in the main." + +"Or want of heart," said Scott curtly. + +Billy did not attempt to refute the amendment. "It's just the way you +chance to be made," he said philosophically. "Of course I'm fond of +Dinah. We're pals. But Dad's an easy-going sort of chap. He isn't +specially fond of anybody. The mater,--well, she's keen on me, I +suppose," he blushed a little; "but, as I said before, she hasn't much +use for Dinah. Even when she was a small kid, she used to whip her no +end. Dinah is frightened to death at her. I don't wonder she doesn't want +her sent for." + +Scott's face was set in stern lines. "She certainly shall not be sent +for," he said with decision. "The poor child shall be left in peace." + +"She is going to get better, isn't she?" said Billy quickly. + +"I hope so, old chap. I hope so." Scott patted his shoulder kindly and +prepared to depart. + +But Billy detained him a moment. "I say, can't I come and see her?" + +"Not now, lad." Scott paused, and all the natural kindliness came back +into his eyes. "My sister was just getting her calm again when I came +away. We won't disturb her now." + +"How is your sister, sir?" asked Billy. "Isn't she feeling the strain +rather?" + +"No, she is standing it wonderfully. In fact," Scott hesitated +momentarily, "I believe that in helping Dinah, she has found herself +again." + +"Do you really?" said Billy. "Then I do hope for her sake that Dinah will +buck up and get well." + +"Thanks, old chap." Scott held out a friendly hand. "I'm sorry you're +having such a rotten time. Come along to me any time when you're feeling +bored! I shall be only too pleased when I'm at liberty." + +"You're a brick, sir," said Billy. "And I say, you'll send for me, won't +you, if--if--" He broke off. "You know, as I said before, Dinah and I are +pals," he ended wistfully. + +"Of course I will, lad. Of course I will." Scott wrung his hand hard. +"But we'll pull her through, please God! We must pull her through." + +"If anyone can, you will," said Billy with conviction. + +Like Dinah, he had caught a glimpse in that brief conversation of the +soul that inhabited that weak and puny form. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE WAY BACK + + +It was three days later that Dinah began at last the long and weary +pilgrimage back again. Almost against her will she turned her faltering +steps up the steep ascent; for she was too tired for any sustained +effort. Only that something seemed to be perpetually drawing her she +would not have been moved to make the effort at all. For she was so +piteously weak that the bare exertion of opening her eyes was almost more +than she could accomplish. But ever the unknown influence urged her, very +gently but very persistently, never passive, never dormant, but always +drawing her as by an invisible cord back to the world of sunshine and +tears that seemed so very far away from the land of shadows in which she +wandered. + +All active suffering had left her, and she would fain have been at peace; +but the hand that clasped hers would not be denied. The motherly voice +that had calmed the wildest fantasies of her fevered brain spoke now to +her with tenderest encouragement; the love that surrounded her drew her, +uplifted her, sustained her. And gradually, as she crept back from the +shadows, she came to lean upon this love as upon a sure support, to count +upon it as her own exclusive possession--a wonderful new gift that had +come to her out of the darkness. + +She still welcomed her friend Scott at her bedside, but very curiously +she had grown a little shy in his presence. She could not forget that +dream of hers, and for a long time she was haunted by the dread that he +had in some way come to know of it. Though the steady eyes never held +anything but the utmost kindness and sympathy, she was half afraid to +meet them lest they should look into her heart and see the vision she had +seen. She never called him Mr. Greatheart now. + +With Isabel, beloved nurse and companion, she was completely at her ease. +A great change had come over Isabel--such a change as turns the bare +earth into a garden of spring when the bitter winter is past at last. All +the ice-bound bitterness had been swept utterly away, and in its place +there blossomed such a wealth of mother-love as transformed her +completely. + +She spent herself with the most lavish devotion in Dinah's service. There +was not a wish that she expressed that was not swiftly and abundantly +satisfied. Night and day she was near her, ignoring all Biddy's +injunctions to rest, till the old woman, seeing the light that had dawned +in the shadowed eyes, left her to take her own way in peace. She hovered +in the background, always ready in case her mistress's new-found strength +should fail. But Isabel did not need her care. All her being was +concentrated upon the task of bringing Dinah back to life, and she +thought of nothing else, meeting the strain with that strength which +comes in great emergencies to all. + +And as she gradually succeeded in her task, a great peace descended upon +her, such as she had never known before. Biddy sometimes gazed in +amazement at the smooth brow and placid countenance at Dinah's bedside. + +"Sure, the young lady's been a blessing straight from the Almighty," she +said to Scott. + +"I think so too, Biddy," he made quiet answer. + +He was much less in the sick-room now that Dinah's need of him had +passed. He sometimes wondered if she even knew how many hours he had +formerly spent there. He visited her every day, and it was to him that +the task fell of telling her that the de Vignes had arranged to leave +her in their charge. + +"We have your father's permission," he said, when her brows drew together +with a troubled expression. "You see, it is quite impossible to move you +at present, and they must be getting home. Billy is to go with them if +you think you can be happy alone with us." + +She put out her little wasted hand. "I could be happy with you anywhere," +she said simply. "But it doesn't seem right." + +"Of course it is right," he made quiet reply. "In fact, if you ask me, I +think it is our business rather than anyone else's to get you well +again." + +She flushed in quick embarrassment. "Oh, please, you mustn't put it like +that. And I have been such a trouble to everyone ever since." + +He smiled at her very kindly. "Biddy says you are a blessing from the +Almighty, and I quite agree with her. It is settled then? You are content +to stay with us until we take you home?" + +Her hand was clasped in his, but she did not meet his look. "Oh, much +more than content," she said, her voice very low. "Only--" + +"Only?" he said gently. + +She made an effort to lift her eyes, but dropped them again instantly. +"It will make it much harder to go home," she said. + +She thought he sounded somewhat grim as he said, "There is no need to +meet troubles half-way, you know. You won't be strong enough for the +journey for some time to come." + +"I wish I could stay just as I am now," she told him tremulously, "for +ever and ever and ever." + +"Ah!" he said, with a faint sigh. "It is not given to any of us to bask +in the sun for long." + +And so, two days after, the de Vignes paid a state visit of farewell to +Dinah, now pronounced out of danger but still pitiably weak,--so weak +that she cried when the Colonel bade her be a good girl and get well +enough to come home as soon as possible, so as not to be a burden to +these kind friends of hers longer than she need. + +Lady Grace's kiss was chilly and perfunctory. "I also hope you will get +well quickly, Dinah," she said, "as I believe Mr. Studley and his sister +are staying on mainly on your account. Sir Eustace, I understand, is +returning very shortly, and I have asked him to join our house-party." + +"Good-bye, dear!" murmured Rose, bending her smiling lips to kiss Dinah's +forehead. "I am sorry your good time has had such a tragic end. I was +hoping that you might be allowed to come to the Hunt Ball, but I am +afraid that is out of the question now. Sir Eustace will be sorry too. +He says you are such an excellent little dancer." + +"Good-bye!" said Dinah, swallowing her tears. + +She wept unrestrainedly when Billy bade her a bluff and friendly +farewell, and he was practically driven from the room by Isabel; who then +returned to her charge, gathered her close in her arms, and sat with her +so, rocking her gently till gradually her agitation subsided. + +"Do forgive me!" Dinah murmured at last, clinging round her neck. + +To which Isabel made answer in that low voice of hers that so throbbed +with tenderness whenever she spoke to her. "Dear child, there is nothing +to forgive. You are tired and worn out. I know just how you feel. But +never mind--never mind! Forget it all!" + +"I know I am a burden," whispered Dinah, clinging closer. + +Isabel's lips pressed her forehead. "My darling," she said, "you are such +a burden as I could not bear to be without." + +That satisfied Dinah for the time; but it was not the whole of her +trouble, and presently, still clasped close to Isabel's heart, she gave +hesitating utterance to the rest. + +"It would have been--so lovely--to have gone to the Hunt Ball. I should +like to dance with--with Sir Eustace again. Is he--is he really going to +stay with the de Vignes?" + +"I don't know, dear. Very possibly not." Isabel's voice held a hint of +constraint though her arms pressed Dinah comfortingly close. "He will +please himself when the time comes no doubt." + +Dinah did not pursue the subject, but her mind was no longer at rest. She +wondered how she could have forgotten Sir Eustace for so long, and now +that she remembered him she was all on fire with the longing to see him +again. Rose had spoken so possessively, so confidently, of him, as +though--almost as though--he had become her own peculiar property during +the long dark days in which Dinah had been wandering in another world. + +Something in Dinah hotly and fiercely resented this attitude. She yearned +to know if it were by any means justified. She could not, would not, +believe that he had suffered himself to fall like other men a victim to +Rose's wiles. He was so different from all others, so superbly far above +all those other captives. And had she not heard him laugh and call Rose +machine-made? + +A great restlessness began to possess her. She felt she must know what +had been happening during her absence from the field. She must know if +Rose had succeeded in adding yet another to her long list of devoted +admirers. She felt that if this were so, she could never, never forgive +her. But it was not possible. She was sure--she was sure it was not +possible. + +Sir Eustace was not the man to grovel at any woman's feet. She recalled +the arrogance of his demeanour even in his moments of greatest +tenderness. She recalled the magnetic force of his personality, his +overwhelming mastery. She recalled the strong holding of his arms, +thrilled yet again to the burning intensity of his kisses. + +No, no! He had never stooped to become one of Rose's adorers. If +he had ever flirted with her, he had done it out of boredom. She was +beautiful--ah yes, Rose was beautiful; but Dinah was quite convinced +she had no brains. And Eustace would never seriously consider a woman +without brains. + +Seriously! But then had he ever taken her into his serious consideration +either? Had he not rather been at pains to make her understand that what +had passed between them was no more than a game to which no serious +consequences were attached? She had caught his fancy, his passing fancy, +and now was not her turn over? Had he not laughed and gone his way? + +She chafed terribly at the thought, and ever the longing to see him again +grew within her till she did not know how to hide it from those about +her. + +In the evening her temperature rose, and the doctor was dissatisfied with +her. She passed a restless night, and was considerably weaker in the +morning. + +"There is something on her mind," the doctor said to Isabel. "See if you +can find out what it is!" + +But it was Scott who succeeded with the utmost gentleness in discovering +the trouble. He came in late in the morning and sat down beside her for a +few minutes. + +"I have been writing letters for my brother," he said in his quiet way, +"or I should have called for news of you sooner. Isabel tells me you have +had a bad night." + +Dinah's face was flushed and her eyes very bright. "I heard the +dance-music in the distance," she said nervously. "It--it made me want to +go and dance." + +"I am sorry it disturbed you," he said gently. "It was only that then? +You weren't really troubled about anything?" + +She hesitated, then, meeting the kindness of his look, her eyes suddenly +filled with tears. She turned her head away in silence. + +He leaned towards her. "Is there anything you want?" he said. "Tell me +what it is! I will get it for you if it is humanly possible." + +"I know--I know!" faltered Dinah, and hid her face in the pillow. + +He waited a moment or two, then laid a very gentle hand upon her dark +head. "Don't cry, little one!" he said softly. "Tell me what it is!" + +"I can't," murmured Dinah. + +"You wanted to go and dance," said Scott sympathetically. "Was it just +that?" + +"Not--just--that!" she whispered forlornly. + +"I thought not. You were wanting something more than that. What was it?" + +She tried not to tell him. She would have given almost all she had to +keep silence on the subject; but somehow she had to speak. Under the +pressure of that kind hand, she could not maintain her silence any +longer. + +"I was thinking of--of your brother," she told him with tears. "I was +wondering if--if he were dancing, and--and I not there!" + +It was out at last, and she hid her face in overwhelming shame because +she had given him a glimpse of her secret heart which none had ever seen +before. She wondered with anguish what he thought of her, if she had +forfeited his good opinion of her for ever, if indeed he would ever speak +to her with kindness again. + +And then very quietly he did speak, and in a moment all her anxiety was +gone. "He may have been dancing," he said. "But I believe he has been +very bored ever since the weather broke. I wonder if he might come and +see you. Would it be too much for you? Should you mind?" + +"Mind!" Dinah's tears were gone in a flash. She turned shining eyes upon +him. "But would he come?" she said, with sudden misgiving. "Wouldn't that +bore him too?" + +Scott smiled at her in a way that set her mind wholly at rest. "No, I +think not," he said. "When shall he come? This evening?" + +Dinah slipped a confiding hand into his. She felt that now Scott knew and +was not scandalized, there was no further need for embarrassment. "Oh, +just any time," she said. "But hadn't I better get up? It would look +better, wouldn't it?" + +"I don't know about that," said Scott. "You had better ask the doctor." + +Dinah's face flushed red. "Need the doctor know?" she asked him shyly. "I +am--so afraid of his saying I am well enough to go home. And that--that +will end everything." + +"He shan't say that," Scott promised, still smiling in the fashion that +so warmed her heart. "I will drop him a hint." + +"Oh, you are good!" Dinah said very earnestly. "I think you are the +kindest man I have ever met." + +He laughed at that. "My dear, it is easy to be kind to you," he said. + +"I'm sure I don't know why," she protested. "I'm getting very spoilt and +selfish." + +He patted her hand gently and laid it down. "You are--just you," he said, +and rising with the words rather abruptly he left her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE LIGHTS OF A CITY + + +"May I come in?" said Sir Eustace. + +He stood in the doorway, a gigantic figure to Dinah's unaccustomed eyes, +and looked in upon her with a careless smile on his handsome face. + +"Oh, please do!" she said. + +She was lying on a couch under a purple rug belonging to Isabel. Very +fragile and weak she looked, but her face was flushed and eager, her eyes +alight with welcome. She thought he had never looked so splendid, so +godlike, as at that moment. She wanted to hold out both her arms to him +and be borne upward to Olympus in his embrace. + +He came forward with his easy carriage and stood beside her. His smile +was one of kindly indulgence. He looked down at her as he might have +looked upon an infant. + +An uneasy sense of her own insignificance went through Dinah. She could +not remember that he had ever regarded her thus before. A faint, faint +throb of resentment also pulsed through her. His attitude was so +suggestive of the mere casual acquaintance. Surely--surely he had not +forgotten! + +"Won't you sit down?" she asked in a small voice that was quite +unconsciously formal. + +He seated himself in the chair that had been placed at her side. "So they +have left you behind to be mended, have they?" he said. "I hope it is a +satisfactory process, is it?" + +She had meant to give him her hand, but as he did not seem to expect it +she refrained from doing so. A great longing to cover her face and burst +into tears took possession of her; she resisted it frantically, with all +her strength. + +"Oh yes, I am getting better, thank you," she said, in a voice that +quivered in spite of her. "I am afraid I have been a great nuisance to +everybody. I am sure the de Vignes thought so; and--and--I expect you do +too." + +She could not keep the tears from springing to her eyes, strive as she +would. He was so different--so different. He might have been a total +stranger, sitting there beside her. + +Yet as he looked at her, she felt something of the old quick thrill; for +the blue eyes regarded her with a slightly warmer interest as he said, "I +can't answer for the de Vignes of course, but it doesn't seem to me that +either they or I have had much cause for complaint. I shouldn't fret +about that if I were you." + +She commanded herself with an effort. "I don't. Only it isn't nice to +feel a burden to anyone, is it? You wouldn't like it, would you?" + +"Oh, I don't know," he said, with his easy arrogance. "I think I should +expect to be waited on if I were ill. You've had rather a bad time, I'm +afraid. But you haven't missed much. The weather has been villainous." + +"I've missed all the dances," said Dinah, stifling a sob. + +He began to smile. "I wish I had. I haven't enjoyed one of them." + +That comforted her a little. At least Rose had not scored an unqualified +victory! "You've been bored?" she asked. + +"Horribly bored," said Sir Eustace. "There's been no fun for anyone since +the weather broke." + +She gathered her courage in both hands. "And so you're going home?" she +said, and lay in quivering dread of his answer. + +He did not make one immediately. He seemed to be considering the matter. +"There doesn't seem to be much point in staying on," he said finally, +"unless things improve." + +"But they will improve," said Dinah quickly. "At least--at least they +ought to." + +"A fortnight of bad weather isn't particularly encouraging," he remarked. + +"Of course it isn't! It's horrid," she agreed. "But every day makes it +less likely that it will last much longer. And I expect it's much worse +in England," she added. + +"I wonder," said Sir Eustace. "There's the hunting anyway." + +"Oh no; it would freeze directly you got there," she said, with a shaky +little laugh. "And then you would wish you had stayed here." + +"I could shoot," said Sir Eustace. + +"And there is the Hunt Ball, isn't there?" said Dinah with more +assurance. + +He looked at her keenly. "What Hunt Ball?" + +She met his eyes with a faint challenge in her own. "I heard you were +going to stay with the de Vignes. They always go to the Hunt Ball every +year." + +"Do you go?" asked Sir Eustace. + +She shook her head. "No. I never go anywhere." + +She saw his eyes soften unexpectedly as he said, "Then there isn't much +inducement for me to go, is there?" + +Her heart gave a wild throb of half-incredulous delight. She made a small +movement of one hand towards him, and quite suddenly she found it grasped +in his. He bent to her with a laugh in his eyes. + +"Shall we go on with the game,--Daphne?" he whispered. "Are you well +enough?" + +Her eyes answered him. Was he not irresistible? "Oh," she whispered, "I +thought--I thought you had forgotten." + +He glanced round, as if to make sure that they were alone, and then +swiftly bent and kissed her quivering lips. "But the past has no claims," +he said. "Remember, it is a game without consequences!" + +She laughed very happily, clasping his hand. "I was afraid it was all +over," she said. "But it isn't, is it?" + +He laughed too under his breath. "I am under the very strictest orders +not to excite you," he said, passing the question by. "If the doctor were +to come and feel your pulse now, there would be serious trouble. And I +shouldn't be allowed within a dozen yards of you again for many a long +day." + +"What nonsense!" murmured Dinah. "Why, you have done me so much good that +I feel almost well." She squeezed his hand with all the strength she +could muster. "Don't go away till I'm quite well!" she begged him +wistfully. "We must have--one more dance." + +His eyes kindled suddenly with that fire which she dared not meet. "I +will grant you that," he said, "on condition that you promise--mind, you +promise--not to run away afterwards." + +His intensity embarrassed her, she knew not wherefore. "Why--why should I +run away?" she faltered. + +"You ran away last time," he said. + +"Oh, that was only--only because I was afraid the Colonel might be angry +with me," she murmured. + +"Oh well, there is no Colonel to be angry now," he said. "It's a promise +then, is it?" + +But for some reason wholly undefined she hesitated. She felt as if she +could not bring herself thus to cut off her own line of retreat. "No, I +don't think I can quite promise that," she said, after a moment. + +"You won't?" he said. + +His tone warned her to reconsider her decision. "I--I'll tell you +to-morrow," she said hastily. + +"I may be gone by to-morrow," he said. + +She looked up at him with swift daring. "Oh no, you won't," she said, +with conviction. "Or if you are, you'll come back." + +"How do you know that?" he demanded, frowning upon her while his eyes +still gleamed with that lambent fire that made her half afraid. + +She dropped her own. "There's someone coming," she whispered. "It doesn't +matter, does it? I do know. Good-bye!" + +She slipped her hand from his with a little secret sense of triumph; for +though he had so arrogantly asserted himself she was conscious of a +certain power over him which gave her confidence. She was firmly +convinced in that moment that he would not go. + +He rose to leave her as Isabel came softly into the room, and between the +brother and sister there flashed a look that was curiously like the +crossing of blades. + +Isabel came straight to Dinah's side. "You must settle down now, dear +child," she said, in that low, musical voice of hers that Dinah loved. +"It is getting late, and you didn't sleep well last night." + +Dinah smiled, and drew the hand that had so often smoothed her pillow to +her cheek. But her eyes were upon Eustace, and she caught a parting gleam +from his as with a gesture of farewell he turned away. + +"I am much better," she said to Isabel later, as she composed herself to +rest. "I feel as if I am going to sleep well." + +Isabel stooped to kiss her. "Sleep is the best medicine in the world," +she said. + +"Do you sleep better now?" Dinah asked, detaining her. + +Isabel hesitated for a second. "Oh yes, I sleep," she said then. "I am +able to sleep now that you are safe, my darling." + +Dinah clung to her. "I can't think what I would do without you," she +murmured. "No one was ever so good to me before." + +Isabel held her closely. "Don't you realize," she said fondly, "that you +have been my salvation." + +"Not--not really?" faltered Dinah. + +"Yes, really." There was a throb of passion in Isabel's voice. "I have +been a prisoner for years, but you--you, little Dinah,--have set me free. +I am travelling forward again now--like the rest of the world." She +paused a moment, and her arms clasped Dinah more closely still. "I do not +think I have very far to go," she said, speaking very softly. "My night +has been so long that I think the dawn cannot be far off now. God knows +how I am longing for it." + +"Oh, darling, don't--don't!" whispered Dinah piteously. + +"I won't, dearest." Very tenderly Isabel kissed her again. "I didn't mean +to distress you. Only I want you to know that you are just all the world +to me--the main-spring of what life there is left to me. I shall never +forgive myself for leading you away on that terrible Sunday, and causing +you all this suffering." + +"Oh, but I should have been home again by now if that hadn't happened," +said Dinah quickly. "See what I should have missed! I'd far, far rather +be ill with you than well at home." + +"Yours isn't a happy home, sweetheart," Isabel said gently. + +"Not very," Dinah admitted. "But being away makes it seem much worse. I +have been so spoilt with you." + +Isabel smiled. "I only wish I could keep you always, dear child." + +Dinah drew a sharp breath. "Oh, if you only could!" she said. + +Isabel pressed her to her heart, and laid her down. "I must get you back +to bed, dear," she said. "We have talked too long already." + +Late that night Isabel went softly to the door in answer to a low knock, +and found Scott on the threshold. + +She lifted a warning finger. "She is asleep." + +"That's right," he said quietly. "I only came to say good night to you. +Are you going to bed now?" + +She looked at him with a faint smile in her shadowed eyes. "I daresay I +shall go some time," she said; then seeing the concern in his eyes: +"Don't worry about me, Stumpy dear. I don't sleep a great deal, you know; +but I rest." + +He took her arm and drew her gently outside the room. "I want you to take +care of yourself now that she is safe," he said. "Will you try?" + +The smile still lingered in her eyes. She bent her stately neck to kiss +him. "Oh yes, dear; I shall be all right," she said. "It does me good to +have the little one to think of." + +"I know," he said. "But don't wear yourself out! Remember, you are not +strong." + +"Nothing I can do for her would be too much," she answered with quick +feeling. "Think--think what she has done for me!" + +"For us all," said Scott gently. "But all the same, dear, you can spare a +little thought for yourself now." He hesitated momentarily, then: "I +think Eustace would like to see more of you," he said, speaking with a +touch of diffidence. + +She made a sharp gesture of impatience. "Why did you send him to disturb +the child's peace?" + +"She wanted him," said Scott simply. + +"Ah!" Isabel stood tense for a second. "And he?" she questioned. + +"He was quite pleased to see her again," said Scott. + +She grasped his arm suddenly. "Stumpy, don't let him break her heart!" + +He met her look with steadfast eyes. "He shall not do that," he said, +with inflexible resolution. + +Her hold became a grip. "Can you prevent it? You know what he is" + +"Oh yes, I know," very steadily Scott made answer. "But you needn't be +afraid, Isabel. He shall not do that." + +A measure of relief came into her drawn face. "Thank you, Stumpy," she +said. "I was horribly afraid--when I saw him just now--and she, poor +child, so innocently glad to have him!" + +"You needn't be afraid," he reiterated. "Eustace is too much of a +sportsman to amuse himself at the expense of an unsophisticated child +like that." + +Isabel suppressed a shiver. "I don't think he is so scrupulous as you +imagine," she said. "We must watch, Stumpy; we must watch." + +He patted her arm with his quiet smile. "And we mustn't let ourselves get +over-anxious," he said. "Now go to bed, like a dear girl! You are looking +absolutely worn out." + +Her lips quivered as she smiled back. "At least you are getting better +nights," she said. + +"Yes, I sleep very well," he answered. "I want to know you are doing the +same." + +Her face shone as though reflecting the lights of a city seen from afar. +"Oh yes, I sleep," she said. "And sometimes I dream that I have really +found the peaks of Paradise. But before I reach the summit--I am awake." + +He drew her to him, and kissed her. "It is better that you should wake, +dear," he said. + +She returned his kiss with tenderness, but her eyes were fixed and +distant. "Some day the dream will come true, Stumpy," she said softly. +"And I shall find him there where he has been waiting for me all these +years." + +"But not yet, Isabel," murmured Scott, and there was pleading in his +voice. + +She looked at him for a moment ere she turned to re-enter the room in +which Dinah lay. "Not just yet," she answered softly. "Good night, dear! +Good night!" + +The strange light was still upon her face as she went, and Scott looked +after her with a faint, wistful smile about his mouth. As he went to his +own room, he passed his hand across his forehead with a gesture of +unutterable weariness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE TRUE GOLD + + +The actual turning-point in Dinah's illness seemed to date from that +brief interview with Sir Eustace. They had drawn her back half against +her will from the land of shadows, but from that day her will was set to +recover. The old elasticity came back to her, and with every hour her +strength increased. The joy of life was hers once more. She was like a +flower opening to the sun. + +Sir Eustace presented himself every evening for admittance and sat with +her for a little while. Isabel was generally present, and their +conversation was in consequence of a strictly commonplace order; but the +keen blue eyes told Dinah more than the proud lips ever uttered. She came +to watch for that look which she could not meet, and though at times it +sent a wild dart of fear through her, yet it filled her also with a +rapture indefinable but unspeakably precious. She felt sure that he had +never turned that look on Rose or any other girl. It was kept exclusively +for her, and its fiery intensity thrilled her soul. It was the sign of a +secret understanding between them which she believed none other +suspected. + +It was a somewhat terrible joy, for the man's strength had startled her +more than once, but in moments of dread she reassured herself with the +memory of his reiterated declaration that the magic bond that existed +between them was no bond at all in reality--only a game without +consequences. She would not look forward to the time when that game +should be over. She was not looking forward at all, so sublimely happy +was she in the present. The period of convalescence which to most +patients is the hardest of all to bear was to her a dream of delight. + +A week after the departure of the de Vignes she was well enough to be +moved into Isabel's sitting-room, and here on that first day both Sir +Eustace and Scott joined them at tea. + +The weather had cleared again, and Sir Eustace came in from an +afternoon's ski-ing attired in the white sweater in which Dinah always +loved to see him. She lay on her couch and watched him with shining eyes, +telling herself that no prince had ever looked more royal. + +It was Scott who waited upon her, but she was scarcely aware of his +presence. Even Isabel seemed to have faded into the background. She could +think only of Eustace lounging near her in careless magnificence, talking +in his deep voice of the day's sport. + +"There are several new people arrived," he said, "both ancient and +modern. The place was getting empty, but it has filled up again. There is +to be a dance to-night," his eyes sought Dinah's. "I am going down +presently to see if any of the new-comers have any talents worth +cultivating." + +She met his look with a flash of daring. "I wish you luck," she said. + +He made her a bow. "You are very generous. But I scarcely expect any. My +star has not been in the ascendant for a long time." + +Scott uttered a laugh that sounded faintly derisive. "You'll have to make +the best of the second best for once, my dear chap," he said. "You can't +always have your cake iced." + +Eustace glanced at him momentarily. "I am not you, Stumpy," he said. "The +philosophy of the second best is only for those who have never tasted the +best." + +There was in his tone a touch of malice that caught Dinah very oddly, +like the flick of a lash intended for another. She awoke very suddenly to +the realization of Scott sitting near Isabel with the light shining on +his pale face and small, colourless beard. How insignificant he looked! +And yet the narrow shoulders had an independent set about them as though +they were not without a certain strength. + +The smile still lingered about his lips as he made quiet rejoinder. "It +sometimes needs a philosopher to tell what is the best." + +Eustace gave an impatient shrug. "The philosopher is not always a wise +man," he observed briefly. + +"But seldom an utter fool," returned Scott. + +The elder brother's face was contemptuous as he said, "A philosopher may +recognize what is best, but it is seldom within his reach." + +"And so, being a philosopher, he does without it." Scott spoke +thoughtfully; he was gazing straight before him. + +Isabel suddenly leaned forward. "He is not always the loser, Stumpy," she +said. + +He looked at her. "Certainly a man can't lose what he has never had," he +said. + +"Every man has his chance once," she insisted. + +"And--if he's a philosopher--he doesn't take it," laughed Eustace. "Don't +you know, my dear Isabel, that that is the very cream and essence of +philosophy?" + +She gave him a swift look that was an open challenge. "What do you know +of philosophy and the greater things of life?" she said. + +He looked momentarily surprised. Dinah saw the ready frown gather on his +handsome face; but before he could speak Scott intervened. + +"How on earth did we get onto this abstruse subject?" he said easily. +"Miss Bathurst will vote us all a party of bores, and with reason. What +were we talking about before? Iced cake, wasn't it? Are you a cook Miss +Bathurst?" + +"I can make some kinds of cakes," Dinah said modestly, "but I like making +pastry best. I often make sausage-rolls for Dad to take hunting." + +"That sounds more amusing for him than for you," observed Eustace. + +"Oh no, I love making them," she assured him. "And he always says he +likes mine better than anyone's. But I'm not a particularly good cook +really. Mother generally does that part, and I do all the rest." + +"All?" said Isabel. + +"Yes. You see, we can't afford to keep a servant," said Dinah. "And I +groom Rupert--that's the hunter--too, when Billy isn't at home. I like +doing that. He's such a beauty." + +"Do you ever ride him?" asked Eustace. + +She shook her head. "No. I'd love to, of course, but there's never any +time. I can't spend as long as I like over grooming him because there are +so many other things. But he generally looks very nice," she spoke with +pride; "quite as nice as any of the de Vignes's horses." + +"You must have a very busy time of it," said Scott. + +"Yes." Dinah's bright face clouded a little. "I often wish I had more +time for other things; but it's no good wishing. Anyway, I've had my time +out here, and I shall never forget it." + +"You must come out again with us," said Isabel. + +Dinah beamed. "Oh, how I should love it!" she said. "But--" her face fell +again--"I don't believe mother will ever spare me a second time." + +"All right. I'll run away with you in the yacht," said Eustace. "Come for +a trip in the summer!" + +She looked at him with shining eyes. "It's not a bit of good thinking +about it," she said. "But oh, how lovely it would be!" + +He laughed, looking at her with that gleam in his eyes that she had come +to know as exclusively her own. "Where there's a will, there's a way," he +said. "If you have the will, you can leave the way to me." + +She drew a quick breath. Her heart was beating rather fast. "All right," +she said. "I'll come." + +"Is it a promise?" said Eustace. + +She shook her head instantly. "No. I never make promises. They have a way +of spoiling things so." + +"Exactly my own idea," he said. "Never turn a pleasure into a duty, or it +becomes a burden at once. Well, I must go and make myself pretty for this +evening's show. If I'm very bored, I shall come and sit out with you." + +"Not to-night," said Isabel with quick decision. "Dinah is going to bed +very soon." + +"Really?" He stood by Dinah's couch, looking down at her with his faint +supercilious smile. "Do you submit to that sort of tyranny?" he said. + +She held up her hand to him. "It isn't tyranny. It is the very dearest +kindness in the world. Don't you know the difference?" + +He held the little, confiding hand a moment or two, and she felt his +fingers close around it with a strength that seemed as if it encompassed +her very soul. "There are two ways of looking at everything," he said. +"But I shouldn't be too docile if I were you; not, that is, if you want +to get any fun out of life. Remember, life is short." + +He let her go with the words, straightened himself to his full, splendid +height, and sauntered with regal arrogance to the door. + +"I want you, Stumpy," he said, in passing. "There are one or two letters +for you to deal with. You can come to my room while I dress." + +"In that case, I had better say good night too," said Scott, rising. + +"Oh no," said Dinah, with her quick smile. "You can come in and say good +night to me afterwards--when I'm in bed. Can't he, Isabel?" + +She had fallen into the habit of calling Isabel by her Christian name +from hearing Scott use it. It had begun almost in delirium, and now it +came so naturally that she never dreamed of reverting to the more formal +mode of address. + +Scott smiled in his quiet fashion, and turned to join his brother. "I +will with pleasure," he said. + +Eustace threw a mocking glance backwards. "It seems that philosophers +rush in where mere ordinary males fear to tread," he observed. "Stumpy, +allow me to congratulate you on your privileges!" + +"Thanks, old chap!" Scott made answer in his tired voice. "But there is +no occasion for the ordinary male to envy me my compensations." + +"What did he mean by that?" said Dinah, as the door closed. + +Isabel moved to her side and sat down on the edge of the couch. "Scott is +very lonely, little one," she said. + +"Is he?" said Dinah, wonderingly. "But--surely he must have lots of +friends. He's such a dear." + +Isabel smiled at her rather sadly. "Yes, everyone who knows him thinks +that." + +"Everyone must love him," protested Dinah. "Who could help it?" + +"I wonder," said Isabel slowly, "if he will ever meet anyone who will +love him best of all." + +Dinah was suddenly conscious of a rush of blood to her face. She knew not +wherefore, but she felt it beat in her temples and sing in her ears. "Oh, +surely--surely!" she stammered in confusion. + +Isabel looked beyond her. "You know, Dinah," she said, her voice very +low, "Scott is a man with an almost infinite greatness of soul. I don't +know if you realize it. I have thought sometimes that you did. But there +are very few--very few--who do." + +"I know he is great," whispered Dinah. "I told him so almost--almost the +first time I saw him." + +Isabel's smile was very tender. She stooped and gathered Dinah to her +bosom. "Oh, my dear," she murmured, "never prefer the tinsel to the true +gold! He is far, far the greatest man I know. And you--you will never +meet a greater." + +Dinah clung to her in quick responsiveness. Her strange agitation was +subsiding, but she could feel the blood yet pulsing in her veins. "I know +it," she whispered. "I am sure of it. He is very much to you, dear, isn't +he?" + +"For years he has been my all," Isabel said. "Listen a moment! I will +tell you something. In the first dreadful days of my illness, I was crazy +with trouble, and--and they bound me to keep me from violence. I have +never forgotten it. I never shall. Then--he came. He was very young at +that time, only twenty-three. He had his life before him, and mine--mine +was practically over. Yet he gave up everything--everything for my sake. +He took command; he banished all the horrible people who had taken +possession of me. He gave me freedom, and he set himself to safe-guard +me. He brought me home. He was with me night and day, or if not actually +with me, within call. He and Biddy between them brought me back. They +watched me, nursed me, cared for me. Whenever my trouble was greater than +I could bear, he was always there to help me. He never left me; and +gradually he became so necessary to me that I couldn't contemplate life +without him. I have been terribly selfish." A low sob checked her +utterance for a moment, and Dinah's young arms tightened. "I let my grief +take hold of me to the exclusion of everything else. I didn't see--I +didn't realize--the sacrifice he was making. For years I took it all as a +right, living in my fog of misery and blind to all beside. But now--now +at last--thanks to you, little one, whom I nearly killed--my eyes are +open once more. The fog has rolled away. No, I can never be happy. I am +of those who wait. But I will never again, God helping me, deprive others +of happiness. Scott shall live his own life now. His devotion to me must +come to an end. My greatest wish in life now is that he may meet a woman +worthy of him, who will love him as he deserves to be loved, before I +climb the peaks of Paradise and find my beloved in the dawning." Isabel's +voice sank. She pressed Dinah close against her heart. "It will not be +long," she whispered. "I have had a message that there is no mistaking, I +know it will not be long. But oh, darling, I do want to see him happy +first." + +Dinah was crying softly. She could find no words to utter. + +So for awhile they clung together, the woman who had suffered and come at +last through bitter tribulation into peace, and the child whose feet yet +halted on the threshold of the enchanted country that the other had long +since traversed and left behind. + +Nothing further passed between them. Isabel had said her say, and for +some reason Dinah was powerless to speak. She could think of no words to +utter, and deep in her heart she was half afraid to break the silence. +That sudden agitation of hers had left her oddly confused and +embarrassed. She shrank from pursuing the matter further. + +Yet for a long time that night she lay awake pondering, wondering. +Certainly Scott was different from all other men, totally, undeniably +different. He seemed to dwell on a different plane. She could not grasp +what it was about him that set him thus apart. But what Isabel had said +showed her very clearly that the spirit that dwelt behind that unimposing +exterior was a force that counted, and could hold its own against odds. + +She slept at last with the thought of him still present in her mind. And +in her dreams the vision of Greatheart in his shining armour came to her +again, filling her with a happiness which even sleeping she did not dare +to analyse, scarcely to contemplate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE CALL OF APOLLO + + +Dinah's strength came back to her in leaps and bounds, and three weeks +after the de Vignes's departure she was almost herself again. The season +was drawing to a close. The holidays were over, and English people were +turning homeward. Very reluctantly Isabel had to admit that her charge +was well enough for the journey back. Mrs. Bathurst wrote in an insistent +strain, urging that the time had come for her to return, and no further +excuse could be invented for keeping her longer. + +They decided to return themselves and take Dinah to her home, Isabel +having determined to make the acquaintance of the redoubtable Mrs. +Bathurst, and persuade her to spare her darling to them again in the +summer. The coming parting was hard to face, so hard that Dinah could not +bear to speak of it. She shed a good many tears in private, as Isabel was +well aware; but she never willingly made any reference to the ordeal she +so dreaded. + +The only time she voluntarily broached the subject was when she entreated +to be allowed to go down to the last dance that was to be held in the +hotel. It chanced that this was fixed for the night before their own +departure, and Isabel demurred somewhat; for though Dinah had shaken +off most of her invalid habits, she was still far from robust. + +"You will be so tired in the morning, darling," she protested gently, +while Dinah knelt beside her, earnestly pleading. "You will get that +tiresome side-ache, and you won't be fit to travel." + +"I shall--I shall," Dinah assured her. "Oh, please, dear, just this +once--just this once--let me have this one more fling! I shall never have +another chance. I'm sure I never shall." + +Isabel's hand stroked the soft dark hair caressingly. She saw that Dinah +was very near to tears. "I don't believe I ought to say Yes, dear child," +she said. "You know I hate to deny you anything. But if it were to do you +harm, I should never forgive myself." + +"It couldn't! It shan't!" declared Dinah, almost incoherent in her +vehemence. "It isn't as if I wanted to dance every dance. I'd come and +sit out with you in between. And if I got tired, you could take me away. +I would go directly if you said so. Really I would." + +She was hard to resist, kneeling there with her arms about Isabel and her +bright eyes lifted. Isabel took the sweet face between her hands and +kissed it. + +"Let me ask Scott what he thinks!" she said. "I want to give in to you, +Dinah darling, but it's against my judgment. If it is against his +judgment too, will you be content to give it up?" + +"Oh, of course," said Dinah instantly. She was confident that Scott--that +kind and gentle friend of hers--would deny her nothing. It seemed almost +superfluous to ask him. + +The words had scarcely left her lips when his quiet knock came at the +sitting-room door, and he entered. + +She looked round at him with a smile of quick welcome. "I'll give it up +in a minute if he says so," she said. + +Isabel turned in her chair. "Come here, Stumpy!" she said. "We want your +advice. We are talking about the dance to-night. Dinah has set her heart +on going. Would it--do you think it would--do her any harm?" + +Scott came up to them in his halting way. He looked at Dinah pressed +close to his sister's side, and his smile was very kindly as he said, +"Poor little Cinderella! It's hard lines; but, you know, the doctor's +last words to you were a warning against over-exerting yourself." + +"But I shouldn't," she assured him eagerly. "Really, truly, I shouldn't! +I walked all the way to the village with you yesterday, and wasn't a bit +tired--or hardly a bit--when I got back." + +"You looked jaded to death," he said. + +"I am afraid it is thumbs down," said Isabel, a touch of regret in her +voice. + +"Oh no,--no!" entreated Dinah. "Mr. Studley, please--please say I may go! +I promise I won't dance too much. I promise I'll stop directly I'm +tired." + +"My dear child," Scott said, "it would be sheer madness for you to +attempt to dance at all. Isabel," he turned to his sister with most +unusual sharpness, "how can you tantalize her in this way? Say No at +once! You know perfectly well she isn't fit for it." + +Isabel made no attempt to argue the point. "You hear, Dinah?" she said. + +A quick throb of anger went through Dinah. She disengaged herself +quickly, and stood up. "Mr. Studley," she said in a voice that quivered, +"it's not right--it's not fair! How can you know what is good for me? And +even if you did, what--what right--" She broke off, trembling and holding +to Isabel's chair to steady herself. + +Scott's eyes, very level, very kind, were looking straight at her in a +fashion that checked the hot words on her lips. "My child, no right +whatever," he said. "I have no more power to control your actions than +the man in the moon. But if you want my approval to your scheme, I can't +give it you. I don't approve, and because I don't, I tell Isabel that she +ought to refuse to carry it through. I have no right to control her +either, but I think my opinion means something to her. I hope it does at +least." + +He looked at Isabel, but she said nothing. Only she put her arm about +Dinah as she stood. + +There followed a few moments of very difficult silence; then abruptly the +mutiny went out of Dinah's face and attitude. + +"I'm horrid," she said, in a voice half-choked. "Forgive me! You--you +shouldn't spoil me so." + +"Oh, don't, please!" said Scott. "I am infernally sorry. I know what it +means to you." + +He took out his cigarette-case and turned away with a touch of +embarrassment. She saw that for some reason he was moved. + +Impulsively she left Isabel and came to him. "Don't think any more about +it!" she said. "I'll go to bed and be good." + +"You always are," said Scott, faintly smiling. + +"No, no, I'm not! What a fib! You know I'm not. But I'm going to be good +this time--so that you shall have something nice to remember me by." +Dinah's voice quivered still, but she managed to smile. + +He gave her a quick look. "You will always be the pleasantest memory I +have," he said. + +The words were quietly spoken, so quietly that they sounded almost +matter-of-fact. But Dinah flushed with pleasure, detecting the sincerity +in his voice. + +"It's very nice of you to say that," she said, "especially as I deserve +it so little. Thank you, Mr.--Scott!" She uttered the name timidly. She +had never ventured to use it before. + +He held out his hand to her. "Oh, drop the prefix!" he said. "Call me +Stumpy like the rest of the world!" + +But Dinah shook her head with vehemence. There were tears standing in her +eyes, but she smiled through them. "I will not call you Stumpy!" she +declared. "It doesn't suit you a bit. I never even think of you by that +name. It--it is perfectly ludicrous applied to you!" + +"Some people think I am ludicrous," observed Scott. + +His hand grasped hers firmly for a moment, and let it go. The steadfast +friendliness in his eyes shone out like a beacon. And there came to Dinah +a swift sense of great and uplifting pride at the thought that she +numbered this man among her friends. + +The moment passed, but the warmth at her heart remained. She went back to +Isabel, and slipped down into the shelter of her arm, feeling oddly shy +and also inexplicably happy. Her disappointment had shrunk to a +negligible quantity. She even wondered at herself for having cared so +greatly about so trifling a matter. + +There came the firm tread of a man's feet outside the door, and it swung +open. Eustace entered with his air of high confidence. + +"Ah, Stumpy, there you are! I want you. Well, Miss Bathurst, what about +to-night?" + +She faced him bravely from Isabel's side. "I've promised to go to bed +early, as usual," she said. + +"What? You're not dancing?" She saw his ready frown. "Well, you will come +and look on anyway. Isabel, you must show for once." + +He spoke imperiously. Isabel looked up. "I am sorry, Eustace. It is out +of the question," she said coldly. "Both Dinah and I are retiring early +in preparation for to-morrow." + +He bit his lip. "This is too bad. Miss Bathurst, don't you want to come +down? It's for the last time." + +Dinah hesitated, and Scott came quietly to her rescue. + +"She is being prudent against her own inclination, old chap. Don't make +it hard for her!" + +"What a confounded shame!" said Eustace. + +"No, no, it isn't!" said Dinah. "It is quite right. I am not going to +think any more about it." + +He laughed with a touch of mockery. "Which means you will probably think +about it all night. Well, you will have the reward of virtue anyhow, +which ought to be very satisfying. Come along, Stumpy! I want you to +catch the post." + +He bore his brother off with him, and Dinah went rather wistfully to help +Biddy pack. She had done right, she knew; but it was difficult to stifle +the regret in her heart. She had so longed for that one last dance, and +it seemed to her that she had treated Sir Eustace somewhat shabbily also. +She was sure that he was displeased, and the thought of it troubled her. +For she had almost promised him that last dance. + +"Arrah thin, Miss Dinah dear, don't ye look so sad at all!" counselled +Biddy. "Good times pass, but there's always good times to come while +ye're young. And it's the bonny face ye've got on ye. Sure, there'll be a +fine wedding one of these days. There's a prince looking for ye, or me +name's not Biddy Maloney." + +Dinah tried to smile, but her heart was heavy. She could not share +Biddy's cheery belief in the good times to come, and she was quite sure +that no prince would ever come her way. + +Sir Eustace--that king among men--might think of her sometimes, but not +seriously, oh no, not seriously. He had so many other interests. It was +only her dancing that drew him, and he would never have another +opportunity of enjoying that. + +She rested in the afternoon at Isabel's desire, but she did not sleep. +Some teasing sprite had set a waltz refrain running in her brain, and it +haunted her perpetually. She went down to the vestibule with Isabel for +tea, and here Scott joined them; but Sir Eustace did not put in an +appearance. In their company she sought to be cheerful, and in a measure +succeeded; but the thought of the morrow pressed upon her. In another +brief twenty-four hours this place where she had first known the wonder +and the glory of life would know her no more. In two days she would be +back in the old bondage, chained once more to the oar, with the dread of +her mother ever present in her heart, however fair the world might be. + +She could keep her depression more or less at bay in the presence of her +friends, but when later she went to her room to prepare for dinner +something like desperation seized her. How was she going to bear it? One +last wild fling would have helped her, but this inaction made things +infinitely worse, made things intolerable. + +While she dressed, she waged a fierce struggle against her tears. She +knew that Isabel would be greatly distressed should she detect them, and +to hurt Isabel seemed to her the acme of selfish cruelty. She would not +give way! She would not! + +And then--suddenly she heard a step in the corridor, and her heart leapt. +Well she knew that careless, confident tread! But what was he doing +there? Why had he come to her door? + +With bated breath she stood and listened. Yes, he had paused. In a moment +she heard a rustle on the floor. A screw of paper appeared under the door +as though blown in by a wandering wind. Then the careless feet retreated +again, and she thought she heard him whistling below his breath. + +Eagerly she swooped forward and snatched up the note. Her hands shook so +that she could scarcely open it. Trembling, she stood under the light to +read it. + +It was headed in a bold hand: "To Daphne." And below in much smaller +writing she read: "Come to the top of the stairs when the band plays +_Simple Aveu_, and leave the rest to me. + +"APOLLO." + +A wild thrill went through her. But could she? Dared she? Had she not +practically promised Isabel that she would go to bed? + +Yet how could she go, and leave this direct invitation, which was almost +a command, unanswered? And it was only one dance--only one dance! Would +it be so very wrong to snatch just that one? + +The thought of Scott came to her and the look of sincerity in his eyes +when he had told her that she would always be the pleasantest memory he +had. But she thrust it from her almost fiercely. Ah no, no, no! She could +not let him deprive her thus of this one last gaiety. Apollo had called +her. It only remained for her to obey. + +She dressed in a fever of excitement, and hid the note--that precious +note--in her bosom. She would meet him at dinner, and he would look for +an answer. How should she convey it? And oh, what answer should she give? + +Looking back afterwards, it seemed to her that Fate had pressed her hard +that night,--so hard that resistance was impossible. When she was dressed +in the almost childishly simple muslin she looked herself in the eyes and +fancied that there was something in her face that she had never seen +there before. It was something that pleased her immensely giving her a +strangely new self-confidence. She did not wot that it was the charm of +her coming womanhood that had burst into sudden flower. + +At the last moment she cast all her scruples away from her, and snatched +up a slip of paper. + +"I will be there. Daphne," were the words she wrote, and though her +conscience smote her as she did it, she stifled it fiercely. Had she not +promised him that one dance long ago? + +She met him at dinner with a face of smiling unconcern. The new force +within had imbued her with a wondrous strength. She exulted in the +thought of her power over him, transient though she knew it to be. Deep +down in her heart she was afraid, yet was she wildly daring. It was her +last night, and she was utterly reckless. + +She left her note in his hand with the utmost coolness when she bade him +good night in the vestibule. She bade good night to Scott also, but she +met his eyes for no more than a second; and then she had to stifle afresh +the sharp pang at her heart. + +She went away up the stairs with Isabel, leaving them smoking over their +coffee, leaving also the dreamy strains of the band, the gay laughter and +movement of the happy crowd that drifted towards the ballroom. + +Isabel accompanied her to her room. "You are a dear, good child," she +said tenderly, as she held her for a last kiss. "I shall never forget how +sweetly you gave up the thing you wanted so much." + +Dinah clung to her fast for a moment or two, and her hold was passionate. +"Oh, don't praise me for that!" she whispered into Isabel's neck. "I am +not good at all. I am very bad." + +She almost tore herself free a second later, and Isabel, divining that +any further demonstration from her would cause a breakdown, bade her a +loving good night and went away. + +Dinah stood awhile struggling for self-control. She had been perilously +near to baring her soul to Isabel in those moments of tenderness. Even +now the impulse urged her to run after her and tell her of the temptation +to which she was yielding. She forced it down with clenched hands, +telling herself over and over that it was her last chance, her last +chance, and she must not lose it. And so at length it passed; and with it +passed also the pricks of conscience that had so troubled her. She +emerged from the brief struggle with a sense of mad triumph. The spirit +of adventure had entered into her, and she no longer paused to count the +cost. + +"I expect I shall be sorry in the morning," she said to herself. "But +to-night--oh, to-night--nothing matters except Apollo!" + +She whisked to the door and set it ajar. The dance-music drew her, drew +her, like the voice of a siren. For that one night she would live again. +She would feel his arm about her and the magic in her brain. Already her +feet yearned to the alluring rhythm. She leaned against the door-post, +and gave herself up to her dream. Yet once more the wine of the gods was +held to her lips. She would drink deeply, deeply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE GOLDEN MAZE + + +Softly the strains of _Simple Aveu_ floated along the corridor. It came +like fairy music, now near, now far, haunting as a dream, woven through +and through with the gold of Romance. + +Someone was coming along the passage with the easy swing of the born +dancer, and pressed against her door-post in the shadows, another born +dancer awaited him with a wildly throbbing heart. + +The die was cast, and there was no going back. She heard the deep voice +humming the magic melody as he came. In a moment the superb figure came +into sight, moving with that royal ease of carriage so characteristic and +so wonderful. + +He drew near. He spied the small white figure lurking in the dimness. +With a low laugh he opened his arms to her. + +And then there came to Dinah, not for the first time, a strange, wholly +indefinable misgiving. It was a warning so insistent that she suddenly +and swiftly drew back, as if she would flee into the room behind her. + +But he was too quick for her. He caught her on the threshold. "Oh no, +no!" he laughed. "That's not playing the game." He drew her to him, +holding her two wrists. "Daphne! Daphne!" he said. "Still running away? +Do you call that fair?" + +She did not resist him, for the moment she felt his touch she knew +herself a captive. The magic force of his personality had caught her; but +she did not give herself wholly to him. She stood and palpitated in his +hold, her head bent low. + +"I--I'm not running away," she told him breathlessly. "I was just--just +coming. But--but--shan't we be seen? Your brother--" + +"What?" He was stooping over her; she felt his breath upon her neck. "Oh, +Scott! Surely you're not afraid of Scott, are you? You needn't be. I've +sent him off to write some letters. He'll be occupied for an hour at +least. Come! Come! You promised. And we're wasting time." + +There was a subtle caressing note in his voice. It thrilled her as she +stood, and ever the soft music drifted on around them, pulsing with a +sweetness almost too intense to be borne. + +He held her with the hold of a conqueror. She was quivering from head to +foot, but all desire to free herself was gone. Still she would not raise +her face. + +Panting, she spoke. "Yes, we--we are wasting time. Let us go!" + +He laughed above her head--a low laugh of absolute assurance. "Are you +too shy to look at me,--Daphne?" + +She laughed also very tremulously. "I think I am--just at present. Let us +dance first anyway! Must we go down to the salon? Couldn't we dance in +the corridor?" + +His arm was round her. He led her down the passage. "No, no! We will go +down. And afterwards--" + +"Afterwards," she broke in breathlessly, "we will just peep at the +moonlight on the mountains, and then I must come back." + +"I will show you something better than the moonlight on the mountains," +said Sir Eustace. + +She did not ask him what he meant, though her whole being was strung to a +tense expectancy. He had brought her once more to the heights of Olympus, +and each moment was full of a vivid life that had to be lived to the +utmost. She lacked the strength to look forward; the present was too +overwhelming. It was almost more than she could bear. + +They reached the head of the stairs. His arm tightened about her. She +descended as though upon wings. Passing through the vestibule, her feet +did not seem to touch the ground. And then like a golden maze the +ballroom received them. + +Before she knew it, they were among the dancers and the magic of her +dream had merged into reality. She closed her eyes, for the glare of +light and moving figures dazzled her, and gave herself up to the rapture +of that one splendid dance. Her heart was beating wildly, as though it +would choke her. A curious thirst that yet was part of her delight made +her throat burn. A weakness that exulted in the man's supporting strength +held her bound and entranced by such an ecstasy as she had never known +before. She laughed, a gurgling laugh through panting lips. She wondered +whether he realized that she was floating through the air, held up by his +arm alone above the glitter and the turmoil all around them. She wondered +too how soon they would find their way to the heart of that golden maze, +and what nameless treasure awaited them there. For that treasure was for +them, and them alone, she never doubted. It was the gift of the gods, +bestowed upon no others in all that merry crowd. + +The magic deepened and grew within her. She felt that the climax was +drawing near. He would not dance to a finish, she knew, and already the +music was quickening. She was too giddy, too spent had she but known it, +to open her eyes. Only by instinct did she know that he was bearing her, +sure and swift as a swallow, to the curtained recess whither he had led +her twice before. This, she told herself, this was the heart of the maze. +All things began and ended here. Her lips quivered and tingled. She would +never escape him now. He had her firmly in the net. Nor did she seriously +want to escape. Only she felt desperately afraid of him. His strength, +his determination, above all, his silence, sent tumultuous fear throbbing +through her heart. And when at length the pause came, when she knew that +they were alone in the gloom with the music dying away behind them, a +last wild dread that was almost anguish made her hide her face deep, deep +in his arm while her body hung powerless in his embrace. + +He laughed a little--a laugh that thrilled her with its exultation, its +passion. And then, whether she would or not, he turned her face upwards +to meet his own. + +His kisses descended upon her hotly, suffocatingly. He held her pressed +to him in such a grip as seemed to drive all the breath out of her +quivering frame. His lips were like a fierce flame on face and neck--a +flame that grew in intensity, possessing her, consuming her. The mastery +of his hold was utterly irresistible. + +She gasped and gasped for breath as one suddenly plunged in deep waters. +His violence appalled her, well-nigh quenching her rapture. She was more +terrified in those moments than she had ever been before. She almost felt +as if the godlike being she had so humbly adored from afar had turned +upon her with the demand for human sacrifice. Those devouring kisses sent +unimagined apprehensions through her heart. They seemed to satisfy him so +little while they sapped from her every atom of vitality, leaving her +helpless as an infant, her body drawn to his as a needle to the magnet, +not of her own volition, but simply by his strength. And ever the fire of +his passion grew hotter till she felt as one bound on the edge of a +mighty furnace which scorched her mercilessly from head to foot. + +She was near to fainting when she felt his arms relax, and suddenly above +her upturned face she heard his voice, low and deep, like the growl of an +angry beast. + +"What have you come here for? Go! You're not wanted." + +In a flash she realized that they were no longer alone. She would have +disengaged herself, but she was too weak to stand. She could only cling +feebly to the supporting arm. + +In that moment a great wave of humiliation burst over her, sweeping away +her last foothold. For without turning she knew who it was who stood +behind her; she knew to whom those furious words had been addressed. + +Before her inner sight with overwhelming vividness there arose a +vision--the vision of Greatheart in his shining armour with a drawn sword +in his hand; and in his eyes--But no, she could not look into his eyes. + +She hid her face instead, burning and quivering still from the touch of +those passionate lips, hid it low against her lover's breast, too shamed +even for speech. + +There came a movement, the halting movement of a lame man, and she heard +Scott's voice. It pierced her intolerably, perfectly gentle though it +was. + +"I am sorry to intrude," he said. "But Isabel begged me to come and look +for--Dinah." His pause before the name was scarcely perceptible, but that +also pierced her through and through. "I don't think she is quite equal +to this." + +Sir Eustace uttered his faint, contemptuous laugh. "You hear, Dinah?" he +said. "This gallant knight has come to your rescue. Look up and tell him +if you want to be rescued!" + +But she could not look up. She could, only cling to him in voiceless +abasement. There was a brief silence, and then she felt his hand upon her +head. He spoke again, the sneering note gone from his voice though it +still held a faint inflection of sardonic humour. + +"You needn't be anxious, most worthy Scott. Leave her to me for five +minutes, and I will undertake to return her to Isabel in good condition! +You're not wanted for the moment, man. Can't you see it?" + +That moved Dinah. She lifted her head from its shelter, and found her +voice. + +"Oh, don't send him away:" she entreated. "He--he--it was very kind of +him to come and look for me." + +Eustace's hand caressed her dark hair for a moment. His eyes looked down, +into hers, and she saw that the glowing embers of his passion still +smouldered there. + +She caught her breath with a sob. "Tell him--not to go away!" she begged. + +He smiled a little, but electricity lingered in the pressure of his arm. +"I think it is time we broke up the meeting," he said. "You had better +run back to Isabel. If you wish to keep this episode a secret, Scott is, +I believe, gentleman enough to hold his peace." + +She was free, and very slowly she released herself. She turned round to +Scott, but still she could not--dared not--meet his eyes. + +Her limbs were trembling painfully. She felt weak and dizzy. Suddenly she +became aware of his hand held out to her, proffering silent assistance. + +Thankfully she accepted it, feeling it close firmly, reassuringly, upon +her own. "Shall we go upstairs?" he asked, in his quiet, matter-of-fact +way. "Isabel is a little anxious about you." + +"Oh yes," she whispered tremulously. "Let us go!" + +She tottered a little with the words, and he transferred his hold to her +elbow. He supported her steadily and sustainingly. + +Eustace stepped forward, and lifted the heavy curtain for them with a +mask-like ceremony. She glanced up at him as she went through. + +"Good night!" he said. + +Her lips quivered in response. + +He suddenly bent to her. "Good night!" he said again. + +There was imperious insistence in his voice. His eyes compelled. + +Mutely she responded to the mastery that would not be denied. She lifted +her trembling lips to his; and deliberately--in Scott's presence--he +kissed her. + +"Sleep well!" he said lightly. + +She returned his kiss, because she could not do otherwise. She felt as if +he had so merged her will into his that she was deprived of all power to +resist. + +But the hand that held her arm urged her with quiet strength. It led her +unfalteringly away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE LESSON + + +Ten minutes later Scott descended the stairs alone and returned to the +salon. + +A dance was in progress. He stood for a space in the doorway, watching. +Finally, having satisfied himself that his brother was not among the +dancers, he turned away. + +With his usual quietness of demeanour, he crossed the vestibule, and +looked into the smoking-room. Sir Eustace was not there either, and he +was closing the door again when the man himself came up the passage +behind him, and clapped a careless hand on his shoulder. + +"Are you looking for me, most doughty knight?" he asked. + +Scott turned so sharply that the hand fell. "Yes, I am looking for you," +he said, and his voice was unusually curt. "Come outside a minute, will +you? I want to speak to you." + +"I am not going outside," Sir Eustace said, with exasperating coolness. +"If you want to talk, you can come in here and smoke with me." + +"I must be alone with you," Scott said briefly. "There are two or three +men in there." + +His brother gave him a look of amused curiosity. "Do you want to do +something violent then? There's plenty of room for a quiet talk in there +without disturbing or being disturbed by anyone." + +But Scott stood his ground. "I must see you alone for a minute," he said +stubbornly. "You can come to my room, or I will come to yours,--whichever +you like." + +Sir Eustace shrugged his shoulders. "You are damned persistent. I don't +know that I am specially anxious to hear what you have to say. In any +case it can keep till the morning. I can't be bothered now." + +Scott's hand grasped his arm. A queer gleam shone in his pale eyes. +"Man," he said, "I think you had better hear me now." + +Eustace looked down at him, half-sneering, half-impressed. "What a mule +you are, Stumpy! Come along then if you must! But you had better mind how +you go. I'm in no mood for trifling." + +"Nor I," said Scott, with very unaccustomed bitterness. + +He kept his hand upon his brother's arm as they turned. He leaned +slightly upon him as they ascended the stairs. Eustace's room was the +first they reached, and they turned into that. + +Scott was very pale, but there was no lack of resolution about him as he +closed the door and faced the elder man. + +"Well, what is it?" Eustace demanded. + +"Just this." Very steadily Scott made answer. "I want to know how far +this matter has gone between you and Miss Bathurst. I want to know--what +you are going to do." + +"My intentions, eh?" Eustace's sneer became very pronounced as he put the +question. He pulled forward a chair and sat down with an arrogant air as +though to bring himself thus to Scott's level. + +Scott's eyes gleamed again momentarily at the action, but he stood like a +rock. "Yes, your intentions," he said briefly. + +Sir Eustace's black brows went up, he looked him up and down. "Can you +give me any reason at all why I should hold myself answerable to you?" he +asked. + +Scott's hands clenched as he stood. "I can," he said. "I regard Miss +Bathurst as very peculiarly our charge--under our protection. We are both +in a great measure responsible for her, though possibly--" he hesitated +slightly--"my responsibility is greater than yours, in so far as I take +it more seriously. I do not think that either of us is in a position to +make love to her under existing circumstances. But that, I admit, is +merely a matter of opinion. Most emphatically neither of us has the right +to trifle with her. I want to know--and I must know--are you trifling +with her, as you have trifled with Miss de Vigne for the past fortnight? +Or are you in earnest? Which?" + +He spoke sternly, as one delivering an ultimatum. His eyes, steel-bright +and unwavering, were fixed upon his brother's face. + +Sir Eustace made a sharp gesture, as of one who flings off some stinging +insect. "It is not particularly good form on your part to bring another +lady's name into the discussion," he said. "At least you have no +responsibilities so far as Miss de Vigne is concerned." + +"I admit that," Scott answered shortly. "Moreover, she is fully capable +of taking care of herself. But Miss Bathurst is not. She is a mere child +in many ways, but she takes things hard. If you are merely amusing +yourself at her expense--" He stopped. + +"Well?" Sir Eustace threw the question with sudden anger. His great, +lounging figure stiffened. A blue flame shot up in his eyes. + +Scott stood silent for a moment or two; then with a great effort he +unclenched his hands and came forward. "I am not going to believe that of +you unless you tell me it is so," he said. + +Sir Eustace reached out an unexpected hand without rising, and took him +by the shoulder. "You may be small of stature, Stumpy," he said, "but +you're the biggest fool I know. You're making mountains out of molehills, +and you'll get yourself into trouble if you're not careful." + +Scott looked at him. "Do you imagine I'm afraid of you, I wonder?" he +said, a faint tremor of irony in his quiet voice. + +Sir Eustace's hold tightened. His mouth was hard. "I imagine that I could +make things highly unpleasant for you if you provoked me too far," he +said. "And let me warn you, you have gone quite far enough in a matter in +which you have no concern whatever. I never have stood any interference +from you and I never will. Let that be understood--once for all!" + +He met Scott's look with eyes of smouldering wrath. There was more than +warning in his hold; it conveyed menace. + +Yet Scott, very pale, supremely dignified, made no motion to retreat. +"You have not answered me yet," he said. "I must have an answer." + +Sir Eustace's brows met in a thick and threatening line. "You will have +very much more than you bargain for if you persist," he said. + +"Meaning that I am to draw my own conclusions?" Scott asked, unmoved. + +The smouldering fire suddenly blazed into flame. He pulled Scott to him +with the movement of a giant, and bent him irresistibly downwards. "I +will show you what I mean," he said. + +Scott made a swift, instinctive effort to free himself, but the next +instant he was passive. Only as the relentless hands forced him lower he +spoke, his voice quick and breathless. + +"You can hammer me to your heart's content, but you'll get nothing out of +it. That sort of thing simply doesn't count--with me." + +Sir Eustace held him in a vice-like grip. "Are you going to take it lying +down then?" he questioned grimly. + +"I'm not going to fight you certainly." Scott's voice had a faint quiver +of humour in it, as though he jested at his own expense. "Not--that +is--in a physical sense. If you choose to resort to brute force, that's +your affair. And I fancy you'll be sorry afterwards. But it will make no +actual difference to me." He broke off, breathing short and hard, like a +man who struggles against odds yet with no thought of yielding. + +Sir Eustace held him a few seconds as if irresolute, then abruptly let +him go. "I believe you're right," he said. "You wouldn't care a damn. But +you're a fool to bait me all the same. Now clear out, and leave me alone +for the future!" + +"I haven't done with you yet," Scott said. He straightened himself, and +returned indomitably to the attack. "I asked you a question, and--so +far--you haven't answered it. Are you ashamed to answer it?" + +Sir Eustace got up with a movement of exasperation, but very oddly his +anger had died down. "Oh, confound you, Stumpy! You're worse than a swarm +of mosquitoes!" he said. "I dispute your right to ask that question. It +is no affair of yours." + +"I maintain that it is," Scott said quietly. "It matters to me--perhaps +more than you realize--whether you behave honourably or otherwise." + +"Honourably!" His brother caught him up sharply. "You're on dangerous +ground, I warn you," he said. "I won't stand that from you or any man." + +"I've no intention of insulting you," Scott answered. "But I must know +the truth. Are you hoping to marry Miss Bathurst, or are you not?" + +Sir Eustace drew himself up with a haughty gesture. "The time has not +come to talk of that," he said. + +"Not when you are deliberately making love to her?" Scott's voice +remained quiet, but the glitter was in his eyes again--a quivering, +ominous gleam. + +"Oh, that! My dear fellow, you are disquieting yourself in vain. She +knows as well as I do that that is a mere game." Eustace spoke +scoffingly, looking over his brother's head, ignoring his attitude. "I +assure you she is not so green as you imagine," he said. "It has been +nothing but a game all through." + +"Nothing but a game!" Scott repeated the words slowly as if incredulous. +"Do you actually mean that?" + +Sir Eustace laughed and took out his cigarettes. "What do you take me +for, you old duffer? Think I should commit myself at this stage? An old +hand like me! Not likely!" + +Scott stood up before him, white to the lips. "I take you for an infernal +blackguard, if you want to know!" he said, speaking with great +distinctness. "You may call yourself a man of honour. I call you a +scoundrel!" + +"What?" Eustace put back his cigarette-case with a smile that was oddly +like a snarl. "It looks to me as if you'll have to have that lesson after +all," he said. "What's the matter with you now-a-days? Fallen in love +yourself? Is that it?" + +He took Scott by the shoulders, not roughly, but with power. + +Scott's eyes met his like a sword in a master-hand. "The matter is," he +said, "that this precious game of yours has got to end. If you are not +man enough to end it--I will." + +"Will you indeed?" Eustace shook him to and fro as he stood, but still +without violence. "And how?" + +"I shall tell her," Scott spoke without the smallest hesitation, "the +exact truth. I shall tell her--and she will believe me--precisely what +you are." + +"Damn you!" said Sir Eustace. + +With the words he shifted his grasp, took Scott by the collar, and swung +him round. + +"Then you may also tell her," he said, his voice low and furious, "that +you have had the kicking that a little yapping cur like you deserves." + +He kicked him with the words, kicked him thrice, and flung him brutally +aside. + +Scott went down, grabbing vainly at the bed to save himself. His face was +deathly as he turned it, but he said nothing. He had said his say. + +Sir Eustace was white also, white and terrible, with eyes of flame. He +stood a moment, glaring down at him. Then, as though he could not trust +himself, wheeled and strode to the door. + +"And when you've done," he said, "you can come to me for another, you +beastly little cad!" + +He went, leaving the door wide behind him. His feet resounded along the +passage and died away. The distant waltz-music came softly in. And Scott +pulled himself painfully up and sat on the end of the bed, panting +heavily. + +Minutes passed ere he moved. Then at last very slowly he got up. He had +recovered his breath. His mouth was firm, his eyes resolute and +indomitable, his whole bearing composed, as with that dignity that Dinah +had so often remarked in him he limped to the door and passed out, +closing it quietly behind him. + +The dance-music was still floating through the passages with a mocking +allurement. The tramp of feet and laughter of many voices rose with it. A +flicker of irony passed over his drawn face. He straightened his collar +with absolute steadiness, and moved away in the direction of his own +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CAPTIVE + + +Isabel uttered no reproaches to her charge as, quivering with shame, she +returned from her escapade. She exchanged no more than a low "Good +night!" with Scott, and then turned back into the room with Dinah. But as +the latter stood before her, crest-fallen and humiliated, expecting a +reprimand, she only laid very gentle hands upon her and began to unfasten +her dress. + +"I wasn't spying upon you, dear child," she said. "I only looked in to +see if you would care for a cup of milk last thing." + +That broke Dinah utterly and overwhelmingly. In her contrition, she cast +herself literally at Isabel's feet. "Oh, what a beast I am! What a +beast!" she sobbed. "Will you ever forgive me? I shall never forgive +myself!" + +Isabel was very tender with her, checking her wild outburst with loving +words. She asked no question as to what had been happening, for which +forbearance Dinah's gratitude was great even though it served to +intensify her remorse. With all a mother's loving care she soothed her, +assuring her of complete forgiveness and understanding. + +"I did wild things in my own girlhood," she said. "I know what it means, +dear, when temptation comes." + +And so at last she calmed her agitation, and helped her to bed, waiting +upon her with the utmost gentleness, saying no word of blame or even of +admonition. + +Not till she had gone, did it dawn upon Dinah that this task had probably +been left to Scott, and with the thought a great dread of the morrow came +upon her. Though he had betrayed no hint of displeasure, she felt +convinced that she had incurred it; and all her new-born shyness in his +presence, returned upon her a thousandfold. She did not know how she +would face him when the morning came. + +He would not be angry she knew. He would not scold her like Colonel de +Vigne. But yet she shrank from the thought of his disappointment in her +as she had never before shrunk from the Colonel's rebuke. She was sure +that she had forfeited his good opinion for ever, and many and bitter +were the tears that she shed over her loss. + +Her thoughts of Eustace were of too confused a nature to be put into +coherent form. The moment they turned in his direction her brain became a +flashing whirl in which doubts, fears, and terrible ectasies ran wild +riot. She lay and trembled at the memory of his strength, exulting almost +in the same moment that he had stooped with such mastery to possess her. +His magnificence dazzled her, deprived her of all powers of rational +judgment. She only realized that she--and she alone--had been singled out +of the crowd for that fiery worship; and it seemed to her that she had +been created for that one splendid purpose. + +But always the memory of Scott shot her triumph through with a regret so +poignant as to deprive it of all lasting rapture. She had hurt him, she +had disappointed him; she did not know how she would ever look him in the +eyes again. + +Her sleep throughout that last night was broken and unrefreshing, and +ever the haunting strains of _Simple Aveu_ pulsed through her brain like +a low voice calling her perpetually, refusing to be stilled. Only one +night more and she would be back in her home; this glittering, Alpine +dream would be over, never to return. And again she turned on her pillow +and wept. It was so hard, so hard, to go back. + +In the morning she arose white-faced and weary, with dark shadows under +her eyes, and a head that throbbed tormentingly. She breakfasted with +Isabel in the latter's room, and was again deeply grateful to her friend +for forbearing to comment upon her subdued manner. She could not make any +pretence at cheerfulness that day, being in fact still so near to tears +that she could scarcely keep from breaking down. + +"Don't wait for me, dear!" Isabel said gently at length. "I see you are +not hungry. We are taking some provisions with us; perhaps you will feel +more like eating presently." + +Dinah escaped very thankfully and returned to her own room. + +Here she remained for awhile till more sure of herself; then Biddy came +in to finish her packing and she slipped away to avoid the old woman's +shrewd observation. She feared to go downstairs lest she should meet +Scott; but presently, as she hovered in the passage, she heard his +halting tread in the main corridor. + +He was evidently on his way to his sister's room, and seizing her +opportunity, she ran like a hare in the opposite direction and managed to +slip downstairs without adventure. + +She was not to escape unnoticed, however. The first person she +encountered in the vestibule came forward instantly at sight of her with +the promptitude of one who has been lying in wait. + +She recoiled with a gasp, but she could not run away. She was caught as +surely as she had been the night before. + +"Hullo!" smiled Sir Eustace, with extended hand. "Going out for a last +look round? May I come too?" + +She felt the dominance of his grip. It was coolly, imperially possessive. +To answer his request seemed superfluous, even bordering upon +presumption. It was obvious that he had every intention of accompanying +her. + +She gave a confused murmur of assent, and they passed through the +vestibule side by side. She was conscious of curious glances from several +strangers who were standing about, and Eustace exchanged a few words with +a species of regal condescension here and there as they went. And then +they were out in the pure sunlight of the mountains, alone for the last +time in their paradise of snow. + +Almost instinctively Dinah turned up the winding track. They had half an +hour before them, and she felt she could not bear to stand still. He +strolled beside her, idly smoking, not troubling to make conversation, +now as ever sublimely at his ease. + +The snow sparkled around them like a thousand gems Dinah's eyes were +burning and smarting with the brightness. And still that tender +waltz-music ran lilting through her brain, drifting as it were through +the mist of her unshed tears. + +Suddenly he spoke. They were nearing the pine-wood and quite alone. "Is +there anything the matter?" + +She choked down a great lump in her throat before she could speak in +answer. "No," she murmured then. "I--I am just--rather low about leaving; +that's all." + +"Quite all?" he said. + +His tone was so casual, so normal, that it seemed impossible now to think +of last night's happening save as an extravagant dream. She almost felt +for the moment as if she had imagined it all. And then he spoke again, +and she caught a subtle note of tenderness in his voice that brought +it all back upon her in an overwhelming rush. + +"That's really all, is it? You're not unhappy about anything else? Scott +hasn't been bullying you?" + +She gasped at the question. "Oh no! Oh no! He wouldn't! He couldn't! +I--haven't even seen him today." + +He received the information in silence; but in a moment or two he tossed +away his cigarette with the air of a man having come to an abrupt +resolution. + +"And so you're fretting about going home?" he said. + +She nodded mutely. The matter would not bear discussion. + +"Poor little Daphne!" he said. "It's been a good game, hasn't it?" + +She nodded again. "Just like the dreams that never come true," she +managed to say. + +"Would you like it to come true?" he asked her unexpectedly. + +She glanced up at him with a woeful little smile. "It's no good thinking +of that, is it?" she said. + +"I have an idea we could make it come true between us," he said. + +She shook her head. That brief glimpse of his intent eyes had sent a +sudden and overwhelming wave of shyness through her. She remembered again +the fiery holding of his arms, and was afraid. + +He paused in his walk and turned aside to the railing that bounded the +side of the track above the steep, pine-covered descent. "Wish hard +enough," he said, "and all dreams come true!" + +Dinah went with him as if compelled. She leaned against the railing, glad +of the support, while he sat down upon it. His attitude was supremely +easy and self-possessed. + +"Do you know, Daphne," he said, "I've taken a fancy to that particular +dream myself? Now I've caught you, I don't see myself letting you go +again." + +Her heart throbbed at his words. She bent her head, fixing her eyes upon +the rough wood upon which she leaned. + +"But it's no good, is it?" she said, almost below her breath. "I've just +got to go." + +He put his hand on her shoulder, and she was conscious afresh of the +electricity of his touch. She shrank a little--a very little; for she was +frightened, albeit curiously aware of a magnetism that drew her +irresistibly. + +"Yes, I suppose you've got to go," he said. "But--there's nothing to +prevent me following you, is there?" + +She quivered from head to foot. That hand upon her shoulder sent such a +tumult of emotions through her that she could not collect her thoughts in +any coherent order. "I--I don't know," she whispered, bending her head +still lower. "They--I don't know what they would say at home." + +"Your people?" His hand was drawing her now with an insistent pressure +that would not be denied. "They'd probably dance on their heads with +delight," he said, his tone one of slightly supercilious humour. "I +assure you I am considered something of a catch by a good many anxious +mammas." + +She started at that, started and straightened herself, lifting shy eyes +to his. "Oh, but we've only been--playing," she said rather uncertainly. +"Just--just pretending to flirt, that's all." + +He laughed, bending his handsome, imperious face to hers. "It's been a +fairly solid pretence, hasn't it?" he said. "But I'm proposing something +slightly different now. I'm offering you my hand--as well as my heart." + +Dinah was trembling all over. She gasped for breath, drawing back +slightly from the nearness of his lips. "Do you mean--you'd like--to +marry me?" she whispered tremulously, and hid her face on the instant; +for the bald words sounded preposterous. + +He laughed again, softly, half-mockingly, and drew her into his arms. +"Whatever made you think of that, my elf of the mountains? I'll vow it +came into your head first. Ah, you needn't hide your eyes from me. I know +you're mine--all mine. I've known it from the first--ever since you began +to run away. But I've caught you now. Haven't I? Haven't I?" + +She clung to him desperately. It seemed the only way; for she was for the +moment swept off her feet, terribly afraid of arousing that storm of +passion which had so overwhelmed her the night before. Instinct warned +her what to expect if she attempted to withdraw herself. Moreover, the +tumult of her feeling was such that she did not want to do so. She wanted +only to hide her head for a space, and be still. + +He pressed her close, still laughing at her shyness. "What a good thing +I'm not shy!" he said. "If I were, to-day would be the end of everything +instead of the beginning. Can't you bring yourself to look at your new +possession? Did you think you could laugh and run away for all time?" + +Then, as in muffled accents she besought him to be patient with her, he +softened magically and for the first time spoke of love. + +"Don't you know you have wrenched the very heart out of me, you little +brown witch? I loved you from the very first moment of our dance +together. You've been too much for me all through. I had to have you. I +simply had to have you." + +She trembled afresh at his words, but she clung closer. If the fear +deepened, so also did the fascination. She tried to picture him as +hers--hers, and failed. He was so fine, so splendid, so much too big for +her. + +He went on, dropping his voice lower, his breath warm upon her neck. "Are +you going to take all and give--nothing, Daphne? Did they make you +without a heart, I wonder? Like a robin that mates afresh a dozen times +in a season? Haven't you anything to give me, little sweetheart? Are you +going to keep me waiting for a long, long time, and then send me empty +away?" + +That moved her. That he should stoop to plead with her seemed so amazing, +almost a fabulous state of affairs. + +With a little sob, she lifted her face at last. "Oh, Apollo!" she said +brokenly. "Apollo the magnificent! I am all yours--all yours! But +don't--don't take too much--at a time!" + +The plea must have touched him, accompanied as it was by that full +surrender. He held her a moment, looking down into her eyes with the +fiery possessiveness subdued to a half-veiled tenderness in his own. + +Then, very gently, even with reverence, he bent his face to hers. "Give +me--just what you can spare, then, little sweetheart!" he said. "I can +always come again for more now." + +She slipped her arms around his neck, and shyly, childishly, she kissed +the lips that had devoured her own so mercilessly the night before. + +"Yes--yes, I will always give you more!" she said tremulously. + +He took her face between his hands and kissed her in return, not +violently, but with confidence. "That seals you for my very own," he +said. "You will never run away from me again?" + +But she would not promise that. The memory of the previous night still +scorched her intolerably whenever her thoughts turned that way. + +"I shan't want to run away if--if you stay as you are now," she told him +confusedly. + +He laughed in his easy way. "Oh, Daphne, I shall have a lot to teach you +when we are married. How soon do you think you can be ready?" + +She started in his hold at the question, and then quickly gave herself +fully back to him again. "I don't know a bit. You'll have to ask mother. +P'raps--she may not allow it at all." + +"Ho! Won't she?" said Sir Eustace. "I think I know better. What about +that trip on the yacht in July? Can you be ready in time for that?" + +"Oh, I expect I could be ready sooner than that," said Dinah naïvely. + +"You could?" He smiled upon her. "Well, next week then! What do you say +to next week?" + +But she shrank again at that. "Oh no! Not possibly! Not possibly! +You--you're laughing!" She looked at him accusingly. + +He caught her to him. "You baby! You innocent! Yes, I'm going to kiss +you. Where will you have it? Just anywhere?" + +He held her and kissed her, still laughing, yet with a heat that made her +flinch involuntarily; kissed the pointed chin and quivering lips, the +swift-shut eyes and soft cheeks, the little, trembling dimple that came +and went. + +"Yes, you are mine--all mine," he said. "Remember, I have a right to you +now that no one else has. Not all the mammas in the world could come +between us now." + +She laughed, half-exultantly, half-dubiously, peeping at him through her +lowered lashes. "I wonder if you'll still say that when--when you've +seen--my mother," she murmured. + +He kissed her again, kissed anew the dimples that showed and vanished so +alluringly. "You will see presently, my Daphne," he said. "But I'm going +to have you, you know. That's quite understood, isn't it?" + +"Yes," whispered Dinah, with docility. + +"No more running away," he insisted. "That's past and done with." + +She gave him a fleeting smile. "I couldn't if--if I wanted to." + +"I'm glad you realize that," he said. + +She clung to him suddenly with a little movement that was almost +convulsive. "Oh, are you sure--quite sure--that you wouldn't rather marry +Rose de Vigne?" + +He uttered his careless laugh. "My dear child, there are plenty of +Roses in the world. There is only one--Daphne--Daphne, the fleet of +foot--Daphne, the enchantress!" + +She clung to him a little faster. "And there is only one Apollo," she +murmured. "Apollo the magnificent!" + +"We seem to be quite a unique couple," laughed Eustace, with his lips +upon her hair. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE SECOND SUMMONS + + +When they went down the hill again to the hotel, Dinah felt as if she +were treading on air. The whole world had magically changed for her. +Fears still lurked in the background, such fears as she did not dare to +turn and contemplate; but she herself had stepped into such a blaze of +sunshine that she felt literally bathed from head to foot in the glow. + +Her dread of returning to the old home-life had dwindled to a mere +shadow. Sir Eustace's absolute confidence on the subject of his +desirability as a husband had accomplished this. There would be paens of +rejoicing, he told her, and she had actually begun to think that he spoke +the truth. She was quite convinced that her mother would be pleased. It +was Cinderella and the prince indeed. Who could be otherwise? + +Her escapade of the night before had also shrunk to a matter of small +importance. Eustace in his grand, easy way had justified her, and she was +no longer tormented by the thought of the mute reproach she would +encounter in Scott's eyes. She was triumphantly vindicated, and no one +would dream of reproaching her now. Isabel too--surely Isabel would be +glad, would welcome her as a sister, though the realization of this +nearness of relationship made her blush in sheer horror at her +presumption. + +She to be Lady Studley! She--little, insignificant, moneyless Dinah! The +thought of Rose's soft patronage flashed through her brain, and she +chuckled aloud. Poor dear Rose, waiting for him at the Court, expecting +every day to hear of his promised advent! What a shock for them all! Why, +she would rank with the County now! Even Lady Grace would scarcely be in +a position to patronize her! Again, quite involuntarily, she chuckled. + +"What's the joke?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +She blushed very deeply, realizing that she had allowed her thoughts to +run away with her. + +"There isn't a joke really," she told him. "It wasn't important anyhow. I +was only thinking how--how surprised the de Vignes would be." + +He frowned momentarily; then he laughed. "Proud of your conquest, eh?" he +asked. + +She blushed still more deeply. "It's easy to laugh now, but I shall never +dare to face them," she murmured. + +He took her hand as they walked, linking his fingers in hers with a +careless air of possession. "When you are Lady Studley," he said, "I +shall not allow you to knock under to anyone--except your husband." + +She gave a faint laugh. "I--shall have to learn to swagger," she said. +"But I'm afraid I shall never do it as well as you do." + +"What? Swagger?" He frowned again. "How dare you accuse me of that?" + +"Oh, I didn't! I don't!" Hastily she sought to avert his displeasure. +"No, no! I only meant that you were born to it. I'm not. I--I'm very +ordinary; not nearly good enough for you." + +His frown melted again. "You are--Daphne," he said. "Ah! Here is Scott, +coming to look for us! Who is going to break the news to him?" + +She made a small, ineffectual attempt to release her hand. Then, under +her breath, "He--saw you kiss me last night," she whispered. "Don't you +think he may have guessed already?" + +A very cynical look came into Eustace's face. "I wonder," he said +briefly. + +They went on side by side down the white, shining track; but Dinah was no +longer treading on air. She could see the slight, insignificant figure +that awaited them close to the hotel-entrance, and her heart felt oddly +weighted within her. It was not the memory of the night before that +oppressed her. That episode had faded almost into nothingness. But the +ordeal of facing him, of telling him of the wonderful thing that had just +happened to her, seemed suddenly more than she could bear. Something +within her seemed to cry out against it. She had a curious feeling of +looking out at him across great billows of seething uncertainty that +rolled ever higher and higher between them, threatening to separate them +for all time. + +Yet when she neared him, the tumult of feeling sank again as the +quietness of his presence reached her. Out of the tempest she found +herself drifting into a safe harbour of still waters. + +He moved to meet them, and she heard his voice greet her as he raised his +cap. "So you have been for your farewell stroll!" + +She did not answer in words, only she freed her hand from Eustace with a +resolute little tug and gave it to him. + +Eustace spoke, a species of half-veiled insolence in his tone. "Like the +psalmist she went forth weeping and has returned bearing her sheaf with +her--in the form of a fairly substantial _fiancé_." + +Dinah ventured to cast a lightning-glance at Scott to see how he took the +information and was conscious of an instant's shock. He looked so grey, +so ill, like a man who had received a deadly wound. + +But the impression passed in a flash as she felt his hand close upon +hers. + +"My dear," he said simply, "I'm awfully pleased." + +The warm grasp did her good. It brought her swiftly back to a normal +state of mind. She drew a hard breath and met his eyes, reassuring +herself in a moment with the conviction that after all he looked quite as +usual. Somehow her imagination had tricked her. His kindly smile seemed +to make everything right. + +"Oh, it is kind of you not to mind," she said impulsively. + +Whereat Sir Eustace laughed. "He is rather magnanimous, isn't he? Well, +come along and tell Isabel!" + +Scott's eyes came swiftly to him. He released Dinah, and offered his hand +to his brother. "Let me congratulate you, old chap!" he said, his voice +rather low. "I hope you will both have--all happiness." + +"Thanks!" said Eustace. He took the hand, looking at the younger man with +keen, hawk-eyes. "We mean to make a bid for it anyway. Dinah is lucky in +one thing at least. She will have an ideal brother-in-law." + +The words were carelessly spoken, but they were not without meaning. +Scott flushed slightly; even while for an instant he smiled. "I shall do +my best in that capacity," he said. "But before you go in, I want you to +wait a moment. Isabel has had a slight fainting attack. We mustn't take +her by surprise." + +"A fainting attack!" Sharply Eustace echoed the words. "How did it +happen?" he demanded. + +Scott raised his shoulders. "We were talking together. I can't tell you +exactly what caused it. It came rather suddenly. Biddy and I brought her +round almost immediately, and she declares that she will make the +journey. She did not wish me to tell you of it, but I thought it better." + +"Of coarse." Sir Eustace's voice was short and stern; his face wore a +heavy frown. "But something must have caused it. What were you talking +about?" + +Scott hesitated for a second. "I can't tell you that, old fellow," he +said then. + +Eustace uttered a brief laugh. "Too personal, eh? Well, how did it +happen? Did she suddenly lose consciousness?" + +"She suddenly gasped, and said her heart had stopped. She fell across the +table. I called to Biddy, and we lifted her and gave her brandy. That +brought her to very quickly. I left her lying down in her room. But she +says she feels much better, and she is very set upon leaving the +arrangements for the journey unaltered." + +Scott spoke rather wearily. Dinah's heart went out to him in swift +sympathy which she did not know how to express. + +"May I--could I--go to her?" she suggested, after a moment timidly. + +Scott turned to her instantly. "Please do! I know she would like to see +you. We ought to be starting in another quarter of an hour. The sleigh +will be here directly." + +"May I do as I like about--about telling her?" Dinah asked, pausing. + +Scott's eyes shone with a very kindly gleam. "Of course, I know you will +not startle her. You always do her good." + +The words followed her as she turned away. How good he was to her! How +full of understanding and human sympathy! Her heart throbbed with a +warmth that filled her with an odd desire to weep. She wished that +Eustace did not treat him quite so arrogantly. + +And then, looking back, she reproached herself for the thought; for +Eustace had linked a hand in his arm, and she saw that they were walking +together in complete accord. + +"But I will never--no, never--call him Stumpy!" she said to herself, as +she passed into the hotel. + +She went up the stairs rapidly, and hastened to Isabel's room. That look +she had caught in Scott's face--that stricken look--had doubtless been +brought there by his sudden anxiety for his sister. That would fully +account for it, she was sure. + +On the threshold of Isabel's room an overwhelming nervousness assailed +her. How was she going to tell her of the wonderful event that had taken +place in the last half-hour? On the other hand, how could she possibly +suppress so tremendous a matter? And again, the disquieting question +arose; could she be ill--really ill? Scott had looked so troubled--so +unutterably sad. + +With an effort she summoned her courage, and softly knocked. + +Instantly a low voice answered her, bidding her enter. She opened the +door and went in, feeling as though she were treading sacred ground. + +But Isabel's voice spoke again instantly, greeting her; and +in a moment all her doubts, all her forebodings, were gone. + +"Come in, little sweetheart!" Isabel said. + +And she advanced with quickened steps to find Isabel lying propped on the +sofa, looking at her, smiling up at her, with such a glory on her wasted +face as made it "as it had been the face of an angel." + +In an instant Dinah was on her knees beside her, with loving arms +clasping her close. "Oh, darling, I've only just heard. Are you better? +Are you better?" she said yearningly. + +Isabel held her, and fondly kissed the upturned lips. "Why, I believe +Scott has been frightening you," she said. "Silly fellow! Yes, dear. I am +well--quite well." + +"You are sure?" Dinah insisted. "You are really not ill?" + +Isabel's smile had in it--had she but known it--a gleam of the Divine. +"My dearest, all is well with me," she said. "I lay down for a little to +please Scott. But I am going to get up now. Where have you been since +_dèjeuner_? I missed you." + +Dinah clung closer, hiding her face. + +Instantly Isabel's arms tightened. The passionate tenderness of them +thrilled her through and through. "Why, child, what has happened?" she +whispered. "Tell me! Tell me!" + +But Dinah only hid her face a little deeper. "I don't know how," she +murmured. + +There fell a silence. Then, under her breath, Isabel spoke. "My darling, +whisper--just whisper! Who--is it?" + +And very, very faintly, at last Dinah made answer. "It--it is--Sir +Eustace." + +There fell another silence, longer, deeper, than the first. Then Isabel +uttered a short, hard sigh, and, stooping, kissed the bowed, curly head. +"God bless and keep you always, dearest!" she said. + +Something in the words--or was it the tone?--pierced Dinah. She turned +her face slightly upwards. "I--I was afraid you wouldn't be pleased," she +faltered. "Do--do forgive me--if you can!" + +"Forgive you!" All the wealth of Isabel's love was in the words. "Why, +darling, I have been wanting you for my own little sister ever since I +first saw you." + +"Oh, have you?" Eagerly Dinah lifted her head. Her eyes were shining, her +cheeks very flushed. "Then you are pleased?" she said earnestly. "You +really are pleased?" + +Isabel smiled at her very sadly, very fondly. "My darling, if you are +happy, I am more than pleased," she said. + +Yet Dinah was puzzled, not wholly satisfied. She received Isabel's kiss +with a certain wistfulness. "I feel--somehow--as if I've done wrong," she +said. "Yet--yet--Scott--" she halted over the name, uttering it +shyly--"said he was--awfully pleased." + +"Ah! You have told Scott!" There was a sharp, almost a wrung, sound in +Isabel's voice; but the next moment she controlled it, and spoke with +steady resolution. "Then, my dear, you needn't have any misgivings. If +you love Eustace and he loves you, it is the best thing possible for you +both." She held Dinah to her again and kissed her; then very tenderly +released her. "You must run and get ready, dear child. It is getting +late." + +Dinah went obediently, still with that bewildered feeling of having +somehow taken a wrong turning. She was convinced in her own mind that the +news had not been welcome to Isabel, disguise it how she would. And +suddenly through her mind there ran the memory of those words she had +uttered a few weeks before. "Never prefer the tinsel to the true gold!" +She had not fully understood their meaning then. Now very vividly it +flashed upon her. Isabel had compared her two brothers in that brief +sentence. Isabel's estimate of the one was as low as that of the other +was high. Isabel did not love Eustace--the handsome, debonair brother who +had once been all the world to her. + +A little, sick feeling of doubt went through Dinah! Had she--by any evil +chance--had she made a mistake? + +And then the man's overwhelming personality swung suddenly through her +consciousness, filling all her being, possessing her, dominating her. She +flung the doubt from her, as one flings away a poisonous insect. He was +her own--her very own; her lover, the first, the best,--Apollo the +Magnificent! + +In Isabel's room old Biddy Maloney stood, gazing down at her mistress +with eyes of burning devotion. + +"And is it yourself that's feeling better now?" she questioned fondly. + +Isabel raised herself, smiling her sad smile. "Oh, Biddy," she said, +"for myself I feel that all is well--all will be well. The dawn draws +nearer--every hour." + +Biddy shook her head with pursed lips. "Ye shouldn't talk so, mavourneen. +It's the Almighty who has the ruling. Ye wouldn't wish to go before your +time?" + +"Before my time! Oh, Biddy! When I have lingered in the prison-house so +long!" Slowly Isabel rose to her feet. She looked at Biddy almost +whimsically. "I think He will take that into the reckoning," she said. +"Do you know, Biddy, this is the second summons that has come to me? And +I think--I think," her face was glorified again as the face of one who +sees a vision--"I think the third will be the last." + +Biddy's black eyes screwed up suddenly. She turned her face away. + +"Will we be getting ready to go now, Miss Isabel?" she asked after a +moment, in a voice that shook. + +The glory died out of Isabel's face, though the reflection of it still +lingered in her eyes. "I am very selfish, Biddy," she said. "Can you +guess what Miss Dinah has just told me?" + +"Arrah thin, I can," said Biddy, with a touch of aggressiveness. "I've +seen it coming for a long time past. And ye didn't ought to allow it at +all, Miss Isabel. It's a mistake, that's what it is. It's just a bad +mistake." + +"Not if he loves her, Biddy." Isabel spoke gently, but there was a hint +of reproof in her voice. + +Biddy, however, remained quite unabashed. "He love her!" she snorted. "As +if he ever loved anybody besides himself! Talk about the lion and the +lamb, Miss Isabel! It's a cruel shame to let her go to such as him. And +what'll poor Master Scott do at all? And he worshipping the little fairy +feet of her!" + +"Hush, Biddy, hush!" Isabel spoke with decision. "I hope--I trust--that +he isn't very grievously disappointed. But if he is, it is the one thing +that neither you nor I must ever seem to suspect." + +"Ah!" grumbled Biddy mutinously. "And isn't that just like Sir Eustace, +with all the world to pick from, to choose the one thing--the one little +wild rose--as Master Scott had set his heart on? He's done it from his +cradle. Always the one thing someone else wanted he must grab for +himself. But is it too late, Miss Isabel darlint?" Sudden hope shone in +the old woman's eyes. "Is it really too late? Couldn't ye drop a hint to +the dear lamb? Sure and she's fond of Master Scott! Maybe she'd turn to +him after all if she knew." + +Isabel shook her head almost sternly. "Biddy, no! This is no affair of +ours. If Master Scott suspected for a moment what you have just said to +me, he would never forgive you." + +"May I come in?" said Scott's voice at the door. "My dear, you are +looking better. Are you well enough to start?" + +"Yes, of course." Isabel moved towards him, her hands extended in mute +affection. + +He took and held them. "Dinah has told you? I am sure you are glad. +Eustace is waiting downstairs. Come and tell him how glad you are!" + +His eyes, very straight and steadfast, met hers. + +Isabel tried to speak in answer, but caught her breath in a sudden sob. + +He waited a second. Then, "Isabel!" he said gently. + +Sharply she controlled herself. "Yes. Yes. Let us go!" she said. "I +must--congratulate Eustace." + +They went; and old Biddy was left alone. + +She looked after them with a piteous expression on her wrinkled face; +then suddenly, with a wistful gesture, she clasped her old worn hands. + +"I pray the Almighty," she said, with great earnestness, "to open the +dear young lady's eyes, before it is too late. And if He wants anyone to +help Him--sure it's meself that'll be only too pleased." + +It was the most impressive prayer that Biddy had ever uttered. + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CINDERELLA'S PRINCE + + +The early dusk of February was falling, together with a fine, drenching +rain. The trees that over-hung the muddy lane were beating their stark +branches together as though in despair over the general hopelessness of +the outlook. The west wind that raced across the brown fields had the +sharpness of snow in its train. + +"We shall catch it before we've done," said Bathurst to his hunter. + +Rupert the hunter, a dapple grey with powerful hindquarters, cocked a +knowing ear in a fashion that Dinah always described as "his smile." + +It had not been a good day for either of them. The meet had been at a +considerable distance, there had been no run worth mentioning; and now +that it was over they were returning, thoroughly tired, from the kennels. + +Bathurst's pink coat clung to him like a sack, all streaked and darkened +with rain. It had weathered a good many storms in its time, as its many +varieties of tint testified; but despite this fact, its wearer never +failed to look a sportsman and a gentleman. There was nothing of the +vagabond about Bathurst, but he had the vagabond's facility for making +himself at home wherever he went. He was never at a loss, never +embarrassed, never affronted. He took life easily, as he himself put it; +and on the whole he found it good. + +Riding home at a jog-trot in that driving rain with the prospect of +having to feed and rub down Rupert at the end of it before he could +attend to his own needs was not a particularly entrancing prospect; but +he faced it philosophically. After today the little girl would be at +home, and she could do it for him again. She loved to wait on him hand +and foot, and it really was a pleasure to let her. + +He whistled cheerily to himself as he wended his leisurely way through +the dripping lane that made the shortest cut to his home. It would be +nice to have the little girl home again. Lydia was all very well--a good +wife, as wives went--but there was no doubt about it that Dinah's +presence made a considerable difference to his comfort. The child was +quick to forestall his wants; he sometimes thought that she was even more +useful to him than a valet would have been. He had missed her more than +he would have dreamed possible. + +Lydia had missed her too; he was sure of that. She had been peculiarly +short of temper lately. Not that he ever took much notice; he was too +used to her tantrums for that. But it certainly was more comfortable when +Dinah was at home to bear the brunt of them. Yes, on the whole he was +quite pleased that the little girl was coming back. It would make a +difference to him in many ways. + +He wondered what time she would arrive. He had known, but he had +forgotten. He believed it was to be some time in the evening. Her grand +friends had arranged to stay at Great Mallowes, three miles, away for the +night, and one of them--the maid probably--was to bring Dinah home. He +had smiled over this arrangement, and Lydia had openly scoffed at it. As +if a girl of Dinah's age were not capable of travelling alone! But then +of course she had been ill, very ill according to all accounts; and it +was quite decent of them to bestow so much care upon her. + +He fell to wondering if the child had got spoilt at all during her long +absence from home and the harsh discipline thereof. If so, there was a +hard time before her; for Lydia was never one to stand any nonsense. She +had always been hard on her first-born, unreasonably hard, he sometimes +thought; though it was not his business to interfere. The task of +chastising the daughter of the family was surely the mother's exclusive +prerogative; and certainly Lydia had carried it out very thoroughly. And +if at times he thought her over-severe, he could not deny that the result +achieved was eminently satisfactory. Dinah was always docile and active +in his service--altogether a very good child; and this was presumably due +to her mother's training. No, on the whole he had not much fault to find +with either of them. Doubtless Lydia understood her own sex best. + +He was nearing the end of the long lane; it terminated close to his home. +Rupert quickened his pace. They were both splashed with mud from shoulder +to heel. They had both had more than enough of the wet and the slush. + +"That's right, Rupert, my boy!" the man murmured. "Finish in style!" + +They came out from beneath the over-arching trees, emerging upon the +high road that led from Great Mallowes to Perrythorpe. The hoot of a +motor-horn caused Rupert to prick his ears, and his master reined him +back as two great, shining head-lights appeared round a curve. They +drew swiftly near, flashed past, and were gone meteor-like into the +gloom. + +"Whose car was that, I wonder?" mused Bathurst. + +"The de Vignes's? It didn't look like one of the Court cars, but the old +bird is always buying something new. Lucky devil!" + +The thought of the Colonel renewed his thoughts of Dinah. Certain hints +the former had dropped had made him wonder a little if the child were +always as demure as she seemed. Not that Colonel de Vigne had actually +found fault with her. He was plainly fond of her. But he had not spoken +as if Dinah had effaced herself as completely abroad as she did at home. + +"Oh, yes, the little baggage enjoyed herself--was as gay as a lark--till +she got ill," he had said. "You may find her something of a handful when +she gets back, Bathurst. She's stretched her wings a bit since she left +you." + +Bathurst shrugged his shoulders with the comforting reflection that he +would not have the trouble of dealing with her. If she had been giddy, +after all, it was but natural. Her mother had not been particularly +steady in the days of her wild youth. And anyhow he was sure her mother +would speedily break her in again. She had a will of iron before which +Dinah was _always_ forced to bend. + +He rode on along the highroad. It was not more than half a mile farther +to his home on the outskirts of the village. Somewhere in the gloom ahead +of him church-bells were pealing. It was practice-night, he remembered. +Dinah loved the sound of the bells. She would feel that they were ringing +in her honour. Funny little Dinah! The child was full of fancies of that +sort. Just as well perhaps, for it was the only form of amusement that +ever came into her home life. + +The gay peal turned into a deafening clashing as at length he neared his +home. The old church stood only a stone's throw further on. They were +ringing the joy-bells with a vengeance. And then very suddenly he caught +sight of the tail-lamp of a car close to his own gate. + +Dinah had returned then. They had actually chartered that car to convey +her from Great Mallowes. He pursed his lips to a whistle. The little girl +had been in clover indeed. + +"She certainly won't think much of the home crusts after this," he +murmured to himself. + +He walked Rupert round to the tumble-down stable, and dismounted. + +For the next quarter of an hour he was busy over the animal. He thought +it a little strange that Dinah did not spy the stable-lamp from the +kitchen and come dancing out to greet him. He also wondered why the car +lingered so long. It looked as if someone other than the maid had +accompanied her, and were staying to tea. + +He never took tea after a day's hunting; hot whisky and water and a bath +formed his customary programme, and then a tasty supper and bed. + +He supposed on this occasion that he would have to go in and show +himself, though he was certainly not fit to be seen. Reluctantly he +pulled the bedraggled pink coat on again. After all, it did not greatly +matter. Hunting was its own excuse. No sportsman ever returned in the +apple-pie order in which he started. + +Carelessly he sauntered in by way of the back premises, and was instantly +struck by the sound of a man's voice, well-bred, with a slightly haughty +intonation, speaking in one of the front rooms of the little house. + +"Dinah seemed to think that she could not keep it in till to-morrow," it +said, with easy assurance. "So I thought I had better come along with her +to-night and get it over." + +The words reached Bathurst as he arrived in the small square hall, and he +stopped dead. "Hullo! Hullo!" he murmured softly to himself. + +And then came his wife's voice, a harsh, determined voice, "Do I +understand that you wish to marry my daughter?" + +"That's the idea," came the suave reply. "You don't know me, of course, +but I think I can satisfy you that I am not an undesirable _parti_. My +family is considered fairly respectable, as old families go. I am the +ninth baronet in direct succession; and I have a very fair amount of +worldly goods to offer my wife." + +Mrs. Bathurst broke in upon him, a tremor of eagerness in her hard voice. +"If that is the case, of course I have no objection," she said. "Dinah +won't do any better for herself than that. It seems to me that she will +have the best of the bargain. But that is your affair. She's full young. +I don't suppose you want to marry her yet, do you?" + +"I'd marry her to-night if I could," said Sir Eustace, with his careless +laugh. + +But Mrs. Bathurst did not laugh with him. "We'll have the banns published +and everything done proper," she said. "Hasty marriages as often as not +aren't regular. Here, Dinah! Don't stand there listening! Go and see if +the kettle boils!" + +It was at this point that Bathurst deemed that the moment had arrived to +present himself. He entered, almost running into Dinah about to hurry +out. + +"Hullo!" he said. "Hullo!" and taking her by the shoulders, kissed her. + +She clung to him for a moment, her sweet face burning. "Oh, Dad!" she +murmured in confusion, "Oh, Dad!" + +With his arm about her, he turned her back into the room. "You come back +and introduce me to your new friend!" he said. "I've got to thank him, +you know, for taking such care of you." + +She yielded, but not very willingly. She was painfully embarrassed, +almost incoherent, as she obeyed Bathurst's behest. + +"This--this is Dad," she murmured. + +Sir Eustace came forward with his leisurely air of confidence. His great +bulk seemed to fill the low room. He looked even more magnificent than +usual. + +"Ah, sir, you have just come in from hunting," he said. "I hope I don't +intrude. It's a beastly wet evening. I should think you're not sorry to +get in." + +Mrs. Bathurst, tall, bony, angular, with harsh, gipsy features that were +still in a fashion boldly handsome, broke in upon her husband's answering +greeting. + +"Ronald, this gentleman tells me he wants to marry Dinah. It is very +sudden, but these things often are. You will give your consent of course. +I have already given mine." + +"Easy, easy!" laughed Bathurst. "Why exceed the speed limit in this +reckless fashion? You are Sir Eustace Studley? I am very pleased to meet +you." + +He held out his hand to Sir Eustace, and gave him the grasp of +good-fellowship. It seemed to Dinah that the very atmosphere changed +magically with the coming of her father. No difficult situation ever +dismayed him. He and Sir Eustace were not dissimilar in this respect. +Whatever the circumstances, they both knew how to hold their own with +absolute ease. It was a faculty which she would have given much to +possess. + +Sir Eustace was laughing in his careless, well-bred way. "It's rather a +shame to spring the matter on you like this," he said. "I ought to have +waited to ask your consent to the engagement, but I am afraid I am not a +very patient person, and I wanted to make sure of your daughter before +we parted. We are staying at Great Mallowes--at the Royal Stag. May I +come over to-morrow and put things on a more business-like footing?" + +"Oh, don't hurry away!" said Bathurst easily. "Sit down and have some tea +with us! It is something of a surprise certainly but a very agreeable +one. Lydia, what about tea? Or perhaps you prefer a whisky and soda?" + +"Tea, thanks," said Sir Eustace, and seated himself with his superb air +of complete assurance. + +Mrs. Bathurst turned upon her daughter. "Dinah, how many more times am I +to tell you to go and see if the kettle boils?" + +Dinah started, as one rudely awakened from an entrancing dream. "I am +sorry," she murmured in confusion. "I forgot." + +She fled from the room with the words, and her mother, with dark brows +drawn, looked after her for a moment, then sat down facing Sir Eustace. + +"I should like to know," she said aggressively, "what you are prepared to +do for her." + +Sir Eustace smiled in his aloof, slightly supercilious fashion. He had +been more or less prepared for Dinah's mother, but the temptation to +address her as "My good woman" was almost more than he could withstand. + +"Will you not allow me," he said, icily courteous, "to settle this +important matter with Mr. Bathurst to-morrow? He will then be in a +position to explain it to you." + +Mrs. Bathurst made a movement of fierce impatience. She had been put in +her place by this stranger and furiously she resented it. But the man was +a baronet, and a marvellous catch for a son-in-law; and she did not dare +to put her resentment into words. + +She got up therefore, and flounced angrily to the door. Sir Eustace arose +without haste and with a stretch of his long arm opened it for her. + +She flung him a glance, half-hostile, half-awed, as she went through. She +had a malignant hatred for the upper class, despite the fact that her own +husband was a member thereof. And yet she held it in unwilling respect. +Sir Eustace's nonchalantly administered snub was far harder to bear than +any open rudeness from a man of her own standing would have been. + +Fiercely indignant, she entered the kitchen, and caught Dinah peeping at +herself in the shining surface of the warming-pan after having removed +her hat. + +"Ah, that's your game, my girl, is it?" she said. "You've come back the +grand lady, have you? You've no further, use for your mother, I daresay. +She may work her fingers to the bone for all you care--or ever will care +again." + +Dinah whizzed round, scarlet and crestfallen. "Oh, Mother! How you +startled me! I only wanted to see if--if my hair was tidy." + +"And that's one of your lies," said Mrs. Bathurst, with a heavy hand on +her shoulder. "They've taught you how to juggle with the truth, that's +plain. Oh yes, Lady Studley that is to be, you've learnt a lot since +you've been away, I can see--learnt to despise your mother, I'll lay a +wager. But I'll show you she's not to be despised by a prinking minx like +you. What did I send you in here for, eh?" + +"To--to see to the kettle," faltered Dinah, shrinking before the stern +regard of the black eyes that so mercilessly held her own. + +"And there it is ready to boil over, and you haven't touched it, you +worthless little hussy, you! Take that--and dare to disobey me again!" + +She dealt the girl a blow with her open hand as she spoke, a swinging, +pitiless blow, on the cheek, and pushed her fiercely from her. + +Dinah reeled momentarily. The sudden violence of the attack bewildered +her. Actually she had almost forgotten how dreadful her mother could be. +Then, recovering herself, she went to the fire and stooped over it, +without a word. She had a burning sensation at the throat, and she was on +the verge of passionate tears. The memory of Isabel's parting embrace, +the tender drawing of her arms only a brief half-hour before made this +home-coming almost intolerable. + +"What's that thing you're wearing?" demanded Mrs. Bathurst abruptly. + +Dinah lifted the kettle and turned. "It is a fur-lined coat that--that he +bought for me in Paris." + +"Then take it off!" commanded Mrs. Bathurst. "And don't you wear it again +until I give you leave! How dare you accept presents from the man before +I've even seen him?" + +"I couldn't help it," murmured Dinah, as she slipped off the luxurious +garment that Isabel had chosen for her. + +"Couldn't help it!" Bitterly Mrs. Bathurst echoed the words. "You'll say +you couldn't help him falling in love with you next! As if you didn't set +out to catch him, you little artful brown-faced monkey! Oh, I always knew +you were crafty, for all your simple ways. Mind, I don't say you haven't +done well for yourself, you have--a deal better than you deserve. But +don't ever say you couldn't help it to me again! For if you do, I'll +trounce you for it, do you hear? None of your coy airs for me! I won't +put up with 'em. You'll behave yourself as long as you're in this house, +or I'll know the reason why." + +To all of which Dinah listened in set silence, telling herself with +desperate insistence that it would not be for long. Sir Eustace did not +mean to be kept waiting, and he would deliver her finally and for all +time. + +She did not know exactly why her mother was angry. She supposed she +resented the idea of losing her slave. There seemed no other possible +reason, for love for her she had none. Dinah knew but too cruelly well +that she had been naught but an unwelcome burden from the very earliest +days of her existence. Till she met Isabel, she had never known what real +mother-love could be. + +She wondered if her _fiancé_ would notice the red mark on her cheek when +she carried in the teapot; but he was holding a careless conversation +with her father, and only gave her a glance and a smile. + +During the meal that followed he scarcely addressed her or so much as +looked her way. He treated her mother with a freezing aloofness that made +her tremble inwardly. She wondered how he dared. + +When at length he rose to go, however, his attention returned to Dinah. +He laid a dominating hand upon her shoulder. "Are you coming to see me +off?" + +She glanced at her mother in involuntary appeal, but failed to catch her +eye. Silently she turned to the door. + +He took leave of her parents with the indifference of one accustomed to +popularity. "I shall be round in the morning," he said to her father. +"About twelve? That'll suit me very well; unless I wait till the +afternoon and bring my sister. I know she hopes to come over if she is +well enough. That is, of course, if you don't object to an informal +call." + +He spoke as if in his opinion the very fact of its informality conferred +a favour, and again Dinah trembled lest her mother should break forth +into open rudeness. + +But to her amazement Mrs. Bathurst seemed somewhat overawed by the +princely stranger. She even smiled in a grim way as she said, "I will be +at home to her." + +Sir Eustace made her a ceremonious bow and went out sweeping Dinah along +with him. He closed the door with a decision there was no mistaking, and +the next moment he had her in his arms. + +"You poor little frightened mouse!" he said. "No wonder--no wonder you +never knew before what life, real life, could be!" + +She clung to him with all her strength, burying her face in the fur +collar of his coat. "Oh, do marry me, quick--quick--quick!" she besought +him, in a muffled whisper. "And take me away!" + +He gathered her close in his arms, so close that she trembled again. Her +nerves were all on edge that night. + +"If they won't let me have you in a month from now," he said, in a voice +that quivered slightly, "I swear I'll run away with you." + +There was no echo of humour in his words though she tried to laugh at +them, and ever he pressed her closer and closer to his heart, till +panting she had to lift her face. And then he kissed her in his +passionate compelling way, holding her shy lips with his own till he +actually forced them to respond. She felt as if his love burned her, but, +even so, she dared not shrink from it. There was so much at stake. Her +mother's lack of love was infinitely harder to endure. + +And so she bore the fierce flame of his passion unflinching even though +her spirit clamoured wildly to be free, choosing rather to be consumed by +it than left a beaten slave in her house of bondage. + +His kisses waked in her much more of fear than rapture. That untamed +desire of his frightened her to the very depths of her being, but yet it +was infinitely preferable to the haughty indifference with which he +regarded all the rest of the world. It meant that he would not let her +go, and that in itself was comfort unspeakable to Dinah. He meant to have +her at any price, and she was very badly in need of deliverance, even +though she might have to pay for it, and pay heavily. + +It was at this point, actually while his fiery kisses were scorching her +lips, that a very strange thought crept all unawares into her +consciousness. If she ever needed help, if she ever needed escape, she +had a friend to whom she could turn--a staunch and capable friend who +would never fail her. She was sure that Scott would find a way to ease +the burden if it became too heavy. Her faith in him, his wisdom, his +strength, was unbounded. And he helped everyone--the valiant servant +Greatheart, protector of the helpless, sustainer of the vanquished. + +When her lover was gone at last, she closed the door and leaned against +it, feeling weak in every fibre. + +Bathurst, coming out a few moments later, was struck by her spent look. +"Well, Dinah lass," he said lightly, "you look as if it had cost +something of an effort to land your catch. But he's a mighty fine one, I +will say that for him." + +She went to him, twining her arm in his, forcing herself to smile. "Oh, +Dad," she said, "he is fine, isn't he?" But--but--she uttered the words +almost in spite of herself--"you should see his brother. You should +see--Scott." + +"What? Is he finer still?" laughed Bathurst, pinching her cheek. "Have +you got the whole family at your feet, you little baggage?" + +She flushed very deeply. "Oh no! Oh no! I didn't mean that. Scott--Scott +is not a bit like that. He is--he is--" And there she broke off, for who +could hope to convey any faithful impression of this good friend of hers? +There were no words that could adequately describe him. With a little +sigh she turned from the subject. "I'm glad you like Eustace," she said +shyly. + +Bathurst laughed a little, then bent unexpectedly, and kissed her. "It's +a case of Cinderella and the prince," he said lightly. "But the luck +isn't all on Cinderella's side, I'm thinking." + +She clung to him eagerly. "Oh, Daddy, thank you! Thank you! Do you +know--it's funny--Scott used to call me Cinderella!" + +Bathurst crooked his brows quizzically. "How original of him! This Scott +seems to be quite a wonderful person. And what was your pet name for him +I wonder, eh, sly-boots?" + +She laughed in evident embarrassment. There was something implied in her +father's tone that made her curiously reluctant to discuss her hero. And +yet, in justification of the man himself, she felt she must say +something. + +"His brother and sister call him--Stumpy," she said, "because he is +little and he limps. But I--" her face was as red as the hunting-coat +against which it nestled--"I called him--Mr. Greatheart. He is--just like +that." + +Mr. Bathurst laughed again, tweaking her ear. "Altogether an +extraordinary family!" he commented. "I must meet this Mr. Stumpy +Greatheart. Now suppose you run upstairs and turn on the hot water. And +when you've done that, you can take my boots down to the kitchen to dry. +And mind you don't fall foul of your mother, for she strikes me as being +a bit on the ramp tonight!" + +He kissed her again, and she clung to him very fast for a moment or two, +tasting in that casual, kindly embrace all the home joy she had ever +known. + +Then, hearing her mother's step, she swiftly and guiltily disengaged +herself and fled up the stairs like a startled bird. As she prepared his +bath for him, the wayward thought came to her that if only he and she +had lived alone together, she would never have wanted to get married at +all--even for the delight of being Lady Studley instead of "poor little +Dinah Bathurst!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WEDDING ARRANGEMENTS + + +It was certainly not love at first sight that prompted Mrs. Bathurst to +take a fancy to Isabel Everard. + +Secretly Dinah had dreaded their meeting, fearing that innate antagonism +which her mother invariably seemed to cherish against the upper class. +But within a quarter of an hour of their meeting she was aware of a +change of attitude, a quenching of the hostile element, a curious and +wholly new sensation of peace. + +For though Isabel's regal carriage and low, musical voice, marked her as +one of the hated species, her gentleness banished all impression of +pride. She treated Dinah's mother with an assumption of friendliness that +had in it no trace of condescension, and she was so obviously sincere in +her wish to establish a cordial relation that it was impossible to remain +ungracious. + +"I can't feel that we are strangers," she said, with her rare smile when +Dinah had departed to fetch the tea. "Your little Dinah has done so much +for me--more than I can ever tell you. That I am to have her for a sister +seems almost too good to be true." + +"I wonder you think she's good enough," remarked Mrs. Bathurst in her +blunt way. "She isn't much to look at. I've done my best to bring her up +well, but I never thought of her turning into a fine lady. I question if +she's fit for it." + +"If she were a fine lady, I don't think I should think so highly of her," +Isabel said gently. "But as to her being unfit to fill a high position, +she is only inexperienced and she will learn very quickly. I am willing +to teach her all in my power." + +"Aye, learn to despise her mother," commented Mrs. Bathurst, with sudden +bitterness, "after all the trouble I've taken to make her respect me." + +"I should never teach her that," Isabel answered quietly. "And I am sure +that she would be quite incapable of learning it. Mrs. Bathurst, do you +really think that worldly position is a thing that greatly matters to +anyone in the long run? I don't." + +It was then that a faint, half-grudging admiration awoke in the elder +woman's resentful soul, and she looked at Isabel with the first glimmer +of kindliness. "You're right," she said slowly, "it don't matter to those +who've got it. But to those who haven't--" her eyes glowed red for a +moment--"you don't know how it galls," she said. + +And then she flushed dully, realizing that she had made a confidante of +one of the hated breed. + +But Isabel's hand was on hers in a moment; her eyes, full of +understanding, looked earnest friendship into hers. "Oh, I know," she +said. "It is the little things that gall us all, until--until some +great--some fundamental--sorrow wrenches our very lives in twain. And +then--and then--one can almost laugh to think one ever cared about them." + +Her voice throbbed with feeling. She had lifted the veil for a moment to +salve the other woman's bitterness. + +And Mrs. Bathurst realized it, and was touched. "Ah! You've suffered," +she said. + +Isabel bent her head. "But it is over," she said. "I married a man who, +they said, was beneath me. But--God knows--he was above me--in every way. +And then--I lost him." Her voice sank. + +Mrs. Bathurst's hand came down with a clumsy movement upon hers. "He +died?" she said. + +"Yes." Almost in a whisper Isabel made answer. "For years I would not +face it--would not believe it. He went from me so suddenly--oh, God, so +suddenly--" a tremor of anguish sounded in the low words; but in a moment +she raised her head, and her eyes were shining with a brightness that no +pain could dim. "It is over," she said. "It is quite, quite over. My +night is past and can never come again. I am waiting now for the full +day. And I know that I have not very long to wait. I have not seen +him--no, I have not seen him. But--twice now--I have heard his voice." + +"Poor soul! Poor soul!" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +It was all the sympathy she could express; but it came from her heart. +She no longer regretted her own burst of confidence. The spontaneous +answer that it had evoked had had a magically softening effect upon her. +In all her life no one had ever charmed her thus. She was astonished +herself at the melting of her hardness. + +"You've suffered worse than I have," she said, "for I never cared for any +man like that. I was let down badly when I was a girl, and I've never had +any opinion of any of 'em since. My husband's all right, so far as he +goes. But he isn't the sort of man to worship. Precious few of 'em are." + +Whereat Isabel laughed, a soft, sad laugh. "That is why worldly position +matters so little," she said. "If by chance the right man really comes, +nothing else counts. He is just everything." + +"Maybe you're right," said Mrs. Bathurst, with gloomy acquiescence. +"Anyhow, it isn't for me to say you're wrong." + +And this was why when Dinah brought in the tea, she found a wholly new +element in the atmosphere, and missed the customary sharp rebuke from her +mother's lips when she had to go back for the sugar-tongs. + +She had been disappointed that her friend Scott had not been of the +party. Isabel's explanation that he had gone home at Eustace's wish to +attend to some business had not removed an odd little hurt sense of +having been defrauded. She had counted upon seeing Scott that day. It was +almost as if he had failed her when she needed him, though why she seemed +to need him she could not have said, nor could he possibly have known +that she would do so. + +Sir Eustace was in her father's den. She was sure that they were getting +on very well together from the occasional bursts of laughter with which +their conversation was interspersed. They were not apparently sticking +exclusively to business. And now that Isabel had won her mother, deeply +though she rejoiced over the conquest, she felt a little--a very +little--forlorn. They were all talking about her, but if Scott had been +there he would have talked to her and made her feel at ease. She could +not understand his going, even at his brother's behest. It seemed +incredible that he should not want to see her home. + +She sat meekly in the background, thinking of him, while she drank her +tea; and then, just as she finished, there came the sound of voices at +the door, and her father and Sir Eustace came in. They were laughing +still. Evidently the result of the interview was satisfactory to both. +Sir Eustace greeted his hostess with lofty courtesy, and passed on +straight to her side. + +She turned and tingled at his approach; he was looking more princely than +ever. Instinctively she rose. + +"What do you want to get up for?" demanded her mother sharply. + +Sir Eustace reached his little trembling _fiancée_, and took the eager +hand she stretched to him. His blue eyes flashed their fierce flame over +her upturned, quivering face. "Take me into the kitchen--anywhere!" he +murmured. "I want you to myself." + +She nodded. "Don't you want any tea? All right. Dad doesn't either. I'll +clear away." + +"No, you don't!" her mother said. "You sit down and behave yourself! +You'll clear when I tell you to; not before." + +Sir Eustace wheeled round to her, the flame of his look turning to ice. +"With your permission, madam," he said with extreme formality, "Dinah and +I are going to retire to talk things over." + +He had his way. It was obvious that he meant to have it. He motioned to +Dinah with an imperious gesture to precede him, and she obeyed, not +daring to glance in her mother's direction. + +Mrs. Bathurst said no more. Something in Sir Eustace's bearing seemed to +quell her. She watched him go with eyes that shone with a hot resentment +under drawn brows. It took Isabel's utmost effort to charm her back to a +mood less hostile. + +As for Dinah, she led her _fiancé_ back to her father's den in +considerable trepidation. To be compelled to resist her mother's will was +a state of affairs that filled her with foreboding. + +But the moment she was alone with him she forgot all but the one +tremendous fact of his presence, for with the closing of the door he had +her in his arms. + +She clung to him desperately close, feeling as one struggling in deep +waters, caught in a great current that would bear her swiftly, +irresistibly,--whither? + +He laughed at her trembling with careless amusement. "What, still scared, +my brown elf? Where is your old daring? Aren't you allowed to have any +spirit at all in this house?" + +She answered him incoherently, straining to keep her face hidden out of +reach of his upturning hand. "No,--no, it's not that. You don't +understand. It's all so new--so strange. Eustace, please--please, don't +kiss me yet!" + +He laughed again, but he did not press her for the moment. "Your father +and I have had no end of a talk," he said. "Do you know what has come of +it? Would you like to know?" + +"Yes," she murmured shyly. + +He was caressing the soft dark ringlets that clustered about her neck. + +"About getting married, little sweetheart," he said. "You want to get it +over quickly and so do I. There's no reason why we shouldn't in fact. How +about the beginning of next month? How about April?" + +"Oh, Eustace!" She clung to him closer still; she had no words. But still +that sense of being caught, of being borne against her will, possessed +her, filling her with dread rather than ecstasy. Whither was she going? +Ah, whither? + +He went on with his easy self-assurance, speaking as if he held the whole +world at his disposal. "We will go South for the honeymoon. I've crowds +of things to show you--Rome, Naples, Venice. After that we'll come back +and go for that summer trip in the yacht I promised you." + +"And Isabel too--and Scott?" asked Dinah, in muffled accents. + +He laughed over her head, as at the naïve prattling of a child. "What! On +our honeymoon? Oh, hardly, I think. I'll see to it that you're not bored. +And look here, my elf! I won't have you shy with me any more. Is that +understood? I'm not an ogre." + +"I think you are--rather," murmured Dinah. + +He bent over her, his lips upon her neck. "You--midget! And you +think I'm going to devour you? Well, perhaps I shall some day if you +go on running away. There's a terrible threat! Now hold up your head, +Daphne--Daphne--and let me have that kiss!" + +She hesitated a while longer, and then feeling his patience ebbing she +lifted her face impulsively to his. "You will be good to me? Promise! +Promise!" she pleaded tremulously. + +He was laughing still, but his eyes were aflame. "That depends," he +declared. "I can't answer for myself when you run away. Come! When are +you going to kiss me first? Isn't it time you began?" + +She slipped her arms about his neck. Her face was burning. "I will now," +she said. + +Yet the moment her lips touched his, the old wild fear came upon her. She +made a backward movement of shrinking. + +He caught her to him. "Daphne!" he said, and kissed her quivering throat. + +She did not resist him, but her arms fell apart, and the red blush +swiftly died. When he released her, she fell back a step with eyes fast +closed, and in a moment her hands went up as though to shield face and +neck from the scorching of a furnace. + +He watched her, a slight frown drawing his brows. The flame still +glittered in his eyes, but his mouth was hard. "Look here, child! Don't +be silly!" he said. "If you treat me like a monster, I shall behave like +one. I'm made that way." + +His voice was curt; it held displeasure. Dinah uncovered her face and +looked at him. + +"Oh, you're angry!" she said, in tragic accents. + +He laughed at that. "About as angry as I could get with a piece of +thistledown. But you know, you're not very wise, my Daphne. You've got it +in you to madden me, but it's a risky thing to do. Now see here! I've +brought you something to make those moss-agate eyes of yours shine. Can +you guess what it is?" + +His hand was held out to her. She laid her own within it with conscious +reluctance. He drew her into the circle of his arm, pressing her to him. + +She leaned her head against him with a bewildered sense of self-reproach. +"I'm sorry I'm silly, Eustace," she murmured "I expect I'm made that way +too. Don't--don't take any notice!" + +He touched her forehead lightly with his lips. "You'll get over it, +sweetheart," he said. "It won't matter so much after we're married. I can +do as I like with you then." + +"Oh, I shan't like that," said Dinah quickly. + +His arm pressed her closer. "Yes, you will. I'll give you no end of a +good time. Now, sweetheart, give me that little hand of yours again! No, +the left! There! I wonder if it's small enough. Rather a loose fit, eh? +How do you like it?" + +He was fitting a ring on to the third finger. Dinah looked and was +dazzled. "Oh, Eustace,--diamonds!" she said, in an awed whisper. + +"The best I could find," he told her, with princely arrogance. "I hunted +through Bond Street for it this morning. Will it do?" + +"You went up on purpose? Oh, Eustace!" she laid her cheek with a winning +movement against his hand. "You are too good! You are much too good!" + +He laughed carelessly. "I'm glad you're satisfied. It's a bond, remember. +You must wear it always--till I give you a wedding-ring instead." + +She lifted her face and looked at him with shining eyes. "I shall love to +wear it," she said. "But I expect I shall have to keep it for best. +Mother wouldn't let me wear it always." + +"Never mind what your mother says!" he returned. "It's what I say that +matters now. We're going to have you to stay at Willowmount in a few +days. Isabel is arranging it with your mother now." + +"Your home! Oh, how lovely!" Genuine delight was in Dinah's voice. "Scott +is there, isn't he?" + +He frowned again. "Bother Scott! You're coming to see me--no one else." + +She flushed. "Oh yes, I know. And I shall love it--I shall love it! +But--do you think I shall be allowed to come?" + +"You must come," he said imperiously. + +But Dinah looked dubious. "I expect I shall be wanted at home now. And I +don't believe we shall get married in April either. I've been away so +long." + +He laughed, flicking her cheek. "Haven't I always told you that where +there's a will there's a way? If necessary, I can run away with you." + +She shook her head. "Oh no! I'd rather not. And if--if we're really going +to be married in April, I ought to stay at home to get ready." + +"Nonsense!" he said carelessly. "You can do that from Willowmount. Isabel +will help you. It's less than an hour's run to town." + +Dinah opened her eyes wide. "But I shan't shop in town. I shall have to +make all my things. I always do." + +He laughed again easily, indulgently. "That simplifies matters. You can +do that anywhere. What are you going to be married in? White cotton?" + +She laughed with him. "I would love to have a real grand wedding," she +said, "the sort of wedding Rose de Vigne will have, with bridesmaids and +flowers and crowds and crowds of people. Of course I know it can't be +done." She gave a little sigh. "But I would love it. I would love it." + +He was laughing still. "Why can't it be done? Who's going to prevent it?" + +Dinah had become serious. "Dad hasn't money enough for one thing. And +then there's Mother. She wouldn't do it." + +"Ho! Wouldn't she? I've a notion she'd enjoy it even more than you would. +If you want a smart wedding you'd better have it in town. Then the de +Vignes and everyone else can come." + +"Oh no! I want it to be here." Dinah's eyes began to shine. "Dad knows +lots of people round about--County people too. Those are the sort of +people I'd like to come. Even Mother might like that," she added +reflectively. + +"You prefer a big splash in your own little pond to a small one in a +good-sized lake, is that it?" questioned Eustace. "Well, have it your own +way, my child! But I shouldn't make many clothes if I were you. We will +shop in Paris after we are married, and then you can get whatever you +fancy." + +Dinah's eyes fairly danced at the thought. "I shall love that. I'll tell +Daddy, shall I, to keep all his money for the wedding, and then we can +buy the clothes afterwards; that is, if you can afford it," she added +quickly. "I ought not to let you really." + +"You can't prevent me doing anything," he returned, his hand pressing her +shoulder. "No one can." + +She leaned her head momentarily against his arm. "You--you wouldn't want +to do anything that anyone didn't like," she murmured shyly. + +"Shouldn't I?" he said and for a moment his mouth was grim. "I am not +accustomed to being regarded as an amiable nonentity, I assure you. It's +settled then, is it? The first week in April? And you are to come to us +for at least a fortnight beforehand." + +Dinah nodded, her head bent. "All right,--if Mother doesn't mind." + +"What would happen if she did?" he asked curiously. + +"It just wouldn't be done," she made answer. + +"Wouldn't it? Not if you insisted?" + +"I couldn't insist," she said, her voice very low. + +"Why couldn't you? I should have thought you had a will of your own. +Don't you ever assert yourself?" + +"Against her? No, never!" Dinah gave a little shudder. "Don't let's talk +of it!" she said. "Isn't it time to go back? I believe I ought to be +clearing away." + +He detained her for a moment. "You're not going to work like a nigger +when you are married to me," he said. + +She smiled up at him, a merry, dimpling smile. "Oh no, I shall just enjoy +myself then--like Rose de Vigne. I shall be much too grand to work. +There! I really must go back. Thank you again ever so much--ever so +much--for the lovely ring. I hope you'll never find out how unworthy I am +of it." + +She drew his head down with quivering courage and bestowed a butterfly +kiss upon his cheek. And then in a second she was gone from his hold, +gone like a woodland elf with a tinkle of laughter and the skipping of +fairy feet. + +Sir Eustace followed her flight with his eyes only, but in those eyes was +the leaping fire of a passion that burned around her in an ever-narrowing +circle. She knew that it was there, but she would not look back to see +it. For deep in her heart she feared that flame as she feared nothing +else on earth. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DESPAIR + + +"If I had known that this was going to happen, I would never have +troubled to cultivate their acquaintance," said Lady Grace fretfully. "I +knew of course that that artful little minx was running after the man, +but that he could ever be foolish enough to let himself be caught in such +an obvious trap was a possibility that I never seriously contemplated." + +"It doesn't matter to me," said Rose. + +She had said it many times before with the same rather forced smile. It +was not a subject that she greatly cared to discuss. The news of Dinah's +conquest had come like a thunderbolt. In common with her mother, she had +never seriously thought that Sir Eustace could be so foolish. But since +the utterly unexpected had come to pass, it seemed to her futile to talk +about it. Dinah had secured the finest prize within reach for the moment, +and there was no disputing the fact. + +"The wedding is to take place so soon too," lamented Lady Grace. "That, I +have no doubt, is the doing of that scheming mother of hers. What shall +we do about going to it, Rose? Do you want to go, dear?" + +"Not in the least, but I am going all the same." Rose was still smiling, +and her eyes were fixed. "I think, you know, Mother," she said, "that we +might do worse than ask Sir Eustace and his party to stay here for the +event." + +"My dear Rose!" Lady Grace gazed at her in amazement. + +Rose continued to stare into space. "It would be much more convenient for +them," she said. "And really we have no reason for allowing people to +imagine that we are other than pleased over the arrangement. We shall not +be going to town before Easter, so it seems to me that it would be only +neighbourly to invite Sir Eustace to stay at the Court for the wedding. +Great Mallowes is not a particularly nice place to put up in, and this +would be far handier for him." + +Lady Grace slowly veiled her astonishment. "Of course, dear; if you think +so, it might be managed. We will talk to your father about it, and if he +approves I will write to Sir Eustace--or get him to do so. I do not +myself consider that Sir Eustace has behaved at all nicely. He was most +cavalier about the Hunt Ball. But if you wish to overlook it--well, I +shall not put any difficulty in the way." + +"I think it would be a good thing to do," said Rose somewhat +enigmatically. + +The letter that reached Sir Eustace two days later was penned by the +Colonel's hand, and contained a brief but cordial invitation to him and +his following to stay at Perrythorpe Court for the wedding. + +He read it with a careless smile and tossed it over to Scott. "Here is +magnanimity," he commented. "Shall we accept the coals of fire?" + +Scott read with all gravity and laid it down. "If you want my opinion, I +should say 'No,'" he said. + +"Why would you say No?" There was a lazy challenge in the question, a +provocative gleam in Sir Eustace's blue eyes. + +Scott smiled a little. "For one thing I shouldn't enjoy the coals of +fire. For another, I shouldn't care to be at too close quarters with the +beautiful Miss de Vigne again, if I had your very highly susceptible +temperament. And for a third, I believe Isabel would prefer to stay at +Great Mallowes." + +"You're mighty clever, my son, aren't you?" said Eustace with a +supercilious twist of the lips. "But--as it chances--not one of those +excellent reasons appeals to me." + +"Very well then," said Scott, with the utmost patience. "It is up to you +to accept." + +"Why should Isabel prefer Great Mallowes?" demanded Sir Eustace. "She +knows the de Vignes. It is far better for her to see people, and there is +more comfort in a private house than in a hotel." + +"Quite so," said Scott. "I am sure she will fall in with your wishes in +this respect, whatever they are. Will you write to Colonel de Vigne, or +shall I?" + +"You can--and accept," returned Sir Eustace imperially. + +Scott took a sheet of paper without further words. + +His brother leaned back in his chair, his black brows slightly drawn, and +contemplated him as he did it. + +"By the way, Scott," he said, after a moment, "Dinah's staying here need +not make any difference to you in any way. She can't expect to have you +at her beck and call as she had in Switzerland. You must make that clear +to her." + +"Very well, old chap." Scott spoke without raising his head. "You're +going to meet her at the station, I suppose?" + +"Almost immediately, yes." Eustace got up with a movement of suppressed +impatience. "We shall have tea in Isabel's room. You needn't turn up. +I'll tell them to send yours in here." + +"Oh, don't trouble! I'm going to turn up," very calmly Scott made +rejoinder. He had already begun to write; his hand moved steadily across +the sheet. + +Sir Eustace's frown deepened. "You won't catch the post with those +letters if you do." + +Scott looked up at last, and his eyes were as steady as his hand had +been. "That's my business, old chap," he said quietly. "Don't you worry +yourself about that!" + +There was a hint of ferocity about Sir Eustace as he met that steadfast +look. He stood motionless for a moment or two, then flung round on his +heel. Scott returned to his work with the composure characteristic of +him, and almost immediately the banging of the door told of his brother's +departure. + +Then for a second his hand paused; he passed the other across his eyes +with the old gesture of weariness, and a short, hard sigh came from him +ere he bent again to his task. + +Sir Eustace strode across the hall with the frown still drawing his +brows. An open car was waiting at the door, but ere he went to it he +turned aside and knocked peremptorily at another door. + +He opened without waiting for a reply and entered a long, low-ceiled room +through which the rays of the afternoon sun were pouring. Isabel, lying +on a couch between fire and window, turned her head towards him. + +"Haven't you started yet? Surely it is getting very late," she said in +her low, rather monotonous voice. + +He came to her. "I prefer starting a bit late," he said. "You will have +tea ready when we return?" + +"Certainly," she said. + +He stood looking down at her intently. "Are you all right today?" he +asked abruptly. + +A faint colour rose in her cheeks. "I am--as usual," she said. + +"What does that mean?" Curtly he put the question. "Why don't you go out +more? Why don't you get old Lister to make you up a tonic?" + +She smiled a little, but there was slight uneasiness behind her smile. +Her eyes had the remote look of one who watches the far horizon. "My dear +Eustace," she said, "_cui bono_?" + +He stooped suddenly over her. "It is because you won't make the effort," +he said, speaking with grim emphasis. "You're letting yourself go again, +I know; I've been watching you for the past week. And by heaven, Isabel, +you shan't do it! Scott may be fool enough to let you, but I'm not. +You've only been home a week, and you've been steadily losing ground ever +since you got back. What is it? What's the matter with you? Tell me what +is the matter!" + +So insistent was his tone, so almost menacing his attitude, that Isabel +shrank from him with a gesture too swift to repress. The old pathetic +furtive look was in her eyes as she made reply. + +"I am very sorry. I don't see how I can help it. I--I am getting old, you +know. That is the chief reason." + +"You're talking nonsense, my dear girl." Impatiently Eustace broke in. +"You are just coming into your prime. I won't have you ruin your life +like this. Do you hear me? I won't. If you don't rouse yourself I will +find a means to rouse you. You are simply drifting now--simply drifting." + +"But into my desired haven," whispered Isabel, with a piteous quiver of +the lips. + +He straightened himself with a gesture of exasperation. "You are wasting +yourself over a myth, an illusion. On my soul, Isabel, what a wicked +waste it is! Have you forgotten the days when you and I roamed over the +world together? Have you forgotten Egypt and all we did there? Life was +worth having then." + +"Ah! I thought so." She met his look with eyes that did not seem to see +him. "We were children then, Eustace," she said, "children playing on the +sands. But the great tide caught us. You breasted the waves, but I was +broken and thrown aside. I could never play on the sands again. I can +only lie and wait for the tide to come again and float me away." + +He clenched his hands. "Do you think I would let you go--like that?" he +said. + +"It is the only kindness you can do me," she answered in her low voice of +pleading. + +He swung round to go. "I curse the day," he said very bitterly, "that you +ever met Basil Everard! I curse his memory!" + +She flinched at the words as if they had been a blow. Her face turned +suddenly grey. She clasped her hands very tightly together, saying no +word. + +He went to the door and paused, his back towards her. "I came in," he +said then, "to tell you that the de Vignes have offered to put us up at +their place for the wedding. And I have accepted." + +He waited for some rejoinder but she made none. It was as if she had not +heard. Her eyes had the impotent, stricken look of one who has searched +dim distances for some beloved object--and searched in vain. + +He did not glance round. His temper was on edge. With a fierce movement +he pulled open the door and departed. And behind him like a veil there +fell the silence of a great despair. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW HOME + + +A small figure was already standing outside the station when the car Sir +Eustace drove whirled round the corner of the station yard. He was +greeted by the waving of a vigorous hand, as he dashed up, grinding on +the brakes in the last moment as was his impetuous custom. Everyone knew +him from afar by his driving, and the village children were wont to +scatter like rabbits at his approach. + +Dinah however stood her ground with a confidence which his wild +performance hardly justified, and the moment he alighted sprang to meet +him with the eagerness of a child escaped from school. + +"Oh, Eustace, it is fun coming here! I was so horribly afraid something +would stop me just at the last. But everything has turned out all right, +and we are going to have ever such a fine wedding with crowds and crowds +of people. Did you know Isabel wrote and said she would give me my +wedding dress? Isn't it dear of her? How is she now?" + +"Where is your luggage?" said Eustace. + +She pointed to a diminutive dress-basket behind her. "That's all there +is. I'm not to stay more than a week as the time is getting so short I +don't feel as if I shall ever be ready as it is. I've never been so +rushed before. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be almost better to put +it off a few weeks." + +"Jump up!" commanded Eustace, with a curt sign to a porter to pick up his +_fiancée's_ humble impediments. + +Dinah sprang up beside him and slipped a shy hand onto his knee. "You +look more like Apollo than ever," she whispered, awe-struck, "when you +frown like that. Is anything the matter?" + +His brow cleared magically at her action. "I began to think I should have +to come down to Perrythorpe and fetch you," he said, grasping the little +nervous fingers. "I thought you meant to give me the slip--if you could." + +"Oh no!" said Dinah, shocked at the suggestion. "I wanted to come; +only--only--I couldn't be spared sooner. It wasn't my fault," she urged +pleadingly. "Truly it wasn't!" + +He smiled upon her. "All right,--Daphne. I'll forgive you this time," he +said. "But now I've got you, my nymph of the woods, I am not going to +part with you again in a hurry. And if you talk of putting off the +wedding again, I'll simply run away with you. So now you know what to +expect." + +Dinah uttered her giddy little laugh. The excitement of this visit--the +first she had ever paid to anyone--had turned her head. "Do you know +Rose is actually going to be my chief bridesmaid?" she said. "Isn't +that--magnanimous of her? She is pretending to be pleased, but I know she +is frightfully jealous underneath. The other bridesmaid is the Vicar's +daughter. She is quite old, nearly thirty but I couldn't think of anyone +else, except the infant schoolmistress, and they wouldn't let me have +her. I shall feel rather small, shan't I? Even Rose is twenty-five. I +wonder if I shall feel grown up when I'm married. Do you think I shall?" + +"Not till you cease to be--Daphne," said Sir Eustace enigmatically. + +He started the car with the words, and they shot forward with a +suddenness that made Dinah hold her breath. + +But in a few moments she was chattering again, for she was never quiet +for long. How was Scott? Was he at home? And Isabel--he hadn't told her. +She did hope dear Isabel was keeping better. Was she? Was she? + +She pressed the question as he did not seem inclined to answer it, and +saw again the frown that had darkened his handsome face upon arrival. + +"Do tell me!" she begged. "Isn't she so well?" + +And at last with the curtness of speech which always denoted displeasure +with him, he made reply. + +"No, she has gone back a good deal since she got home. She lies on a sofa +and broods all day long. I am looking to you to wake her up. For heaven's +sake be as lively as you can!" + +"Oh, poor Isabel!" Quick concern was in Dinah's voice. "What is it, do +you think? Doesn't the place suit her?" + +"Heaven knows," he answered gloomily, "I have a house down at +Heath-on-Sea where we keep the yacht, but I doubt if it would do her +much good to go there this time of the year. She and Scott might try +it later--after the wedding." + +"Couldn't we all go there?" suggested Dinah ingenuously. + +He gave her a keen glance. "For the honeymoon? No I don't think so," he +said. + +"Only for the first part of it," said Dinah coaxingly; "till Isabel felt +better." + +He uttered a brief laugh. "No, thanks, Daphne. We're going to be +alone--quite alone, for the first part of our honeymoon. I am going to +take you in this car to the most out-of-the-way corner in England, +where--even, if you run away--there'll be nowhere to run to. And there +you'll stay till--" he paused a moment--"you realize that you are all +mine for ever and ever, till in fact, you've shed all your baby nonsense +and become a wise little married woman." + +Dinah gave a sudden sharp shiver, and pulled her coat closer about her. + +He glanced at her again. "You'll like it better than being a +maid-of-all-work," he said, with his swift, transforming smile. + +She smiled back at him with ready responsiveness. "Oh, I shall! I'm sure +I shall. I've always wanted to be married--always. Only--it'll seem a +little funny, just at first. You won't get impatient with me, will you, +if--if sometimes I forget how to behave?" + +He laughed and abruptly slackened speed. They were running down a narrow +lane bordered with bare trees through which the spring sunshine filtered +down. On a brown upland to one side of them a plough was being driven. +On the other the ground sloped away to deep meadows where wound a +willow-banked river. + +The car stopped. "How pretty it is!" said Dinah. + +And then very suddenly she found that it was not for the sake of the view +that he had brought her to a standstill in that secluded place. For he +caught her to him with the hot ardour she had learned to dread and kissed +with passion the burning face she sought to hide. + +She struggled for a few seconds like a captured bird, but in the end she +yielded palpitating, as she had yielded so often before, mutely bearing +that which her whole soul clamoured inarticulately to escape. When he let +her go, her cheeks were on fire. He was laughing, but she was on the +verge of tears. + +He started on again without words, and in a very brief space they were +racing forward at terrific speed, seeming scarcely to touch the ground so +rapid was their progress. + +Dinah sat with her two hands clutched upon her hat, thankful for the cold +rush of air that gave her relief after the fiery intensity of those +unsparing kisses. Her heart was beating in great thumps. Somehow the +fierceness of him always exceeded either memory or expectation. He was so +terribly strong, so disconcertingly absolute in his demands upon her. And +every time he seemed to take more. + +She hardly noticed anything further of the country through which they +passed. Her agitation possessed her overwhelmingly. She felt exhausted, +unnerved, very curiously ashamed. It was good to have so princely a +lover, but his tempestuous wooing was altogether too much for her. She +wondered how Rose, the sedate and composed beauty, would have met those +wild gusts of passion. They would not have disconcerted her; nothing ever +did. She would probably have endured all with a smile. No form of +adoration could come amiss with her. She did not fancy that Rose's heart +was capable of beating at more than the usual speed. Her very blushes +savoured of a delicate complacency that enhanced her beauty without +disturbing her serenity. A great wave of envy went through Dinah. "Ah, +why had she not been blessed with such a temperament as that?" + +His voice broke in upon her disjointed meditations. "Well, Daphne? +Feeling better?" + +She glanced at him with the confused consciousness that she dared not +meet his eyes. She was glad that he was laughing, but the turbulent +feeling of uncertainty that his nearness always brought to her was with +her still. She was as one who had passed by a raging fire, and the +scorching heat of the flame yet remained with her. Breathlessly she +spoke. "I can't think--or do anything--in this wind. Are we nearly +there?" + +"We are there," he made answer. + +And she discovered that which in her distress of mind she had failed to +notice. They were running smoothly along a private avenue of fir-trees +towards an old stone mansion that stood on a slope overlooking the long +river valley. + +She drew a hard breath. "But this is better--ever so much--than the +Court!" she said. + +"Your future home, my queen!" said Sir Eustace royally. + +She breathed again deeply, wonderingly. "Is it real?" she said. + +He laughed. "I almost think so. You see that other house right away in +the distance, across that further slope? That is the Dower House where +Isabel and Scott are to live when we are married." + +"Oh!" There was a quick note of disappointment in Dinah's voice. "I +thought they would live with us." + +"I don't know why," said Sir Eustace with a touch of sharpness, and then +softening almost immediately, "It's practically the same thing, my sprite +of the woods. But I wish you to be mistress in your own home--when we do +settle down, which won't be at present. For we're not coming back from +our honeymoon till you have learnt that I am the only person in the world +that matters." + +Again a slight shiver caught Dinah, but she repressed it instantly. "I +expect it won't take me very long to learn that, Apollo," she said, with +her shy, fleeting smile. + +And then they glided up to the wide steps of his home and the door opened +to receive them, showing Scott--Scott her friend--standing in the +opening, awaiting her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WATCHER + + +She sprang to meet him with a cry of delight, both hands extended. + +"Oh, it is good to see you again! It is good! It is good!" she panted. +"Why didn't you come to Perrythorpe? I did want you there!" + +He grasped her hands very tightly. His pale eyes smiled their welcome, +but--it came to her afterwards--he scarcely said a word in greeting. In a +second or two he set her free. + +"Come and see Isabel!" he said. + +She went with him eagerly, forgetful of Sir Eustace striding in her wake. +As Scott opened the door of Isabel's room, she pressed forward, and the +next moment she was kneeling by Isabel's side, gathered close, close to +her breast in a silence that was deeper than any speech. + +Dinah's arms clung fast about the elder woman's neck. She was conscious +of a curious impulse to tears, but she conquered it, forcing herself +somewhat brokenly to laugh. + +"Isn't it lovely to be together again?" she whispered. "You can't think +what it means to me. I lay in bed last night and counted the hours and +then the minutes. I was so dreadfully afraid something might happen to +prevent my coming. And, oh, Isabel, I had no idea your home was so +beautiful." + +Isabel's hold slackened. "Sit on the sofa beside me, my darling!" she +said. "I am so glad you like Willowmount. Was Eustace in time for your +train?" + +Dinah laughed again with more assurance. "Oh no! I got there first. He +came swooping down as if he had dropped from the clouds. We had a very +quick run back, and I'm blown all to pieces." She put up impetuous hands +to thrust back the disordered clusters of dark hair. + +"Take off your hat!" said Scott. + +She obeyed, with shining eyes upon him. "Now, why didn't you come over +to Perrythorpe? You haven't told me yet." + +"I was busy," he answered. "I had to get home." + +His eyes were shining also. She did not need to be told that he was +glad to see her. He rang for tea and sat down somewhere near in his +usual unobtrusive fashion. Eustace occupied the place of honour in an +easy-chair drawn close to the end of the sofa on which Dinah sat. He +was watching her, she knew but she could not meet his look as she met +Scott's. His very nearness made her feel again the scorching of the +flame. + +She slipped her hand into Isabel's as though seeking refuge and as she +did so she heard Eustace address his brother, his tone brief and +peremptory,--the voice of the employer. + +"You have finished that correspondence?" + +"I shall finish it in time for the post," Scott made answer. + +Eustace made a sound expressive of dissatisfaction. "You'll miss it sure +as a gun!" + +Scott said nothing further, but his silence was not without a certain +mastery that sent an odd little thrill of triumph through Dinah. + +Eustace frowned heavily and turned from him. + +The entrance of Biddy with the tea made a diversion, for her greeting of +Dinah was full of warmth. + +"But sure, ye're not looking like I'd like to see ye, Miss Dinah," was +her verdict. "It's meself that'll have to feed ye up." + +"But I'm always thin!" protested Dinah. "It's just the way I'm made." + +Biddy pursed her lips and shook her head. "It's not the sign of a +contented mind," she commented. + +"I never was contented before I went to Switzerland," said Dinah; she +turned to Isabel. "Wasn't it all lovely? It's just like a dream to me +now--all glitter and romance. I'd give anything to have it over again." + +"I'll show you better things than winter in the Alps," said Eustace in +his free, imperial fashion. + +Her bright eyes glanced up to his for a moment. "Do you know I don't +believe you could," she said. + +He laughed. "You won't say that six months hence. The Alps will be no +more than an episode to you then." + +"Rather an important episode," remarked Scott. + +Her look came to him, settled upon him like a shy bird at rest. "Very, +very important," she said softly. "Do you remember that first day--that +first night--how you helped me dress for the ball? Eustace would never +have thought of dancing with me if it hadn't been for you." + +"I seem to have a good deal to answer for," said Scott, with his rather +tired smile. + +"I owe you--everything," said Dinah. + +"Stumpy has many debtors," said Isabel. + +Eustace uttered a brief laugh. "Stumpy scores without running," he +observed. "He always has. Saves trouble, eh, Stumpy?" + +"Quite so," said Scott with precision. "It's easy to be kind when it +costs you nothing." + +"And it pays," said Eustace. + +Dinah's green eyes went back to him with something of a flash. "Scott +would never have thought of that," she said. + +"I am sure he wouldn't," said Eustace dryly. + +Her look darted about him like an angry bird seeking some vulnerable +point whereat to strike. But before she could speak, Scott leaned forward +and intervened. + +"My thoughts are my own private property, if no one objects," he said +whimsically. "Judge me--if you must--by my actions! But I should prefer +not to be judged at all. Have you told Dinah about the invitation to the +de Vignes's, Eustace?" + +"No! They haven't asked you for the wedding surely!" Dinah's thoughts +were instantly diverted. "Have they really? I never thought they would. +Oh, that will be fun! I expect Rose is trying to pretend she isn't--" She +broke off, colouring vividly. "What a pig I am!" she said apologetically +to Scott. "Please forget I said that!" + +"But you didn't say it," said Scott. + +"A near thing!" commented Eustace. "I had no idea Miss de Vigne was so +smitten. Stumpy, you'll be best man. You'll have to console her." + +"I believe the best man has to console everybody," said Scott. + +"You are peculiarly well fitted for the task," said his brother, setting +down his cup and pulling out a cigarette-case. "Be quick and quench your +thirst, Dinah. I want to trot you round the place before dark." + +Dinah looked at Isabel. "You'll come too?" + +Isabel shook her head. "No, dear, I can't walk much. Besides, Eustace +will want you to himself." + +But a queer little spirit of perversity had entered into Dinah. She shook +her head also. "We will go round in the morning," she said, with a +resolute look at her _fiancé_. "I am going to stay with Isabel to-night. +You have had quite as much of me as is good for you; now haven't you?" + +There was an instant of silence that felt ominous before somewhat curtly +Sir Eustace yielded the point. "I won't grudge you to Isabel if she wants +you. You can both of you come up to the picture-gallery when you have +done. There's a fine view of the river from there." + +He got up with the words and Scott rose also. They went away together, +and Dinah at once nestled to Isabel's side. + +"Now we can be cosy!" she said. + +Isabel put an arm about her. "You mustn't make me monopolize you, +sweetheart," she said. "I think Eustace was a little disappointed." + +"I'll be ever so nice to him presently to make up," said Dinah. "But I do +want you now, Isabel!" + +"What is it, dearest?" + +Dinah's cheek rubbed softly against her shoulder. "Isabel--darling, I +never thought that you and Scott were going to leave this place because +Eustace was marrying me." + +Isabel's arm pressed her closer. "We are not going far away, darling. It +will be better for you to be alone." + +"I don't think so," said Dinah. "We shall be alone quite long enough on +our honeymoon." She trembled a little in Isabel's hold. "I do wish you +were coming too," she whispered. + +"My dear, Eustace will take care of you," Isabel said. + +"Oh yes, I know. But he's so big. He wants such a lot," murmured Dinah in +distress. "I don't know quite how to manage him. He's never satisfied. +If--if only you were coming with us, he'd have something else to think +about." + +"Oh no, he wouldn't, dear. When you are present, he thinks of no one +else. You see," Isabel spoke with something of an effort, "he's in love +with you." + +"Yes--yes, of course. I'm very silly." Dinah dabbed her eyes and began to +smile. "But he makes me feel all the while as if--as if he wants to eat +me. I know it's all my silliness; but I wish you weren't going to the +Dower House all the same. Shall you be quite comfortable there?" + +"It is being done up, dear. You must come round with us and see it. We +shall move in directly the wedding is over, and then this place is to be +done up too, made ready for you. I believe you are to choose wall-papers +and hangings while you are here. You will enjoy that." + +"If you will help me," said Dinah. + +"Of course I will help you, dear child. I will always help you with +anything so long as it is in my power." + +Very tenderly Isabel reassured her till presently the scared feeling +subsided. + +They went up later to the picture-gallery and joined Eustace whom they +found smoking there. His mood also had changed by that time, and he +introduced his ancestors to Dinah with complete good humour. + +Isabel remained with them, but she talked very little in her brother's +presence; and when after a time Dinah turned to her she was startled by +the deadly weariness of her face. + +"Oh, I am tiring you!" she exclaimed, with swift compunction. + +But Isabel assured her with a smile that this was not so. She was a +little tired, but that was nothing new. + +"But you generally rest before dinner!" said Dinah, full of +self-reproach, "Eustace, ought she not to rest?" + +Eustace glanced at his sister half-reluctantly, and a shade of concern +crossed his face also. "Are you feeling faint?" he asked her. "Do you +want anything?" + +"No, no! Of course not!" She averted her face sharply from his look. "Go +on talking to Dinah! I am all right." + +She moved to a deep window-embrasure, and sat down on the cushioned seat. +The spring dusk was falling. She gazed forth into it with that look of +perpetual searching that Dinah had grown to know in the earliest days of +their acquaintance. She was watching, she was waiting,--for what? She +longed to draw near and comfort her, but the presence of Eustace made +that impossible. She did not know how to dismiss him. + +And then to her relief the door opened, and Scott came quietly in upon +them. He seemed to take in the situation at a glance, for after a few +words with them he passed on to Isabel, sitting aloof and silent in the +twilight. + +She greeted him with a smile, and Dinah's anxiety lifted somewhat. She +turned to Eustace. + +"Show me your den now!" she said. "I can see the rest of the house +to-morrow." + +And with a feeling that she was doing Isabel a service she went away with +him, alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE WRONG ROAD + + +When Dinah descended to breakfast the next morning, she encountered Scott +in the hall. He had evidently just come in from an early ride, and he was +looking younger and more animated than his wont. + +"Ah, there you are!" he said, coming to meet her. "I've got some shocking +news for you this morning. Eustace has had to go to town to see his +solicitor. An urgent telephone message came through this morning. He has +just gone up by the early train in the hope of getting back in good time. +He charged me with all sorts of messages for you, and I have promised to +take care of you in his absence, if you will allow me." + +"Oh, that will be great fun!" exclaimed Dinah ingenuously, "I hope you +are not very busy. I'd like you to show me everything." + +He laughed. "No, I can't do that. We must keep that for Eustace. But I +will take you to the Dower House, and show you that." + +"I shall love that," said Dinah. + +He took her into a room that overlooked terrace and river-valley and the +sunny southern slope that lay between. + +Breakfast was laid for two, and a cheery fire was burning. "How cosy it +looks!" said Dinah. + +"It does, doesn't it?" said Scott. "We always breakfast here in the +winter for that reason. Not that it is winter to-day. It is glorious +spring. You seem to have brought it with you. Take the coffee-pot end, +won't you? What will you have to eat?" + +He spoke with a lightness that Dinah found peculiarly exhilarating. He +was evidently determined that she should not be dull. Her spirits rose. +She suddenly felt like a child who has been granted an unexpected +holiday. + +She smiled up at him as he brought her a plate. "Isn't it a perfect +morning? I'm so glad to be here. Don't let us waste a single minute; will +we?" + +"Not one," said Scott. + +He went to his own place. He was plainly in a holiday mood also. She saw +it in his whole bearing, and her heart rejoiced. It was so good to see +him looking happy. + +"Have you seen Isabel this morning?" he asked her presently. + +"No. I went to her door, but Biddy said she was asleep, so I didn't go +in." + +"She often doesn't sleep much before morning," Scott said. "I expect she +will be down to luncheon if you can put up with me only till then." + +He evidently did not want to discuss Isabel's health just then, and Dinah +was quite willing also to let the subject pass for the time. It was a +morning for happy thoughts only. She and Scott would pretend that they +had not a care in the world. + +They breakfasted together as if it were a picnic. She had never seen him +so cheery and inconsequent. It was as if he also were engaged in some +species of make-believe. Or was it the enchantment of spring that had +fallen upon them both? Dinah could not have said. She only knew that +she had never felt so happy in all her life before. + +The walk to the Dower House was full of delight. It was all so exquisite, +the long, grassy slopes, the dark woods, the bare trees stark against the +blue. The path led through a birch copse, and here in sheltered corners +were primroses. She gathered them eagerly, and Scott helped her, even +forgetting to smoke. + +She did not remember later what they talked about, or even if they talked +at all. But the amazing gladness of her heart on that spring morning was +to be a vivid memory to her for as long as she lived. + +They reached the Dower House. Like Willowmount, it overlooked the river, +but from a different angle. Dinah was charmed with the old place. It was +full of unexpected corners and old-fashioned contrivances. Blue patches +of violets bloomed in the garden. Again with Scott's help, she gathered a +great dewy bunch. + +There were workmen in one or two of the rooms, and she stood by or +wandered at will while Scott talked to the foreman. + +They found themselves presently in the room that was to be Isabel's,--a +large and sunlit apartment that had a turret window that looked to the +far hills beyond the river. Dinah stood entranced with her eyes upon the +blue distance. Finally, with a sigh, she spoke. + +"How I wish I were going to live here too!" + +"What! You like it better than Willowmount?" said Scott. + +She made a little gesture of the hands, as if she pleaded for +understanding. "I feel so small in big places. This is spacious, but it's +cosy too. I--I should feel lost alone at Willowmount." + +"But you won't be alone," he pointed out, with his kindly smile. "You +will be very much the reverse, I can assure you." + +She gave that sharp, uncontrollable little shiver of hers. "You mean +Eustace--" she said haltingly. + +"Yes, Eustace, and all the people round who will want to know his bride," +said Scott. "I don't think you will have much time to be lonely. If you +have, you can always come along to us, you know. We shall be only too +delighted to see you." + +Dinah turned to him impulsively. "You are good!" she said. "I wonder you +don't look upon me as a horrid little interloper, turning you out of your +home where you have always lived! I do hate the thought of it! Really it +isn't my fault." + +She spoke with tears in her eyes; but Scott still smiled. "My dear +child," he said, "such an idea never entered my head. Isabel and I have +often thought we should like to make this our home. We have always +intended to as soon as Eustace married." + +"Did you never think of marrying?" Dinah asked him suddenly. + +There was an instant's pause, and then, as he was about to speak, she +broke in quickly. + +"Oh, please don't tell me! I was a pig to ask! I didn't mean to. It just +slipped out. Do forgive me!" + +"But why shouldn't you ask?" said Scott gently. "We are friends. I don't +mind answering you. I've had my dream like the rest of the world. But it +was very soon over. I never seriously deluded myself into the belief that +anyone could care to marry a shrimp like me." + +"Oh, Scott!" Almost fiercely Dinah cut him short. "How can you--you of +all people--say a thing like that?" + +Scott looked at her quizzically for a moment. "I should have thought I +was the one person who could say it," he observed. + +Dinah turned from him sharply. Her hands were clenched. "Oh no! Oh no!" +she said incoherently. "It's not right! It's not fair! You--you--Mr. +Greatheart!" Quite suddenly, as if the utterance of the name were too +much for her, she broke down, covered her face, and wept. + +"Dinah!" said Scott. + +He came to her and took her very gently by the arm. Dinah's shoulders +were shaking. She could not lift her face. + +"Why--why shouldn't your dream come true too?" she sobbed. "You--who help +everybody--to get what they want!" + +"My dear," Scott said, "my dream is over. Don't you grieve on my account! +God knows I'm not grieving for myself." His voice was low, but very +steadfast. + +"You wouldn't!" said Dinah. + +"No; because it's futile, unnecessary, a waste of time. I've other things +to do--plenty of other things." Scott braced himself with the words, as +one who manfully lifts a burden. "Cheer up, Dinah! I didn't mean to make +you sad." + +"But--but--are you sure--quite sure--she didn't care?" faltered Dinah, +rubbing her eyes woefully. + +"Quite sure," said Scott, with decision. + +Dinah threw him a sudden, flashing glance of indignation. "Then she was a +donkey, Scott, a fool--an idiot!" she declared, with trembling vehemence. +"I'd like--oh, how I'd like--to tell her so." + +Scott was smiling, his own, whimsical smile. "Yes, wouldn't you?" he +said. "And it's awfully nice of you to say so. But do you know, you're +quite wrong. She wasn't any of those things. On the other hand, I was all +three. But where's the use of talking? It's over, and a good thing too!" + +Dinah slipped a quivering hand over his. "We'll always be friends, won't +we, Scott?" she said tremulously. + +"Always," said Scott. + +She squeezed his hand hard, and in response his fingers pressed her arm. +His steady eyes looked straight into hers. + +And in the silence, there came to Dinah a queer stirring of +uncertainty,--the uncertainty of one who just begins to suspect that he +is on the wrong road. + +The moment passed, and they talked again of lighter things, but the mood +of irresponsible light-heartedness had gone. When they finally left the +Dower House, Dinah felt that she trod the earth once more. + +"I shall come and see you very often when we come back," she said rather +wistfully. "I hope Eustace won't want to be away a very long time." + +"Aren't you looking forward to your honeymoon?" asked Scott. + +"I don't know," said Dinah, and paused. "I really don't know. But," +brightening, "I'm sure the wedding will be great fun." + +"I hope it will," said Scott kindly. + +It was not till they were nearing Willowmount that Dinah asked him at +length hesitatingly about Isabel. + +"Do you mind telling me? Is she worse?" + +Scott also hesitated a little before he answered. Then: "In one sense she +is much better," he said. "But physically," he paused, "physically she is +losing ground." + +"Oh, Scott!" Dinah looked at him with swift dismay. "But why--why? Can +nothing be done?" + +His eyes met hers unwaveringly. "No, nothing," he said, and he spoke with +that decision which she had come to know as in some fashion a part of +himself. His words carried conviction, and yet by some means they quieted +her dismay as well. He went on after a moment with that gentle philosophy +of his that seemed to soften all he said. "She is as one nearing the end +of a long journey, and she is very tired, poor girl. We can't grudge her +her rest--when it comes. Eustace wants to rouse her, but I think the time +for that is past. It is kinder--it is wiser--to let her alone." + +Dinah drew a little nearer to him. "Do you mean--that you think she won't +live very long?" she whispered. + +"If you like to put it that way," Scott answered quietly. + +"Oh, but what of you?" she said. + +She uttered the words almost involuntarily, and the next moment she would +have recalled them, for she saw his face change. For a second--only a +second--she read suffering in his eyes. But he answered her without +hesitation. + +"I shall just keep on, Dinah," he said. "It's the only way. But, as I +think I've mentioned before, it's no good meeting troubles half-way. The +day's work is all that really matters." + +They walked on for a space in silence; then as they drew near the house +he changed the subject. But that brief shadow of a coming desolation +dwelt in Dinah's memory with a persistence that defied all lesser things. +He was brave enough, cheery enough, in the shouldering of his burden; but +her heart ached when she realized how heavy that burden must be. + +A message awaited her at the house that she would go to Isabel in her +sitting-room, and she went, half-eager, half-diffident. But as soon as +she was with her friend her doubts were all gone. For Isabel looked and +spoke so much as usual that it seemed impossible to believe that she was +indeed nearing the end of the journey. + +She wanted to know all that Dinah had been doing, and they sat and +discussed the decorations of the Dower House till the luncheon-hour. + +When luncheon was over they repaired to a sheltered corner of the +terrace, looking down over the garden to the river, while Scott went away +to write letters; and here they talked over the serious matter of the +trousseau with regard to which neither Dinah nor her mother had made any +very definite arrangements. + +Perhaps Mrs. Bathurst had foreseen the possibility of Isabel desiring to +undertake this responsibility. Perhaps Isabel had already dropped a hint +of her intention. In any case it seemed the most natural thing in the +world that Isabel should be the one to assist and advise, and when Dinah +demurred a little on the score of cost she found herself gently but quite +effectually silenced. Sir Eustace's bride must have a suitable outfit, +Isabel told her. The question of ways and means was not one which need +trouble her. + +So Dinah obediently put the matter from her, and entered into the +delightful discussion with keen zest. Isabel's ideas were so entrancing. +She knew exactly what she would need. Her taste also was so simple, and +so unerring. Dinah had never before pictured herself as possessing such +things as Isabel calmly proclaimed that she must have. + +"We must go up to town to-morrow," Isabel said, "and get things started. +It will mean the whole day, I am afraid. Can you bear to be parted from +Eustace for so long?" + +Dinah laughed merrily at the question. "Of course--of course! What fun it +will be! I always knew I should like to be married, but I never dreamt it +could be so exciting as this." + +Isabel smiled at her with a touch of pity in her eyes. "Marriage isn't +only new clothes and wedding presents, Dinah," she said. + +"No, no! I know!" Dinah spoke with swift compunction. "It is far more +than that. But I've never had such lovely things before. I can't help +feeling a little giddy about it. You do understand, don't you? I'm not +like that all through--really." + +"My darling!" Isabel answered fondly. "Of course I know it. I sometimes +think that it would be better for you if you were." + +"Isabel, why--why?" Dinah pressed close to her, half-curious, +half-frightened. + +But Isabel did not answer her. She only kissed the vivid, upturned face +with all a mother's tenderness, and turned back in silence, to the +fashion-book on her knee. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DOUBTING CASTLE + + +When Sir Eustace returned, he found his bride-elect awaiting him with a +radiant face. She sprang to greet him with an eagerness that outwent all +shyness. + +"Oh, Eustace, I have had such a lovely time!" she told him. "It has been +a perfect day." + +She offered him her lips with a child's simplicity, but blushed deeply +when she felt the hot pressure of his, turning her face aside the moment +he released her. + +He laughed a little, keeping his arm about her shoulders. "You haven't +missed me then?" he said. + +"Oh, not a bit," said Dinah truthfully; and then quickly, "but what a +horrid thing to say! Why did you put it like that?" + +"I wanted to know," said Sir Eustace. + +She turned back to him. "I should have missed you if I hadn't been so +busy. Isabel is going to help me with my trousseau. And oh, Eustace, I am +to have such a crowd of lovely things." + +He pinched her cheek. "What should a brown elf need beyond a shift of +thistle-down? Where is Isabel?" + +"She is resting now. She got so tired. Biddy said she must lie down, and +we mustn't disturb her for tea. I do hope it wasn't too much for her, +Eustace." + +"Too much for her! Nonsense! It does her good to think of someone else +besides herself," said Eustace. "If Biddy didn't coddle her so in the day +time, she would sleep better at night. Well, where is tea? In the +drawing-room? Come along and have it!" + +Dinah clung to his arm. "It--it's in a place called my lady's boudoir," +she told him shyly. + +He looked at her. "Where? Oh, I know. That inner sanctuary with the west +window. You've taken a fancy to it, have you? Then we will call it +Daphne's Bower." + +Dinah's laugh was not without a hint of restraint. "I haven't been in any +other room. Scott said you would show me everything. But I just wandered +in there, and he found me and showed me the dear little boudoir. He said +you were going to have it done up." + +"So I am," said Eustace. "Everything that belongs to you must be new. +Have you decided what colour will suit you best?" + +They were passing through the long drawing-room towards the curtained +doorway that led into the little boudoir. The drawing-room was a palatial +apartment with stately French furniture that Dinah surveyed with awe. She +could not picture herself as hostess in so magnificent a setting. She +could only think of Rose de Vigne. It would have suited her flawless +beauty perfectly, and she knew that Rose's self-contained heart would +have revelled in such an atmosphere. + +But it made her feel a stranger, and she hastened through it to the +cosier nest beyond. + +This was a far more homely spot. The furniture here was French also, and +exquisitely delicate; but it was designed for comfort, and the gilded +state of the outer room was wholly absent. + +A tea-table stood near a deeply-cushioned settee, and the kettle sang +merrily over a spirit-lamp. + +Eustace dropped on to the settee and drew her suddenly and wholly +unexpectedly down upon his knee. + +"Oh, Eustace!" she gasped, turning crimson. + +He wound his arms about her, holding her two hands imprisoned. "Oh, +Daphne!" he mocked softly. "I've caught you--I've caught you! Here in +your own bower with no one to look on! No, you can't even flutter your +wings now. You've got to stay still and be worshipped." + +He spoke with his face against her neck. She felt the burning of his +breath, and something;--an urgent, inner prompting--warned her to submit. +She sat there in his grasp in quivering silence. + +His arms drew her nearer, nearer. It was as if he were gradually merging +her whole being into his. In a moment, with a little gasp, she gave him +her trembling lips. + +He uttered a low laugh of mastery and gave his passion the rein, +overwhelming her with those devouring kisses that from the very outset +had always filled her with an indefinable sense of shame. She was quite +powerless to frustrate him. The delicate barrier of her reserve was +rudely torn away. The burning blush on face and neck served but to feed +the flame. He kissed the panting throat as if he would draw the very life +out of it. There was fierce possession in the holding of his arms. She +thought she would never be free again. + +The first fiery wave spent itself at last, but even then he did not let +her go. He held her pressed to him, and she lay against his breast +trembling but wholly passive, overcome by an inexplicable longing to +hide, to hide. + +After a few seconds he spoke to her, his voice oddly unsteady, very deep. +"You're driving me mad, Daphne. Do you know that?" + +"I--I'm sorry," she faltered, trying to shelter her tingling face in his +coat. + +His arms were tense about her. "I want you more and more every day," he +said. "I don't know how to wait for you. How long is it to our wedding?" + +"Three weeks and four days," she told him faintly. + +He gave his low, quivering laugh, "What! You are counting the days too! +Daphne! My Daphne! Need we wait--all that time?" + +Dinah's thumping heart gave a great start and seemed to stop. "Oh yes," +she gasped desperately. "Yes, I couldn't possibly--be ready sooner." + +He put his face down to hers, as one who breathes the essence of a +flower. "You are ready now," he said. "You will never be lovelier than +you are to-night." + +She tried to laugh, but his lips were too near. Her voice quavered +piteously. + +"Why do I wait for you?" he said, and in his words there beat a fierce +unrest. "Why am I such a fool? I lie awake night after night consumed +with the want of you. When I sleep, I am always chasing you, you +will-o'-the-wisp; and you always manage to keep just out of reach." His +arms tightened. His voice suddenly sank to a deep whisper. "Daphne! Shall +I tell you what I am going to do?" + +"What?" panted Dinah. + +"I am going to take you right away over the hills to-morrow to a place I +know of where it is as lonely as the Sahara, and we will have a picnic +there all to ourselves--all to ourselves, and make up for to-day." + +His lips pressed hers again, but she withdrew herself with a sharp +effort. There was nameless terror in her heart. + +"Oh, I can't, Eustace! I can't indeed!" she said, and now she was +striving, striving impotently, for freedom. "I'm going up to town with +Isabel." + +"Isabel can wait," he said. + +"No! No! I must go. You don't understand. There are no end of things to +be done." Dinah was as one encircled by fire, searching wildly round for +a means of escape. "I must go!" she said again. "I must go!" + +"You can go the next day," he said with arrogance. "I want you to-morrow +and I mean to have you. Look at me, Dinah!" + +She glanced at him, compelled by the command of his tone, met the fiery +intensity of his look, and sank helpless, conquered. + +He kissed her again. "There! That's settled. You silly little thing! Why +do you always beat your wings against the inevitable? Do you think you +are going to get away from me now?" + +She hid her face against his shoulder. She was almost in tears. "You--you +hurt me! You frighten me!" she whispered. + +"Do I?" he said, and still in his voice she heard that deep note that +made her whole being quiver. "It's your own fault, my Daphne. You +shouldn't run away." + +"I--I can't help it," she said tremulously. "I sometimes think--I'm +not big enough for you." + +"You'll grow," he said. + +"I don't know," she answered in distress. "I may not. And if I do, I +feel--I feel as if I shan't be myself any longer, but just--but just--a +bit of you!" + +He laughed. "Daphne,--you oddity! Don't you want to be a bit of me?" + +"I'd rather be myself," she murmured shyly. + +His hold was not so close, and she longed, but did not dare, to get off +his knee and breathe. But in that moment there came the sound of a +halting step in the drawing-room beyond, and swiftly she raised her head. + +"Oh, Eustace, let me go! Here is Scott!" + +He did not release her instantly. Scott was already in the doorway +before, like a frightened fawn, she leapt from his grasp. She heard +Eustace laugh again, and somehow his laugh had a note of insolence. + +"Come in, my good brother!" he said. "My lady is just about to make tea. +I presume that is what you have come for." + +"The presumption is correct," said Scott. + +He came forward in his quiet, unhurried fashion, and paused at the table +to open the tea-caddy for Dinah. + +She thanked him with trembling lips, her eyes cast down, her face on +fire. + +Eustace lounged back on the settee and watched her. He frowned +momentarily when Scott sat down beside him, leaving her a low chair by +the tea-tray. + +Dinah's hands fluttered among the cups. She was painfully ill at ease. +But in a second or two Scott's placid voice came into the silence, and at +once her distress began to subside. + +"Have you decided about the decoration of this room yet?" he asked. "I +always thought this dead-white rather cold." + +"Dinah is to have her own choice," said Sir Eustace. + +"I would like shell-pink," said Dinah, without looking up. "Don't you +think that would be nice with those pretty water-colour sketches?" + +She spoke diffidently. No one had ever deferred to her taste before. + +Sir Eustace laughed in his slightly supercilious way. "Do you know who is +responsible for those pretty sketches, my red, red rose?" + +She glanced up nervously. "Not--not--are they yours, Scott?" + +"They are," said Scott, with a smile. + +She met his eyes for an instant, and was surprised by their gravity. "Oh, +I do like them," she said. "I wonder I didn't guess. They are so +beautifully finished, so--complete." + +"I am glad you like them," said Scott. "I thought you might want to turn +them out as lumber." + +"As if I should!" she said. "I love them--every one of them. I shall love +them better still now I know they are yours." + +"Thank you," said Scott. + +Eustace turned his attention to him. "No one ever paid you such a +compliment as that before, my good Stumpy," he observed. "If everyone saw +you in that light, you'd be a great artist by now." + +"I wonder," said Scott. + +Dinah sent him another swift glance. She seemed on the verge of speech, +but checked herself, and there fell a brief silence. + +It was broken by the entrance of a servant. "If you please, Sir Eustace, +Mr. Grey is in the library and would be glad if you could spare him a few +minutes." + +Sir Eustace uttered an impatient exclamation. "You go and see what he +wants, Stumpy!" he said. + +But Scott remained seated. "I know what he wants, my dear chap, and it's +something that only you can give. He has come about Bob Jelf who was +caught poaching last week. He wants you to give the fellow as light a +sentence as possible on account of his wife." + +Sir Eustace frowned. "I never give a light sentence for poaching. He's +always at it, I'd give him the cat if I could." + +Scott raised his shoulders slightly. "Well, don't ask me to say that to +Mr. Grey! He's taking the whole business badly to heart, as he was +beginning to look on Jelf as a reformed character." + +"I'll reform him!" said Sir Eustace. He turned to the servant. "Ask Mr. +Grey to join us here!" + +"You had better see him alone first," said Scott. + +"Why?" His brother turned upon him almost savagely. + +Scott took up his tea-cup. "You can't refuse to give him a hearing," he +observed. "He has come up on purpose." + +Sir Eustace murmured something under his breath and rose. His look fell +upon Dinah. "It's the village padre," he said. "I shall have to bring him +in here. I hope you don't mind?" + +She gave him a quick, half-startled smile. "Of course not." + +He turned to the door which the waiting servant was holding open, and +strode out with annoyed majesty. + +Dinah watched him till the door closed; then very suddenly and urgently +she turned to Scott. + +"Oh, please, will you help me?" she said. + +He gave her a straight, keen look that seemed to penetrate to her soul. +"If it lies in my power," he said slowly. + +She caught her breath, pierced by a sharp uncertainty. "You can. I'm sure +you can," she said. + +He set down his cup. "Dinah," he said gently, "don't ask me to interfere +in your affairs if you can by any means manage without!" + +"But that's just it!" she said in distress. "I can't." + +He leaned forward. "My dear, don't be agitated!" he said. "Tell me what +is the matter!" + +Dinah leaned forward also, her hands tightly clasped, and spoke in a +rapid whisper. + +"Scott, Eustace wants me to go for an all-day picnic alone with him +to-morrow. I--don't want to go." + +He was still looking at her with that straight, almost stern regard. An +odd little quiver went through her as she met it. She felt as if she were +in a fashion on her trial. + +"Why don't you want to go?" he asked. + +She hesitated. "I was to have gone up to town with Isabel to shop," she +said. + +"No, that isn't the reason," he said. "Tell me the reason!" + +She made a quick gesture of appeal. "I--wish you wouldn't ask," she +faltered, and suddenly she could meet his eyes no longer. She lowered her +own, and sat before him in burning confusion. + +"Have you asked yourself?" he said, his voice very low. + +She was silent; the quiet question seemed to probe her through and +through. There was no evading it. + +Scott was still watching her very closely, very intently. He spoke at +length, just as she was beginning to feel his scrutiny to be more than +she could bear. + +"If you are just shy with him--as I think you are--I think you ought to +try and get over it, as much for his sake as for your own. You don't want +to hurt him, do you? You wouldn't like him to be disappointed?" + +Dinah shook her head. "If you could come too!" she suggested, in a very +small voice. + +"No, I can't," said Scott firmly. + +She sent him a darting glance. "Are you angry with me?" she said. + +"I!" said Scott in amazement. + +"You--spoke as if you were," she said. "And you looked--quite grim." + +He laughed a little. "If you are afraid of me, you must indeed be easily +frightened. No, of course I am not angry. Dinah! Dinah! Don't be silly!" + +Her lips were quivering, but in response to his admonishing tone she +forced them to smile. "I know I am silly," she said, with an effort. +"I--I'm not nearly good enough for Eustace. And I'm a dreadful little +coward, I know. But he does frighten me. When he kisses me--I always +want to run away." + +"But you wouldn't like it if he didn't," said Scott, in the voice of the +philosopher. + +"Shouldn't I?" said Dinah. "I wonder. It--wouldn't be him, would it?" + +"And what are you going to do when you are married?" said Scott, point +blank. "You'll see much more of him then." + +"Oh, I expect I shall feel different then," said Dinah. "Married people +are different, aren't they? They are not always going off by themselves +and kissing in corners." + +"Not as a rule," admitted Scott. "But I've been told that there is +usually a good deal of that sort of thing done during the honeymoon." + +"That's different too," Dinah's voice was slightly dubious +notwithstanding. "But we are not on our honeymoon yet. Scott, couldn't +you--just for once--help me to--to find an excuse not to go? It would +be--so dear of you." + +She spoke with earnest entreaty, her eyes frankly raised to his. + +Scott looked into them with steady searching before he finally responded. +"I will speak to him if you like. I don't know that I shall be +successful. But--if you wish it--I will try." + +"Oh, thank you," she said. "Thank you." And then quickly, "You're sure +you don't mind? Sure you're not afraid?" + +"Oh, quite sure of that," said Scott. + +Her eyes expressed open admiration. "I can't think how you manage not to +be," she said. + +He smiled with a touch of sadness. "Perhaps I am not so weak as I look," +he said. + +"You--weak!" said Dinah. "Why, you are the strongest man I ever met." + +Scott smothered a sudden sigh. "Which only proves how very little you +know about me," he said. + +But Dinah shook her head, wholly unconvinced. Here at least she was +absolutely sure of her ground. + +"'Mr. Greatheart was a strong man,'" she quoted, "'and he was not afraid +of a Lion.'" + +"There are sometimes worse things than lions in the path," said Scott +gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE VICTORY + + +The return of Sir Eustace, marshalling the Vicar before him, put an end +to further confidences. + +Dinah rose nervously to receive the new-comer--a tall, thin man, elderly, +with a grave, intellectual face and courteous manner, who looked at her +with a gleam of surprise as he took her shyly proffered hand. + +"It is a great privilege to meet you," he said then, and Dinah perceived +at once that he had prepared that remark for someone much more imposing +than herself, and had not time to readjust it. + +She thanked him, and he sat down at Scott's invitation and fell into a +troubled silence. + +Sir Eustace was looking decidedly formidable, and it was not difficult to +see that he had just given an unqualified refusal to his visitor's +earnest request. + +It was Scott as usual who came to the rescue, breaking through the +Vicar's abstraction to ask for details concerning certain additions that +were being made to the Cottage Hospital. He drew Dinah also into the +conversation, taking it for granted that she would be interested; and +presently Mr. Grey brightened somewhat, launching into what was evidently +a favourite topic. + +"We are hoping," he said, "that the new wing will be completed by the end +of June, and it is expected that the Parish Council will request Lady +Studley to be good enough to declare it open." + +He looked at Dinah with the words, and she realized their significance +with a sharp shock. "Oh, do you mean me?" she said. "I don't think I +could." + +"It wouldn't be a very difficult business," said Scott reassuringly. + +"Oh, I couldn't!" she said. "Why--why, there would be crowds of people, +wouldn't there?" + +"I hope to get a few of the County," said Mr. Grey, "to support you." + +"That makes it worse," said Dinah. + +Scott laughed. "Eustace and I will come too and take care of you. You +see, the Lady of the Manor has to do these tiresome things." + +"Oh! I'll come if you want me," said Dinah. "But I've never done anything +like that before and I can't think what the County will say. You see, I +don't belong." + +"Snap your fingers in its face, and it won't bite you!" said Eustace. +"You will belong by that time." + +Mr. Grey smiled a very kindly smile that had in it a touch of compassion. +He said nothing, but in a few minutes he rose to take his leave, and +then, with Dinah's hand held for a moment in his, he said in a low voice, +"I wish I might enlist your sympathy on behalf of one of my parishioners. +His wife is dying of cancer, and he is to be sent to gaol for poaching." + +"Oh!" Dinah exclaimed in distress. + +She looked quickly across at her _fiancé_, and saw that his brow was +dark. + +He said nothing whatever, and she went to him impulsively. "Eustace, must +you send him to prison?" + +He looked at her for a second, then turned, without responding, to the +Vicar. "That was a very unnecessary move on your part, sir," he said +icily. "I have told you my decision in the matter, and there it must +rest. Justice is justice." + +Dinah was looking at him very pleadingly; he laid his hand upon her arm, +and she felt his fingers close with a strong, restraining pressure. + +Mr. Grey turned to go. "I make no excuse, Sir Eustace," he said. "I am +begging for mercy, not justice. My cause is urgent. If one weapon fails, +I must employ another." + +He went out with Scott, and Dinah was left alone with Sir Eustace. + +He spoke at once, sternly and briefly, before she had time to open her +lips. "Dinah, this is no matter for your interference. I forbid you to +pursue it any further." + +His tone was crushingly absolute; she saw that he was white with anger. + +She felt the colour die out of her own cheeks as she faced him. But the +Vicar's few words had made a deep impression upon her; she forced back +her fear. + +"But, Eustace, is it true?" she said. "Is the man's wife really dying? If +so--if so--surely you will let him off!" + +His grasp upon her arm tightened. "Are you going to disobey me?" he said +warningly. + +His look was terrible, but she braved it. "Yes--yes, I am," she said, +with desperate courage. "Eustace, I've never asked you to do anything +before. Couldn't you--can't you--do this one thing?" + +She met the blazing wrath of his eyes though her heart felt stiff with +fear. It had come so suddenly, this ordeal, but she braced herself to +meet it. Horrible though it was to withstand him, the thought came to her +that if she did not make the effort just once she would never have the +strength again. + +"You think me very impertinent," she said, speaking quickly through +quivering lips. "But--but--I have a right to speak. If I am to be--your +wife, you must not treat me as--a servant." + +She saw his look change. The anger went out of it, but something that was +more terrible to her took its place, something that she could not meet. + +She flinched involuntarily, and in the same moment he drew her close to +him. "Ah, Daphne, the adorable!" he said. "I've never seen you at bay +before! You claim your privileges, do you? You think I can refuse you +nothing?" + +She shrank at his tone--the mastery of it, the confidence, the caress. + +"You needn't be afraid," he said, and bent his face to hers. "Whatever +you wish is law. But don't forget one thing! If I refuse you nothing, I +must have everything in exchange. 'Love the gift is Love the debt,' my +Daphne. You must give me freely all that you have in return." + +She trembled in his embrace. Those passionate words of his +frightened her anew. Was it possible--would it ever be possible--to +give him--freely--all that she had? + +The doubt shot through her like the stab of a dagger even while she gave +him the kiss he demanded for her audacity. Her victory over him amazed +her, so appalling had seemed the odds. But in a fashion it dismayed her +too. He was too mighty a giant to kneel at her feet for long. He would +exact payment in full, she was sure, she was sure, for all that he gave +her now. + +She was thankful when a ceremonious knock at the door compelled him to +release her. Biddy presented herself very upright, primly correct. + +"If ye please, Miss Dinah, Mrs. Everard is awake and will be pleased to +see ye whenever it suits ye to go to her at all." + +"Oh, I'll go now," said Dinah with relief. She glanced at Eustace. "You +don't mind? You don't want me?" + +"No, I have some business to discuss with Stumpy," he said. "Perhaps I +will join you presently." + +He took out a cigarette and lighted it, and Dinah turned; and went away +with the old woman. + +"And it's to be hoped he'll do nothing of the kind," remarked Biddy, as +they walked through the long drawing-room. "For the very thought of him +is enough to drive poor Miss Isabel scranny, specially in the evening." + +"Is--is Miss Isabel so afraid of him?" asked Dinah under her breath. + +Biddy nodded darkly. "She is that, Miss Dinah, and small blame to her." + +Dinah pressed suddenly close. "Biddy, why?" + +Biddy pursed her lips. "Faith, and it's meself that's afraid, ye'll find +the answer to that only too soon, Miss Dinah dear!" she said solemnly. "I +can't tell ye the straight truth. Ye wouldn't believe me if I did. Ye +must watch for yourself, me jewel. Ye've got a woman's intelligence. +Don't ye be afraid to use it!" + +It was the soundest piece of advice that she had ever heard from +Biddy's lips, and Dinah accepted it in silence. She had known for some +time that Biddy had small love for Sir Eustace, but it was evident that +the precise reason for this was not to be conveyed in words. She wished +she could have persuaded her to be more explicit, but something held her +back from attempting to gain the information that Biddy withheld. It was +better--surely it was sometimes better--not to know too much. + +They met Scott as they turned out of the drawing-room, and Biddy's grim +old face softened at the sight of him. + +He paused: "Hullo! Going to Isabel? Has she had a good rest, Biddy?" + +"Glory to goodness, Master Scott, she has!" said Biddy fervently. + +"That's all right." Scott prepared to pass on. "Eustace hasn't gone, I +suppose?" + +"No, he is in there, waiting for you." Dinah detained him for a moment. +"Scott, he--I think he is going to--to let that man off with a light +sentence." + +"What?" said Scott. "Dinah, you witch! How on earth did you do it?" + +He looked so pleased that her heart gave a throb of triumph. It had been +well worth while just to win that look from him. + +She smiled back at him. "I don't know. I really don't know. +But,--Scott"--she became a little breathless--"if--if he really wants +me to-morrow, I think--p'raps--I'd better go." + +Scott gave her his straight, level look. There was a moment's pause +before he said, "Wait till to-morrow comes anyway!" and with that he was +gone, limping through the great room with that steady but unobtrusive +purpose that ever, to Dinah's mind, redeemed him from insignificance. + +"Ah! He's the gentleman is Master Scott," said Biddy's voice at her side. +"Ye'll never meet his like in all the world. It's a sad life he leads, +poor young gentleman, but he keeps a brave heart though never a single +joy comes his way. May the Almighty reward him and give him his desire +before it's too late." + +"What desire?" asked Dinah. + +Biddy shot her a lightning glance from her beady eyes ere again +mysteriously she shook her head. + +"And it's the innocent lamb that ye are entirely, Miss Dinah dear," she +said. + +With which enigmatical answer Dinah was forced to be content. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BURDEN + + +Sir Eustace was standing by the window of the little boudoir when his +brother entered, and Scott joined him there. He also lighted a cigarette, +and they smoked together in silence for several seconds. + +Finally Eustace turned with his faint, supercilious smile. "What's the +matter, Stumpy? Something on your mind?" + +Scott met his look. "Something I've got to say to you anyway, old chap, +that rather sticks in my gullet." + +Sir Eustace laughed. "You carry conscience enough for the two of us. What +is it? Fire away!" + +Scott puffed at his cigarette. "You won't like it," he observed. "But +it's got to be said. Look here, Eustace! It's all very well to be in +love. But you're carrying it too far. The child's downright afraid of +you." + +"Has she told you so?" demanded Eustace. A hot gleam suddenly shone in +his blue eyes. He looked down at Scott with a frown. + +Scott shook his head. "If she had, I shouldn't tell you so. But the fact +remains. You're a bit of an ogre, you know, always have been. Slack off a +bit, there's a good fellow! You'll find it's worth it." + +He spoke with the utmost gentleness, but there was determination in his +quiet eyes. Having spoken, he turned them upon the garden again and +resumed his cigarette. + +There fell a brief silence between them. Sir Eustace was no longer +smoking. His frown had deepened. Suddenly he laid his hand upon Scott's +shoulder. + +"It's my turn now," he said. "I've something to say to you." + +"Well?" said Scott. He stiffened a little at the hold upon him, but he +did not attempt to frustrate it. + +"Only this." Eustace pressed upon him as one who would convey a warning. +"You've interfered with me more than once lately, and I've borne with +it--more or less patiently. But I'm not going to bear with it much +longer. You may be useful to me, but--you're not indispensable. Remember +that!" + +Scott started at the words, as a well-bred horse starts at the flicker of +the whip. He controlled himself instantly, but his eyelids quivered a +little as he answered, "I will remember it." + +Sir Eustace's hand fell. "I think that is all that need be said," he +observed. "We will get to business." + +He turned from the window, but in the same moment Scott wheeled also and +took him by the arm. "One moment!" he said. "Eustace, we are not going to +quarrel over this. You don't imagine, do you, that I interfere with you +in this way for my own pleasure?" + +He spoke urgently, an odd wistfulness in voice and gesture. + +Sir Eustace paused. The sternness still lingered in his eyes though his +face softened somewhat as he said, "I haven't gone into the question of +motives, Stumpy. I have no doubt they are--like yourself--very worthy, +though it might not soothe me greatly to know what they are." + +Scott still held his arm. "Oh, man," he said very earnestly, "don't miss +the best thing in life for want of a little patience! She's such a child. +She doesn't understand. For your own sake give her time!" + +There was that in his tone that somehow made further offence impossible. +A faint, half-grudging smile took the place of the grimness on his +brother's face. + +"You take things so mighty seriously," he said. "What's the matter? What +has she been saying?" + +Scott hesitated. "I can't tell you that. I imagine it is more what she +doesn't say that makes me realize the state of her mind. I can tell you +one thing. She would rather go shopping with Isabel to-morrow than +picnicking in the wilderness with you, and if you're wise, you'll give in +and let her go. You'll run a very grave risk of losing her altogether +if you ask too much." + +"What do you mean?" Eustace's voice was short and stern; the question was +like a sword thrust. + +Again Scott hesitated. Then very steadily he made reply. "I mean +that--with or without reason, you know best--she is beginning not to +trust you. It is more than mere shyness with her. She is genuinely +frightened." + +His words went into silence, and in the silence he took out his +handkerchief and wiped his forehead. It had been a more difficult +interview for him than Eustace would ever realize. His powers of +endurance were considerable, but he had an almost desperate desire now to +escape. + +But some instinct kept him where he was. To fail at the last moment for +lack of perseverance would have been utterly uncharacteristic of him. It +was his custom to stand his ground to the last, whatever the cost. + +And so he forced himself to wait while his brother contemplated the +unpleasant truth that he had imparted. He knew that it was not in his +nature to spend long over the process, but he was still by no means sure +of the final result. + +Eustace spoke at length very suddenly. "See here, Stumpy!" he said. +"There may be something in what you say, and there may not. But in any +case, you and Dinah are getting altogether too intimate and confidential +to please me. It's up to you to put the brake on a bit. Understand?" + +He smiled as he said it, but there was a gleam as of cold steel behind +his smile. + +Scott straightened himself. It was as if something within him leapt to +meet the steel. Spent though he was, this was a matter no man could +shirk. + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," he said. "Do you think I'd destroy her +trust in me too? I'd sell my soul sooner." + +The words were passionate, and the man as he uttered them seemed suddenly +galvanized with a new force, a force irresistible, elemental, even +sublime. The elder brother's brows went up in amazement. He did not know +Stumpy in that mood. He found himself confronted with a power colossal +manifested in the meagre frame, and before that power instinctively, +wholly involuntarily, he gave ground. + +"I see you mean to please yourself," he said, and turned to go with a +sub-conscious feeling that if he lingered he would have the worst of it. +"But I warn you if you get in my way, you'll be kicked. So look out!" + +It was not a conciliatory speech, but it was the outcome of undoubted +discomfiture. He was so accustomed to submission from Scott that he had +come to look upon it as inevitable. His sudden self-assertion was oddly +disconcerting. + +So also was the laugh that followed his threat, a careless laugh wholly +devoid of bitterness which yet in some fashion inexplicable pierced his +armour, making him feel ashamed. + +"You know exactly what I think of that sort of thing, don't you?" Scott +said. "That's the best of having no special physical attractions. One +doesn't need to think of appearances." + +Sir Eustace made no rejoinder. He could think of nothing to say; for he +knew that Scott's attitude was absolutely sincere. For physical suffering +he cared not one jot. The indomitable spirit of the man lifted him above +it. He was fashioned upon the same lines as the men who faced the lions +of Rome. No bodily pain could ever daunt him. + +He went from the room haughtily but in his heart he carried an odd +misgiving that burned and spread like a slow fire, consuming his pride. +Scott had withstood him, Scott the weakling, and in so doing had made him +aware of a strength that exceeded his own. + +As for Scott, the moment he was alone he drew a great breath of relief, +and almost immediately after opened the French window and passed quietly +out into the garden. + +The dusk was falling, and the air smote chill; yet he moved slowly forth, +closing the window behind him and so down into the desolate shrubberies +where he paced for a long, long time.... + +When he went to Isabel's room more than an hour later, his eyes were +heavy with weariness, and he moved like a man who bears a burden. + +She was alone, and looked up at his entrance with a smile of welcome. +"Come and sit down, Stumpy! I've seen nothing of you. Dinah has only just +left me. She tells me Eustace is talking of a picnic for to-morrow, but +really she ought to give her mind to her trousseau if she is ever to be +ready in time. Do you think Eustace can be induced to see reason?" + +"I don't know," Scott said. He seated himself by Isabel's side and leaned +back against the cushions, closing his eyes. + +"You are tired," she said gently. + +"Oh, only a little, Isabel!" He spoke without moving, making no effort to +veil his weariness from her. + +"What is it, dear?" she said. + +"I am very anxious about Dinah." He spoke the words deliberately; his +face remained absolutely still and expressionless. + +"Anxious, Stumpy!" Isabel echoed the word quickly, almost as though it +gave her relief to speak. "Oh, so am I--terribly anxious. She is so +young, so utterly unprepared for marriage. I believe she is frightened to +death when she lets herself stop to think." + +"I blame myself," Scott said heavily. + +"My dear, why?" Isabel's hand sought and held his. "How could you be to +blame?" + +"I forced it on," he said. "I--in a way--compelled Eustace to propose. He +wasn't serious till then. I made him serious." + +"Oh, Stumpy, you!" Incredulity and reproach mingled in Isabel's tone. + +She would have withdrawn her hand, but his fingers closed upon it. "I +made a mistake," he said, with dreary conviction, "a great mistake, +though God knows I meant well; and now it is out of my power to set it +right. I thought her heart was involved. I know now it was not. It's hard +on him too in a way, because he is very much in earnest now, whatever he +was before. I was a fool--I was a fool--not to let things take their +course. She would have suffered, but it would have been soon over. +Whereas now--" He stopped himself abruptly. "It's no good talking. +There's nothing to be done. He may--after marriage--break her in to +loving him, but if he does--if he does--" his hand clenched with sudden +force upon Isabel's--"it won't be Dinah any more," he said. "It'll +be--another woman; one who is satisfied with--a very little." + +His hand relaxed as suddenly as it had closed. He lay still with a face +like marble. + +Isabel sat motionless by his side for several seconds. She was gazing +straight before her with eyes that seemed to read the future. + +"How did you compel him to propose?" she asked presently. + +He shrugged his narrow shoulders slightly. "I can do these things, +Isabel, if I try. But I wish I'd killed myself now before I interfered. +As I tell you, I was a fool--a fool." + +He ceased to speak and sat in the silence of a great despair. + +Isabel said nought to comfort him. Her tragic eyes still seemed to be +gazing into the future. + +After many minutes Scott turned his head and looked at her. "Isabel, I +wish you would try to keep her with you as much as possible. Tell Eustace +what you have just told me! There is certainly no time to lose if she is +really to be married in three weeks from now!" + +"I suppose he would never consent to put it off," Isabel said slowly. + +"He certainly would not." Scott rose with a restless movement that said +more than words. "He is on fire for her. Can't you see it? There is +nothing to be done unless she herself wishes to be released. And I don't +think that is very likely to happen." + +"He would never give her up," Isabel said with conviction. + +"If she desired it, he would," Scott's reply held an even more absolute +finality. + +Isabel looked at him for a moment; then: "Yes, but the poor little thing +would never dare," she said. "Besides--besides--there is the glamour of +it all." + +"Yes, there is the glamour." Scott spoke with a kind of grim compassion. +"The glamour may carry her through. If so, then--possibly--it may soften +life for her afterwards. It may even turn into romance. Who knows? +But--in any case--there will probably be--compensations." + +"Ah!" Isabel said. A wonderful light shone for a moment in her eyes and +died; she turned her face aside. "Compensations don't come to everyone, +Stumpy," she said. "What if the glamour fades and they don't come to take +its place?" + +Scott was standing before the fire, his eyes fixed upon its red depths. +His shoulders were still bent, as though they bore a burden well-nigh +overwhelming. An odd little spasm went over his face at her words. + +"Then--God help my Dinah!" he said almost under his breath. + +In the silence that followed the words, Isabel rose impulsively, came to +him, and slipped her hand through his arm. + +She neither looked at him nor spoke, and in silence the matter passed. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOURS OF DARKNESS + + +Dinah could not sleep that night. For the first time in all her healthy +young life she lay awake with grim care for a bed-fellow. When in trouble +she had always wept herself to sleep before, but to-night she did not +weep. She lay wide-eyed, feeling hot and cold by turns as the memory of +her lover's devouring passion and Biddy's sinister words alternated in +her brain. What was the warning that Biddy had meant to convey? And +how--oh, how--would she ever face the morrow and its fierce, prolonged +courtship, from the bare thought of which every fibre of her being shrank +in shamed dismay? + +"There won't be any of me left by night," she told herself, as she sought +to cool her burning face against the pillow. "Oh, I wish he didn't love +me quite so terribly." + +It was no good attempting to bridle wish or fears. They were far too +insistent. She was immured in the very dungeons of Doubting Castle, and +no star shone in her darkness. + +Towards morning her restlessness became unendurable. She arose and +tremblingly paced the room, sick with a nameless apprehension that seemed +to deprive her alike of the strength to walk or to be still. + +Her whole body was in a fever as though it had been scourged with thongs; +in fact, she still seemed to feel the scourge, goading her on. + +To and fro, to and fro, she wandered, scarcely knowing what she wanted, +only urged by that unbearable restlessness that gave her no respite. Of +the future ahead of her she did not definitely think. Her marriage still +seemed too intangible a matter for serious contemplation. She still in +her child's heart believed that marriage would make a difference. He +would not make such ardent love to her when they were married. They would +both have so many other things to think about. It was the present that so +weighed upon her, her lover's almost appalling intensity of worship and +her own utter inadequacy and futility. + +Again, as often before, the question arose within her, How would Rose +have met the situation? Would she have been dismayed? Would she have +shrunk from those fiery kisses? Or could she--could she possibly--have +remained calm and complacent and dignified in the midst of those surging +tempests of love? But yet again she failed completely to picture Rose so +mastered, so possessed, by any man; Rose the queen whom all men +worshipped with reverence from afar. She wondered again how Sir Eustace +had managed to elude the subtle charm she cast upon all about her. He had +actually declared that her perfection bored him. It was evident that she +left him cold. Dinah marvelled at the fact, so certain was she that had +he humbled himself to ask for Rose's favour it would have been instantly +and graciously accorded to him. + +It would have saved a lot of trouble if he had fallen in love with Rose, +she reflected; and then the old thrill of triumph went through her, +temporarily buoying her up. She had been preferred to Rose. She had +beaten Rose on her own ground, she the little, insignificant adjunct of +the de Vigne party! She was glad--oh, she was very glad!--that Rose was +to have so close a view of her final conquest. + +She began to take comfort in the thought of her approaching wedding and +all its attendant glories, picturing every detail with girlish zest. To +be the queen of such a brilliant ceremony as that! To be received into +the County as one entering a new world! To belong to that Society from +which her mother had been excluded! To be in short--her ladyship. + +A new excitement began to urge Dinah. She picked up a towel and draped it +about her head and shoulders like a bridal veil. Her mother would have +rated her for such vanity, but for the moment vanity was her only +comfort, and the thought of her mother did not trouble her. This was +how she would look on her wedding-day. There would be a wreath of +orange-blossoms of course; Isabel would see to that. And--yes, Isabel had +said that her bouquet should be composed of lilies-of-the-valley. She +even began to wish it were her wedding morning. + +The glamour spread like a rosy dawning; she forgot the clouds that loomed +immediately ahead. Standing there in her night attire, poised like a +brown wood-nymph on the edge of a pool, she asked herself for the first +time if it were possible that she could have any pretensions to beauty. +It was not in the least likely, of course. Her mother had always railed +at her for the plainness of her looks. Did Eustace--did Scott--think her +plain? She wondered. She wondered. + +A slight sound, the opening of a window, in the room next to hers, made +her start. That was Isabel's room. What was happening? It was three +o'clock in the morning. Could Isabel be ill? + +Very softly she opened her own window and leaned forth. It was one of +those warm spring nights that come in the midst of March gales. There was +a scent of violets on the air. She thought again for a fleeting second of +Scott and their walk through fairyland that morning. And then she heard a +voice, pitched very low but throbbing with an eagerness unutterable, and +at once her thoughts were centred upon Isabel. + +"Did you call me, my beloved? I am waiting! I am waiting!" said the +voice. + +It went forth into the sighing darkness of the night, and Dinah held her +breath to listen, almost as if she expected to hear an answer. + +There fell a long, long silence, and then there came a sound that struck +straight to her warm heart. It seemed to her that Isabel was weeping. + +She left her window with the impetuosity of one actuated by an impulse +irresistible; she crossed her own room, and slipped out into the dark +passage just as she was. A moment or two she fumbled feeling her way; and +then her hand found Isabel's door. Softly she turned the handle, opened, +and peeped in. + +Isabel was on her knees by the low window-sill. Her head with its crown +of silver hair was bowed upon her arm and they rested upon the bundle of +letters which Dinah had seen on the very first night that she had seen +Isabel. Old Biddy hovered shadow-like in the background. She made a sign +to Dinah as she entered, but Dinah was too intent upon her friend to +notice. + +Fleet-footed she drew near, and as she approached a long bitter sigh +broke from Isabel and, following it, low-toned entreaties that pierced +her anew with the utter abandonment of their supplication. + +"Oh God," she prayed brokenly. "I am so tired--so tired--of waiting. Open +the door for me! Let me out of my prison! Let me find my beloved in the +dawning--in the dawning!" + +Her voice sank, went into piteous sobbing. She crouched lower in the +depth of her woe. + +Dinah stooped over her with a little crooning murmur of pity, and +gathered her close in her arms. + +Isabel gave a great start. "Child!" she said, and then she clasped Dinah +to her, leaning her face against her bosom. + +Dinah was crying softly, but she saw that Isabel had no tears. That +sobbing came from her broken heart, but it brought no relief. The dark +eyes burned with a misery that found no vent, save possibly in the +passionate holding of her arms. + +"My darling," she whispered presently, "did I wake you?" + +"No, dearest, no!" Dinah was tenderly caressing the snowy hair; she spoke +with an almost motherly fondness. "I happened to be awake, and I heard +you at the window." + +"Why were you awake, darling? Aren't you happy?" + +Quick anxiety was in the words. Dinah flushed with a sense of guilt. + +"Of course I am happy," she made answer. "What more could I have to wish +for? But, Isabel, you--you!" + +"Ah, never mind me!" Isabel said. She rose with the movement of one who +would shield another from harm. "You ought to be in bed, sweetheart. +Shall I come and tuck you up?" + +"Come and finish the night with me!" whispered Dinah. "We shall both be +happy then." + +She scarcely expected that Isabel would accede to her desire, but it +seemed that Isabel could refuse her nothing. She turned, holding Dinah +closely to her. + +"My good angel!" she murmured tenderly. "What should I do without you? It +is always you who come to lift me out of my inferno." + +She left the letters forgotten on the window-sill. By the simple +outpouring of her love, Dinah had drawn her out of her place of torment; +and she led her now, leaning heavily upon her, through the passage to her +own room. + +Biddy crept after them like a wise old cat alert for danger. "She'll +sleep now, Miss Dinah darlint," she murmured. "Ye won't be anxious at +all, at all? It's meself that'll be within call." + +"No, no! Go to your own room and sleep, Biddy!" Isabel said. "We are both +going to do the same." + +She sank into the great double bed that Dinah had found almost alarmingly +capacious, with a sigh of exhaustion, and Dinah slipped in beside her. +They clasped each other, each with a separate sense of comfort. + +Biddy tucked up first one side, then the other, with a whispered blessing +for each. + +"Ah, the poor lambs!" she murmured, as she went away. + +But Isabel's voice had reassured her; she did not linger even outside the +door. + +Mumbling still below her breath her inarticulate benisons, Biddy passed +through her mistress's room into her own. She was very tired, for she had +been watching without intermission for nearly five hours. She almost +dropped on to her bed and lay as she fell, deeply sleeping. + +The letters on the window-sill were forgotten for the rest of that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE NET + + +When Dinah met her lover in the morning she found him in a surprisingly +indulgent mood. The day was showery, and he announced his intention of +accompanying them in the car up to town. + +"An excellent opportunity for selecting the wedding-ring," he told her +lightly. "You will like that better than a picnic." + +And Dinah in her relief admitted that this was the case. + +Up to the last moment she hoped that Scott would accompany them also, but +when she came down dressed for the expedition she found that he had gone +to the library to write letters. She pursued him thither, but he would +not be persuaded to leave his work. + +"Besides, I should only be in the way," he said. And when she vehemently +negatived this, he smiled and fell back upon the plea that he was busy. + +Just at the last she tried to murmur a word of thanks to him for +intervening on her behalf to induce Eustace to abandon the picnic, but he +gently checked her. + +"Oh, please don't thank me!" he said. "I am not a very good meddler, I +assure you. I hope you are going to have a good day. Take care of +Isabel!" + +Dinah would have lingered to tell him of the night's happening, but Sir +Eustace called her and with a smile of farewell she hastened away. + +She enjoyed that day with a zest that banished all misgivings. Sir +Eustace insisted upon the purchase of the ring at the outset, and then +she and Isabel went their way alone, and shopped in a fashion that raised +Dinah's spirits to giddy heights. She had never seen or imagined such +exquisite things as Isabel ordered on her behalf. The hours slipped away +in one long dream of delight. Sir Eustace had desired them to join him at +luncheon, but Isabel had gravely refused. There would not be time, she +said. They would meet for tea. And somewhat to Dinah's surprise he had +yielded the point. + +They met for tea in a Bond Street restaurant and here Sir Eustace took +away his _fiancée's_ breath by presenting her with a pearl necklace to +wear at her wedding. + +She was almost too overwhelmed by the gift to thank him. "Oh, it's too +good--it's too good!" she said, awestruck by its splendour. + +"Nothing is too good for my wife," he said in his imperial fashion. + +Isabel smiled the smile that never reached her shadowed eyes. "A chain of +pearls to bind a bride!" she said. + +And the thought flashed upon Dinah that there was truth in her words. +Whether with intention or not, by every gift he gave her he bound her the +more closely to him. An odd little sensation of dismay accompanied it, +but she put it resolutely from her. Bound or not, what did it +matter--since she had no desire to escape? + +She thanked him again very earnestly that night in the conservatory, and +he pressed her to him and kissed the neck on which his pearls rested with +the hot lips of a thirsty man. But he had himself under control, and when +she sought to draw herself away he let her go. She wondered at his +forbearance and was mutely grateful for it. + +At Isabel's suggestion she went up to her room early. She was certainly +weary, but she was radiantly happy. It had been a wonderful day. The +beauty of the pearls dazzled her. She kissed them ere she laid them out +of sight. He was good to her. He was much too good. + +There came a knock at the door just as she was getting into bed, and +Biddy came softly in, her brown face full of mystery and, Dinah saw at a +glance, of anxiety also. + +She put up a warning finger as she advanced. "Whisht, Miss Dinah darlint! +For the love of heaven, don't ye make a noise! I just came in to ask ye a +question, for it's worried to death I am." + +"Why what's the matter, Biddy?" Dinah questioned in surprise. + +"And ye may well ask, Miss Dinah dear!" Tragedy made itself heard in +Biddy's rejoinder. "Sure it's them letters of Miss Isabel's that's +disappeared entirely, and left no trace. And what'll I do at all when she +comes to ask for them? It's not meself that'll dare to tell her as +they've gone, and she setting such store by them. She'll go clean out of +her mind, Miss Dinah, for sure, they've been her only comfort, poor lamb, +these seven years." + +"But, Biddy!" Impulsively Dinah broke in upon her, her eyes round with +surprise and consternation. "They can't be--gone! They must be somewhere! +Have you hunted for them? She left them on the window-sill, didn't she? +They must have got put away." + +"That they have not!" declared Biddy solemnly. "It's my belief that the +old gentleman himself must have spirited them away. The window was left +open, ye know, Miss Dinah, and it was a dark night." + +"Oh, Biddy, nonsense, nonsense! One of the servants must have moved them +when she was doing the room. Have you asked everyone?" + +"That couldn't have happened, Miss Dinah dear." Unshakable conviction was +in Biddy's voice. "I got up late, and I had to get Miss Isabel up in a +hurry to go off in the motor. But I missed the letters directly after she +was gone, and I hadn't left the room--except to call her. No one had been +in--not unless they slipped in in those few minutes while me back was +turned. And for what should anyone take such a thing as them letters, +Miss Dinah? There are no thieves in the house. And them love-letters were +worth nothing to nobody saving to Miss Isabel, and they were the very +breath of life to her when the black mood was on her. Whatever she'll +say--whatever she'll do--I don't dare to think." + +Poor Biddy flourished her apron as though she would throw it over her +head. Her parchment face was working painfully. + +Dinah sat on the edge of her bed and watched her, not knowing what to +say. + +"Where is Miss Isabel?" she asked at last. + +"She's still downstairs with Master Scott, and I'm expecting her up every +minute. It's herself that ought to be in bed by now, for she's tired out +after her long day; but he'll be bringing her up directly and then she'll +ask for her love-letters. There's never a night goes by but what she +kisses them before she lies down. When ye were ill, Miss Dinah dear, +she'd forget sometimes, but ever since she's been alone again she's never +missed, not once." + +"Have you told Master Scott?" asked Dinah. + +Biddy shook her head. "Would I add to his burdens, poor young gentleman? +He'll know soon enough." + +"And are you sure you've looked everywhere--everywhere?" insisted Dinah. +"If no one has taken them--" + +"Miss Dinah, I've turned the whole room upside down and shaken it," +declared Biddy. "I'll take my dying oath that them letters have gone." + +"Could they--could they possibly have fallen out of the window?" hazarded +Dinah. + +"Miss Dinah dear, no!" A hint of impatience born of her distress was +perceptible in the old woman's tone; she turned to the door. "Well, well, +it's no good talking. Don't ye fret yourself! What must be, will be." + +"But I think Scott ought to know," said Dinah. + +"No, no, Miss Dinah! We'll not tell him before we need. He's got his own +troubles. But I wonder--I wonder--" Biddy paused with the door-handle in +her bony old fingers--"how would it be now," she said slowly, "if ye was +to get Miss Isabel to sleep with ye again? She forgot last night. It's +likely she may forget again--unless he calls her." + +"Biddy!" exclaimed Dinah, startled. + +Biddy's beady eyes gleamed mysteriously. "Arrah, but it's the truth I'm +telling ye, Miss Dinah. He does call her. I've known him call her when +she's been lying in a deep sleep, and she'll rise up with her arms +stretched out and that look in her eyes!" Biddy's face crumpled +momentarily, but was swiftly straightened again. "Will ye do it then, +Miss Dinah? Ye needn't be afraid. I'll be within call. But when she's got +you, she don't seem to be craving for anyone else. What was it she called +ye only last night? Her good angel! And so ye be, me jewel; so ye be!" + +Dinah stood debating the matter. Biddy's expedient was of too temporary +an order to recommend itself to her. She wondered why Scott should not be +consulted, and it was with some vague intention of laying the matter +before him if an opportunity should occur that she finally gave her +somewhat hesitating consent. + +"I will do it of course, Biddy. I love her to sleep with me. But, you +know, it is bound to come out some time, unless you manage to find the +letters again. They must be somewhere." + +Biddy shook her head. "We must just leave that to the Almighty, Miss +Dinah dear," she said piously. "There's nothing else we can do at all. +I'll get back to her room now, and when she comes up, I'll tell her ye're +feeling lonely, and will she please to sleep with ye again. She won't +think of anything else then ye may be sure. Why, she worships the very +ground under your feet, mavourneen, like--like someone else I know." + +She was gone with the words, leaving upon Dinah a dim impression that her +last words were intended to convey something which she would have +translated into simpler language had she been at liberty to do so. + +She did not pay much attention to them. She was too troubled over her +former revelation to think seriously of anything else. Into her mind, +all unbidden, had flashed a sudden memory, and it held her like a +nightmare-vision. She saw Sir Eustace with that imperious frown on his +face holding out Isabel's treasure with a curt, "Take this thing away!" +She saw herself leap up and seize it from his intolerant grasp. She saw +Isabel's outstretched, pleading hands, and the piteous hunger in her +eyes.... + +When Isabel came to her that night, her face was all softened with +mother-love. She drew Dinah to her breast, kissing her very tenderly. + +"Did you want me to come and take care of you, my darling?" + +Dinah's heart smote her for the deception, but she answered bravely +enough, "Oh, Isabel, yes, yes! You are so good to me, I want you always." + +"Dear heart!" Isabel said, with a sigh, and folded her closer as though +she would guard her against all the world. + +She was the first to fall asleep notwithstanding, while Dinah lay +motionless and troubled far into the night. She wished that Biddy would +give her permission to tell Scott, for without that permission such a +step seemed like a betrayal of confidence. But for some reason Biddy +evidently thought that Scott had enough on his shoulders just then. And +so it seemed, she could only wait--only wait. + +She did not want to burden Scott unduly either, and there was something +about him just now, something of a repressing nature, that held her back +from confiding in him too freely. He seemed to have raised a barrier +between them since their return to England which no intimacy ever quite +succeeded in scaling. Full of brotherly kindness though he was, the old +frank fellowship was gone. It was as though he had realized her +dependence upon him, and were trying with the utmost gentleness to make +her stand alone. + +Dinah slept at last from sheer weariness, and forgot her troubles. She +must not tell Scott, she could not tell Eustace, and so there was no +other course but silence. But the anxiety of it weighed upon her even +through her slumber. Life was far more interesting than of yore. But +never, never before had it been so full of doubts and fears. The +complexity of it all was like an endless net, enmeshing her however +warily she stepped. + +And always, and always, at the back of her mind there lurked the dread +conviction that one day the net would be drawn close, and she would find +herself a helpless prisoner in the grip of a giant. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DIVINE SPARK + + +With the morning Dinah found her anxieties less oppressive. Isabel was +becoming so much more like herself that she was able to put the matter +from her and in a measure forget it. Like Biddy, she began to hope that +by postponing the evil hour they might possibly evade it altogether. For +there was nothing abnormal about Isabel during that day or those that +succeeded it. The time passed quickly. There was much to be done, much +to be discussed and decided, and their thoughts were fully occupied. +Dinah felt as one whirled in a torrent. She could not think of the great +undercurrent. She could deal only with the things on the surface. + +How that week sped away she never afterwards fully recalled. It passed +like a fevered dream. Two more journeys to town with Isabel, the ordeal +of a dinner at the house of a neighbouring magnate, a much less +formidable tea at the Vicarage, on which occasion Mr. Grey drew her aside +and thanked her for using her influence over Sir Eustace in the right +direction and earnestly exhorted her to maintain and develop it as far as +possible when she was married, a few riding-lessons with Scott who always +seemed so much more imposing in the saddle than out of it and knew so +exactly how to instruct her, a few wild races in Sir Eustace's car from +which she always returned in a state of almost delirious exultation, and +then night after night the sleep of utter weariness, with Isabel lying by +her side. + +The last night came upon her almost with a sense of shock. It had become +a custom for her to sit in the conservatory with Sir Eustace after +dinner, and here with the lights turned low he was wont to pour out to +her all the fiery worship which throughout the day he curbed. No one ever +disturbed them, but they were close to Isabel's sitting-room where Scott +was wont to sit and read while his sister lay on her couch resting and +listening. The murmur of his voice was audible to Dinah, and the +knowledge of his close proximity gave her a courage which surely had not +been hers otherwise. She was learning how to receive her lover's +demonstrations without starting away in affright. If he ever startled +her, the sound of Scott's voice in the adjoining room would always +reassure her. She knew that Scott was at hand and would never fail her. + +But on that last night Sir Eustace was more ardent than she had ever +known him. He seemed to be almost fiercely resentful of the coming +separation, brief though it was to be, and he would not suffer her out of +reach of his hand. + +Wedding presents had begun to arrive, and in some fashion they seemed to +increase his impatience. + +"I can't think what we are waiting for," he said, with his arm about her, +drawing her close. "All this pomp and circumstance is nothing but a +hindrance. It's you I want, not your wedding finery. You had better be +married first and get the finery afterwards, as it isn't to be in town." + +"Oh, but I want a big wedding," protested Dinah. "It's going to be such +fun." + +He laughed, holding her pointed chin between his finger and thumb. "I +believe that's all you care about, you little heartless witch. I don't +count at all. You'd have enjoyed this week every bit as well if I hadn't +been here." + +She winced a little at his words, for somehow they went home. "There +hasn't been much time for anything, has there?" she said. "But--but I've +enjoyed the motor rides, and--and I ought to thank you for being so very +good to me." + +He kissed the quivering lips, and she slipped a shy arm round his neck +with the feeling that she owed it to him. But she did not return his +kisses, for she was afraid to feed the flame that already leapt so high. + +"You've nothing to thank me for," he said presently, when she turned her +face at last abashed into his shoulder. "I may be giving more than you at +this stage, but it won't be so later. You shall have the opportunity of +paying me back in full. How does that appeal to you, Daphne the demure? +Are you going to be a good little wife to me?" + +"I'll try," she whispered. + +"And give me all I ask--always?" + +"I'll try," she whispered again more faintly, conscious of that +terrifying sense of being so merged into his overwhelming personality +that the very breath she drew seemed not her own. + +He lifted her into his arms, holding her hard pressed against the +throbbing of his heart. "You wisp of thistledown!" he said. "You feather! +How have you managed to set me on fire like this? I think of nothing but +you--the fairy wonder of you--day and night. If you were to slip out of +my reach now, I believe I should follow and kill you." + +Dinah lay across his breast in palpitating submission to his will. She +could hear his heart beating like a rising tempest, and the force of his +passion overcame her like a tornado. His kisses were like the flames of a +fiery furnace. She felt stifled, shattered by his violence. But in the +room beyond she still heard that steady voice reading aloud, and it kept +her from panic. She knew that she had only to raise her own voice, and he +would be with her,--Greatheart of the golden armour, strong and fearless +in her defence. + +Sir Eustace heard that quiet voice also, as one hears the warning of +conscience. He slackened his hold upon her, with a quivering, half-shamed +laugh. + +"Only another fortnight," he said, "and I shall have you to myself--all +day and all night too." He looked at her with sudden critical attention. +"You had better go to bed, child. You look like a little tired ghost." + +She did not feel like a ghost, for she was burning from head to foot. But +as she slipped from his arms the ground seemed to be rocking all around +her. She stretched out her hands blindly, gasping, feeling for support. + +He was up in a moment, holding her. "What is it? Aren't you well?" + +She sank against him for she could not stand. He held her with a +tenderness that was new to her. + +"My darling, have I tired you out? What a thoughtless brute I am!" + +It was the first time she had ever heard a word of self-reproach upon his +lips; the first time, though she knew it not, that actual love inspired +him, entering as it were through that breach in the wall of overbearing +pride that girt him round. + +She leaned against him with more confidence than she had ever before +known, dizzy still, and conscious of a rush of tears behind her closed +lids. For that sudden compunction of his hurt her oddly. She did not know +how to meet it. + +He bent over her. "Getting better, little sweetheart? Oh, don't cry! What +happened? Did I hurt you--frighten you?" + +He was stroking her hair soothingly, persuasively, his dark face so close +to hers that when she opened her eyes they looked up straight into his. +But she saw nought to frighten her there, and after a moment she reached +up and kissed him apologetically. + +"I'm only silly--only silly," she murmured confusedly. "Good night--good +night--Apollo!" + +And with the words she stood up, summoning her strength, smiled upon him, +and slipped free from his encircling arm. + +He did not seek to detain her. She flitted from his presence like a +fluttering white moth, and he was left alone. He stood quite motionless +in the semi-darkness, breathing deeply, his clenched hands pressed +against his sides. + +That moment had been a revelation to him also. He was abruptly conscious +of the spirit so dominating the body that the fierce, ungoverned heart of +him drew back ashamed as a beast will shrink from the flare of a torch, +and he felt strangely conquered, almost cowed, as though an angel with a +flaming sword had suddenly intervened between him and his desire. + +The madness of his passion was yet beating in his veins, but this--this +was another and a stronger element before which all else became +contemptible. The soul of the man had sprung from sleep like an awaking +giant. Half in wonder and half in awe, he watched the kindling of the +Divine Spark that outshineth every earthly fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BROKEN HEART + + +The return home was to Dinah like a sudden plunge into icy depths after a +brief sojourn in the tropics. The change of atmosphere was such that she +seemed actually to feel it in her bones, and her whole being, physical +and mental contracted in consequence. Her mother treated her with all her +customary harshness, and Dinah, grown sensitive by reason of much +petting, shrank almost with horror whenever she came in contact with the +iron will that had subjugated her from babyhood. + +Before the first week was over, she was counting the days to her +deliverance; but of this fact she hinted nothing in her letters to her +lover. These were carefully worded, demure little epistles that gave him +not the smallest inkling of her state of mind. She was far too much +afraid of him to betray that. + +Had she been writing to Scott she could scarcely have repressed it. In +one letter to Isabel indeed something of her yearning for the vanished +sunshine leaked out; but very strangely Isabel did not respond to the +pathetic little confidence, and Dinah did not venture to repeat it. +Perhaps Isabel was shocked. + +The last week came, and with it the arrival of wedding-presents from her +father and friends that lifted Dinah out of her depression and even +softened her mother into occasional good-humour. Preparations for the +wedding began in earnest. Billy, released somewhat before the holidays +for the occasion, returned home, and everything took a more cheerful +aspect. + +Dinah could not feel that her mother's attitude towards herself had +materially altered. It was sullen and threatening at times, almost as if +she resented her daughter's good fortune, and she lived in continual +dread of an outbreak of the cruel temper that had so embittered her home +life. But Billy's presence made a difference even to that. His influence +was entirely wholesome, and he feared no one. + +"Why don't you stand up to her?" he said to his sister on one occasion +when he found her weeping after an overwhelming brow-beating over some +failure in the kitchen. "She'd think something of you then." + +Dinah had no answer. She could not convince him that her spirit had been +broken for such encounters long ago. Billy had never been tied up to a +bed-post and whipped till limp with exhaustion, but such treatment had +been her portion more times than she could number. + +But every hour brought her deliverance nearer, and so far she had managed +to avoid physical violence though the dread of it always menaced her. + +"Why does she hate me so?" Over and over again she asked herself the +question, but she never found any answer thereto; and she was fain to +believe her father's easy-going verdict: "There's no accounting for your +mother's tantrums; they've got to be visited on somebody." + +She wondered what would happen when she was no longer at hand to act as +scapegoat, and yet it seemed to her that her mother longed to be rid of +her. + +"I'll get things into good order when you're out of the way," she said +to her on the last evening but one before the wedding-day, the evening +on which the Studleys were to arrive at the Court. "You're just a born +muddler, and you'll never be anything else, Lady Studley or no Lady +Studley. Get along upstairs and dress yourself for your precious +dinner-party, or your father will be ready first! Oh, it'll be a good +thing when it's all over and done with, but if you think you'll ever get +treated as a grand lady here, you're very much mistaken. Home broth is +all you'll ever get from me, so you needn't expect anything different. +If you don't like it, you can stop away." + +Dinah escaped from the rating tongue as swiftly as she dared. She knew +that her mother had been asked to dine at the Court also--for the first +time in her life--and had tersely refused. She wasn't going to be +condescended to by anybody, she had told her husband in Dinah's hearing, +and he had merely shrugged his shoulders and advised her to please +herself. + +Billy had not been asked, somewhat to his disgust; but he looked forward +to seeing Scott again in the morning and ordered Dinah to ask him to +lunch with them. + +So finally Dinah and her father set forth alone in one of the motors from +the Court to attend the gathering of County magnates that the de Vignes +had summoned in honour of Sir Eustace Studley and his chosen bride. + +She wore one of her trousseau gowns for the occasion, a pale green +gossamer-like garment that made her look more nymph-like than ever. Her +mother had surveyed it with narrowed eyes and a bitter sneer. + +"Ok yes, you'll pass for one of the quality," she had said. "No one would +take you for a child of mine any way." + +"That's no fault of the child's, Lydia," her father had rejoined +good-humouredly, and in the car he had taken her little cold hand into +his and asked her kindly enough if she were happy. + +She answered him tremulously in the affirmative, the dread of her mother +still so strong upon her that she could think of nothing but the relief +of escape. And then before she had time to prepare herself in any way for +the sudden transition she found herself back in that tropical, brilliant +atmosphere in which thenceforth she was to move and have her being. + +She could not feel that she would ever shine there. There were so many +bright lights, and though her father was instantly and completely at home +she felt dazzled and strange, till all-unexpectedly someone came to her +through the great lamp-lit hall, haltingly yet with purpose, and held her +hand and asked her how she was. + +The quiet grasp steadied her, and in a moment she was radiantly happy, +all her troubles and anxieties swept from her path. "Oh, Scott!" she +said, and her eyes beamed upon him the greeting her lips somehow refused +to utter. + +He was laughing a little; his look was quizzical. "I have been on the +look-out for you," he told her. "It's the best man's privilege, isn't it? +Won't you introduce me to your father?" + +She did so, and then Rose glided forward, exquisite in maize satin and +pearls, and smilingly detached her from the two men and led her upstairs. + +"We are to have a little informal dance presently," she said. "Did I tell +you in my note? No? Oh, well, no doubt it will be a pleasant little +surprise for you. How very charming you are looking, my dear! I didn't +know you had it in you. Did you choose that pretty frock yourself?" + +Dinah, with something of her mother's bluntness of speech, explained that +the creation in question had been Isabel's choice, and Rose smiled as one +who fully understood the situation. + +"She has been very good to you, poor soul, has she not?" she said. "She +is not coming down to-night. The journey has fatigued her terribly. That +funny, old-fashioned nurse of hers has asked very particularly that she +may not be disturbed, except to see you for a few minutes later." + +"Is she worse?" asked Dinah, startled. + +Whereat Rose shook her dainty head. "Has she ever been better? No, poor +thing, I am afraid her days are numbered, nor could one in kindness wish +it otherwise. Still, I mustn't sadden you, dear. You have got to look +your very best to-night, or Sir Eustace will be disappointed. There are +quite a lot of pretty girls coming, and you know what he is." Rose +uttered a little self-conscious laugh. "Put on a tinge of colour, dear!" +she said, as Dinah stood before the mirror in her room. "You look such a +little brown thing; just a faint glow on your cheeks would be such an +improvement." + +"No, thank you," said Dinah, and flushed suddenly and hotly at the +thought of what she had once endured at her mother's hands for daring to +pencil the shadows under her eyes. It had been no more than a girlish +trick--an experiment to pass an idle moment. But it had been treated as +an offence of immeasurable enormity, and she winced still at the memory +of all that that moment's vanity had entailed. + +Rose looked at her appraisingly. "No, perhaps you don't need it after +all, not anyhow when you blush like that. You have quite a pretty blush, +Dinah, and you are wise to make the most of it. Are you ready, dear? Then +we will go down." + +She rustled forth with Dinah beside her, shedding a soft fragrance of +some Indian scent as she moved that somehow filled Dinah with +indignation, like a resentful butterfly in search of more wholesome +delights. + +Eustace was in the hall when they descended. He came forward to meet his +_fiancée_, and her heart throbbed fast and hard at the sight of him. But +his manner was so strictly casual and impersonal that her agitation +speedily passed, and by the time they were seated side by side at +dinner--for the last time in their lives, as the Colonel jocosely +remarked--she could not feel that she had ever been anything nearer to +him than a passing acquaintance. + +She was shy and very quiet. The hubbub of voices, the brilliance of it +all, overwhelmed her. If Scott had been on her other side, she would have +been much happier, but he was far away making courteous conversation for +the benefit of a deaf old lady whom no one else made the smallest effort +to entertain. + +Suddenly Sir Eustace disengaged himself from the general talk and turned +to her. "Dinah!" he said. + +Her heart leapt again. She glanced at him and caught the gleam of the +hunter in those rapier-bright eyes of his. + +He leaned slightly towards her, his smile like a shining cloak, hiding +his soul. "Daphne," he said, and his voice came to her subtle, caressing, +commanding, through the gay tumult all about them, "there is going to be +dancing presently. Did you hear?" + +"Yes," she whispered with lowered eyes. + +"You will dance with only one to-night," he said. "That is understood, is +it?" + +"Yes," she whispered again. + +"Good!" he said. And then imperiously, "Why don't you drink some wine?" + +She made a slight, startled movement. "I never do, I don't like it." + +"You need it," he said, and made a curt sign to one of the servants. + +Wine was poured into her glass, and she drank submissively. The +discipline of the past two weeks had made her wholly docile. And the wine +warmed and cheered her in a fashion that made her think that perhaps he +was right and she had needed it. + +When the dinner came to an end she was feeling far less scared and +strange. Guests were beginning to assemble for the dance, and as they +passed out people whom she knew by sight but to whom she had never spoken +came up and talked with her as though they were old friends. Several men +asked her to dance, but she steadily refused them all. Her turn would +come later. + +"I am going up to see Mrs. Everard," was her excuse. "She is expecting +me." + +And then Scott came, and she turned to him with eager welcome. "Oh, +please, will you take me to see Isabel?" + +He gave her a straight, intent look, and led her out of the throng. + +His hand rested upon her arm as they mounted the stairs and she thought +he moved with deliberate slowness. At the top he spoke. + +"Dinah, before you see her I ought to prepare you for a change. She has +been losing ground lately. She is not--what she was." + +Dinah stopped short. "Oh, Scott!" She said in breathless dismay. + +His hand pressed upon her, but it seemed to be imparting strength rather +than seeking it. "I think I told you that day at the Dower House that she +was nearing the end of her journey. I don't want to sadden you. You +mustn't be sad. But you couldn't see her without knowing. It won't be +quite yet; but it will be--soon." + +He spoke with the utmost quietness; his face never varied. His eyes with +their steady comradeship looked straight into hers, stilling her +distress. + +"She is so tired," he said gently. "I don't think it ought to grieve us +that her rest is drawing near at last. She has so longed for it, poor +girl." + +"Oh, Scott!" Dinah said again, but she said it this time without +consternation. His steadfast strength had given her confidence. + +"Shall we go to her?" he said. "At least, I think it would be better if +you went alone. She is quite determined that nothing shall interfere with +your coming happiness, so you mustn't let her think you shocked or +grieved. I thought it best to prepare you, that's all." + +He led her gravely along the passage, and presently stopped outside a +closed door. He knocked three times as of old, and Dinah stood waiting as +one on the threshold of a holy place. + +The door, was opened by Biddy, and he pressed her forward. "Don't stay +long!" he said. "She is very tired to-night, and Eustace will be wanting +you." + +She squeezed his hand in answer and passed within. + +Biddy's wrinkled brown face smiled a brief welcome under its snowy cap. +She motioned her to approach. "Ye'll not stay long, Miss Dinah dear," she +whispered. "The poor lamb's very tired to-night." + +Dinah went forward. + +The window was wide open, and the rush of the west wind filled the room. +Isabel was lying in bed with her face to the night, wide-eyed, intent, +still as death. + +Noiselessly Dinah drew near. There was something in the atmosphere--a +ghostly, hovering presence--that awed her. In the sound of that racing +wind she seemed to hear the beat of mighty wings. + +She uttered no word, she was almost afraid to speak. But when she reached +the bed, when she bent and looked into Isabel's face, she caught her +breath in a gasping cry. For she was shocked--shocked unutterably--by +what she saw. Shrivelled as the face of one who had come through fiery +tortures, ashen-grey, with eyes in which the anguish of the burnt-out +flame still lingered, eyes that were dead to hope, eyes that were open +only to the darkness, such was the face upon which she looked. + +Biddy was by her side in a moment, speaking in a rapid whisper. "Arrah +thin, Miss Dinah darlint, don't ye be scared at all! She'll speak to ye +in a minute, sure. It's only that she's tired to-night. She'll be more +herself like in the morning." + +Dinah hung over the still figure. Biddy's whispering was as the buzzing +of a fly. She heard it with the outer sense alone. + +"Isabel!" she said; and again with a passionate earnestness, +"Isabel--darling--my darling--what has happened to you?" + +At the sound of that pleading voice Isabel moved, seeming as it were to +return slowly from afar. + +"Why, Dinah dear!" she said. + +Her dark eyes smiled up at her in welcome, but it was a smile that cut +her to the heart with its aloofness, its total lack of gladness. + +Dinah stooped to kiss her. "Are you so tired, dearest? Perhaps I had +better go away." + +But Isabel put up a trembling, skeleton hand and detained her. "No, dear, +no! I am not so tired as that. I can't talk much; but I can listen. Sit +down and tell me about yourself!" + +Dinah sat down, but she could think of nothing but the piteous, lined +face upon the pillow and the hopeless suffering of the eyes that looked +forth from it. + +She held Isabel's hand very tightly, though its terrible emaciation +shocked her anew, and so for a time they were silent while Isabel seemed +to drift back again into the limitless spaces out of which Dinah's coming +had for a moment called her. + +It was Biddy who broke the silence at last, laying a gnarled and +quivering hand upon Dinah as she sat. + +"Ye'd better come again in the morning, mavourneen," she said. "She's too +far off to-night to heed ye." + +Dinah started. Her eyes were full of tears as she bent and kissed the +poor, wasted fingers she held, realizing with poignant certainty as she +did it the truth of the old woman's statement. Isabel was too far off to +heed. + +Then, as she rose to go, a strange thing happened. The tender strains of +a waltz, _Simple Aveu_, floated softly in broken snatches in on the west +wind, and again--as one who hears a voice that calls--Isabel came back. +She raised herself suddenly. Her face was alight, transfigured--the face +of a woman on the threshold of Love's sanctuary. + +"Oh, my dearest!" she said, and her voice thrilled as never Dinah had +heard it thrill before. "How I have waited for this! How I have waited!" + +She stretched out her arms in one second of rapture unutterable; and then +almost in the same moment they fell. The youth went out of her, she +crumpled like a withered flower. + +"Biddy!" she said. "Oh, Biddy, tell them to stop! I can't bear it! I +can't bear it!" + +Dinah went to the window and closed it, shutting out the haunting +strains. That waltz meant something to her also, something with which for +the moment she felt she could not cope. + +Turning, she saw that Isabel was clinging convulsively to the old nurse, +and she was crying, crying, crying, as one who has lost all hope. + +"But it's too late to do her any good," mourned Biddy over the bowed +head. "It's the tears of a broken heart." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WRATH OF THE GODS + + +The paroxysm did not last long, and in that fact most poignantly did +Dinah realize the waning strength. + +Dumbly she stood and watched Biddy lay the inanimate figure back upon the +pillows. Isabel had sunk into a state of exhaustion that was almost +torpor. + +"She'll sleep now, dear lamb," said Biddy, and tenderly covered her over +as though she had been a child. + +She turned round to Dinah, looking at her with shrewd darting eyes. "Ye'd +better be getting along to your lover, Miss Dinah," she said. "He'll be +wanting ye to dance with him." + +But Dinah stood her ground with a little shiver. The bare thought of +dancing at that moment made her feel physically sick. "Biddy! Biddy!" she +whispered, "what has happened to make her--like this?" + +"And ye may well ask!" said Biddy darkly. "But it's not for me to tell +ye. Ye'd best run along, Miss Dinah dear, and be happy while ye can." + +"But I'm not happy!" broke from Dinah. "How can I be? Biddy, what has +happened? You must tell me if you can. She wasn't like this a fortnight +ago. She has never been--quite like this--before." + +Biddy pursed her lips. "Sure, we none of us travel the same road twice, +Miss Dinah," she said. + +But Dinah would not be satisfied with so vague an axiom. + +"Something has happened," she said. "Come into the next room and tell me +all about it! Please, Biddy!" + +Biddy glanced at the bed. "She'll not hear ye in here, Miss Dinah," she +said. "And what for should I be telling ye at all? Ye'll be Sir Eustace's +bride in less than forty-eight hours from now, so it's maybe better ye +shouldn't know." + +"I must know," Dinah said, and with the words a great wave of resolution +went through her, uplifting her, inspiring her. "I've got to know," she +said. "Whatever happens, I've got to know." + +Biddy left the bedside and came close to her. "If ye insist, Miss +Dinah--" she said. + +"I do--I do insist." Never in her life before had Dinah spoken with such +authority, but a force within was urging her--a force irresistible; she +spoke as one compelled. + +Biddy came closer still. "Ye'll not tell Master Scott--nor any of 'em--if +I tell ye?" she whispered. + +"No, no; of course--no!" Dinah's voice came breathlessly; she had not the +power to draw back. + +"Ye promise, Miss Dinah?" Biddy could be insistent too; her eyes burned +like live coals. + +"I promise, yes." Dinah held out an impulsive hand. "You can trust me," +she said. + +Biddy's fingers closed claw-like upon it. "Whist now, Miss Dinah!" she +said. "If Sir Eustace was to hear me, sure, he'd wring the neck on me +like as if I was an old fowl. But ye've asked me what's happened, +mavourneen, and sure, I'll tell ye. For it's the pretty young lady that +ye are and a cruel shame that ye should ever belong to the likes of him. +It's his doing, Miss Dinah, every bit of it, and it's the truth I'm +speaking, as the Almighty Himself could tell ye if He'd a mind to. The +poor lamb was fading away aisy like, but he came along and broke her +heart. It was them letters, Miss Dinah. He took 'em. And he burned 'em, +my dear, he burned 'em, and when ye were gone she missed 'em, and then he +told her what he'd done, told her brutal-like that it was time she'd done +with such litter. He said it was all damn' nonsense that she was wasting +her life over 'em and over the dead. Oh, it was wicked, it was cruel. And +she--poor innocent--she locked herself up when he'd gone and cried and +cried and cried till the poor heart of her was broke entirely. She said +she'd lost touch with her darling husband and he'd never come back to her +again." + +"Biddy!" Horror undisguised sounded in Dinah's low voice. "He never did +such a thing as that!" + +"He did that!" A queer species of triumph was apparent in Biddy's +rejoinder; malice twinkled for a second in her eyes. "I've told ye! I've +told ye!" she said. And then, with sharp anxiety. "But ye'll not tell +anyone as ye know, Miss Dinah. Ye promised, now didn't ye? Miss Isabel +wouldn't that any should know--not even Master Scott. He was away when it +happened, dining down at the Vicarage he was. And Miss Isabel she says to +me, 'For the life of ye, don't tell Master Scott! He'd be that angry,' +she says, 'and Sir Eustace would murder him entirely if it came to a +quarrel.' She was that insistent, Miss Dinah, and I knew there was truth +in what she said. Master Scott has the heart of a lion. He never knew the +meaning of fear from his babyhood. And Sir Eustace is a monster of +destruction when once his blood's up. And he minds what Master Scott says +more than anyone. So I promised, Miss Dinah dear, the same as you have. +And so he doesn't know to this day. Sir Eustace, ye see, has been in a +touchy mood all along, ever since ye left. Like gunpowder he's been, and +Master Scott has had a difficult enough time with him; and Miss Isabel +has kept it from him so that he thinks it was just your going again that +made her fret so. There, now ye know all, Miss Dinah dear, and don't ye +for the love of heaven tell a soul what I've told ye! Miss Isabel would +never forgive me if she came to know. Ah, the saints preserve us, what's +that?" + +A brisk tap at the door had made her jump with violence. She went to +parley with a guilty air. + +In a moment or two she shut the door and came back. "It's that flighty +young French hussy, Miss Dinah; her they call Yvonne. She says Sir +Eustace is waiting for ye downstairs." + +A great revulsion of feeling went through Dinah. It shook her like an +overwhelming tempest and passed, leaving her deadly cold. She turned +white to the lips. + +"I can't go to him, Biddy," she said. "I can't dance to-night. Yvonne +must tell him." + +Biddy gave her a searching look. "Ye won't let him find out, Miss Dinah?" +she urged. "Won't he guess now if ye stay up here?" + +The earnest entreaty of the old bright eyes moved her. She turned to the +door. "Oh, very well. I'll go myself and tell him." + +"Ye won't let him suspect, mavourneen--mavourneen?" pleaded Biddy +desperately. + +"No, Biddy, no! Haven't I sworn it a dozen times already?" Dinah had +reached the door; she looked back for a moment and her look was steadfast +notwithstanding the deathly pallor of her face. Then she passed slowly +forth, and heard old Biddy softly turn the key behind her, making +assurance doubly sure. + +Slowly she moved along the passage. It was deserted, but the sound of +laughing voices and the tuning of violins floated up from below. Again +that feeling that was akin to physical sickness assailed Dinah. Down +there he was waiting for her, waiting to be intoxicated into headlong, +devouring passion by her dancing. She seemed to feel his arms already +holding her, straining her to him, so that the warmth of him was as a +fiery atmosphere all about her, encompassing her, possessing her. Her +whole body burned at the thought, and then again was cold--cold as though +she had drunk a draught of poison. She stood still, feeling too sick to +go on. + +And then, while she waited, she heard a step. Her heart seemed to spring +into her throat, throbbing wildly like a caged bird seeking freedom. She +drew back against the wall, trembling from head to foot. + +He came along the passage, magnificent, princely, confident, swinging his +shoulders with that semi-conscious swagger she knew so well. He spied her +where she stood, and she heard his brief, half-mocking laugh as he strode +to her. + +"Ah, Daphne! Hiding as usual!" he said. + +He took her between his hands, and she felt the mastery of him in that +free hold. She stood as a prisoner in his grasp. Her new-found resolution +was gone at the first contact with that overwhelming personality of his. +She hung her head in quivering distress. + +He bent down, bringing his face close to hers. He tried to look into the +eyes that she kept downcast. + +And suddenly he spoke again, softly into her ear. "Why so shy, little +sweetheart? Are you getting frightened now the time is so near?" + +Her breathing quickened at his tone. Possessive though it was, it held +that tender note that was harder to bear than all his fiercest passion. +She could not speak in answer. No words would come. + +He put his arm around her and held her close. "But you mustn't be afraid +of me," he said. "Don't you know I love you? Don't you know I am going to +make you the happiest little woman in the world?" + +Dinah choked down some scalding tears. She longed to escape from the +holding of his arm, and yet her torn spirit felt the comfort of it. She +stood silent, shaken, unnerved, piteously conscious of her utter +weakness--the weakness wrought by that iron discipline that had never +suffered her to have any will of her own. + +He put up a hand and pressed her drooping head against his shoulder. +"There's nothing very dreadful in being married, dear," he told her. "I'm +not such a devouring monster as I may seem. Why, I wouldn't hurt a hair +of your head. They are all precious to me." + +She quivered at his use of the word that Biddy had employed with such +venom only a few minutes before; but still she said nothing. What could +she say? Against this new weapon of his she was more helpless than ever. +She hid her face against him and strove for self-control. + +He kissed her temple and the clustering hair above it. "There now! You +are not going to be a silly little scared fawn any more. Come along and +dance it off!" + +His arm encircled her shoulders; he began to lead her to the stairs. + +And Dinah went, slave-like in her submission, but hating herself the more +for every step she took. + +They went to the ballroom, and presently they danced. But the old subtle +charm was absent. Her feet moved to the rhythm of the music, her body +swayed and pulsed to the behest of his; but her spirit stood apart, +bruised and downcast and very much alone. Her gilded palace had fallen +all about her in ruins. The deliverance to which she had looked forward +so eagerly was but another bondage that would prove more cruel and more +enslaving than the first. She longed with all her quivering heart to run +away and hide. + +He was very kind to her, more considerate than she had ever known him. +Perhaps he missed the fairy abandonment which had so delighted him in her +dancing of old; but he found no fault; and when the dance was over he did +not lead her away to some private corner as she had dreaded, but took her +instead to her father and stood with him for some time in talk. + +She saw Scott in the distance, but he did not approach her while Eustace +was with them, and when her _fiancé_ turned away at length he had +disappeared. + +They were left comparatively alone, and Dinah slipped an urgent hand into +her father's. "I want to go home, Daddy. I'm so tired." + +He looked at her in surprise, but she managed to muster a smile in reply, +and he was not observant enough to note the distress that lay behind it. + +"Had enough of it, eh?" he questioned. "Well, I think you're wise. You'll +be busy to-morrow. By all means, let's go!" + +It was not till the very last moment that she saw Scott again. He came +forward just as she was passing through the hall to the front door. + +He took the hand she held out to him, looking at her with those straight, +steady eyes of his that there was no evading, but he made no comment of +any sort. + +"Mr. Grey is coming by a morning train to-morrow," he said. "May I bring +him to call upon you in the afternoon? I believe he wants to run through +the wedding-service with you beforehand." + +He smiled as he said it, but Dinah could not smile in answer. There was +something ominous to her in that last sentence, something that made her +think of the clanking of chains. She was relieved to hear her father +answer for her. + +"Come by all means! Nothing like a dress rehearsal to make things go +smoothly. I'll tell my wife to expect you." + +Scott's hand relinquished hers, and she felt suddenly cold. She murmured +a barely audible "Good night!" and turned away. + +From the portico she glanced back and saw Sir Eustace leading Rose de +Vigne to the ballroom. The light shone full upon them. They made a +splendid couple. And a sudden bizarre thought smote her. This was what +the gods had willed. This had been the weaving of destiny; and +she--she--had dared to intervene, frustrating, tearing the gilded, +smooth-wrought threads apart. + +Ah well! It was done now. It was too late to draw back. But the wrath of +the gods remained to be faced. Already it was upon her, and there was no +escape. + +As one who hears a voice speaking from a far distance, she heard herself +telling her father that all was well with her and she had spent an +enjoyable evening. + +Then she lay back in the car with clenched hands, and listened trembling +to the thundering wheels of Destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SAPPHIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP + + +No girl ever worked harder in preparation for her own wedding than did +Dinah on the following day. + +That she had scarcely slept all night was a fact that no one suspected. +Work-a-day Dinah, as her father was wont to call her, was not an object +of great solicitude to any in her home-circle, and for the first time in +her life she was thankful that such was the case. + +Her mother's hard gipsy eyes watched only for delinquencies, and her +rating tongue was actually a relief to Dinah after the dread solitude of +those long hours. She was like a prisoner awaiting execution, and even +that harsh companionship was in a measure helpful to her. + +The time passed with appalling swiftness. When the luncheon hour arrived +she was horrified to find that the morning had gone. She could eat +nothing, a fact which raised a jeering laugh from her mother and a +chaffing remonstrance from her father. Billy had gone riding on Rupert +and had not returned. Billy always came and went exactly as he pleased. + +One or two more presents from friends of her father's had arrived by the +midday post. Mrs. Bathurst unpacked them, admiring them with more than a +touch of envy, assuring Dinah that she was a very lucky girl, luckier +than she deserved to be; but Dinah, though she acquiesced, had no heart +for presents. She could only see--as she had seen all through the +night--the piteous, marred face of a woman who had passed through such an +intensity of suffering as she could only dimly guess at into the dark of +utter despair. She could only hear, whichever way she turned, the +clanking of the chains that in so brief a time were to be welded +irrevocably about herself. + +Luncheon over, she went up to dress and to finish the packing of the new +trunks which were to accompany her upon her honeymoon. She had not even +yet begun to realize these strange belongings of hers. She could no +longer visualize herself as a bride. She looked upon all the finery as +destined for another, possibly Rose de Vigne, but emphatically not for +herself. + +The wedding-dress and veil lying in their box, swathed in tissue-paper, +had a gossamer unreality about them that even the sense of touch could +not dispel. No--no! The bride of to-morrow was surely, surely, not +herself! + +They were to spend the first part of their honeymoon at a little +place on the Cornish coast, very far from everywhere, as Sir Eustace +said. She thought of that little place with a vague wonder. It was the +stepping-stone between the life she now knew and that new unknown life +that awaited her. She would go there just Dinah--work-a-day Dinah--her +own ordinary self. She would leave a fortnight after, possibly less, a +totally different being--a married woman, Lady Studley, part and parcel +of Sir Eustace's train, his most intimate belonging, most exclusively his +own. + +She trembled afresh as this thought came home to her. Despite his +assurances, marriage seemed to her a terrible thing. It was like parting, +not only with the old life, but with herself. + +She dressed mechanically, scarcely thinking of her appearance, roused +only at length from her pre-occupation by the tread of hoofs under her +window. She leaned forth quickly and discerned Scott on horseback,--a +trim, upright figure, very confident in the saddle--and with him Billy +still mounted on Rupert and evidently in the highest spirits. + +The latter spied her at once and accosted her in his cracked, cheerful +voice. "Hi, Dinah! Come down! We're going to tea at the Court. Scott will +walk with you, and I'm going to ride his gee." + +He rolled off Rupert with the words. Scott looked up at her, faintly +smiling as he lifted his hat. "I hope that plan will suit you," he said. +"The fact is the padre has been detained and can't get here before +tea-time. So we thought--Eustace thought--you wouldn't mind coming up to +the Court to tea instead of waiting to see him here." + +It crossed her mind to wonder why Eustace had not come himself to fetch +her, but she was conscious of a deep, unreasoning thankfulness that he +had not. Then, before she could reply, she heard her father's voice in +the porch, inviting Scott to enter. + +Scott accepted the invitation, and Dinah turned back into the room to +prepare for the walk. + +Her hands were trembling so much that they could scarcely serve her. She +was in a state of violent and uncontrollable agitation, longing one +moment to be gone, and the next desiring desperately to remain where she +was. The thought of facing the crowd at the Court filled her with a +positive tumult of apprehension, but breathlessly she kept telling +herself that Scott would be there--Scott would be there. His sheltering +presence would be her protection. + +And then, still trembling, still unnerved, she descended to meet him. + +He was with her father in the drawing-room. The place was littered with +wedding-presents. + +As she entered, he came towards her, and in a moment his quiet hand +closed upon hers. Her father went out in search of her mother and they +were alone. + +"What a collection of beautiful things you have here!" he said. + +She looked at him, met his steady eyes, and suddenly some force of speech +broke loose within her; she uttered words wild and passionate, such as +she had never till that moment dreamed of uttering. + +"Oh, don't talk of them! Don't think of them! They suffocate me!" + +She saw his face change, but she could not have analysed the expression +it took. He was silent for a moment, and in that moment his fingers +tightened hard and close upon her hand. + +Then, "I have brought you a small offering on my own account," he said in +his courteous, rather tired voice. "May I present it? Or would you rather +I waited a little?" + +She felt the tears welling up, swiftly, swiftly, and clasped her throat +to stay them. "Of course I would like it," she murmured almost +inarticulately. "That--that is different." + +He took a small, white packet from his pocket and put it into the hand he +had been holding, without a word. + +Dumbly, with quivering fingers, she opened it. There was something of +tragedy in the silence, something of despair. + +The paper fluttered to the ground, leaving a leather case in her grasp. +She glanced up at him. + +"Won't you look inside?" he said gently. + +She did so, in her eyes those burning tears she could not check. And +there, gleaming on its bed of white velvet, she saw a wonderful jewel--a +great star-shaped sapphire, deep as the heart of a fathomless pool, edged +with diamonds that flashed like the sun upon the ripples of its shores. +She gazed and gazed in silence. It was the loveliest thing she had ever +seen. + +Scott was watching her, his eyes very still, unchangeably steadfast. "The +sapphire for friendship," he said. + +She started as one awaking from a dream. In the passage outside the +half-open door she heard the sound of her mother's voice approaching. +With a swift movement she closed the case and hid it in her dress. + +"I can't show it to anyone yet," she said hurriedly. + +Her tone appealed. He answered her immediately. "It is for you and no one +else." + +His voice held nought but kindness, comprehension, comfort. + +He turned from her the next moment to meet her mother, and she heard him +speaking in his easy, leisured tones, gaining time for her, making her +path easy, as had ever been his custom. + +And again unbidden, unavoidable, there came to her the vision of +Greatheart--Greatheart the valiant--her knight of the golden armour, +going before her, strong to defend,--invincible, unafraid, sure by means +of that sureness which is given only to those who draw upon a Higher +Power than their own, given only to the serving-men of God. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE OPEN DOOR + + +Billy had already departed upon Scott's mount era he and Dinah set forth +to walk to the Court. It was threatening to rain, and the ground beneath +their feet was sodden and heavy. + +"It is rather a shame to ask you to walk," said Scott, as they turned up +the muddy road. "They would have sent a car for you if I had thought." + +"I would much rather walk," said Dinah. Her face was very pale. She +looked years older than she had looked at Willowmount. After a moment she +added, "We shall pass the church. Perhaps you would like to see it. They +were going to decorate it this morning." + +"I should," said Scott. + +He limped beside her, and she curbed her pace to his though the fever of +unrest that surged within her urged her forward. They went up the lane +that led to the church in almost unbroken silence. + +At the churchyard gate she paused. "I hope there is no one here," she +said uneasily. + +"We need not go in unless you wish," he answered. + +But when they reached the porch, they found that the church was empty, +and so they entered. + +A heavy scent of lilies pervaded the place. There was a wonderful white +arch of flowers at the top of the aisle, and the chancel was decked with +them. The space above the altar was a mass of white, perfumed splendour. +They had been sent down from the Court that morning. + +Slowly Scott passed up the nave with the bride-elect by his side, +straight to the chancel-steps, and there he paused. His pale face with +its light eyes was absolutely composed and calm. He looked straight up to +the dim richness of the stained-glass window above him as though he saw +beyond the flowers. + +For many seconds Dinah stood beside him, awed, waiting as it were for the +coming of a revelation. Whatever it might be she knew already that she +would not leave that holy place in the state of hopeless turmoil in which +she had entered. Something was coming to her, some new thing, that might +serve as an anchor in her distress even though it might not bring her +ultimate deliverance. + +Or stay! Was it a new thing? Was it not rather the unveiling of something +which had always been? Her heart quickened and became audible in the +stillness. She clasped her hands tightly together. And in that moment +Scott turned his head and looked at her. + +No word did he speak; only that straight, calm look--as of a man clean of +soul and fearless of evil. It told her nothing, that look, it opened to +her no secret chamber; neither did it probe her own quivering heart. It +was the kindly, reassuring look of a friend ready to stand by, ready to +lend a sure hand if such were needed. + +But by that look Dinah's revelation burst upon her. In that moment she +saw her own soul as never before had she seen it; and all the little +things, the shallow things, the earthly things, faded quite away. With a +deep, deep breath she opened her eyes upon the Vision of Love.... + +"Shall we go?" murmured Scott. + +She looked at him vaguely for a second, feeling stunned and blinded by +the radiance of that revelation. A black veil seemed to be descending +upon her; she put out a groping hand. + +He took it, and his hold was sustaining. He led her in silence down the +long, shadowy building to the porch. + +He would have led her further, but a sudden, heavy shower was falling, +and he had to pause. She sank down trembling upon the stone seat. + +"Scott! Oh, Scott!" she said. "Help me!" + +He made a slight, involuntary movement that passed unexplained. "I am +here to help you, my dear," he said, his voice very quiet and even. "You +mustn't be scared, you know. You'll get through it all right." + +She wrung her hands together in her extremity. "It isn't that," +she told him. "I--I suppose I've got to go through it--as you say so. +But--but--you'll think me very wicked, yet I must tell you--I've made--a +dreadful mistake. I'm marrying for money, for position, to get away from +home,--anything but love. I don't love him. I know now that I never +shall--never can! And I'd give anything--anything--anything to escape!" + +It was spoken. All the long-pent misgivings that had culminated in awful +certainty the night before had so wrought in her that now--now that the +revelation had come--she could no longer keep silence. But of that +revelation she would sooner have died than speak. + +Scott heard that wrung confession, standing before her with a stillness +that gave him a look of sternness. He spoke as she ended, possibly +because he realized that she would not be able to endure the briefest +silence at that moment, possibly because he dreamed of filling up the gap +ere it widened to an irreparable breach. + +"But, Dinah," he said, "don't you know he loves you?" + +She flung her hands wide in a gesture of the most utter despair. "That's +just the very worst part of it," she said. "That's just why there is no +getting away." + +"You don't want his love?" Scott questioned, his voice very low. + +She shook her head in instant negation. "Oh no, no, no!" + +He bent slightly towards her, looking into her face of quivering +agitation. "Dinah, are you sure it isn't all this pomp and circumstance +that is frightening you? Are you sure you have no love at all in your +heart for him?" + +She did not shrink from his look. Though she thought his eyes were stern, +she met them with the courage of desperation. "I am quite--quite--sure," +she told him brokenly. "I never loved him. I was dazzled, that's all. +But now--but now--the glamour is all gone. I would give anything--oh, +anything in the world--if only he would marry Rose de Vigne instead!" + +Her voice failed and with it her strength. She covered her face and wept +hopelessly, tragically. + +Scott stood motionless by her side. His brows were drawn as the brows of +a man in pain, but the eyes below them had the brightness of unwavering +resolution. There was something rocklike about his pose. + +The pattering of the rain mingled with the sound of Dinah's anguished +sobbing; there seemed to be no other sound in all the world. + +He moved at last, and into his eyes there came a very human look, +dispelling all hardness. He bent to her again, his hand upon her +shoulder. "My child," he said gently, "don't be so distressed! It isn't +too late--even now." + +He felt her respond to his touch, but she could not lift her head. "I can +never face him," she sobbed hopelessly. "I shall never, never dare!" + +"You must face him," Scott said quietly but very firmly. "You owe it to +him. Do you consider that you would be acting fairly by him if you +married him solely for the reasons you have just given to me?" + +She shrank at his words, trembling all over like a frightened child. But +his hand was still upon her, restraining panic. + +"He will be so angry--so furious," she faltered. + +"I will help you," Scott said steadily. + +"Ah!" she caught at the promise with an eagerness that was piteous. +"You won't leave me? You won't let me be alone with him? He can make +me do anything--anything--when I am alone with him. Oh, he is terrible +enough--even when he is not angry. He told me once that--that--if I were +to slip out of his reach, he would follow--and kill me!" + +The brightness returned to Scott's eyes; they shone with an almost steely +gleam. "You needn't be afraid of that," he said quietly. "Now tell me, +Dinah, for I want to know; how long have you known that you didn't want +to marry him?" + +But Dinah shrank at the question, as though he had probed a wound. +"Oh, I can't tell you that! As long as I have realized that I was bound +to him--I have been afraid! And now--now that it has come so close--" She +broke off. "Oh, but I can't draw back now," she said hopelessly. +"Think--only think--what it will mean!" + +Scott was silent for a few seconds, then: "If it would be easier for you +to go on," he said slowly, "perhaps--in the end--it may be better for +you; because he honestly loves you, and I think his love may make a +difference--in the end. Possibly you are nearer to loving him even now +than you imagine. If it is the dread of hurting him--not angering +him--that holds you back, then I do not think you would be doing wrong to +marry him. If you are just scared by the thought of to-morrow and +possibly the day after--" + +"Oh, but it isn't that! It isn't that!" Dinah cried the words out +passionately like a prisoner who sees the door of his cell closing +finally upon him. "It's because I'm not his! I don't belong to +him! I don't want to belong to him! The very thought makes me +feel--almost--sick!" + +"Then there is someone else," Scott said, with grave conviction. + +"Ah!" It was not so much a word as the sharp intake of breath that +follows the last and keenest thrust of the probe that has reached the +object of its search. Dinah suddenly became rigid and yet vibrant as +stretched wire. Her silence was the silence of the victim who dreads so +unspeakably the suffering to come as to be scarcely aware of present +anguish. + +But Scott was merciful. He withdrew the probe and very pitifully he +closed the wound that he had opened. "No, no!" he said. "That has nothing +to do with me--or with Eustace either. But it makes your case absolutely +plain. Come with me now--before you feel any worse about it--and ask him +to give you your release!" + +"Oh, Scott!" She looked up at him at last, and though there was a measure +of relief in her eyes, her face was deathly. "Oh, Scott,--dare I do +that?" + +"I shall be there," he said. + +"Yes,--yes, you will be there! You won't leave me? Promise!" She clasped +his arm in entreaty. + +He looked into her eyes, and there was a great kindness in his own---the +kindness of Greatheart arming himself to defend his pilgrims. "Yes, I +promise that," he said, adding, "unless I leave you at your own desire." + +"You will never do that," Dinah said and smiled with quivering lips. "You +are good to me. Oh, you are good! But--but--" + +"But what?" he questioned gently. + +"He may refuse to set me free," she said desperately. "What then?" + +"My dear, no one is married by force now-a-days," he said. + +Her face changed as a sudden memory swept across her. "And my mother! My +mother!" she said. + +"Don't you think we had better deal with one difficulty at a time?" +suggested Scott. + +His hand sought hers, he drew her to her feet. + +And, as one having no choice, she submitted and went with him. + +It was still raining, but the heaviest of the shower was over. A gleam of +sunshine lit the distance as they went, and a faint, faint ray of hope +dawned in Dinah's heart at the sight. Though her deliverance was yet to +be achieved, though she dreaded unspeakably that which lay before her, at +least the door was open, could she but reach it to pass through. She +breathed a purer air already. And beside her stood Greatheart the +valiant, covering her with his shield of gold. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LION IN THE PATH + + +A large and merry party of guests were congregated in the great hall at +Perrythorpe Court, having tea. One of them--a young soldier-cousin of the +Studleys--was singing a sentimental ditty at a piano to which no one was +listening; and the hubbub was considerable. + +Dinah, admitted into the outer hall that was curtained off from the gay +crowd, shrank nearer to Scott as the cheery tumult reached her. + +"Need we--must we--go in that way?" she whispered. + +There was a door on the right of the porch. Scott turned towards it. + +"I suppose we can go in there?" he said to the man who had admitted them. + +"The gun-room, sir? Yes, if you wish, sir. Shall I bring tea?" + +"No," Scott said quietly. "Find Sir Eustace Studley if you can, and ask +him to join us there! Come along, Dinah!" + +His hand touched her arm. She entered the little room as one seeking +refuge. It led into a conservatory, and thence to the garden. The +apartment itself was given up entirely to weapons or instruments of +sport. Guns, fishing-rods, hunting-stocks, golf-clubs, tennis-rackets, +were stored in various racks and stands. A smell of stale cigar-smoke +pervaded it. Colonel de Vigne was wont to retire hither at night in +preference to the less cosy and intimate smoking-room. + +But there was no one here now, and Scott laid hat and riding-whip upon +the table and drew forward a chair for his companion. + +She looked at him and tried to thank him, but she was voiceless. Her pale +lips moved without sound. + +Scott's eyes were very kindly. "Don't be so frightened, child!" he said; +and then, a sudden thought striking him, "Look here! You go and wait in +the conservatory and let me speak to him first! Yes, that will be the +best way. Come!" + +His hand touched her again. She turned as one compelled. But as he opened +the glass door, she found her voice. + +"Oh, I ought not to--to let you face him alone. I must be brave. I must." + +"Yes, you must," Scott answered. "But I will see him alone first. It will +make it easier for everyone." + +Yet for a moment she halted still. "You really mean it? You wish it?" + +"Yes, I wish it," he said. "Wait in here till I call you!" + +She took him at his word. There was no other course. He closed the door +upon her and turned back alone. + +He sat down in the chair that he had placed for her and became motionless +as a figure carved in bronze. His pale face and trim, colourless beard +were in shadow, his eyes were lowered. There was scarcely an inanimate +object in the room as insignificant and unimposing as he, and yet in his +stillness, in his utter unobtrusiveness, there lay a strength such as the +strongest knight who ever rode in armour might have envied. + +There came a careless step without, a hand upon the door. It opened, and +Sir Eustace, handsome, self-assured, slightly haughty, strode into the +room. + +"Hullo, Stumpy! What do you want? I can't stop. I am booked to play +billiards with Miss de Vigne. A test match to demonstrate the steadiness +of my nerves!" + +Scott stood up. "I have a bigger test for you than that, old chap," he +said. "Shut the door if you don't mind!" + +Sir Eustace sent him a swift, edged glance. "I can't stop," he said +again. "What is it? Some mare's nest about Isabel?" + +"No, nothing whatever to do with Isabel. Shut the door, man! I must be +alone with you for a few minutes." Scott spoke with unwonted vehemence. +The careless notes of the piano, the merry tumult of chattering voices, +seemed to affect him oddly, almost to exasperate him. + +Sir Eustace turned and swung the door shut; then with less than his +customary arrogance he came to Scott. "What's the matter?" he said. "Out +with it! Don't break the news if you can help it!" + +His eyes belied the banter of his words. They shone as the eyes of a +fighter meeting odds. There was something leonine about him at the +moment, something of the primitive animal roused from its lair and +scenting danger. + +He looked into Scott's pale face with the dawning of a threatening +expression upon his own. + +And Scott met the threat full and square and unflinching. "I've come to +tell you," he said, "about the hardest thing one man can tell another. +Dinah wishes to be released from her engagement." + +His words were brief but very distinct. He stiffened as he uttered them, +almost as if he expected a blow. + +But Sir Eustace stood silent and still, with only the growing menace in +his eyes to show that he had heard. + +Several seconds dragged away ere he made either sound or movement. Then, +with a sudden, fierce gesture, he gripped Scott by the shoulder. "And you +have the damnable impertinence to come and tell me!" he said. + +There was violence barely restrained in voice and action. He held Scott +as if he would fling him against the wall. + +But Scott remained absolutely passive, enduring the savage grip with no +sign of resentment. Only into his steady eyes there came that gleam as of +steel that leaps to steel. + +"I have told you," he said, "because I have no choice. She wishes to be +set free, and--she fears you too much to tell you so herself." + +Sir Eustace broke in upon him with a furious laugh that was in some +fashion more insulting than a blow on the mouth. "And she has deputed you +to do so on her behalf! Highly suitable! Or did you volunteer for the +job, most fearless knight?" + +"I offered to help her--certainly." Scott's voice was as free from +agitation as his pose. "I would help any woman under such circumstances. +It's no easy thing for her to break off her engagement at this stage. And +she is such a child. She needs help." + +"She shall have it," said Eustace grimly. "But--since you are here--I +will deal with you first. Do you think I am going to endure any +interference in this matter from you? Think it over calmly. Do you?" + +His hold upon Scott had become an open threat. His eyes were a red blaze +of anger. In that moment the animal in him was predominant, overwhelming. +He was furious with the fury of the wounded beast that is beyond all +control. + +Scott realized the fact, and grasped his own self-control with a firmer +hand. "It's no good my telling you that I hate my job," he said. "You'll +hardly believe me if I do. But I've got to stick to it, beastly as it is. +I can't stand by and see her married against her will. For that is what +it amounts to. She would give anything she has to be free. She told me +so. I'm infernally sorry. Perhaps you won't believe that either. But I've +got to see this thing through now." + +"Have you?" said Eustace, and suddenly his words came clipped and harsh +from between set teeth. "And you think I'm going to endure it--stand +aside tamely--while you turn an attack of stage-fright into a just cause +and impediment to prevent my marriage! I should have thought you would +have known me better by this time. But if you don't, you shall learn. Now +listen! I am in dead earnest. If you don't drop this foolery, give me +your word of honour here and now to leave this matter in my hands +alone,--I'll thrash you to a pulp!" + +He spoke with terrible intention. His whole being pulsated behind the +words. And Scott's slight frame stiffened to rigidity in answer. + +"You may grind me to powder!" he flung back, and in his voice there +sounded a curiously vibrant quality as of finely-tempered steel that will +bend but never break. "But you can't--and you shan't--force that child +into marrying you against her will! That I swear--by God in Heaven!" + +There was amazing force in the utterance, he also had thrown off the +shackles. But his strength had about it nothing of the brute. Stripped to +the soul, he stood up a man. + +And against his will Eustace recognized the fact, realized the Invincible +manifest in the clay, and in spite of himself was influenced thereby. The +savage in him drew back abashed, aware of mastery. + +Abruptly he released him and turned away. "You're a fool to tempt me," he +said. "And a still greater fool to take her seriously. As I tell you, +it's nothing but stage-fright. She had a touch of it yesterday. I'll come +round presently and make it all right." + +"You can only make it right by setting her free," Scott made answer. +"There is no other course. Do you suppose I should have come to you in +this way if there had been?" + +Sir Eustace was moving to the door by which he had entered. He flung a +backward look that was intensely evil over his shoulder at the puny +figure of the man behind him. + +"I can imagine you playing any damned trick under the sun to serve your +own interests," he said, his lip curling in in an intolerable sneer. "But +the deepest strategy fails occasionally. You haven't been quite subtle +enough this time." + +He was at the door as he uttered the last biting sentence, but so also +was Scott. With a movement of incredible swiftness and impetuosity he +flung himself forward. Their hands met upon the handle, and his remained +in possession, for in sheer astonishment Eustace drew back. + +They faced one another in the evening light, Scott pale to the lips, in +his eyes an electric blaze that made them almost unbearably bright, +Eustace, heavy-browed, lowering, the red glare of savagery gleaming like +a smouldering flame, ready to leap forth in devastating fury to meet the +fierce white heat that confronted him. + +An awful silence hung between them--a silence of unutterable emotions, +more poignant with passion than any strife or clash of weapons. And +through it like a mocking under-current there ran the distant tinkle of +the piano, the echoes of careless laughter beyond the closed door. + +Then at last--it seemed with difficulty--Scott spoke, his voice very low, +oddly jerky. "What do you mean by that? Tell me what you mean!" + +Sir Eustace made an abrupt gesture,--the gesture of the swordsman on +guard. He met the attack instantly and unwaveringly, but his look was +wary. He did not seek to throw the lesser man from his path. As it were +instinctively, though possibly for the first time in his life, he treated +him as an equal. + +"You know what I mean!" he made fierce rejoinder. "Even you can hardly +pretend ignorance on that point." + +"Even I!" Scott uttered a short, hard laugh that seemed to escape him +against his will. "All the same, I will have an explanation," he said. +"I prefer a straight charge, notwithstanding my damned subtlety. You will +either explain or withdraw." + +"As you like," Sir Eustace yielded the point, and again he acted +instinctively, not realizing that he had no choice. "I mean that from the +very beginning of things you have been influencing her against me, trying +to win her from me. You never intended me to propose to her in the first +place. You never imagined that I would do such a thing. You only thought +of driving me off the ground and clearing it for yourself. I saw your +game long ago. When you lost one trick, you tried for another. I knew--I +knew all along. But the game is up now, and you've lost." A very bitter +smile curved his mouth with the words. "There is your explanation," he +said. "I hope you are satisfied." + +"But I am not satisfied!" Quick as lightning came the _riposte_. Scott +stood upright against the closed door. His eyes, unflickering, dazzlingly +bright, were fixed upon his brother's face. "I am not satisfied," he +repeated, and his words were as sternly direct as his look; he spoke as +one compelled by some inner, driving force, "because what you have just +said to me--this foul thing you believe of me--is utterly and absolutely +without foundation. I have never tried--or dreamed of trying--to win her +from you. I speak as before God. In this matter I have never been other +than loyal either to you or to my own honour. If any other man insulted +me in this fashion," his face worked a little, but he controlled it +sharply, "I wouldn't have stooped to answer him. But you--I suppose I +must allow you the--privilege of brotherhood. And so I ask you to +believe--at least to make an effort to believe--that you have made a +mistake." + +His voice was absolutely quiet as he ended. The dignity of his utterance +had in it even a touch of the sublime, and the elder man was aware of it, +felt the force of it, was humbled by it. He stood a moment or two as one +irresolute, halting at a difficult choice. Then, with an abrupt lift of +the head as though his pride made fierce resistance, he gave ground. + +"If I have wronged you, I apologize," he said with brevity. + +Scott smiled faintly, wryly. "If--" he said. + +"Very well, I withdraw the 'if.'" Sir Eustace spoke impatiently, not as +one desiring reconciliation. "You laid yourself open to it by accepting +the position of ambassador. I don't know how you could seriously imagine +that I would treat with you in that capacity. If Dinah has anything to +say to me, she must say it herself." + +"She will do so," Scott spoke with steady assurance. "But before you see +her, I think I ought to tell you that her reason for wishing to be set +free is not stage-fright or any childish nonsense of that kind; but +simply the plain fact that her heart is not in the compact. She has found +out that she doesn't love you enough." + +"She told you so?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +Scott bent his head, for the first time averting his eyes from his +brother's face. "Yes." + +"And she wished you to tell me?" There was a metallic ring in Sir +Eustace's voice; the red glare was gone from his eyes, they were cold and +hard as a winter sky. + +"Yes," Scott said again, still not looking at him. + +"And why?" The words fell brief and imperious, compelling in their +incisiveness. + +Scott's eyes returned to his, almost in protest. "I told her you ought to +know," he said. + +"Then she would not have told me otherwise?" + +"Possibly not." + +There fell another silence. Sir Eustace looked hard and straight into the +pale eyes, as though he would pierce to the soul behind. But though Scott +met the look unwavering, his soul was beyond all scrutiny. There was +something about him that baffled all search, something colossal that +barred the way. For the second time Sir Eustace realized himself to be at +a disadvantage; haughtily he passed the matter by. + +"In that case there is nothing further to be said. You have fulfilled +your somewhat rash undertaking, and that you have come out of the +business with a whole skin is a bigger piece of luck than you deserved. +If Dinah wishes this matter to go any further, she must come to me +herself." + +"Otherwise you will take no action?" Scott's voice had its old somewhat +weary intonation. The animation seemed to have died out of him. + +"Exactly." Sir Eustace answered him with equal deliberation. "So far as +you are concerned the incident is now closed." + +Scott took his hand from the door and moved slowly away. "I have put the +whole case before you," he said. "I think you clearly understand that if +you are going to try and use force, I am bound--as a friend--to take her +part against you. She relies upon me for that, and--I shall not +disappoint her. You see," a hint of compassion sounded in his voice, "she +has always been afraid of you; and she knows that I am not." + +Sir Eustace smiled cynically. "Oh, you have always been ready to rush +in!" he said. "Doubtless your weakness is your strength." + +Scott met the gibe with tightened lips. He made no attempt to reply to +it. "The only thing left," he said quietly, "is for you to see her and +hear what she has to say. She is waiting in the conservatory." + +"She is waiting?" Eustace wheeled swiftly. + +Scott was already half-way across the room. He strode forward, and +intercepted him. + +"You can go," he said curtly. "You have done your part. This business is +mine, not yours." + +Scott stood still. "I have promised to see her through," he said. "I must +keep my promise." + +Sir Eustace looked for a single instant as if he would strike him down; +and then abruptly, inexplicably he gave way. + +"Very well," he said. "Fetch her in!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TRUTH + + +At Scott's quiet summons Dinah entered. What she had passed through +during those minutes of waiting was written in her face. She looked +deathly. + +Sir Eustace did not move to meet her. He stood by the table, very +upright, very stern, uncompromisingly silent. + +Dinah gave him one quivering glance, and turned appealingly to Scott. + +"Don't be nervous!" he said gently. "There is no need. I have told him +your wish." + +She was terrified, but the ordeal had to be faced. She summoned all her +strength, and went forward. + +"Oh, Eustace," she said piteously, "I am so dreadfully sorry." + +He looked down at her, his face like a marble mask. "So," he said, "you +want to throw me over!" + +She clasped her hands very tightly before her. "Oh, I know it's hateful +of me," she said. + +He made a slight, disdainful gesture. "Did you make up your mind or did +Scott make it up for you?" + +"No, no!" she cried in distress. "It was not his doing. I--I just told +him, that was all." + +"And you now desire him for a witness," suggested Sir Eustace cynically. + +Dinah looked again towards Scott. He stood against the mantelpiece, as +grimly upright as his brother and again oddly she was struck by the +similarity between them. She could not have said wherein it lay, but she +had never seen it more marked. + +He spoke very quietly in answer to her look. "I have promised to stay for +as long as you want me, but if you wish to be alone with Eustace for a +few minutes, I will wait in the conservatory." + +"Yes, let him do that!" Imperiously Eustace accepted the suggestion. "We +shall not keep him long." + +Dinah stood hesitating. Scott was looking at her very steadily and +reassuringly. His eyes seemed to be telling her that she had nothing to +fear. But he would not move without her word, and in the end reluctantly +she gave in. + +"Very well," she said, in a low voice. "If--if you will wait!" + +"I will," Scott said. + +He limped across the room to the open door, passed through, closed it +softly behind him. And Dinah was left to face her monster alone. + +She did not look at Sir Eustace in the first dreadful moments that +followed Scott's exit. She was horribly afraid. There was to her +something inexpressibly ruthless in his very silence. She longed yet +dreaded to hear him speak. + +He did not do so for many seconds, and she thought by his utter stillness +that he must be listening to the wild throbbing of her heart. + +Then at last, just as the tension of waiting was becoming unbearable and +she was on the verge of piteous entreaty, he seated himself on the edge +of the table and spoke. + +"Well," he said, "we have got to get at the root of this trouble somehow. +You don't propose to throw me over without telling me why, I suppose?" + +His voice was perfectly calm. She even fancied that he was faintly +smiling as he uttered the words, but she could not look at him to see. +She found it difficult enough to speak in answer. + +"I know I am treating you very badly," she said, wringing her clasped +hands in her agitation. "You--of course you can make me marry you. +I've promised myself to you. You have the right. But if you will +only--only let me go, I am sure it will be much better for you too. +Because--because--I've found out--I've found out--that I don't love you." + +It was the greatest effort she had ever made in her life. She wondered +afterwards how she had ever brought herself to accomplish it. It was so +hard--so hideously hard--to face him, this man who loved her so +overwhelmingly, and tell him that he had failed to win her love in +return. And at the eleventh hour--to treat him thus! If he had taken her +by the throat and wrung her neck, she would have considered him justified +and herself but righteously punished. + +But he did nothing of a violent nature. He only sat there looking at her, +and though she could not bring herself to meet his look she knew that it +held no anger. + +He did not speak, and she went on with a species of desperate pleading, +because silence was so intolerable. "It wouldn't be right of me to--to +marry you and not tell you, would it? It wouldn't be fair. It would be +like marrying you under false pretences. I only wish--oh, I do wish--that +I had known sooner, when you first asked me. I might have known. I ought +to have known! But--but--somehow--" she began to falter badly and finally +concluded in a piteous whisper--"I didn't." + +"How did you find out?" he said. His tone was still perfectly quiet; but +he spoke judicially, as one who meant to have an answer. + +But Dinah had no answer for him. It was the very question to which there +could be no reply. Her fingers interlaced and strained against each +other. She stood mute. + +"I think you can tell me that," Eustace said. + +She made a small but vehement gesture of negation. "I can't!" she said. +"It's--it's--private." + +"You mean you won't?" he questioned. + +She nodded silently, too distressed for speech. + +He got to his feet with finality. "That ends the case then," he said. +"The appeal is dismissed. You can give me no adequate reason for +releasing you. Therefore, I keep you to your engagement." + +Dinah uttered a gasp. She had not expected this. For the first time she +met his look fully, met the blue, dominant eyes, the faint, supercilious +smile. And dismay struck through and through her as she realized that he +had made her captive again with scarcely a struggle. + +"Oh, but you can't--you can't!" she said. + +He raised his brows. "We shall see," he said. "Mean-time--" He paused, +looking at her, and suddenly the old hot glitter flashed forth, dazzling +her, hypnotizing her; he uttered a low laugh and took her in his arms. +"Daphne, you will-o'-the-wisp, you witch, how dare you?" + +She made no outcry or resistance, realizing in a single stunning second +the mastery that would not be denied; only ere his lips reached her, she +sank down in his hold, hiding her face and praying him brokenly, +imploringly, to let her go. + +"Oh, please--oh, please--if you love me--do be kind--do be generous! I +can't go on--indeed--indeed! Oh, Eustace,--Eustace--do forgive me--and +let me go!" + +"I will not!" he said. "I will not!" + +She heard the rising passion in his voice, and her heart died within her; +she sank lower, till but for his upholding arms she would have been +kneeling at his feet. And then quite suddenly her strength went from her; +she hung powerless, almost fainting in his grasp. + +She scarcely knew what happened next, save that the fierceness went out +of his hold like the passing of an evil dream. He lifted and held her +while the darkness surged around.... And then presently she heard his +voice, very low, amazingly tender, speaking into her ear. "Dinah! Dinah! +What has come to you? Don't you know that I love you? Didn't I tell you +so only last night?" + +She leaned against him palpitating, unstrung, piteously distressed. +"That's what makes it--so dreadful," she whispered. "I wish I were dead! +Oh, I do wish I were dead!" + +"Nonsense!" he said. "Nonsense!" He put his hand upon her head, pressing +it against his breast. "Little sweetheart, what has happened to you? Tell +me what is the matter!" + +That was the hardest to face of all, that he should subdue himself, +restrain his passion to pour out to her that which was infinitely greater +than passion; she made a little sound that seemed to come straight from +her heart. + +"Oh, I can't tell you!" she sobbed into his shoulder. "I can't think how +I ever made such a terrible mistake. But if only--oh, if only--you could +marry Rose instead! It would be so very much better for everybody." + +"Marry Rose!" he said. "What on earth made you think of that at this +stage?" + +"I always thought you would--in Switzerland," she explained rather +incoherently. "I--never really thought--I could cut her out." + +"Is that what you did it for?" An odd note sounded in Sir Eustace's +voice, as though some irony of circumstance had forced his sense of +humour. + +"Just at first," whispered Dinah. "Oh, don't be angry! Please don't be +angry! You--you weren't in earnest either just at first." + +He considered the matter in silence for a few moments. Then +half-quizzically, "I don't see that that is any reason for throwing me +over now," he said. "If you don't love me to-day, you will to-morrow." + +She shook her head. + +"Quite sure?" he said. + +"Quite," she answered faintly. + +His hand was still upon her head, and it remained there. He held her +closely pressed to him. + +For a space again he was silent, his dark face bent over her, his lips +actually touching her hair. Of what was passing in his mind she had no +notion, and she dared not lift her head to look. She dreaded each moment +a return of that tornado-like passion that had so often appalled her. +But it did not come. His arms held her indeed, but without violence, and +in his stillness there was no tension to denote its presence. + +He spoke at length, almost whispering. "Dinah, who is the lucky fellow? +Tell me!" + +She started away from him. She almost cried out in her dismay. But he +stopped her. He took her face between his hands with an insistence that +would not be denied. He looked closely, searchingly, into her eyes. + +"Is it Scott?" he said. + +She did not answer him. She stood as one paralysed, and up over face and +neck and all her trembling body, enwrapping her like a flame, there rose +a scorching, agonizing blush. + +He held her there before him and watched it, and she saw that his eyes +were piercingly bright, with the brightness of burnished steel. She could +not turn her own away from them, though her whole soul shrank from that +stark scrutiny. In anguish of mind she faced him, helpless, unutterably +ashamed, while that burning blush throbbed fiercely through every vein +and gradually died away. + +He let her go at last very slowly. "I--see," he said. + +She put her hands up over her face with a childish, piteous gesture. She +felt as if he had ruthlessly torn from her the one secret treasure that +she cherished. She was free--she knew she was free. But at what a cost! + +"So," Eustace said, "that's it, is it? We've got at the truth at last!" + +She quivered at the words. Her whole being seemed to be shrivelled as +though it had passed through the fire. He had wrenched her secret from +her, and she had nothing more to hide. + +Sir Eustace walked to the end of the room and back. He halted close to +her, but he did not touch her. He spoke, briefly and sternly. + +"How long has this been going on?" + +She looked up at him, her face pathetically pinched and small. "It hasn't +been going on. I--only realized it to-day. He doesn't know. He never must +know!" A sudden sharp note of anxiety sounded in her voice. "He never +must know!" she reiterated with emphasis. + +"He hasn't made love to you then?" Sir Eustace spoke in the same curt +tone; his mouth was merciless. + +She started as if stung. "Oh no! Oh no! Of course he hasn't! He--he +doesn't care for me--like that. Why should he?" + +Eustace's grim lips twitched a little. "Why indeed? Well, it's lucky for +him he hasn't. If he had, I'd have half killed him for it!" + +There was concentrated savagery in his tone. His eyes shone with a fire +that made her shrink. And then very suddenly he put his hand upon her +shoulder. + +"Do you mean to tell me that you want to throw me over solely because you +imagine you care for a man who doesn't care for you?" he asked. + +She looked up at him piteously, "Oh, please don't ask me any more!" she +said. + +"But I want to know," he said stubbornly. "Is that your only reason?" + +With difficulty she answered him. "No." + +"Then what more?" he demanded. + +It was inevitable. She made a desperate effort to be brave. "I couldn't +be happy with you. I am afraid of you. And--and--you are not kind to--to +Isabel." + +"Who says I am not kind to Isabel?" His hand pressed upon her ominously; +his look was implacably stern. + +But the effort to be brave had given her strength. She stiffened in his +hold. "I know it," she said. "I have seen it. She is always miserable +when you are there." + +He frowned upon her heavily. "You don't understand. Isabel is very +hysterical. She needs a firm hand." + +"You are more than firm," Dinah said. "You are--cruel." + +Never in her wildest moments had she imagined herself making such an +indictment. She marvelled at herself even as it left her lips. But +something seemed to have entered into her, taking away her fear. Not till +long afterwards did she realize that it was her new-found womanhood that +had come upon her all unawares during that poignant interview. + +She faced him without a tremor as she uttered the words, and he received +them in a silence so absolute that she went on with scarcely a pause. +"Not only to Isabel, but to everyone; to Scott, to that poor poacher, to +me. You don't believe it, because it is your nature. But it is true all +the same. And I think cruelty is a most dreadful thing. It's a vice that +not all the virtues put together could counter-balance." + +"When have I been cruel to you?" he said. + +His tone was quiet, his face mask-like; but she thought that fury raged +behind his calm. And still she knew no fear, felt no faintest dread of +consequence. + +"All your love-making has been cruel," she said. "Only once--no, twice +now--have you been the least bit kind to me. It's no good talking. You'd +never understand. I've lain awake often in the night with the dread of +you. But"--her voice shook slightly--"I didn't know what I wanted, so +I kept on. Now that I do know--though I shall never have it--it's made a +difference, and I can't go on. You don't want me any more now I've told +you, so it won't hurt you so very badly to let me go." + +"You are wrong," he said, and suddenly she knew that out of his silence +or her speech had developed something that was strange and new. His voice +was quick and low, utterly devoid of its customary arrogance. "I want you +more than ever! Dinah--Dinah, I may have been a brute to you. You're +right. I often am a brute. But marry me--only marry me--and I swear to +you that I will be kind!" + +His calm was gone. He leaned towards her urgently, his dark face aglow +with a light that was not passion. She had deemed him furious, and +behold, she had him at her feet! Her ogre was gone for ever. He had +crumbled at a touch. She saw before her a man, a man who loved her, a +man whom she might eventually have come to love but for-- + +She caught her breath in a sharp sob, and put forth a hand in pleading. +"Eustace, don't! Please don't! I can't bear it. You--you must set me +free!" + +"You are free as air," he said. + +"Am I? Then don't--don't ask me to bind myself again! For I can't--I +can't. I want to go away. I want to be quiet." She broke down suddenly. +The strain was past, the battle over. She had vanquished him, how she +scarcely knew; but her own brief strength was tottering now. "Let me go +home!" she begged. "Tell Scott I've gone! Tell everyone there won't be a +wedding after all! Say I'm dreadfully sorry! It's my fault--all my fault! +I ought to have known!" Her tears blinded her, silenced her. She turned +towards the door. + +"Won't you say good-bye to me?" Eustace said. + +Her voice was low and very steady. The glow was gone. He was calm again, +absolutely calm. With the failure of that one urgent appeal, he seemed to +have withdrawn his forces, accepting defeat. + +She turned back gropingly. "Good-bye--good-bye--" she +whispered, "and--thank you!" + +He put his arm around her, and bending kissed her forehead. "Don't cry, +dear!" he said. + +His manner was perfectly kind, supremely gentle. She hardly knew him +thus. Again her heart smote her in overwhelming self-reproach. "Oh, +Eustace, forgive me for hurting you so--forgive me--for all I've said!" + +"For telling me the truth?" he said. "No, I don't forgive you for that." + +She broke down utterly and sobbed aloud. "I wish--I wish I hadn't! How +could I do it? I hate myself!" + +"No--no," he said. "It's all right. You've done nothing wrong. Run home, +child! Don't cry! Don't cry!" + +His hand touched her hair under the soft cap, touched and lingered. But +he did not hold her to him. + +"Run home!" he said again. + +"And--and--you won't--won't--tell--Scott?" she whispered through her +tears. + +"But I don't think even I am such a bounder as that!" he said gently. "Do +you?" + +She lifted her face impulsively. She kissed him with quivering lips. +"No--no. I didn't mean it. Good-bye Oh, good-bye!" + +He kissed her in return. "Good-bye!" he said. + +And so they parted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE FURNACE + + +The bridal dress with its filmy veil still lay in its white box--a fairy +garment that had survived the catastrophe. Dinah sat and looked at it +dully. The light of her single candle shimmered upon the soft folds. How +beautiful it was! + +She had been sitting there for hours, after a terrible scene with her +mother downstairs, and from acute distress she had passed into a state of +torpid misery that enveloped her like a black cloud. She felt almost too +exhausted, too numbed, to think. Her thoughts wandered drearily back and +forth. She was sure she had been very greatly to blame, yet she could not +fix upon any definite juncture at which she had begun to go wrong. Her +engagement had been such a whirlwind of Fate. She had been carried off +her feet from the very beginning. And the deliverance from the home +bondage had seemed so fair a prospect. Now she was plunged, back again +into that bondage, and she was firmly convinced that no chance of freedom +would ever be offered to her again. Yet she knew that she had done right +to draw back. Regret it though she might again and again in the bitter +days to come, she knew--and she would always know--that at the eleventh +hour she had done right. + +She had been true to the greatest impulse that had ever stirred +her soul. It had been at a frightful cost. She had sacrificed +everything--everything--to a vision that she might never realize. She +had cast away all the glitter and the wealth for this far greater thing +which yet could never be more to her than a golden dream. She had even +cast away love, and her heart still bled at the memory. But she had been +true--she had been true. + +Not yet was the sacrifice ended. She knew that a cruel ordeal yet awaited +her. There was the morrow to be faced, the morrow with its renewal of +disgrace and punishment. Her mother was furious with her, so furious that +for the first time in her life her father had intervened on her behalf +and temporarily restrained the flow of wrath. Perhaps he had seen her +utter weariness, for he had advised her, not unkindly, to go to bed. She +had gone to her room, thankful to escape, but neither tea nor supper had +followed her thither. Billy had come to bid her good night long ago, but, +though he had not said so, he also, it seemed, was secretly disgusted +with her, and he had not lingered. It would be the same with everyone, +she thought to herself wearily. No one would ever realize how terribly +hard it had all been. No one would dream of extending any pity to her. +And of course she had done wrong. She knew it, was quite ready to admit +it. But the wrong had lain in accepting that overweaning lover of hers, +not in giving him up. Also, she ought to have found out long ago. She +wondered how it was she hadn't. It had never been a happy engagement. + +Again her eyes wandered to the exquisite folds of that dress which she +was never to wear. How she had loved the thought of it and all the lovely +things that Isabel had procured for her! What would become of them all, +she wondered? All the presents downstairs would have to go back. Yes, and +Eustace's ring! She had forgotten that. She slipped it off her finger +with a little dry sob, and put it aside. And the necklace of pearls that +she had always thought so much too good for her, but which would have +looked so beautiful on the wedding-dress; that must be returned. Very +strangely that thought pierced the dull ache of her heart with a mere +poignant pain. And following it came another, stabbing her like a knife. +The sapphire for friendship--his sapphire--that would have to go too. +There would be nothing left when it was all over. + +And she would never see any of them any more. She would drop out of their +lives and be forgotten. Even Isabel would not want her now that she had +behaved so badly. She had made Sir Eustace the talk of the County. So +long as they remembered her they would never forgive her for that. + +Sir Eustace might forgive. He had been extraordinarily generous. A lump +rose in her throat as she thought of him. But the de Vignes, all those +wedding guests who were to have honoured the occasion, they would all +look upon her with contumely for evermore. No wonder her mother was +enraged against her! No wonder! No wonder! She would never have another +chance of holding up her head in such society again. + +A great sigh escaped her. What was the good of sitting there thinking? +She had undressed long ago, and she was cold from head to foot. Yet +somehow she had forgotten or been too miserable to go to bed. She +supposed she had been waiting for the soothing tears that did not come. +Or had she meant to pray? She could not remember, and in any case prayer +seemed out of the question. Her life had been filled with delight for a +few delirious weeks, but it had all drained away. She did not want it +back again. She scarcely knew what she wanted, save the great Impossible +for which she lacked the heart to pray. And no doubt God was angry with +her too, or she could not feel like this! So what was the good of +attempting it? + +Wearily she turned to put out her candle. But ere her hand reached it, +she paused in swift apprehension. + +The next instant sharply she started round to see the door open, and her +mother entered the room. + +Gaunt, forbidding, full of purpose, she walked in, and set her candle +down beside the one that Dinah had been about to extinguish. + +"Get up!" she said to the startled girl. "Don't sit there gaping at me! +I've come here to give you a lesson, and it will be a pretty severe one I +can tell you if you attempt to disobey me." + +"What do you want me to do?" breathed Dinah. + +She stood up at the harsh behest, but she was trembling so much that her +knees would scarcely support her. Her heart was throbbing violently, and +each throb seemed as if it would choke her. She had seen that inflexibly +grim look often before upon her mother's face, and she knew from bitter +experience that it portended merciless treatment. + +Mrs. Bathurst did not reply immediately. She went to a little table in a +corner which Dinah used for writing purposes, and opened a blotter that +lay upon it. From this she took a sheet of note-paper and laid it in +readiness, found Dinah's pen, opened the ink-pot. Then, over her +shoulder, she flung a curt command: "Come here!" + +Dinah went, every nerve in her body tingling, her face and hands cold as +ice. + +Mrs. Bathurst glanced at her with a contemptuous smile. "Sit down, you +little fool!" she said. "Now, you take that pen and write at my +dictation!" + +Dinah shrank at the rough words. She felt like a child about to receive +corporal punishment. The vindictive force of the woman seemed to beat her +down. Writhe and strain as she might, she was bound to suffer both the +pain and the indignity to the uttermost limit; for she lacked the +strength to break free. + +She did not sit down however. She remained standing by the little table. + +"Mother," she said through her white lips, "what do you want me to do?" + +She could scarcely keep her teeth from chattering, and Mrs. Bathurst +noted the fact with another grim smile. + +"What am I going to make you do would be more to the purpose, my girl, +wouldn't it?" she said. "Sit down there, and you'll find out!" + +Dinah leaned upon the little table to steady herself. "Tell me what it is +I am to do!" she said. + +"Ah! That's better." A note of bitter humour sounded in Mrs. Bathurst's +voice. "Sit down!" + +She thrust out a bony hand, and gripped her by the shoulder, forcing her +downwards. + +Dinah dropped into the chair, and sat motionless. + +"Take your pen!" Mrs. Bathurst commanded. + +She hesitated; and instantly, with a violent movement, her mother +snatched it up and held it in front of her. + +"Take it!" + +Dinah took it with fingers so numb that they were almost powerless. + +"Now," said Mrs. Bathurst, "I will tell you what you are going to do. You +are going to write to Sir Eustace at my dictation, and tell him that you +are very sorry, you have made a mistake, and beg him to forget it and +marry you to-morrow as arranged." + +"Mother! No!" Dinah started as if at a blow; the pen dropped from her +fingers. "Oh no! I can't indeed--indeed!" + +"You will!" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +Her hand gripped the slender shoulder with cruel force. She bent, +bringing her harsh features close to her daughter's blanched face. + +"Just you remember one thing!" she said, her voice low and menacing. +"You've never succeeded in defying me yet, and you won't do it now. I'll +conquer you--I'll break you--if it takes me all night to do it!" + +Dinah recoiled before the unshackled fury that suddenly blazed in the +gipsy eyes that looked into hers. Sheer horror sprang into her own. + +"Oh, but I can't--I can't!" she reiterated in an agony. "I don't love +him. He knows it. I ought to have found out before, but I didn't. +Mother--Mother--" piteously she began to plead--"you--you can't want to +make me marry a man I don't love? You--you would never--surely--have done +such a thing yourself!" + +Mrs. Bathurst made a sharp gesture as if something had pierced her. She +shook the shoulder she grasped. "Love!" she said. "Oh, don't talk to me +of love! Do you imagine--have you ever imagined--that I married that +fox-hunting booby--for love?" + +A great and terrible bitterness that was like the hunger of a famished +animal looked out of her eyes. Dinah gazed at her aghast. What new and +horrible revelation was this? She felt suddenly sick and giddy. + +Her mother shook her again roughly, savagely. "None of that!" she said. +"Don't think I'll put up with it, my fine lady, for I won't! What has +love to do with such a chance as this? Tell me that, you little fool! Do +you suppose that either you or I have ever been in a position to +marry--for love?" + +Her face was darkly passionate. Dinah felt as if she were in the clutches +of a tigress. "What--what do you mean?" she faltered through her +quivering lips. + +"What do I mean?" Mrs. Bathurst broke into a sudden brutal laugh. "Ha! +What do I mean?" she said. "I'll tell you, shall I? Yes, I'll tell you! +I'll show you the shame that I've covered all these years. I mean that I +married because of you--for no other reason. I married because I'd been +betrayed--and left. Now do you understand why it isn't for you to pick +and choose--you who have been the plague-spot of my life, the thorn in my +side ever since you first stirred there--a perpetual reminder of what I +would have given my very soul to forget? Do you understand, I say? Do you +understand? Or must I put it plainer still? You--the child of my +shame--to dare to set yourself up against me!" + +She ended upon what was almost a note of loathing, and Dinah shuddered +from head to foot. It was to her as if she had been rolled in pitch. She +felt overwhelmed with the cruel degradation of it, the unspeakable shame. + +Mrs. Bathurst watched her anguished distress with a species of bitter +satisfaction. "That'll take the fight out of you, my girl," she said. "Or +if it doesn't, I've another sort of remedy yet to try. Now, you start on +that letter, do you hear? It'll be a bit shaky, but none the worse for +that. Write and tell him you've changed your mind! Beg him humble-like to +take you back!" + +But Dinah only bowed her head upon her hands and sat crushed. + +Mrs. Bathurst gave her a few seconds to recover her balance. Then again +mercilessly she shook her by the shoulder. + +"Come, Dinah! I'm not going to be defied. Are you going to write that +letter at once? Or must I take stronger measures?" + +And then a species of wild courage entered into Dinah. She turned at last +at bay. "I will not write it! I would sooner die! If--if this thing is +true, it would be far easier to die! I couldn't marry any man now who had +any pride of birth." + +She was terribly white, but she faced her tormentor unflinching, her eyes +like stars. And it came to Mrs. Bathurst with unpleasant force that she +had taken a false step which it was impossible to retrace. It was then +that the evil spirit that had been goading her entered in and took full +possession. + +She gripped Dinah's shoulder till she winced with pain. "Mother, you--you +are hurting me!" + +"Yes, and I will hurt you," she made answer. "I'll hurt you as I've never +hurt you yet if you dare to disobey me! I'll crush you to the earth +before I will endure that from you. Now! For the last time! Will you +write that letter? Think well before you refuse again!" + +She towered over Dinah with awful determination, wrought up to a pitch of +fury by her resistance that almost bordered upon insanity. + +Dinah's boldness waned swiftly before the iron force that countered it. +But her resolution remained unshaken, a resolution from which no power on +earth could move her. + +"I can't do it--possibly," she said. + +"You mean you won't?" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +Dinah nodded, and gripped the table hard to endure what should follow. + +"You--mean--you won't?" Mrs. Bathurst said again very slowly. + +"I will not." The white lips spoke the words, and closed upon them. Dinah +sat rigid with apprehension. + +Mrs. Bathurst took her hand from her shoulder and turned from her. The +candle that had been burning all the evening was low in its socket. She +lifted it out and went to the fireplace. There were some shavings in the +grate. She pushed the lighted candle end in among them; then, as the fire +roared up the chimney, she turned. + +An open trunk was close to her with the dainty pale green dress that +Dinah had worn the previous evening lying on the top. She took it up, and +bundled the soft folds together. Then violently she flung it on to the +flames. + +Dinah gave a cry of dismay, and started to her feet. "Mother! What are +you doing? Mother! Are you mad?" + +Mrs. Bathurst looked at her with eyes of blazing vindictiveness. "If you +are not going to be married, you won't need a trousseau," she said +grimly. "These things are quite unfit for a girl in your station. For +Lady Studley they would of course have been suitable, but not for such as +you." + +She turned back to the open trunk with the words, and began to sweep +together every article of clothing it contained. Dinah watched her in +horror-stricken silence. She remembered with odd irrelevance how once in +her childhood for some petty offence her mother had burnt a favourite +doll, and then had whipped her soundly for crying over her loss. + +She did not cry now. Her tears seemed frozen. She did not feel as if she +could ever cry again. The cold that enwrapped her was beginning to reach +her heart. She thought she was getting past all feeling. + +So in mute despair she watched the sacrifice of all that Isabel's loving +care had provided. So much thought had been spent upon the delicate +finery. They had discussed and settled each dainty garment together. She +had revelled in the thought of all the good things which she was to +wear--she who had never worn anything that was beautiful before. And +now--and now--they shrivelled in the roaring flame and dropped into grey +ash in the fender. + +It was over at last. Only the wedding-dress remained. But as Mrs. +Bathurst laid merciless hands upon this also, Dinah uttered a bitter cry. + +"Oh, not that! Not that!" + +Her mother paused. "Will you wear it to-morrow if Sir Eustace will have +you?" she demanded. + +"No! Oh no!" Dinah tottered back against her bed and covered her eyes. + +She could not watch the destruction of that fairy thing. But it went so +quickly, so quickly. When she looked up again, it had crumbled away like +the rest, and the shimmering veil with it. Nothing, nothing was left of +all the splendour that had been hers. + +She sank down on the foot of the bed. Surely her mother would be +satisfied now! Surely her lust for vengeance could devise no further +punishment! + +She was nearing the end of her strength, and she was beginning to know +it. The room swam before her dizzy sight. Her mother's figure loomed +gigantic, scarcely human. + +She saw her poke down the last of the cinders and turn to the door. There +was a pungent smell of smoke in the room. She wondered if she would ever +be able to cross that swaying, seething floor to open the window. She +closed her eyes and listened with straining ears for the closing of the +door. + +It came, and following it, a sharp click as of the turning of a key. She +looked up at the sound, and saw her mother come back to her. She was +carrying something in one hand, something that dangled and east a +snake-like shadow. + +She came to the cowering girl and caught her by the arm. "Now get up!" +she ordered brutally. "And take the rest of your punishment!" + +Truly Dinah drank the cup of bitterness to the dregs that night. Mentally +she had suffered till she had almost ceased to feel. But physically her +powers of endurance had not been so sorely tried. But her nerves were +strung to a pitch when even a sudden movement made her tingle, and upon +this highly-tempered sensitiveness the punishment now inflicted upon her +was acute agony. It broke her even more completely than it had broken her +in childhood. Before many seconds had passed the last shred of her +self-control was gone. + +Guy Bathurst, lying comfortably in bed, was aroused from his first +slumber by a succession of sharp sounds like the lashing of a loosened +creeper against the window, but each sound was followed by an anguished +cry that sank and rose again like the wailing of a hurt child. + +He turned his head and listened. "By Jove! That's too bad of Lydia," he +said. "I suppose she won't be satisfied till she's had her turn, but I +shall have to interfere if it goes on." + +It did not go on for long; quite suddenly the cries ceased. The other +sounds continued for a few seconds more, then ceased also, and he turned +upon his pillow with a sigh of relief. + +A minute later he was roused again by the somewhat abrupt entrance of his +wife. She did not speak to him, but stood by the door and rummaged in the +pockets of his shooting-coat that hung there. + +Bathurst endured in silence for a few moments; then, "Oh, what on earth +are you looking for?" he said with sleepy irritation. "I wish you'd go." + +"I want your brandy flask," she said, and her words came clipped and +sharp. "Where is it?" + +"On the dressing-table," he said. "What have you been doing to the +child?" + +"I've given her as much as she can stand," his wife retorted grimly. "But +you leave her to me! I'll manage her." + +She departed with a haste that seemed to denote a certain anxiety +notwithstanding her words. + +She left the door ajar, and the man turned again on his pillow and +listened uneasily. He was afraid Lydia had gone too far. + +For a space he heard nothing. Then came the splashing of water, and again +that piteous, gasping cry. He caught the sound of his wife's voice, but +what she said he could not hear. Then there were movements, and Dinah +spoke in broken supplication that went into hysterical sobbing. Finally +he heard his wife come out of the room and close the door behind her. + +She came back again with the brandy flask. "She's had a lesson," she +observed, "that I rather fancy she'll never forget as long as she lives." + +"Then I hope you're satisfied," said Bathurst, and turned upon his side. + +Yes, Dinah had had a lesson. She had passed through a sevenfold furnace +that had melted the frozen fountain of her tears till it seemed that +their flow would never be stayed again. She wept for hours, wept till she +was sick and blind with weeping, and still she wept on. And bitter shame +and humiliation watched beside her all through that dreadful night, +giving her no rest. + +For she had gone through this fiery torture, this cruel chastisement of +mind and body, all for what? For love of a man who felt nought but +kindness for her,--for the dear memory of a golden vision that would +never be hers again. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE COMING OF GREATHEART + + +It was soon after nine on the following morning that Scott presented +himself on horseback at the gate of Dinah's home. It had been his +intention to tie up his animal and enter, but he was met in the entrance +by Billy coming out on a bicycle, and the boy at once frustrated his +intention. + +"Good morning, sir! Pleased to see you, but it's no good your coming in. +The pater's still in bed, and the mater's doing the house-work." + +"And Dinah?" said Scott. The question leapt from him almost +involuntarily. He had not meant to display any eagerness, and he sought +to cover it by his next words which were uttered with his usual careful +deliberation. "It's Dinah I have come to see. I have a message for her +from my sister." + +Billy's freckled face crumpled into troubled lines. "Dinah has cleared +out," he said briefly. "I'm just off to the station to try and get news +of her." + +"What?" Scott said, startled. + +The boy looked at him, his green eyes shrewdly confiding. "There's been +the devil of a row," he said. "The mater is furious with her. She gave +her a fearful licking last night to judge by the sounds. Dinah was +squealing like a rat. Of course girls always do squeal when they're hurt, +but I fancy the mater must have hit a bit harder than usual. And she's +burnt the whole of the trousseau too. Dinah was so mighty proud of all +her fine things. She'd feel that, you know, pretty badly." + +"Damnation!" Scott said, and for the second time he spoke without his own +volition. He looked at Billy with that intense hot light in his eyes that +had in it the whiteness of molten metal. "Do you mean that?" he said. +"Do you actually mean that your mother flogged her--flogged Dinah?" + +Billy nodded. "It's just her way," he explained half-apologetically. +"The mater is like that. She's rough and ready. She's always done it to +Dinah, had a sort of down on her for some reason. I guessed she meant +business last night when I saw the dog-whip had gone out of the hall. I +wished afterwards I'd thought to hide it, for it's rather a beastly +implement. But the mater's a difficult woman to baulk. And when she's in +that mood, it's almost better to let her have her own way. She's sure to +get it sooner or later, and a thing of that sort doesn't improve with +keeping." + +So spoke Billy with the philosophy of middle-aged youth, while the man +beside him sat with clenched hands and faced the hateful vision of Dinah, +the fairy-footed and gay of heart, writhing under that horrible and +humiliating punishment. + +He spoke at length, and some electricity within him made the animal under +him fidget and prance, for he stirred neither hand nor foot. "And you +tell me Dinah has run away?" + +"Yes, cleared out," said Billy tersely. "It was an idiotic thing to do, +for the mater is downright savage this morning, and she'll only give her +another hiding for her pains. She stayed away all day once before, years +ago when she was a little kid, and, my eye, didn't she catch it when she +came back! She never did it again--till now." + +"And you are going to the station to look for her?" Scott's voice was +dead level. He calmed the restive horse with a firm hand. + +"Yes; just to find out if she's gone by train. I don't believe she has, +you know. She's nowhere to go to. I expect she's hiding up in the woods +somewhere. I shall scour the country afterwards; for the longer she stays +away the worse it'll be for her. I'm sure of that," said Billy uneasily. +"When the mater lays hands on her again, she'll simply flay her." + +"She will not do anything of the sort," said Scott, and turned his +horse's head with resolution. "Come along and find her first! I will deal +with your mother afterwards." + +Billy mounted his bicycle and accompanied him. Though he did not see how +Scott was to prevent any further vengeance on his mother's part, it was a +considerable relief to feel that he had enlisted a champion on his +sister's behalf. For he was genuinely troubled about her, although the +cruel discipline to which she had been subjected all her life had so +accustomed him to seeing her in trouble that it affected him less than if +it had been a matter of less frequent occurrence. + +Scott's reception of his information had somewhat awed him. Like Dinah, +he had long ceased to look upon this man as insignificant. He rode beside +him in respectful silence. + +The country lane they followed crossed the railway by a bridge ere it ran +into the station road. There was a steep embankment on each side of the +line surmounted by woods, and as they reached the bridge Billy dismounted +to gaze searchingly into the trees. + +"She might be anywhere" he said. "This is a favourite place of hers +because the wind-flowers grow here. Somehow I've got a sort of +feeling--" He stopped short. "Why, there she is!" he exclaimed. + +Scott looked sharply in the same direction. Had he been alone, he would +not have perceived her, for she was crouched low against a thicket of +brambles and stunted trees midway down the embankment. She was clad in an +old brown mackintosh that so toned with her surroundings as to render her +almost invisible. Her chin was resting on her knees, and her face was +turned from them. She seemed to be gazing up the line. + +As they watched her, a signal near the bridge went down with a thud, and +it seemed to Scott that the little huddled figure started and stiffened +like a frightened doe. But she did not change her position, and she +continued to gaze up the long stretch of line as though waiting for +something. + +"What on earth is she doing?" whispered Billy. "There are no wind-flowers +there." + +Scott slipped quietly to the ground. "You wait here!" he said. "Hold my +animal, will you?" + +He left the bridge, retracing his steps, and climbed a railing that +fenced the wood. In a moment he disappeared among the trees, and Billy +was left to watch and listen in unaccountable suspense. + +The morning was dull, and a desolate wind moaned among the bare +tree-tops. He shivered a little. There was something uncanny in the +atmosphere, something that was evil. He kept his eyes upon Dinah, but she +was a considerable distance away, and he could not see that she stirred +so much as a finger. He wondered how long it would take Scott to reach +her, and began to wish ardently that he had been allowed to go instead. +The man was lame and he was sure that he could have covered the distance +in half the time. + +And then while he waited and watched, suddenly there came a distant +drumming that told of an approaching train. + +"The Northern express!" he said aloud. + +Many a time had he stood on the bridge to see it flash and thunder below +him. The sound of its approach had always filled him with a kind of +ecstasy before, but now--to-day--it sent another feeling through him,--a +sudden, wild dart of unutterable dread. + +"What rot!" he told himself, with an angry shake. "Oh, what rot!" + +But the dread remained coiled like a snake about his heart. + +The animal he held became restless, and he backed it off the bridge, but +he could not bring himself to go out of sight of that small, tragic +figure in the old mackintosh that sat so still, so still, there upon the +grassy slope. He watched it with a terrible fascination. Would Scott +never make his appearance? + +A white tuft of smoke showed against the grey of the sky. The throbbing +of the engine grew louder, grew insistent. A couple of seconds more and +it was within sight, still far away but rapidly drawing near. Where on +earth was Scott? Did he realize the danger? Ought he to shout? But +something seemed to grip his throat, holding him silent. He was powerless +to do anything but watch. + +Nearer came the train and nearer. Billy's eyes were starting out of his +head. He had never been so scared in all his life before. There was +something fateful in the pose of that waiting figure. + +The rush of the oncoming express dinned in his ears. It was close now, +and suddenly--suddenly as a darting bird--Dinah was on her feet. Billy +found his voice in a hoarse, croaking cry, but almost ere it left his +lips he saw Scott leap into view and run down the bank. + +By what force of will he made his presence known Billy never afterwards +could conjecture. No sound could have been audible above the clamour of +the train. Yet by some means--some electric battery of the mind--he made +the girl below aware of him. On the very verge of the precipice she +stopped, stood poised for a moment, then turned herself back and saw +him.... + +The train thundered by, shaking the ground beneath their feet, and rushed +under the bridge. The whole embankment was blotted out in white smoke, +and Billy reeled back against the horse he held. + +"By Jove!" he whispered shakily. "By--Jove! What a ghastly fright!" + +He wiped his forehead with a trembling hand, and led the animal away from +the bridge. Somehow he was feeling very sick--too sick to look any +longer, albeit the danger was past. + +The smoke cleared from the embankment, and two figures were left facing +one another on the grassy slope. Neither of them spoke a word. It was as +if they were waiting for some sign. Scott was panting, but Dinah did not +seem to be breathing at all. She stood there tense and silent, terribly +white, her eyes burning like stars. + +The last sound of the train died away in the distance, and then, such was +their utter stillness, from the thorn-bush close to them a thrush +suddenly thrilled into song. The soft notes fell balmlike into that awful +silence and turned it into sweetest music. + +Scott moved at last, and at once the bird ceased. It was as if an angel +had flown across the heaven with a silver flute of purest melody and +passed again into the unknown. + +He came to Dinah. "My dear," he said, and his voice was slightly shaky, +"you shouldn't be here." + +She stood before him, pillar-like, her two hands clenched against her +sides. Her lips were quite livid. They moved soundlessly for several +seconds before she spoke. "I--was waiting--for the express." + +Her voice was flat and emotionless. It sounded almost as if she were +talking in her sleep. And strangely it was that that shocked Scott even +more than her appearance. Dinah's voice had always held countless +inflections, little notes gay or sad like the trill of a robin. This was +the voice of a woman in whom the very last spark of hope was quenched. + +It pierced him with an intolerable pain. "Dinah--Dinah!" he said. "For +God's sake, child, you don't mean--that!" + +Her white, pinched face twisted in a dreadful smile. "Why not?" she said. +"There was no other way." And then a sudden quiver as of returning life +went through her. "Why did you stop me?" she said. "If you hadn't, it +would have been--all over by now." + +He put out a quick hand. "Don't say it,--in heaven's name! You are not +yourself. Come--come into the wood, and we will talk!" + +She did not take his hand. "Can't we talk here?" she said. + +He composed himself with an effort. "No, certainly not. Come into the +wood!" + +He spoke with quiet insistence. She gave him an inscrutable look. + +"You think you are going to help me,--Mr. Greatheart," she said, "but I +am past help. Nothing you can do will make any difference to me now." + +"Come with me nevertheless!" he said. + +He laid a gentle hand upon her shoulder, and she winced with a sharpness +that tore his heart. But in a moment she turned beside him and began the +ascent, slowly, labouringly, as if every step gave her pain. He moved +beside her, supporting her elbow when she faltered, steadily helping her +on. + +They entered the wood, and the desolate sighing of the wind encompassed +them. Dinah looked at her companion with the first sign of feeling she +had shown. + +"I must sit down," she said. + +"There is a fallen tree over there," he said, and guided her towards it. + +She leaned upon him, very near to collapse. He spread his coat upon the +tree and helped her down. + +"Now how long is it since you had anything to eat?" he said. + +She shook her head slightly. "I don't remember. But it doesn't matter. +I'm not hungry." + +He took one of her icy hands and began to rub it. "Poor child!" he said. +"You ought to be given some hot bread and milk and tucked up in bed with +hot bottles." + +Her face began to work. "That," she said, "is the last thing that will +happen to me." + +"Haven't you been to bed at all?" he questioned. + +Her throat was moving spasmodically; she bowed her head to hide her face +from him. "Yes," she said in a whisper. "My mother--my mother put me +there." And then as if the words burst from her against her will, "She +thrashed me first with a dog-whip; but dogs have got hair to protect +them, and I--had nothing. She only stopped because--I fainted. She hasn't +finished with me now. When I go back--when I go back--" She broke off. +"But I'm not going," she said, and her voice was flat and hard again. +"Even you can't make me do that. There'll be another express this +afternoon." + +Scott knelt down beside her, and took her bowed head on to his shoulder. +"Listen to me, Dinah!" he said. "I am going to help you, and you mustn't +try to prevent me. If you had only allowed me, I would have gone home +again with you yesterday, and this might have been avoided. My dear, +don't draw yourself away from me! Don't you know I am a friend you can +trust?" + +The pitiful tenderness of his voice reached her, overwhelming her first +instinctive effort to draw back. She leaned against him with painful, +long-drawn sobs. + +He held her closely to him with all a woman's understanding. "Oh, don't +cry any more, child!" he said. "You're worn out with crying." + +"I feel--so bad--so bad!" sobbed Dinah. + +"Yes, yes. I know. Of course you do. But it's over, it's over. No one +shall hurt you any more." + +"You don't--understand," breathed Dinah. "It never will be over--while I +live. I'm hurt inside--inside." + +"I know," he said again. "But it will get better presently. Isabel and I +are going to take you away from it all." + +"Oh no!" she said quickly. "No--no--no!" She lifted her head from his +shoulder and turned her poor, stained face upwards. "I couldn't do that!" +she said. "I couldn't! I couldn't!" + +"Wait!" he said gently. "Let me do what I can to help you now--before we +talk of that! Will you sit here quietly for a little, while I go and get +you some milk from that farm down the road?" + +"I don't want it," she said. + +"But I want you to have it," he made grave reply. "You will stay here? +Promise me!" + +"Very well," she assented miserably. + +He got up. "I shan't be gone long. Sit quite still till I come back!" + +He touched her dark head comfortingly and turned away. + +When he had gone a little distance he looked back, and saw that she was +crouched upon the ground again and crying with bitter, straining sobs +that convulsed her as though they would rend her from head to foot. With +tightened lips he hastened on his way. + +She had suffered a cruel punishment it was evident, and she was utterly +worn out in body and spirit. But was it only the ordeal of yesterday and +the physical penalty that she had been made to pay that had broken her +thus? + +He could not tell, but his heart bled for her misery and desolation. + +"Who is the other fellow?" he asked himself. "I wonder if Billy knows." + +He found Billy awaiting him in the road, anxious and somewhat +reproachful. "You've been such a deuce of a time," he said. "Is she all +right?" + +"She is very upset," he made answer. "And she is faint too for want of +food." + +"That's not surprising," commented Billy. "She can't have had anything +since lunch yesterday. What shall I do? Run home and get something? The +mater can't want her to starve." + +"No." Scott's voice rang on a hard note. "She probably doesn't. But you +needn't go home for it. Run back to that farm we passed just now, and see +if you can get some hot milk! Be quick like a good chap! Here's the +money! I'll wait here." + +Billy seized his bicycle and departed on his errand. + +Scott began to walk his horse up and down, for inactivity was unbearable. +Every moment he spent away from poor, broken Dinah was torturing. Those +dreadful, hopeless tears of hers filled him with foreboding. He yearned +to return. + +Billy's absence lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour, and he was +beginning to get desperate over the delay when at last the boy returned +carrying a can of milk and a mug. + +"I had rather a bother to get it," he explained. "People are so mighty +difficult to stir, and I didn't want to tell 'em too much. I've promised +to take these things back again. I say, can't I come along with you now?" + +"I'd rather you didn't," Scott said. "I can manage best alone. Besides, +I'm going to ask you to do something more." + +"Anything!" said Billy readily. + +"Thanks. Well, will you ride this animal into Great Mallowes, hire a +closed car, and send it to the bridge here to pick me up? Then take him +back to the Court, and if anyone asks any questions, say I've met a +friend and I'm coming back on foot, but I may not be in to luncheon. Yes, +that'll do, I think. I'll see about returning these things. Much obliged, +Billy. Good-bye!" + +Billy looked somewhat disappointed at this dismissal, but the prospect of +a ride was dear to his boyish heart, and in a moment he nodded cheerily. +"All right, I'll do that. I'll hide my bicycle in the wood and fetch it +afterwards. But where are you going to take her to?" + +Scott smiled also faintly and enigmatically. "Leave that to me, my good +fellow! I shan't run away with her." + +"But I shall see her again some time?" urged Billy, as he dumped his +long-suffering machine over the railing and propped it out of sight +behind the hedge. + +"No doubt you will." Scott's tone was kindly and reassuring. "But I think +I can help her better just now than you can, so I'll be getting back to +her. Good-bye, boy! And thanks again!" + +"So long!" said Billy, vaulting back and thrusting his foot into the +stirrup. "You might let me hear how you get on." + +"I will," promised Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION + + +When Scott reached the fallen tree again, Dinah's fit of weeping was +over. She was lying exhausted and barely conscious against his coat. + +She opened her eyes as he knelt down beside her. "You are--good," she +whispered faintly. + +He poured out some milk and held it to her. "Try to drink some!" he said +gently. + +She put out a trembling hand. + +"No; let me!" he said. + +She submitted in silence, and he lifted the glass to her lips and held it +very steadily while slowly she drank. + +Her eyes were swollen and burning with the shedding of many scalding +tears. Now and then a sharp sob rose in her throat so that she could not +swallow. + +"Take your time!" he said. "Don't hurry it!" + +But ere she finished, the tears were running down her face again. He set +down the glass, and with his own handkerchief he wiped them away. Then he +sat upon the low tree-trunk, and drew her to lean against him. + +"When you're feeling better, we'll have a talk," he said. + +She hid her face with a piteous gesture against his knee. "I don't +see--the good of talking," she said, in muffled accents. "It can't make +things--any better." + +"I'm not so sure of that," he said. "Anyhow we can't leave things as they +are. You will admit that." + +Dinah was silent. + +He went on with the utmost gentleness. "I want to get you away from here. +Isabel is going down to Heath-on-Sea and she wants you to come too. It's +a tiny place. We have a cottage there with the most wonderful garden for +flowers you ever saw. It isn't more than thirty yards square, and there +is a cliff path down to the beach. Isabel loves the place. The yacht is +there too, and we go for cruises on calm days. I am hoping Isabel may +pick up a little there, and she is always more herself when you are with +her. You won't disappoint her, will you?" + +A great-shiver went through Dinah. "I can't come," she said, almost under +her breath. "It just--isn't possible." + +"What is there to prevent?" he asked. + +She moved a little, and lifted her head from its resting-place. "Ever so +many things," she said. + +"You are thinking of Eustace?" he questioned. "He has gone already--gone +to town. He will probably go abroad; but in any case he will not get in +your way." + +"I wasn't thinking of him," Dinah said. + +"Then of what?" he questioned. "Your mother? I will see her, and make +that all right." + +She started and lifted her face. "Oh no! Oh no! You must never dream of +doing that!" she declared, with sudden fevered urgency. "I couldn't bear +you to see her. You mustn't think of it, indeed--indeed! Why I would +even--even sooner go back myself." + +"Then I must write to her," he said, gently ceding the point. "It is not +essential that I should see her. Possibly even, a letter would be +preferable." + +Dinah's face had flushed fiery red. She did not meet his eyes. "I don't +see why you should have anything to do with her," she said. "You would +never get her to consent." + +"Then I propose that we act first," said Scott. "Isabel is leaving +to-day. You can join her at Great Mallowes and go on together. I shall +follow in a couple of days. There are several matters to be attended to +first. But Isabel and Biddy will take care of you. Come, my dear, you +won't dislike that so very badly!" + +"Dislike it!" Dinah caught back another sob. "I should love it above all +things if it were possible. But it isn't--it isn't." + +"Why not?" he questioned. "Surely your father would not raise any +objection?" + +She shook her head. "No--no! He doesn't care what happens to me. I used +to think he did; but he doesn't--he doesn't." + +"Then what is the difficulty?" asked Scott. + +She was silent, and he saw the hot colour spreading over her neck as she +turned her face away. + +"Won't you tell me?" he urged gently. "Is there some particular reason +why you want to stay?" + +"Oh no! I'm not going to stay." Quickly she made answer. "I am never +going back. I couldn't after--after--" She broke off in quivering +distress. + +"I think your mother will be sorry presently," he said. "People with +violent tempers generally repent very deeply afterwards." + +Dinah turned upon him suddenly and hotly. "She will never repent!" she +declared. "She hates me. She has always hated me. And I hate her--hate +her--hate her!" + +The concentrated passion of her made her vibrate from head to foot. Her +eyes glittered like emeralds. She was possessed by such a fury of hatred +as made her scarcely recognizable. + +Scott looked at her steadily for a moment or two. Then: "But it does you +more harm than good to say so," he said. "And it doesn't answer my +question, does it? Dinah, if you don't feel that you can do this thing +for your own sake, won't you do it for Isabel's? She is needing you badly +just now." + +The vindictive look went out of Dinah's face. Her eyes softened, and he +saw the hopeless tears well up again. "But I couldn't help her any more," +she said. + +"The very fact of having you to care for would help her," Scott said. + +Dinah shook her head. She was sitting on the ground with her hands +clasped round her knees. As the tears splashed down again, she turned her +face away. + +"It wouldn't help her, it wouldn't help anybody, to have me as I am now," +she said. "I can't tell you--I can't explain. But--I am not fit to +associate with anyone good." + +Scott leaned towards her. "Dinah, my dear, you are torturing yourself," +he said. "It's natural, I know. You have had no sleep, and you have cried +yourself ill. But I am not going to give in to you. I am not going to +take No for an answer. You have no plans for yourself, and I doubt if in +your present state you are capable of forming any. Isabel wants you, and +it would be cruel to disappoint her. So you and I will join her at Great +Mallowes this afternoon. I will deal with your people in the matter, but +I do not anticipate any great difficulty in that direction. Now that is +settled, and you need not weary yourself with any further discussion. I +am responsible, and I will bear my responsibility." + +His tone was kind but it held unmistakable finality. + +Dinah uttered a heavy sigh, and said no more. She lacked the strength for +prolonged opposition. + +He persuaded her to drink some more of the milk, and made a cushion of +his coat for her against the tree. + +"Perhaps you will get a little sleep," he said, as she suffered herself +to relax somewhat. "Will it disturb you if I smoke?" + +"No," she said. + +He took out his case. "Shut your eyes!" he said practically. + +But Dinah's eyes remained open, watching him. He began to smoke as if +unaware of her scrutiny. + +After several moments she spoke. "Scott!" + +He turned to her. "Yes? What is it?" + +The piteous, shamed colour rose up under his eyes. Again she turned her +face away. "That--that sapphire pendant!" she murmured. "I brought it +with me. Of course--I know--the presents will have to be returned. I +didn't mean to--to run away with it. But--but--I loved it so. I couldn't +have borne my mother to touch it. Shall I--shall I give it you now?" + +"No, dear," he answered firmly. "Neither now nor at any time. I gave it +to you as a token of friendship, and I would like you to keep it always +for that reason." + +"Always?" questioned Dinah. "Even if--if I never marry at all?" + +"Certainly," he said. + +"Because I never shall marry now," she said, speaking with difficulty. +"I--have quite given up that idea." + +"I should like you to keep it in any case," Scott said. + +"You are very good," she said earnestly. "I--I wonder you will have +anything to do with me now that you know how--how wicked I am." + +"I don't think you wicked," he said. + +"Don't you?" She opened her heavy eyes a little. "You don't blame me +for--for--" She broke off shuddering, and as she did so, there came again +the rumble and roar of a distant train. "Then why did you stop me?" she +whispered tensely. + +Scott was silent for a moment or two. He was gazing straight before him. +At length, "I stopped you," he said, "because I had to. It doesn't matter +why. You would have done the same in my place. But I don't blame you, +partly because it is not my business, and partly because I know quite +well that you didn't realize what you were doing." + +"I did realize," Dinah said. "If it weren't for you--because you are so +good--nothing would have stopped me. Even now--even now--" again the hot +tears came--"I've nothing to live for, and--and--God--doesn't--care." +She turned her face into her arm and wept silently. + +Scott made a sudden movement, and threw his cigarette away. Then swiftly +he bent over her. + +"Dinah," he said, "stop crying! You're making a big mistake." + +His tone was arresting, imperative. She looked up at him almost in spite +of herself. His eyes gazed straight into hers, and it seemed to her that +there was something magnetic, something that was even unearthly, in their +close regard. + +"You are making a mistake," he repeated. "God always cares. He cared +enough to send a friend to look after you. Do you want any stronger proof +than that?" + +"I--don't--know," Dinah said, awe-struck. + +"Think about it!" Scott insisted. "Do you seriously imagine that it was +just chance that brought me along at that particular moment? Do you think +it was chance that made you draw back yesterday from giving yourself to a +man you don't love? Was it chance that sent you to Switzerland in the +first place? Don't you know in your heart that God has been guiding you +all through?" + +"I don't know," Dinah said again, but there was less of hopelessness in +her voice. The shining certainty in Scott's eyes was warring with her +doubt. "But then, why has He let me suffer so?" + +"Why did He suffer so Himself?" Scott said. "Except that He might learn +obedience? It's a bitter lesson to all of us, Dinah; but it's got to be +learnt." + +"You have learnt it!" she said, with a touch of her own impulsiveness. + +He smiled a little--smiled and sighed. "I wonder. I've learnt anyhow to +believe in the goodness of God, and to know that though we can't see Him +in all things, it's not because He isn't there. Even those who know Him +best can't realize Him always." + +"But still you are sure He is there?" Dinah questioned. + +"I am quite sure," he said, with a conviction so absolute that it placed +further questioning beyond the bounds of possibility. "Life is full of +problems which it is out of any man's power to solve. But to anyone who +will take the trouble to see them the signs are unmistakable. There is +not a single soul that is left unaccounted for in the reckoning of God. +He cares for all." + +There was no contradicting him; Dinah was too weary for discussion in any +case. But he had successfully checked her tears at last; he had even in a +measure managed to comfort her torn soul. She lay for a space pondering +the matter. + +"I am afraid I am one of those who don't take the trouble," she said at +length. "But I shall try to now. Thank you for all your goodness to me, +Mr. Greatheart." She smiled at him wanly. "I don't deserve it--not a +quarter of it. But I'm grateful all the same. Please won't you have your +smoke now, and forget me and my troubles?" + +That smile cheered Scott more than any words. He recognized moreover that +the delicate touch of reserve that characterized her speech was the first +evidence of returning self-control that she had manifested. + +He took out his cigarette-case again. "I hope you haven't found me +over-presumptuous," he said. + +Dinah reached up a trembling hand. "Presumptuous for helping me in the +Valley of Humiliation?" she said. + +He took the hand and held it firmly. "I am so used to it myself," he +said, in a low voice. "I ought to know a little about it." + +"Perhaps," said Dinah thoughtfully, "that is what makes you great." + +He raised his shoulders slightly. "You have always seen me through a +magnifying-glass," he said whimsically. "Some day the fates will reverse +that glass and then you will be unutterably shocked." + +Dinah smiled again and shook her head. "I know you," she said. + +He lighted his cigarette, and then brought out a pocket-book. "I want to +write a note to Isabel," he said. "You don't mind?" + +"About me?" questioned Dinah. + +"About the arrangements I am making. She is motoring to Great Mallowes in +any case to catch the afternoon express." + +"Oh!" said Dinah, and coloured vividly, painfully. + +Scott did not see. "I can get someone at the farm to take the message," +he said. "And when once you are with Isabel I shall feel easy about you." + +"And--and--my--mother?" faltered Dinah. + +"I shall write to her this afternoon while we are waiting for Isabel," +said Scott quietly. + +"What--shall you say?" whispered Dinah. + +"Do you mind leaving that entirely to me?" he said. + +"She will be--furious," she murmured. "She might--out of revenge come +after us. What then?" + +"She will certainly not do that," said Scott, "as she will not know your +address. Besides, people do not remain furious, you know. They cool down, +and then they are generally ashamed of themselves. Don't let us talk +about your mother!" + +"The de Vignes then," said Dinah, turning from the subject with relief. +"Tell me what happened! Was the Colonel very angry?" + +Scott's mouth twitched slightly. "Not in the least," he said. + +"Not really!" Dinah looked incredulous for a moment; then: "Perhaps he +thinks there is a fresh chance for Rose," she said. + +"Perhaps he does," agreed Scott dryly. "In any case, he is more disposed +to smile than frown, and as Eustace wasn't there to see it, it didn't +greatly matter." + +"Oh, poor Eustace!" she whispered. "It--was dreadful to hurt him so." + +"I think he will get over it," Scott said. + +"He was much--kinder--than--than I deserved," she murmured. + +Scott's faint smile reappeared. "Perhaps he found it difficult to be +anything else," he said. + +She shook her head. "I wonder--how I came to make--such a dreadful +mistake." + +"It wasn't your fault," said Scott. + +She looked at him quickly. "What makes you say that?" + +He met her look gravely. "Because I know just how it happened," he said. +"You were neither of you in earnest in the first place. I am afraid I had +a hand in making Eustace propose to you. I was afraid--and so was +Isabel--you would be hurt by his trifling." + +"And you interfered?" breathed Dinah. + +He nodded. "Yes, I told him it must be one thing or the other. I wanted +you to be happy. But instead of helping you, I landed you in this mess." + +Something in his tone touched her. She laid a small shy hand upon his +knee. "It was--dear of you, Scott," she said very earnestly. "Thank +you--ever so much--for what you did." + +He put his hand on hers. "My dear, I would have given all I had to have +undone it afterwards. It is very generous of you to take it like that. I +have often wanted to kick myself since." + +"Then you must never want to again," she said. "Do you know I'm so glad +you've told me? It was so--fine of you--to do that for me. I'm sure you +couldn't have wanted me for a sister-in-law even then." + +"I wanted you to be happy," Scott reiterated. + +She uttered a quick sigh. "Happiness isn't everything, is it?" + +"Not everything, no," he said. + +She grasped his hand hard. "I'm going to try to be good instead," she +said. "Will you help me?" + +He smiled at her somewhat sadly. "If you think my help worth having," he +said. + +"But of course it is," she made warm answer. "You are the strong man who +helps everyone. You are--Greatheart." + +He looked at her still smiling and slowly shook his head. "Now, if you +don't mind," he said, "I will write my note to Isabel." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SPOKEN IN JEST + + +The afternoon was well advanced when Scott returned to Perrythorpe Court. +No sounds of revelry greeted him as he entered. A blazing fire was +burning in the hall, but no one was there to enjoy the warmth. The gay +crowd that had clustered before the great hearth only yesterday had all +dispersed. The place was empty. + +"Can I get you anything, sir?" enquired the man who admitted him. + +His voice was sepulchral. Scott smiled a little. "Yes, please. A whisky +and soda. Where is everybody?" + +"The Colonel and Miss Rose went out riding, sir, after the guests had all +gone, and they have not yet returned. Her ladyship is resting in her +room." + +"Everyone gone but me?" questioned Scott, with a whimsical lift of the +eyebrows. + +The man bent his head decorously. "I believe so, sir. There was a general +feeling that it would be more fitting as the marriage was not to take +place as arranged. I understand, sir, that the family will shortly +migrate to town." + +"Really?" said Scott. + +He bent over the fire, for the evening was chilly, and he was tired to +the soul. The man coughed and withdrew. Again the silence fell. + +A face he knew began to look up at Scott out of the leaping +flames--a face that was laughing and provocative one moment, wistful +and tear-stained the next. + +He heaved a sigh as he followed the fleeting vision. "Will she ever be +happy again?" he asked himself. + +The last sight he had had of her had cut him to the heart. She had +conquered her tears at last, but her smile was the saddest thing he had +ever seen. It was as though her vanished childhood had suddenly looked +forth at him and bidden him farewell. He felt that he would never see +the child Dinah again. + +The return of the servant with his drink brought him back to his +immediate surroundings. He sat down in an easy-chair before the fire to +mix it. + +The man turned to go, but he had not reached the end of the hall when the +front-door bell rang again. He went soft-footed to answer it. + +Scott glanced over his shoulder as the door opened, and heard his own +name. + +"Is Mr. Studley here?" a man's voice asked. + +"Yes, sir. Just here, sir," came the answer, and Scott rose with a weary +gesture. + +"Oh, here you are!" Airily Guy Bathurst advanced to meet him. "Don't let +me interrupt your drink! I only want a few words with you." + +"I'll fetch another glass, sir" murmured the discreet man-servant, and +vanished. + +Scott stood, stiff and uncompromising, by his chair. There was a hint of +hostility in his bearing. "What can I do for you?" he asked. + +Bathurst ignored his attitude with that ease of manner of which he was a +past-master. "Well I thought perhaps you could give me news of Dinah" he +said. "Billy tells me he left you with her this morning." + +"I see" said Scott. He looked at the other man with level, unblinking +eyes. "You are beginning to feel a little anxious about her?" he +questioned. + +"Well, I think it's about time she came home," said Bathurst. He took out +a cigarette and lighted it. "Her mother is wondering what has become of +her," he added, between the puffs. + +"I posted a letter to Mrs. Bathurst about an hour ago," said Scott. "She +will get it in the morning." + +"Indeed!" Bathurst glanced at him. "And is her whereabouts to remain a +mystery until then?" + +"That letter will reassure you as to her safety," Scott returned quietly. +"But it will not enlighten you as to her whereabouts. She is in good +hands, and it is not her intention to return home--at least for the +present. Under the circumstances you could scarcely compel her to do so." + +"I never compel her to do anything," said Bathurst comfortably. "Her +mother keeps her in order, I have nothing to do with it." + +"Evidently not." A sudden sharp quiver of scorn ran through Scott's +words. "Her mother may make her life a positive hell, but it's no +business of yours!" + +A flicker of temper shone for a second in Bathurst's eyes. The scorn had +penetrated even his thick skin. "None whatever," he said deliberately. +"Nor of yours either, so far as I can see." + +"There you are wrong." Hotly Scott took him up. "It is the duty of every +man to prevent cruelty. Dinah has been treated like a bond-slave all her +life. What were you about to allow it?" + +He flung the question fiercely. The man's careless repudiation of all +responsibility aroused in him a perfect storm of indignation. He was +probably more angry at that moment than he had ever been before. + +Guy Bathurst stared at him for a second or two, his own resentment +quenched in amazement. Finally he laughed. + +"If you were married to my wife, you'd know," he said. "Personally I like +a quiet life. Besides, discipline is good for youngsters. I think Lydia +is disposed to carry it rather far, I admit. But after all, a woman can't +do much damage to her own daughter. And anyhow it isn't a man's business +to interfere." + +He broke off as the servant reappeared, and seated himself in a chair on +the other side of the fire. He drank some whisky and water in large, +appreciative gulps, and resumed his cigarette. + +"If Dinah had seriously wanted to get away from it, she should have +married your brother," he said then. "It was her own doing entirely, this +last affair. A girl shouldn't jilt her lover at the last moment if she +isn't prepared to face the consequences. She knows her mother's temper by +this time, I should imagine. She might have guessed what was in store for +her." He looked across at Scott as one seeking sympathy. "You'll admit it +was a tomfool thing to do," he said. "I don't wonder at her mother +wanting to make her smart for it. I really don't. Dinah ought to have +known her own mind." + +"She knows it now," said Scott grimly. + +"Yes. So it appears. By the way, have you any idea what induced her to +throw your brother over in that way just at the last minute? It would be +interesting to know." + +"Did she give you no reason?" said Scott. He hated parleying with the +man, but something impelled him thereto. + +Guy Bathurst leaning back at his ease with his cigarette between his +lips, uttered a careless laugh. "She seemed to think she wasn't in love +with him. We couldn't get any more out of her than that. As a matter of +fact her mother was too furious to attempt it. But there must have been +some other reason. I wondered if you knew what it was." + +"I shouldn't have thought it essential that there should have been any +other reason," Scott said deliberately. "If there is--I am not in her +confidence." + +He was still on his feet as if he wished it to be clearly understood that +he did not intend their conversation to develop into anything of the +nature of friendly intercourse. + +Bathurst continued to smoke, but a faint air of insolence was apparent in +his attitude. He was not accustomed to being treated with contempt, and +the desire awoke within him to find some means of disconcerting this +undersized whippersnapper who had almost succeeded in making him feel +cheap. + +"You haven't been making love to her on your own account by any chance, I +suppose?" he enquired lazily. + +Scott's eyes flashed upon him a swift and hawk-like regard, and the +hauteur that so often characterized his brother suddenly descended upon +him and clothed him as a mantle. + +"I have not," he said. + +"Quite sure?" persisted Bathurst, still amiably smiling. "It's my belief +she's smitten with you, you know. I've thought so all along. Funny idea, +isn't it? Never occurred to you of course?" + +Scott made no reply, but his silence was more scathing than speech. It +served to arouse all the rancour of which Bathurst's indolent nature was +capable. + +"No accounting for women's preference, is there?" he said. "You ought to +feel vastly flattered, my good sir. It isn't many women would put you +before that handsome brother of yours. How did you work it, eh? Come, +you're caught! So you may as well own up." + +Scott shrugged his shoulders abruptly, disdainfully, and turned from him. +"If you choose to amuse yourself at your daughter's expense, I cannot +prevent you," he said. "But there is not a grain of truth in your +insinuation. I repudiate it absolutely." + +"My dear fellow, that's a bit thick," laughed Bathurst; he had found +the vulnerable spot, and he meant to make the most of it. "Do you +actually expect me to believe that you won her away from your brother +without knowing it? That's rather a tough proposition, too tough for my +middle-aged digestion. You've been trifling with her young affections, +but you are not man enough to own it." + +"You are wrong, utterly wrong," Scott said. He restrained himself with +difficulty; for still something was at work within him urging him to be +temperate. "Dinah has never dreamed of falling in love with me. As you +say, the bare idea is manifestly absurd." + +"Then who is she in love with?" demanded Bathurst, with lazy insistence. +"You're the only other man she knows, and there's certainly someone. No +girl would throw up such a catch as your brother for the mere sentiment +of the thing. It stands to reason there must be someone else. And there +is no one but you. She doesn't know anyone else, I tell you. She has no +opportunities. Her mother sees to that." + +Scott was bending over the fire, his face to the flame. His indignation +had died down. He was very still, as one deep in thought. Could it be the +true word spoken in ill-timed jest which he had just heard? He wondered; +he wondered. + +A golden radiance was spreading forth to him from the heart of those +leaping flames, like the coming of the dawnlight over the dark earth. He +watched it spell-bound, utterly unmindful of the man behind him. If this +thing were true! Ah, if this thing were true! + +A sudden sound made him turn to see Colonel de Vigne and his daughter +enter. + +They came forward to greet him and Bathurst. Rose was smiling; her eyes +were softly bright. + +"How happy she looks!" was the thought that occurred to him, but it was +only a passing thought. It vanished in a moment as he heard her accost +Bathurst. + +"How is our poor little Dinah by this time?" + +"You had better ask this gentleman," airily responded Bathurst. "He has +elected to make himself responsible for her welfare." + +Rose's delicate brows went up, but very strangely Scott no longer felt in +the least disconcerted. He replied to her unspoken query without +difficulty. + +"Dinah felt that she could not face the gossips," he said, "and as Isabel +was badly wanting her, they have gone away together. Except for old +Biddy, they will be quite alone, and it will do them both all the good in +the world." + +Rose's brow cleared. "What an excellent arrangement!" she murmured +sympathetically. "And--your brother?" + +Scott smiled. "Needless to say, he is not of the party. His plans are +somewhat uncertain. He may go abroad for a time, but I doubt if he +banishes himself for long when the London season is in full swing." + +Rose's smile answered his. "I think he is very wise," she said. "When +Easter is over, we shall probably follow his example. I hope we shall +have the pleasure of meeting you when we are all in town." + +"Ha! So do I," said the Colonel. "You must look me up at the Club--any +time. I shall be delighted." + +"You are very kind," Scott said. "But I go to town very rarely, and I +never stay there. My brother is far more of a society man than I am." + +"You will have to come out of your shell," smiled Rose. + +"Quite so--quite so," agreed the Colonel. "It isn't fair to cheat +society, you know. If we can't dance at your brother's wedding, you might +give us the pleasure of dancing at yours." + +Bathurst uttered a careless laugh. "I've just been accusing him of +cutting his brother out," he said lightly. "But he denies all knowledge +of the transaction." + +"Oh, but what a shame!" interposed Rose quickly. "Mr. Studley, we won't +listen to this gossip. Will you come up to my sitting-room, and show me +that new game of Patience you were talking about yesterday? Bring your +drink with you!" + +He went with her almost in silence. + +In her own room she turned upon him with a wonderful, illumined smile, +and held out her hand. + +"I won't have you badgered," she said. "But--it is true, is it not?" + +He took her hand, looking straight into her beautiful eyes. There was +more life in her face at that moment than he had ever seen before. She +was as one suddenly awakened. "What is true, Miss de Vigne?" he +questioned. + +"That you care for her," she answered, "that she cares for you." + +His look remained full upon her. "In a friendly sense, yes," he said. + +"In no other sense?" she insisted. Her eyes were shining, as if her whole +soul were suddenly alight with animation. "Tell me," she said, as he did +not speak immediately, "have you ever cared for her merely as a friend?" + +There was no evading the question, neither for some reason could he +resent it. He hesitated for a second or two; then, "You have guessed +right," he said quietly. "But she has never suspected it, and--she never +will." + +To his surprise Rose frowned. "But why not tell her?" she said. "Surely +she has a right to know!" + +He smiled and shook his head. "Pardon me! No one has the smallest right +to know. Would you say that of yourself if you cared for someone who did +not care for you?" + +She blushed under his eyes suddenly and very vividly, and in a moment +turned from him. "Ah, but that is different!" she said. "A woman is +different! If she gives her heart where it is not wanted, that is her +affair alone." + +He did not pursue his advantage; he liked her for the blush. + +"Isn't it rather an unprofitable discussion?" he said gently. "Suppose we +get to our game of Patience!" + +And Rose acquiesced in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE KNIGHT IN DISGUISE + + +A long, curling wave ran up the shingle and broke in a snow-white sheet +of foam just below Dinah's feet. She was perched on a higher ridge of +shingle, bareheaded, full in the glare of the mid-June sunlight. Her +brown hands were locked tightly around her knees. Her small, pointed face +looked wistfully over the sea. + +She had been sitting in that position for a long time, her green eyes +unblinking but swimming in the heat and glare. The dark ringlets on her +forehead danced in the soft breeze that came over the water. There was +tension in her attitude, the tension of deep and concentrated thought. + +Into the midst of her meditations, there came a slow, halting step. It +fell on the shingle behind her, reaching her above the roar of the +breakers, and instantly a flood of colour rushed up over her face and +neck. + +Sharply she turned. "Scott!" + +She was on her feet in a second with hand outstretched in welcome. + +"Oh, how you startled me! How good of you to come so soon! I--shouldn't +have left the house if I had known." + +"I came at once," he said simply. "But I have only just got here. I saw +you sitting on the shore and came straight to you. What news?" + +His quiet, deliberate voice was in striking contrast to her agitated +utterance. The hand that held hers was absolutely steady. + +She met his look with confidence. "Scott, she is going. You knew +it--didn't you?--when you were here last Sunday? She knew it too. She +didn't want you to go really. And so--directly I realized she was +worse--I sent for you. But--they say--even now she may linger for a +little. But you'll stay, won't you? You won't go again?" + +His grave eyes looked into hers. "Of course I will stay," he said. + +She drew a quick sigh of relief. "She scarcely slept last night. Her +breathing was so bad. It was very hot, you know. The nurse or I were +fanning her nearly all the time, till the morning breeze came at last. +And then she got quieter. She is asleep now. They say she will sleep +for hours. And so I slipped out just for a little, so as to be quite +fresh again when she wakes." + +"Don't you sleep at all?" Scott asked gently. + +The colour was fading from her face; it returned at his question. "Oh +yes, any time. It doesn't matter for me. I am so strong. And I can +sleep--afterwards." + +He looked down at the thin little hand he still held. "You mustn't wear +yourself out, Dinah," he said. + +Her lip quivered suddenly, "What does it matter?" she said. "I've nothing +else to live for." + +"I don't think we can any of us say that," he answered. "There is always +something left." + +She turned her face and looked over the sea. "I'm sure I don't know +what," she said, with a catch in her voice. "If--Isabel--were going to +live, if--if I could only have her always, I should be quite happy. I +shouldn't want anything else. But without her--life without her--after +these two months,--" her voice broke and ceased. + +"I know," Scott said. "I should have felt the same myself not so long +ago. I have let you slip into my place, you see; and it comes hard on you +now. But don't forget our friendship, Dinah! Don't forget I'm here!" + +She turned back, swallowing her tears with difficulty and gave him a +quivering smile. "Oh, I know. You are so good. And it was dear of you +to--to let me take your place with her. None but you would have done such +a thing." + +"My dear, it was far better for her, and she wished it," he interposed. +"Besides, with Eustace away, I had plenty to do. You mustn't twist that +into a virtue. It was the only course open to me. I knew that it would +lift her out of misery to have you, and--naturally--I wished it too." + +She nodded. "It was just like you. And I--I ought to have remembered that +it couldn't last. It has been such a comfort to--to have my darling to +love and care for. But oh, the blank when she is gone!" + +Scott was silent. + +"It's wrong to want to keep her, I know," Dinah went on wistfully. "She +has got so wonderfully happy of late; and I know it is the thought of +nearing the end of the journey that makes her so. And when I am with her, +I feel happy too for her sake. But when I am away from her--it--it's +all so dreary. I--feel so frightened and--alone." + +"Don't be frightened!" Scott said gently. "You never are alone." + +"Ah, but life is so difficult," she whispered. + +"It would be," he answered, "if we had to face it all at once. But, thank +God, that is not so. We can only see a little way ahead. We can only do a +little at a time." + +"Do you think that is a help?" she said. "I would give +anything--sometimes--to look into the future." + +"I think the burden would be greater than we could bear," Scott said. + +"Oh, do you? I think it would be such a relief to know." Dinah uttered a +sharp sigh. "It's no good talking," she said. "Only one thing is certain. +I'm not going to break with Billy of course, but I'll never go back to +Perrythorpe again, never as long as I live!" + +There was a quiver of passion in her voice. She looked at Scott with what +was almost a challenge in her eyes. + +He did not answer it. His face wore a look of perplexity. But, "If I were +in your place," he said quietly, "I think I should say the same." + +"I am sure you would," she said warmly. "I only tolerated it so long +because I didn't know what freedom was like. When I went to Switzerland, +I found out; and when I came back, it just wasn't endurable any longer. +But I wish I knew--I do wish I knew--what I were going to do." + +The words were out before she could stop them, but the moment they were +uttered she made a sharp gesture as though she would recall them. + +"I'm silly to talk like this," she said. "Please forget it!" + +He smiled a little. "Not silly, Dinah," he said, "but mistaken. Believe +me, the future is already provided for." + +Her brows contracted slightly. "Ah, you are good," she said. "You believe +in God." + +"So do you," he said, with quiet conviction. + +Her lip quivered. "I believe He would help anyone like you, but--but He +wouldn't bother Himself about me. There are too many others of the same +sort." + +Scott looked at her in genuine astonishment. "What a curious idea!" he +said. "You don't really think that, do you?" + +She nodded. "I can't help it. Life is such a maze of difficulties, and +one has to face them all alone." + +"You won't face yours alone," he said quickly. + +She smiled rather piteously. "I've faced all the worst bits alone so +far." + +"I know," Scott said. "But you are through the worst now." + +She shook her head doubtfully. "I'm afraid of life," she said. + +He saw that she did not wish to pursue the subject and put it gently +aside. "Shall we go in?" he said. "I should like to be at hand when +Isabel wakes." + +She turned beside him at once. Their talk went back to Isabel. They spoke +of her tenderly, as one nearing the end of a long and wearisome journey, +and as they approached the little white house on the heath above the sea, +Dinah gave somewhat hesitating utterance to a thought that had been +persistently in her mind of late. + +"Do you," she said, speaking with evident effort, "think that--Eustace +should be sent for?" + +"Does she want him?" said Scott. + +"I don't know. She never speaks of him. But then--that may be--for my +sake." Dinah's voice was very low and not wholly free from distress. "And +again--it may be on my account he is keeping away. She hasn't seen him +for these two months--not since we left Perrythorpe." + +"No," Scott said gravely. "I know." + +Dinah was silent for a brief space; then she braced herself for another +effort. "Scott, I--don't want to be--in anyone's way. If--if she would +like to see him, and if he--doesn't want to come--because of me, I--must +go, that's all." + +She spoke with resolution, and pausing at the gate that led off the heath +into the garden looked him straight in the face. + +"I want you," she said rather breathlessly, "to find out if--that is so. +And if it is--if it is--" + +"My dear, you needn't be afraid," Scott said. "I am quite sure that +Eustace wouldn't wish to drive you away. He might be doubtful as to +whether you would care to meet him again so soon, but if you had no +objection to his coming, he wouldn't deliberately stay away on his own +account. You know--I don't think you've ever realized it--he loves +Isabel." + +"Then he must want to come," she said quickly. "Oh, Scott, do you know--I +said a dreadful--a cruel--thing to him--that last day. If he really loves +her, it must have hurt him--terribly." + +"What did you say?" Scott asked. + +"I said--" the quick tears sprang to her eyes--"I said that he was unkind +to her, and that--that she was always miserable when he was there. Scott, +what made me say it? It was hateful of me! It was hateful!" + +"It was the truth," Scott said. He looked at her thoughtfully for a few +seconds, then very kindly he patted her hand as it rested on the gate. +"Don't be so distressed!" he said. "It probably did him good--even if it +did hurt. But I think you are right. If Isabel has the smallest wish to +see him, he must come. I will see what I can do." + +Dinah gave him a difficult smile. "You always put things right," she +said. + +He lifted his shoulders with a whimsical expression. "The +magnifying-glass again!" he said. + +"No," she protested. "No. I see you as you are." + +"Then you see a very ordinary citizen," he said. + +But Dinah shook her head. "A knight in disguise," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MOUNTAIN SIDE + + +When Isabel opened her eyes after a slumber that had lasted for the +greater part of the day, it was to find Scott seated beside her quietly +watching her. + +She reached a feeble hand to him with a smile of welcome. "Dear Stumpy, +when did you come?" + +"An hour or two ago," he said, and put the weak hand to his lips. "You +have had a good sleep, dear?" + +"Yes," she said. "Yes. It has done me good." She lay looking at him with +a smile still in her eyes. "I hope little Dinah is resting," she said. +"She was with me nearly all night. I didn't wish it, Stumpy, but the dear +child wouldn't leave till I was more comfortable." + +"She is resting for a little now," he said. "I am so sorry you had a bad +time last night." + +"Oh, don't be sorry for me!" she said softly. "My bad times are so nearly +over now. It is a waste of time to talk about them. She sent for you, did +she?" + +He bent his head. "She knew I would wish to be sent for. She fancied you +might be wanting me." + +"I do want you," she said, and into her wasted face there came a look of +unutterable tenderness. "Oh, Stumpy darling, need you leave me again?" + +He was still holding her hand; his fingers closed upon it at her words. + +"I think the last part may be--a little steep," she said wistfully. "I +would like to feel that you are near at hand. You have helped me so +often--so often. And then too--there is--my little Dinah. I want you to +help her too." + +"God knows I will do my best, dear," he said. + +Her fingers returned his pressure. "She has been so much to me--so much +to me," she whispered. "When I came here, I had no hope. But the care of +her, the comforting of her, opened the dungeon-door for me. And now no +Giant Despair will ever hold me captive again. But I am anxious about +her, Stumpy. There is some trouble in the background of which she has +never spoken--of which she can never bear to speak. Have you any idea +what it is?" + +He moved with an unwonted touch of restlessness. "I think she worries +about the future," he said. + +"That isn't all," Isabel said with conviction. "There is more than that. +It hangs over her like a cloud. It weighs her down." + +"She hasn't confided in me," he said. + +"Ah! But perhaps she will," Isabel's eyes still dwelt upon him with a +great tenderness. "Stumpy," she murmured under her breath, "forgive me +for asking! I must ask! Stumpy, why don't you win her for yourself, dear? +The way is open. I know--I know you can." + +He moved again, moved with a gesture of protest. "You are mistaken, +Isabel," he said. "The way is not open." He spoke wearily. He was looking +straight before him. "If I were to attempt what you suggest," he said +slowly, "I should deprive her of the only friend to whom she can turn +with any confidence besides yourself. She trusts me now implicitly. She +believes my friendship for her to be absolutely simple and disinterested. +And I would rather die than fail her." + +"Then you think she doesn't care?" Isabel said. + +Scott turned his eyes upon her. "Personally, I came to that conclusion +long ago," he said. "No woman could ever hang a serious romance around +me, Isabel. I am not the right sort. If Dinah imagined for a moment that +I were capable of making love in the ordinary way, our friendship would +go to the bottom forthwith. No, my dear; put the thought out of your +mind! The Stumpys of this world must be resigned to go unpaired. They +must content themselves with the outer husk. It's that or nothing." + +Isabel's smile was full of tenderness. "You talk as one who knows," she +said. "But I wonder if you do." + +"Oh yes," Scott said. "I've learned my lesson. I've been given an +ordinary soul in an extraordinary body, and I've got to make the best of +it. You can't ignore the body, you know, Isabel. It plays a mighty big +part in this mortal life. The idea of any woman falling in love with me +in my present human tenement is ridiculous, and I have put it out of my +mind for good." + +Isabel's eyes were shining. She clasped his hand closer. "I think you are +quite wrong, Stumpy dear," she said. "If your soul matched your body, +then there might be something in your argument. But it doesn't. And--if +you don't mind my saying so--your soul is far the most extraordinary +part of your personality. Little Dinah found out long ago that you +were--greathearted." + +Scott smiled a little. "Oh yes, I know she views me through a +magnifying-glass and reveres me accordingly. Hence our friendship. But, +my dear, that isn't being in love. I believe that somewhere there is a +shadowy person whom she cherishes in the very inner secrecy of her heart. +Who he is or what he is, I don't know. He is probably something very +different from the dream-being she worships. We all are. But I feel that +he is there. Probably I have never met the actual man. I have only seen +his shadow and that by inadvertence. I once penetrated the secret chamber +for one moment only, and then I was driven forth and the door securely +locked. I am not good at trespassing, you know, for all my greatness. I +have never been near the secret chamber since." + +"Do you mean that she admitted to you that--she cared for someone?" +Isabel asked. + +Scott's pale eyes had a quizzical look. "I had the consideration to back +out before she had time to do anything so unmaidenly," he said. "Possibly +the shadowman may never materialize. In fact it seems more than possible. +In which case the least said is soonest mended." + +"That may be what is troubling her," Isabel said thoughtfully. + +She lay still for a while, and Scott leaned back in his chair and watched +the little pleasure-boats that skimmed the waters of the bay. The merry +cries of bathers came up to the quiet room. The world was full to the +brim of gaiety and sunshine on that hot June day. + +"Stumpy," gently his sister's voice recalled him, "do you never mean to +marry, dear? I wish you would. You will be so lonely." + +He lifted his shoulders. "What can I say Isabel? If the right woman comes +along and proposes, I will marry her with pleasure. I would never dare to +propose on my own,--being what I am." + +"Being a very perfect knight whom any woman might be proud to marry," +Isabel said. "That is only a pose of yours, Stumpy, and it doesn't become +you. I wonder--how I wonder!--if you are right about Dinah." + +"Yes, I am right," he said with conviction. "But Isabel, you will +remember--it was spoken in confidence." + +She gave a sharp sigh. "I shall remember dear," she said. + +Again a brief silence fell between them; but Scott's eye no longer sought +the sparkling water. They dwelt upon his sister's face. Pale as +alabaster, clear-cut as though carven with a chisel, it rested upon the +white pillow, and the stamp of a great peace lay upon the calm forehead +and in the quiet of the deeply-sunken eyes. There were lines of suffering +that yet lingered about the mouth, lines of weariness and of sorrow, but +the old piteous look of craving had faded quite away. The bitter despair +that had so haunted Dinah had passed into the stillness of a great +patience. There was about her at that time the sacred hush that falls +before the dawn. + +After a little she became aware of his quiet regard, and turned her head +with a smile. "Well, Stumpy? What is it?" + +"I was just wondering what had happened to you," he made answer. + +Her smile deepened. "I will tell you, dear," she said. "I have come +within sight of the mountain-top at last." + +"And you are satisfied?" he said, in a low voice. + +Her eyes shone with a soft brightness that seemed to illumine her whole +face. "Satisfied that my beloved is waiting for me and that I shall meet +him in the dawning?" she said. "Oh yes, I have known that in my heart for +a long time. It troubled me terribly when I lost his letters. They had +been such a link, and for a while I was in outer darkness. And then--by +degrees, after little Dinah came back to me--I began to find that after +all there were other links. Helping her in her trouble helped me to bear +my own. And I came to see that ministering to a need outside one's own is +the surest means of finding comfort in sorrow for oneself. I have been +very selfish Stumpy. I have been gradually waking to that fact for a long +while. I used to immerse myself in those letters to try and get the +feeling of his dear presence. Very, very often I didn't succeed. And I +know now that it was because I was forcing myself to look back and not +forward. I think material things are apt to make one do that. But when +material things are taken quite away, then one is forced upon the +spiritual. And that is what has happened to me. No one can take anything +from me now because what I possess is laid up in store for me. I am +moving forward towards it every day." + +She ceased to speak, and again for the space of seconds the silence fell. + +Scott broke it, speaking slowly, as if not wholly certain of the wisdom +of speech. "I did not know," he said, "that you had lost those letters." + +Her face contracted momentarily with the memory of a past pain. "Eustace +destroyed them," she stated simply. + +His brows drew sharply together. "Isabel! Do you mean that?" + +She pressed his hand. "Yes, dear. I knew you would feel it badly so I +didn't tell you before. He acted for the best. I see that quite clearly +now. And--in a sense--the best has come of it." + +Scott got to his feet with the gesture of a man who can barely restrain +himself. "He did--that?" he said. + +She reached up a soothing hand. "My dear, it doesn't matter now. Don't be +angry with him. I know that he meant well." + +Scott's eyes looked down into hers, intensely bright, burningly alive. +"No wonder," he said, breathing deeply, "that you never want to see him +again!" + +"No, Stumpy; that is not so." Gently she made answer; her hand held his +almost pleadingly. "For a long time I felt like that, it is true. But now +it is all over. There is no bitterness left in my heart at all. We have +grown away from each other, he and I. But we were very close friends +once, and because of that I would give much--oh, very much--to be friends +with him again. It was in a very great measure my selfishness that came +between us, my pride too. I had influence with him, Stumpy, and I didn't +try to use it. I simply threw him off because he disapproved of my +husband. I might have won him, I feel that I could have won him if I had +tried. But I wouldn't. And afterwards, when my mind was clouded, my +influence was all gone. I wish I could get it back again. I feel as if I +might. But he is keeping away now because of Dinah. And I am afraid too +that he feels I do not want him--" her eyes were suddenly dim with tears. +"That is not so, Stumpy. I do want him. Sometimes--in the night--I long +for him. But, for little Dinah's sake--" + +She paused, for Scott had suddenly turned and was pacing the room +rapidly, unevenly, as if inaction had become unendurable. + +She lay and watched him while the great tears gathered and ran down her +wasted face. + +He came back to her at length and saw them. He stood a moment looking +downwards, then knelt beside her and very tenderly wiped them away. + +"My dear," he said softly, "you mustn't ever cry again. It breaks my +heart to see you. If you want Eustace, he shall come to you. Dinah was +speaking to me about it only a short time ago. She will not stand in the +way of his coming. In fact, I gathered that if you wish it, she wishes it +also." + +"That is so like little Dinah," whispered Isabel. "But, Stumpy, do you +think we ought to let her face that?" + +"I shall be here," he said. + +"Oh, yes, dear. You will be here." She regarded him wistfully. "Stumpy, +don't'--don't let yourself get bitter against Eustace!" she pleaded. "You +have always been so splendid, so forbearing, till now." + +Scott's lips were stern. "Some things are hard to forgive, Isabel," he +said. + +"But if I forgive--" she said. + +His face changed; he bowed his head suddenly down upon her pillow. +"Nothing will give you back to me--when you are gone," he whispered. + +Her hand was on his head in a moment. "Oh, my dear, are you grieving +because of that? And I have been such a burden to you!" + +"A burden beloved," he said, speaking with difficulty. "And you were +getting better. You were better. He--threw you back again. He brought +you--to this." + +Her fingers pressed his forehead. "Not entirely, Stumpy. Be generous, +dear! It may have hastened matters a little--only a very little. And even +so, what of it, if the journey has been shortened? Perhaps the way has +been a little steeper, but it has brought me more quickly to my goal. +Stumpy, Stumpy, if it weren't for leaving you, I would go as gladly--as +gladly--as a happy bride--to her wedding." + +She broke off, breathing fast. + +He lifted his head swiftly, and saw the shadow of mortal pain gathering +in her eyes. He commanded himself on the instant and rose. Self-contained +and steady, he found and administered the remedy that was always kept at +hand. + +Then, as the spasm passed, he stooped and quietly kissed the white +forehead. "Don't trouble about me, dear!" he said. "God knows I would not +keep you from your rest." + +And with that calmly he turned and left her. + +But Biddy, whom he sought a few moments later to send her to her +mistress, saw in him notwithstanding his composure, an intensity of +suffering that struck dismay to her honest heart. "The Lord preserve us!" +she said. "But Master Scott has the look of a man with a sword in his +soul!" She wiped her own tears away with a trembling hand. "And what'll +he do at all when Miss Isabel's gone," she said, "unless Miss Dinah does +the comforting of him?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE TRUSTY FRIEND + + +The trains from the junction to Heath-on-Sea were few and invariably +late. Scott had been pacing the platform for half an hour on the evening +of the day that followed his own arrival ere a line of distant smoke told +of the coming of the train he was awaiting. + +His movements were slow and weary, but there was about him the strained +look of a man who cannot rest. There was no gladness of welcome in his +eyes as the train drew near. It was rather as if he braced himself for a +coming ordeal. + +He searched the carriages intently as they ran past him, and a flicker of +recognition came into his face at the sight of a tall figure leaning from +one of them. He lifted a hand in salutation, and limped along the +platform to meet the newcomer. + +Sir Eustace was out of the train before anyone else. He met his brother +with the impetuosity of one who cannot stop for greeting. + +"Ah, Stumpy! I'm not too late?" + +There was strain upon his face also as he flung the question, and in an +instant Scott's look had changed. He grasped the outflung hand. + +"No, no, old fellow! It's all right. She is looking forward to seeing +you." + +Sir Eustace drew a sharp breath. His dark face relaxed a little. "I've +had a hell of a time," he said. + +"My dear chap, I'm sorry," impulsively Scott made answer. "I'd have met +you at the junction, only it was difficult to get away for so long. Do +you mind walking up? They'll see to fetching your traps along presently." + +"Oh, all right. Yes, let us walk by all means!" Eustace expanded his +chest, and breathed again, deeply. He put his hand on Scott's shoulder as +they passed through the barrier. "What's the matter with you, my lad?" he +said. + +Scott glanced up at him--a swift, surprised glance. "With me? Nothing. I +am--as usual." + +Eustace's hawk-eyes scanned him closely. "I've never seen you look +worse," he said. + +Scott raised his shoulder slightly under his hand, and said nothing. The +first involuntary kindliness of greeting passed wholly away, as if it had +not been. + +Eustace linked the hand in his arm as they walked. "Tell me about her!" +he said. + +"About Isabel?" Scott spoke with very obvious constraint. "There isn't +much to tell. She is just--going. These breathless attacks come very +frequently, and she is weaker after each one. The doctor says it would +not be surprising if she went in her sleep, or in fact at any time." + +"And she asked for me?" The question fell curtly; Eustace was looking +straight ahead up the white, dusty road as he uttered it. + +"Yes; she wanted you." Equally curtly came Scott's reply. He ignored the +hand on his arm, limping forward at his own pace and leaving his brother +to accommodate himself to it as best he could. + +Sir Eustace sauntered beside him in silence for a space. They were +approaching the heath-clad common that gave the place its name, when he +spoke again. + +"And Dinah?" he said then. + +Again Scott glanced upwards, his pale eyes very resolute. "Yes, Dinah is +still here. Her people seem quite indifferent as to what becomes of her, +and Isabel wishes to keep her with her. I hope--" he hesitated +momentarily--"I hope you will bear in mind the extreme difficulty of her +situation." + +Sir Eustace passed over the low words. "And what is going to happen to +her--afterwards?" he said. + +"Heaven knows!" Scott spoke as one compelled. + +Sir Eustace continued to gaze straight before him. "Haven't you thought +of any solution to the difficulty?" he asked. + +"What do you mean?" Scott's voice rang suddenly stern. + +A faint smile touched his brother's face; it was like the shadow of his +old, supercilious sneer. "It occurred to me that you, being a chivalrous +knight, might be moved to offer her your protection," he explained +coolly. "You are quite at liberty to do so, so far as I am concerned. I +give you my free consent." + +Scott started, as if he had been stung. "Man, don't sneer at me!" he said +in a voice that quivered. "I've a good many things against you, and I'm +damned if I can stand any more!" + +There was desperation in his words. Sir Eustace's brows went up, and his +smile departed. But there came no answering anger in his eyes. + +He was silent for several moments, pacing forward, his hand no longer +linked in Scott's arm. Then at last very quietly he spoke. "You're right. +You have a good many things against me. But this is not one of them. I +was not sneering at you." + +There was a note of most unwonted sincerity in his voice that gave +conviction to his words. Scott turned and regarded him in open amazement. + +The steel-blue eyes met his with an odd, half-shamed expression. "You +mustn't bully me, you know, Stumpy!" he said. "Remember, I can't hit +back." + +Scott stood still. He had never in his life been more astounded. Even +then, with the direct evidence before him, he could hardly believe that +the old haughty dominance had given place to something different. + +"Why--can't you--hit back?" he said, almost stammering in his +uncertainty. + +Sir Eustace smiled again with rueful irony. "Because I've nothing to hit +with, my son. Because you can break through my defence every time. If I +were to kick you from here to the sea, you'd still have the best of me. +Haven't you realized that yet?" + +"I hadn't--no!" Scott's eyes still regarded him with a puzzled, +half-suspicious expression. + +Sir Eustace turned from their scrutiny, and began to walk on. "You will +presently," he said. "The man who masters himself is always the man to +master the rest of the world in the end. I never thought I should live to +envy you, my boy. But I do." + +"Envy me! Why? Why on earth?" Embarrassment mingled with the curiosity in +Scott's voice. His hostility had gone down utterly before the +unaccustomed humility of his brother's attitude. + +Sir Eustace glanced at him sideways. "I'll tell you another time," he +said. "Now look here, Stumpy! You're in command, and I shan't interfere +with you so long as you take reasonable care of yourself. But you must do +that. It is the one thing I am going to insist upon. That's understood, +is it?" + +Scott smiled, his tired, gentle smile. "Oh, certainly, my dear chap. +Don't you worry yourself about that! It isn't of the first importance in +any case." + +"It's got to be done," Sir Eustace insisted. "So keep it in mind!" + +"I haven't been doing anything, you know," Scott protested mildly. "I +only came down yesterday." + +"That may be. But you haven't been sleeping for some time. You needn't +trouble to deny it. I know the signs. What have you been doing at +Willowmount?" + +It was a welcome change of subject, and Scott was not slow to avail +himself of it. They began to talk upon matters connected with the estate, +and the personal element passed completely out of the conversation. + +When they reached the white house on the cliff they almost seemed to have +slipped into the old casual relations; but the younger brother was well +aware that this was not so. The change that had so amazed him was +apparent to him at every turn. The overbearing mastery to which he had +been accustomed all his life had turned in some miraculous fashion into +something that was oddly like deference. It was fully evident that +Eustace meant to keep his word and leave him in command. + +Dinah met them in the rose-twined portico. There was a deep flush in her +cheeks; her eyes were very bright, resolutely unafraid. She shook hands +with Eustace, and he alone was aware of the tremor that ran through her +whole being as she did so. + +"Isabel is asleep," she said. "She often gets a sleep in the afternoon, +and she is always the stronger for it when she wakes. Will you have some +tea before you go to her?" + +They had tea in the sunny verandah overlooking the sea. Sir Eustace was +very quiet and grave, and it was Scott who gently conversed with the +girl, smoothing away all difficulties. She was plainly determined to +conquer her nervousness, and she succeeded to a great extent before the +ordeal was over. But there was obvious relief in her eyes when Sir +Eustace set down his cup and rose to go. + +"I think I will go to her now," he said. "I shall not wake her." + +He went, and a great stillness fell behind him. Scott dropped into +silence, and they sat together, he smoking, she leaning back in her chair +idle, with wistful eyes upon the silvery sea. + +Up in Isabel's room overhead there was neither sound nor movement, but +presently there fell a soft footfall upon the stairs and the nurse came +quietly through and spoke to Dinah. + +"Mrs. Everard is still asleep. Her brother is watching her and Biddy is +within call. I thought I would take a little walk on the shore, as I +shall not be wanted just at present." + +"Oh, of course," Dinah said. "Don't hurry back!" + +The nurse smiled and flitted away into the golden evening sunlight. + +Dinah turned her head towards her silent companion. "I wonder," she said, +"if I could learn to be a nurse." + +He blew a cloud of smoke into the air. "Are you still worrying about the +future?" he said. + +"I don't know that I am exactly worrying," she made low reply. "But I +shall have to decide about it very soon." + +Scott was silent for a space while he finished his cigarette. Then at +last slowly, haltingly, he spoke. "Dinah,--I have been thinking about the +future too. If I touch upon anything that hurts you, you must stop me, +and I will not say another word. But, child, it seems to me that we shall +both be--rather lost--when Isabel is gone. I wonder--would it shock you +very much--if I suggested to you--as a solution of the difficulty--that +we should some day in the future enter into partnership together?" + +He spoke with obvious effort; his hands were gripped upon the arms of his +chair. The wicker creaked in the strain of his grasp, but he himself +remained lying back with eyes half-closed in compulsory inaction. + +Dinah also sat absolutely still. If his words amazed her, she gave no +sign. Only the wistfulness about her mouth deepened as she made answer +below her breath. "It--is just like you to suggest such a thing; +but--it is quite impossible." + +He opened his eyes and looked at her very steadily and kindly. "Quite?" +he said. + +She bent her head, swiftly lowering her own. "Yes--thank you a million +times--quite." + +"Even if I promise never to make love to you?" he said, his voice +half-quizzical, half-tender. + +She put out a trembling hand and laid it on his arm. "Oh, +Scott,--it--isn't that!" + +He took the hand and held it. "My dear, don't cry!" he urged gently. "I +knew you wouldn't have me really. I only thought I would just place +myself completely at your disposal in case--some day--you might be +willing to give me the chance to serve you in any capacity whatever. +There! It is over. We are as we were--friends." + +He smiled at her with the words, and after a moment stooped and lightly +touched her fingers with his lips. + +"Come!" he said gently. "I haven't frightened you anyway. Have I?" + +"No," she whispered. + +His hand clasped hers for a second or two longer, then quietly let it go. +"Don't be distressed!" he said, "I will never do it again. I am now--and +always--your trusty friend." + +And with that he rose in his slow way, paused to light another cigarette, +smiled again upon her, and softly went indoors. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE LAST SUMMONS + + +There is nought in life more solemn than the waiting hush that falls +before the coming of that great Change which men call Death. And it is to +the watchers rather than to the passing soul itself that the wonder seems +to draw most close. To stand before the veil, to know that very soon it +must be lifted for the loved one to pass beyond, to wait for the glimpse +of that spirit-world from which only the frail wall of mortality divides +even the least spiritual, to watch as it were for the Gate of Death to +open and the great Revelation to flash for one blinding moment upon the +dazzled eyes that may not grasp the meaning of what they see; this is to +stand for a space within the very Sanctuary of God. + +The awe of it and the wonder hung night and day over the little +rose-covered house on the heath above the sea where Isabel was breathing +forth the last of her broken earthly life. Dinah moved in that strange +atmosphere as one in a dream. She spent most of her time with Scott in a +silent companionship in which no worldly thoughts seemed to have any +part. The things of earth, all worry, all distress, were in abeyance, had +sunk to such infinitesimal proportions that she was scarcely aware of +them at all. It was as though they had climbed the steep mountain with +Isabel, and not till they turned again to descend could they be aware of +those things which lay so far below. + +Without Scott, both doubts and fears would have been her portion, but +with him all terrors fell shadow-like away before her. She hardly +realized all that his presence meant to her during those days of waiting, +but she leaned upon him instinctively as upon a sure support. He never +failed her. + +Of Eustace she saw but little. From the very first it was evident that +his place was nearer to Isabel than Scott's had ever been. He did not +shoulder Scott aside, but somehow as a matter of course he occupied the +position that the younger brother had sought to fill for the past seven +years. It was natural, it was inevitable. Dinah could have resented this +superseding at the outset had she not seen how gladly Scott gave place. +Later she realized that the ground on which they stood was too holy for +such considerations to have any weight with either brother. They were +united in the one supreme effort to make the way smooth for the sister +who meant so much to them both; and during all those days of waiting +Dinah never heard a harsh or impatient word upon the elder's lips. All +arrogance, all hardness, seemed to have fallen away from him as he trod +with them that mountain-path. Even old Biddy realized the change and +relented somewhat towards him though she never wholly brought herself to +look upon him as an ally. + +It was on a stormy evening at the beginning of July that Dinah was +sitting alone in the little creeper-grown verandah watching the wonderful +greens and purples of the sea when Eustace came soft-footed through the +window behind her and sat down in a chair close by, which Scott had +vacated a few minutes before. + +Scott had just gone to the village post-office with some letters, +but she had refused to accompany him, for it was the hour when she +usually sat with Isabel. She glanced at Eustace swiftly as he sat down, +half-expecting a message from the sick-room. But he said nothing, merely +leaning back in the wicker-chair, and fixing his eyes upon the sombre +splendour of endless waters upon which hers had been resting. There was a +massive look about him, as of a strong man deliberately bent to some +gigantic task. A little tremor went through her as furtively she watched +him. His silence, unlike the silences of Scott, was disquieting. She +could never feel wholly at ease in his presence. + +He turned his head towards her after a few seconds of absolute stillness, +and in a moment her eyes sank. She sat in palpitating silence, as one +caught in some disgraceful act. + +But still he did not speak, and the painful colour flooded her face under +his mute scrutiny till in sheer distress she found herself forced to take +the initiative. + +"Is--Isabel expecting me?" she faltered. "Ought I to go?" + +"No," he said quietly. "She is dozing. Old Biddy is with her." + +It seemed as if the intolerable silence were about to fall again. She +cast about desperately for a means of escape. "Biddy was up and down +during the night. I think I will relieve her for a little while and let +her rest." + +She would have risen with the words, but unexpectedly he reached forth a +detaining hand. "Do you mind waiting a minute?" he said. "I will not +say--or do--anything to frighten you." + +He spoke with a faint smile that somehow hurt her almost unbearably. She +remained as she was, leaning forward in her chair. "I--am not afraid," +she murmured almost inaudibly. + +His hand seemed to plead for hers, and in a moment she laid her own +within it. "That's right," he said. "Dinah, will you try and treat me as +if I were a friend--just for a few minutes?" + +The tone of his voice--like his smile--pierced her with a poignancy that +sent the quick tears to her eyes. She forced them back with all her +strength. + +"I would like to--always," she whispered. + +"Thank you," he said. "You are kinder than I deserve. I have done nothing +to win your confidence, so it is all the more generous of you to bestow +it. On the strength of your generosity I am going to ask you a question +which only a friend could ask. Dinah, is there any understanding of any +sort--apart from friendship--between you and Scott?" + +She started slightly at the question, and in a moment firmly, with a +certain authority, his hand closed upon hers. + +"You needn't be afraid to speak on Scott's account," he said, with that +rather grim humility that seemed so foreign to his proud nature that +every sign of it stabbed her afresh. "I am not such a dog in the manger +as that and he knows it." + +"Oh no!" Dinah said, and her words came with a rush. "But--I told you +before, didn't I?--he doesn't care for me like that. He never has--never +will." + +"I wonder why you say that," Eustace said. + +"Because it's true!" With a species of feverish insistence she answered +him. "How could I help knowing? Of course I know! Oh, please don't let us +talk about it! It--it hurts me." + +"I want you to bear with me," he said gently, "just for a few minutes. +Dinah, what if you are making a mistake? Mistakes happen, you know. Scott +is a shy sort of chap, and immensely reserved. Doesn't it occur to you +that he may care for you and yet be afraid--just as you are afraid--to +let you know?" + +"No," Dinah said. "He doesn't. I know he doesn't!" + +She spoke with her eyes upon the ground, her voice sunk very low. She +felt as if she were being drawn down from the heights she desired to +tread. She did not want to contemplate the problems that she knew very +surely awaited her upon the lower level. She did not want to quit her +sanctuary before the time. + +Sir Eustace received her assurance in silence, but he kept her hand in +his, and the power of his personality seemed to penetrate to the very +centre of her being. + +He spoke at last almost under his breath, still closely watching her +downcast face. "Are you quite sure you still care for him--in that way?" + +She made a quick, appealing gesture. "Oh, need I answer that? I feel +so--ashamed." + +"No, you needn't answer," he made steady reply. "But you've nothing to be +ashamed about. Stumpy's an awful ass, you know,--always has been. He's +been head over heels in love with you ever since he met you. No, you +needn't let that shock you. He's such a bashful knight he'll never tell +you so. You'll have to do that part of it." He smiled with faint irony. +"But you may take my word for it, it is so. He has thought of nothing but +you and your happiness from the very beginning of things. And--unlike +someone else we know--he has had the decency always to put your happiness +first." + +He paused. Dinah's eyes had flashed up to his, green, eager, intensely +alive, and behind those eyes her soul seemed to be straining like a thing +in leash. "Oh, I knew he had cared for someone," she breathed, "But it +couldn't--it couldn't have been me!" + +"Yes," Sir Eustace said slowly. "You and none other. You wonder if it's +true--how I know. He's an awful ass, as I said before, one of the few +supreme fools who never think of themselves. I knew that he was caught +all right ages back in Switzerland, and--being a low hound of mean +instincts--I set to work to cut him out." + +"Oh!" murmured Dinah. "That was just what I did with Rose de Vigne." + +His mouth twisted a little. "It's a funny world, Dinah," he said. "Our +little game has cost us both something. I got too near the candle myself, +and the scorch was pretty sharp while it lasted. Well, to get back to my +story. Scott saw that I was beginning to give you indigestion, and--being +as I mentioned before several sorts of a fool--he tackled me upon the +subject and swore that if I didn't put an end to the game, he would put +you on your guard against me, tell you in fact the precise species of +rotter that I chanced to be. I was naturally annoyed by his interference. +Anyone would have been. I gave him the kicking he deserved. That was low +of me, wasn't it?" as she made a quick movement of shrinking. "You won't +forgive me for that, or for what came after. The very next day--to spite +the little beast--I proposed to you." + +Dinah's eyes were fiercely bright. "I wish I'd known!" she said. + +"I wish to heaven you had, my dear," Eustace spoke with a grim hint of +humour. "It would have saved us both a good deal of unnecessary trouble +and humiliation. However, Scott was too big a fool to tell you. There is +a martyrlike sort of cussedness about him that is several degrees worse +than any pride. So he let things be, still cheating himself into the +belief that the arrangement was for your happiness, till, as you are +aware, it turned out so manifestly otherwise that he found himself +obliged once more to come to the rescue of his lady love. But his +exasperating humility was such that he never suspected the real reason +for your change of mind, and when I accused him of cutting me out, he was +as scandalized as only a righteous man knows how to be. You can't do much +with a fellow like that, you know,--a fool who won't believe the evidence +of his own senses. Besides, it was not for me to enlighten him, +particularly as you didn't want him to know the real state of things just +then. So I left him alone. The next day--only the next day, mind you--the +silent knight opened his heart; to whom, do you think? You'll be horribly +furious when I tell you." + +He looked into the hot eyes with an expression half-tender in his own. + +"Tell me!" breathed Dinah. + +"Really? Well, prepare for a nasty shock! To Rose de Vigne!" + +"To Rose!" Indignation gave place to bewilderment in Dinah's eyes. + +"Even so; to Rose. She guessed the truth, and he frankly admitted she was +right, but gave her to understand that as he hadn't a chance in the +world, you were never to know. I am telling you the truth, Dinah. You +needn't look so incredulous. She naturally considered that he was not +treating you very fairly and said so. But--" he raised his shoulders +slightly--"you know Scott. Mules can't compete with him when he has made +up his mind to a thing. He gracefully put an end to the discussion and +doubtless he has buried the whole subject in a neat little corner of his +heart where no one can ever tumble over it, and resigned himself to a +lonely old age. Now, Dinah, I am going to give you the soundest piece of +advice I have ever given anyone. If you are wise, you will dig it up +before the moss grows, bring it into the air and call it back to life. It +is the greatest desire of Isabel's heart to see you two happy together. +She told me so only to-day. And I am beginning to think that I wish it +too." + +His look was wholly kind as he uttered the last words. He held her hand +in the close grip of a friend. + +"Don't let that insane humility of his be his ruin!" he urged. "He's a +fool. I've always said so. But his foolishness is the sort that attacks +only the great. Once let him know you care, and he'll be falling over +himself to propose." + +"Oh, don't!" Dinah begged, and her voice sounded chill and yet somehow +piteous. "I couldn't--ever--marry him. I told him so--only the other +day." + +"What? He proposed, did he?" Sheer amazement sounded in Eustace's voice. + +Dinah was not looking at him any longer. She sat rather huddled in her +chair, as if a cold wind had caught her. + +"Yes," she said in the same small, uneven voice. "He proposed. He didn't +make love to me. In fact he--promised that he never would. But he +thought--yes, that was it--he thought that presently I should be lonely, +and he wanted me to know that he was willing to protect me." + +"What a fool!" Eustace said. "And so you refused him! I don't wonder. I +should have pitched something at him if I'd been you." + +"Oh no! That wasn't why I refused. I had another reason." Dinah's head +was bent low; he saw the hot colour she sought to hide. "I didn't know he +cared," she whispered. "But even if--if I had known, I couldn't have said +Yes. I never can say Yes now." + +"Good heavens above!" he said. "Why not?" + +"It's a reason I can't tell anyone," faltered Dinah. + +"Nonsense!" he said, with a quick touch of his old imperiousness. "You +can tell me." + +She shook her head. "No. Not you. Not anyone." + +"That is absurd," he said, with brief decision. "What is the reason? Out +with it--quick, like a good child! If you could marry me, you can marry +him." + +"But I couldn't have married you," she protested, "if I'd known." + +"It's something that's cropped up lately, is it?" He bent towards her, +watching her keenly. "It can't be so very terrible." + +"It is," she told him in distress. + +He was silent a moment; then very suddenly he moved, put his arm around +her, drew her close. "What is it, my elf? Tell me!" he whispered. + +She hid her face against him with a little sob. It was odd, but at that +moment she felt no fear of the man. He, whose fiery caresses had once +appalled her, had by some means unknown possessed himself of her +confidence so that she could not keep him at a distance. She did not even +wish to do so. + +After a few seconds, quiveringly she began to speak. "I don't know how to +tell you. It's an awful thing to tell. You know, I--I've never been happy +at home. My mother never liked me,--was often cruel to me." She shuddered +suddenly and violently. "I never knew why--till that awful night--the +last time I saw her. And then--and then she told me." She drew a little +closer to him like a frightened child. + +He held her against his breast. She was trembling all over. "Well?" he +said gently. + +Desperately she forced herself to continue. "I don't belong to--to my +father--at all; only--only--to her." + +"What?" he said. + +She buried her shamed face a little deeper. "That was why--she married," +she whispered. + +"Your mother herself told you that?" Sir Eustace's voice was very low, +but there was in it a danger-note that made her quail. + +Someone was coming along the garden-path, but neither of them heard. +Dinah was crying with piteous, long-drawn sobs. The telling of that +tragic secret had wrung her very soul. + +"Oh, don't be angry! You won't be angry?" she pleaded brokenly. + +His hand was on her head. "My child, I am not angry with you," he said. +"You were not to blame. There, dear! There! Don't cry! Isabel will be +distressed if she finds out. We mustn't let her know of this." + +"Or Scott either!" She lifted her face appealingly. "Eustace, +please--please--you won't tell Scott? I--I couldn't bear him to know." + +He looked into her beseeching eyes, and his own softened. "It may be he +will have to know some day," he said. "But--not yet." + +The halting steps drew nearer, uneven, yet somehow purposeful. + +Abruptly Eustace became aware of them. He looked up sharply. "You had +better go, dear," he whispered to the girl in his arms. "Isabel may be +wanting you at any time. We must think of her first now. Run in quickly +and dry your eyes before anyone sees! Come along!" + +He rose, supporting her, turned her towards the window, and gently but +urgently pushed her within. + +She went swiftly, enough as he released her, went with her hands over her +face and not a backward glance. And Eustace wheeled back with a movement +that was almost fierce and met his brother as he set foot upon the +verandah. + +Scott's face was pale as death, and there was that in his eyes that could +not be ignored. Eustace answered it on the instant, briefly, with a +restraint that obviously cost him an effort. "It's all right, Dinah is a +bit upset this evening. But she will be all right directly if we leave +her alone." + +Scott did not so much as pause. "Let me pass!" he said. + +His voice was perfectly quiet, but the command of it was such that +Eustace, taken unawares, gave ground as it were instinctively. But the +next moment impulsively he caught Scott's arm. + +"I say,--Stumpy!" An odd embarrassment possessed him; he shook it off +half-angrily. "You needn't go making mistakes--jumping to idiotic +conclusions. I'm not cutting you out this time." + +Scott looked at him. His light eyes held contempt. "Oh, I know that," he +said, and there was in his slow voice a note of bitter humour that cut +like a whip. "You are never in earnest. You were always the sort to make +sport for yourself out of suffering, and then to toss the dregs of your +amusement to those who are not--sportsmen." + +Eustace was as white as he was himself. He held him in a grip of iron. +"What the--devil do you mean?" he said, his voice husky with the strong +effort he made to control it. + +The younger brother was absolutely controlled, but his eyes shone like a +dazzling white flame. "Ask yourself that question!" he said, and his +words, though low, had a burning quality, almost as if some force apart +from the man himself inspired them. "You know the answer as well as I do. +You have studied the damnable game so long, offered so many victims upon +the altar of your accursed sport. There is nothing to prevent your going +on with it. You will go on no doubt till you tire of the chase. And then +your turn will come. You will find yourself alone among the ruins, and +you will pay the price. You may repent then--but repentance sometimes +comes too late." + +He was gone with the words, gone as if an inner force compelled, shaking +off the hand that had detained him, and passing scatheless within. + +He went up the stairs as calmly as if he had entered the house without +interruption. Someone was sobbing piteously behind a closed door, but he +did not turn in that direction. He moved straight to the door of Isabel's +room, as if a voice had called him. + +And on the threshold Biddy met him, her black eyes darkly mysterious, her +wrinkled face drawn with awe rather than grief. + +"Ah, Master Scott, and is it yourself?" she whispered. "I was coming to +fetch ye--coming to tell ye. It's the call; she's had her last summons. +Faith, and I almost heard it meself. She'll be gone by morning, the +blessed lamb. There'll be no holding her after this." + +Scott passed her by without a word. He went straight to his sister's +bedside. + +She was lying with her face turned up to the evening sky, but on the +instant her eyes met his, and in them was that look of a great +expectation which many term the Shadow of Death. + +"Oh, Stumpy, is it you?" she said. Her breathing was quick and irregular, +but it did not seem to hurt her. "I've had--such a wonderful--dream. Or +could it have been--a vision?" + +He bent and took her hand in his. His eyes were infinitely tender. All +the passion had been wiped out of his face. + +"It may have been a vision, dear," he said. + +Her look brightened; she smiled. "He was here--in this room--with me," +she said. "He was standing there--at the foot of the bed. And--and--I +held out my arms to him. Oh, Stumpy, I almost thought--I was going with +him then. But--I think he heard you coming, for he laughed and drew back. +'We shall meet in the morning,' he said. And while I was still looking, +he was gone." + +She began to pant. He stooped and raised her. She clung to him with all +her waning strength. "Stumpy! Stumpy! You will help me--through the +night?" + +"My darling, yes," he said. + +She clung to him still. "It won't be--good-bye," she urged softly. "You +will be coming too--very soon." + +"God grant it!" he said, under his breath. + +Her look dwelt upon him. Again faintly she smiled. "Ah, Stumpy," she +said, "but you are going to be very happy first, my dear,--my dear." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE MOUNTAIN-TOP + + +The night fell like a black veil, starless and still. Up in Isabel's room +the watchers came and went, dividing the hours. Only the nurse and old +Biddy remained always at their posts, the one seated near one of the +wide-flung windows, the other crouched on an ottoman at the foot of the +bed, her beady eyes perpetually fixed upon the white, motionless face +upon the pillow. + +Only by the irregular and sometimes difficult breathing did they know +that Isabel still lived, for she gave no sign of consciousness, uttered +no word, made no voluntary movement of any sort. Like those who watched +about her, she seemed to be waiting, waiting for the amazing revelation +of the Dawn. + +They had propped her high with pillows; her pale hands lay outside the +coverlet. Her eyes were closed. She did not seem to notice who came or +went. + +"She may slip away without waking," the nurse whispered once to Dinah who +had crept to her side. "Or she may be conscious just at the last. There +is no telling." + +Dinah did not think that she was asleep, but yet during all her vigil the +white lids had not stirred, no spark of vitality had touched the marble +face. She was possessed by a great longing to speak to her, to call her +out of that trance-like silence; but she did not dare. She was as one +bound by a spell. The great stillness was too holy to break. All her +own troubles were sunk in oblivion. She felt as if she moved in a +shadow-world where no troubles could penetrate, where no voice was +ever lifted above a whisper. + +As she crept from the room, she met Eustace entering. He looked gaunt and +haggard in the dim light. Nothing seemed natural on that night of +waiting. + +He paused a moment, touched her shoulder. "Go and rest, child!" he +muttered. "I will call you if she wakes." + +She sent him a faint smile and flitted by him into the passage. How +could she rest on a night like this, with the vague whisperings of the +spirit-world all about her? Besides, in another hour the darkness would +be over--the Dawn would come! Not for all the world would she miss that +wonderful coming of a new day--the day which Isabel was awaiting in that +dumb passivity of unquestioning patience. They had come so far up the +mountain-track together; she must be with her when the morning found +them on the summit. + +But it was Eustace's turn to watch, and she moved towards her +own room, through the open windows of which the vague murmur and +splash of the sleeping sea drifted like the accompaniment of far-off +music--undreamed-of Alleluias. + +The dim glow of a lamp lay across her path, like a barrier staying her +feet. Almost involuntarily she paused before a half-open door. It was as +though some unseen force compelled her. And, so pausing, there came to +her a sound that gripped her like a hand upon her heart--it was the +broken whispering of a man in an agony of prayer. + +It was not by her own desire that she stood to listen. The anguish of +that voice held her, so that she was powerless to move. + +"O God! O God!" The words pierced her with their entreaty; it was a cry +from the very depths. "The mistake was mine. Let me bear the +consequences! But save her--O save her--from further suffering!" A +momentary silence, and then, more desperately still: "O God--if Thou art +anywhere--hear--and help! Let me bear whatever Thou wilt! But spare +her--spare her! She has borne so much!" + +A terrible sob choked the gasping utterance. There fell a silence so +tense, so poignant with pain, that the girl upon the threshold trembled +as one physically afraid. Yet she could not turn and flee. She felt as if +it were laid upon her to stand and witness this awful struggle of a soul +in torment. But that it should be Scott--the wise, the confident, the +unafraid--passing alone through this place of desolation, sent the blood +to her heart in a great wave of consternation. If Scott failed--if the +sword of Greatheart were broken--it seemed to her that nothing could be +left in all the world, as if even the coming Dawn must be buried in +darkness. + +Was it for Isabel he was praying thus? She supposed it must be, though +she had felt all through this night of waiting that no prayer was needed. +Isabel was so near the mountain-top that surely she was safe--nearer +already to God than any of their prayers could bring her. + +And yet Scott was wrestling here as one overwhelmed with evil. Wherefore? +Wherefore? The steady faith of this good friend of hers had never to her +knowledge flickered before. What had happened to shake him thus? + +He was praying again, more coherently but in words so low that they were +scarcely audible. She crept a little nearer, and now she could see him, +kneeling at the table, his head sunk upon it, his arms flung wide with +clenched fists that seemed impotently to beat the air. + +"I'm praying all wrong," he whispered. "Forgive me, but I'm all in the +dark to-night. Thou knowest, Lord, how awful the dark can be. I'm not +asking for an answer. Only guide our feet! Deliver us from evil--deliver +her--O God--deliver my Dinah--by that love which is of Thee and which +nothing will ever alter! If I may not help her, give me strength--to +stand aside!" + +A great shiver went through him; he gripped his hands together suddenly +and passionately. + +"O my God," he groaned, "it's the hardest thing on earth--to stand and do +nothing--when I love her so." + +Something seemed to give way within him with the words. His shoulders +shook convulsively. He buried his face in his arms. + +And in that moment the power that had stayed Dinah upon the threshold +suddenly urged her forward. + +Almost before she realized it, she was there at his side, stooping over +him, holding him--holding him fast in a clasp that was free from any +hesitation or fear, a clasp in which all her pulsing womanhood rushed +forth to him, exulting, glorying in its self-betrayal. + +"My dear! Oh, my dear!" she said. "Are you praying for me?" + +"Dinah!" he said. + +Just her name, no more; but spoken in a tone that thrilled her through +and through! He leaned against her for a few moments, almost as if he +feared to move. Then, as one gathering strength, he uttered a great sigh +and slowly got to his feet. + +"You mustn't bother about me," he said, and the sudden rapture had all +gone out of his voice; it had the flatness of utter weariness. "I shall +be all right." + +But Dinah's hands yet clung to his shoulders. Those moments of yielding +had revealed to her more than any subsequent word or action could belie. +Her eyes, shining with a great light, looked straight into his. + +"Dear Scott! Dear Greatheart!" she said, and her voice trembled over the +tender utterance of the name. "Are you in trouble? Can't I help?" + +He took her face between his hands, looking straight back into the +shining eyes. "You are the trouble, Dinah," he told her simply. "And I'd +give all I have--I'd give my soul--to make life easier for you." + +She leaned towards him, and suddenly those shining eyes were blurred +with a glimmer of tears. "Life is dreadfully difficult," she said. "But +you have never done anything but help me. And, oh, Scott, I--don't know +if I ought to tell you--forgive me if it's wrong--but--but I feel I +must--" her breath came so quickly that she could hardly utter the +words--"I love you--I love you--better than anyone else in the world!" + +"Dinah!" he said, as one incredulous. + +"It's true!" she panted. "It's true! Eustace knows it--has known it +almost as long as I have. It isn't the only thing I have to tell you, +but it's the first--and biggest. And even though--even though--I shall +never be anything more to you than I am now--I'm glad--I'm proud--for +you to know. There's nothing else that counts in the same way. And +though--though I refused you the other day--I wanted you--dreadfully, +dreadfully. If--if I had only been good enough for you--But--but--I'm +not!" She broke off, battling with herself. + +He was still holding her face between his hands, and there was something +of insistence, something that even bordered upon ruthlessness, in his +hold. Though the tears were running down her face, he would not let her +go. + +"Will you tell me what you mean by that?" he said, his voice very low. +"Or--must I ask Eustace?" + +She started. There was that in his tone that made her wince inexplicably. +"Oh no," she said, "no! I'll tell you myself--if--if you must know." + +"I am afraid I must," he said, and for all their resolution, the words +had a sound of deadly weariness. He let her go slowly as he uttered them. +"Sit down!" he said gently. "And please don't tremble! There is nothing +to make you afraid." + +She dropped into the chair he indicated, and made a desperate effort to +calm herself. He stood beside her with the absolute patience of one +accustomed to long waiting. + +After a few moments, she put up a quivering hand, seeking his. He took it +instantly, and as his fingers closed firmly upon her own, she found +courage. + +"I didn't want you to know," she whispered. "But I--I see now--it's +better that you should. There's no other way--of making you understand. +It's just this--just this!" She swallowed hard, striving to control the +piteous trembling of her voice. "I am--one of those people--that--that +never ought to have been born. I don't belong--anywhere--except +to--my mother who--who--who has no use for me,--hated me before ever I +came into the world. You see, she--married because--because--another +man--my real father--had played her false. Oh, do you wonder--do you +wonder--" she bowed her forehead upon his hand with a rush of +tears--"that--that when I knew--I--I felt as if--I couldn't--go on +with life?" + +Her weeping was piteous; it shook her from head to foot. + +But--in the very midst of her distress--there came to her a wonder so +great that it checked her tears at the height of their flow. For very +suddenly it dawned upon her that Scott--Scott, her knight of the golden +armour--was kneeling at her feet. + +Half in wonder and half in awe, she lifted her head and looked at him. +And in that moment he took her two hands and kissed them, tenderly, +reverently, lingeringly. + +"Was this what you and Eustace were talking about this afternoon?" he +said. + +She nodded. "I had to tell him--why--I couldn't marry you. He--he had +been--so kind." + +"But, my own Dinah," he said, and in his voice was a quiver +half-quizzical yet strangely charged with emotion, "did you ever +seriously imagine that I should allow a sordid little detail like +that to come between us? Surely Eustace knew better than that!" + +She heard him in amazement, scarcely believing that she heard. "Do +you--can you mean--" she faltered, "that--it really--doesn't count?" + +"I mean that it is less than nothing to me," he made answer, and in his +eyes as they looked into hers was that glory of worship that she had once +seen in a dream. "I mean, my darling, that since you want me as I want +you, nothing--nothing in the world--can ever come between us any more. +Oh, my dear, my dear, I wish you'd told me sooner." + +"I knew I ought to," she murmured, still hardly believing. "And +yet--somehow--I couldn't bear the thought of your knowing,--particularly +as--as--till Eustace told me--I never dreamed you--cared. You are +so--great. You ought to have someone so much--better than I. I'm not +nearly good enough--not nearly." + +He was drawing her to him, and she went with a little sob into his arms; +but she turned her face away over his shoulder, avoiding his. + +"I ought not--to have told you--I loved you," she said brokenly. +"It wasn't right of me. Only--when I saw you so unhappy--I +couldn't--somehow--keep it in any longer. Dear Scott, don't you +think--before--before we go any further--you had better--forget it +and--give me up?" + +"No, I don't think so." Scott spoke very softly, with the utmost +tenderness, into her ear. "Don't you realize," he said, "that we belong +to each other? Could there possibly be anyone else for either you or me?" + +She did not answer him; only she clung a little closer. And, after a +moment, as she felt the drawing of his hold, "Don't kiss me---yet!" she +begged him tremulously. "Let us wait till--the morning!" + +His arms relaxed, "It is very near the morning now," he said. "Shall we +go and watch for it?" + +They rose together. Dinah's eyes sought his for one shy, fleeting second, +falling instantly as if half-dazzled, half-afraid. He took her hand and +led her quietly from the room. + +It was no longer dark in the passage outside. A pearly light was growing. +The splash of the sea sounded very far below them, as the dim surging of +a world unseen might rise to the watchers on the mountain-top. + +They moved to an open window at the end of the passage. No sound came +from Isabel's room close by, and after a few seconds Scott turned +noiselessly aside and entered. + +Dinah remained at the open window waiting with a throbbing heart in the +great silence that wrapped the world. She was not afraid, but she longed +for Scott to come back; she was conscious of an urgent need of him. + +Several moments passed, and then softly he returned. "No change!" he +whispered. "Eustace will call us--when it comes." + +She slipped her hand back into his, without speaking. He made her sit +upon the window-seat, and knelt himself upon it, his arm about her +shoulders, his fingers clasping hers. + +She could see his face but vaguely in the dimness, but many times during +that holy hour before the dawn, though he spoke no word, she felt that he +was praying or giving thanks. + +Slowly the twilight turned into a velvet dusk. The great Change was +drawing near. The silence lay like a thinning veil of mist upon the +mountain-top. The clouds were parting in the East, all tinged with gold, +like burnished gates flung back for the royal coming of the sun-god. The +stillness that lay upon all the waiting earth was sacred as the hush of +prayer. + +Their faces were turned towards the spreading glow. It shone upon them as +it shone upon all beside, widening, intensifying, till the whole earth +lay wrapped in solemn splendour--and then at last, through the open +gates, red, royal, triumphant, the sun-god came. + +There came a moment in which all things were touched with the glory, all +things were made new. And in that moment, sudden as a flash of light, a +bird of pure white plumage appeared before their eyes, hovered an +instant; then flew, mounting on wide, gleaming wings, straight into the +dawn.... + +Even while they watched, it vanished through the gates of gold. And only +the gracious sunshine of a new day remained.... + +A low voice spoke from the chamber of Death. They turned from the vision +and saw Eustace standing in the doorway. + +He was very white, but absolutely calm. There was a nobility about him at +that moment that sent a queer little throb to Dinah's heart. He held out +his hand, not to her, but to Scott. "She is gone," he said. + +Scott went to him; she saw their hands meet. There was no agitation about +either of them. + +"In her sleep?" Scott said. + +"Yes. We didn't even know--till it was over." + +They turned into the room, still hand grasping hand. + +And Dinah knelt up and stretched out her arms to the shining morning sky. +Something within her was whispering that she and Scott had seen more of +the passing of Isabel than any of those who had watched beside her bed. +And in the quiet of that wonderful morning, she offered her quivering +thanks to God. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CONSOLATION + + +Of the long hours that followed that wonderful dawning Dinah never had +any very distinct recollection. Even Scott seemed to forget her for a +while, and it was old Biddy who presently found her curled up on the +window-seat with her head upon the sill asleep--Biddy with her eyes very +bright and alert, albeit deeply rimmed with red. + +She came to the childish, drooping figure, murmuring tender words. She +put wiry arms about her and lifted her to her feet. + +"There! Come to your own room and rest, my lamb!" she said. "Old Biddy'll +take care of ye, aroon." + +Dinah submitted with the vague docility of a brain but half-awakened. To +be cared for and petted by Biddy was no new thing in her experience. She +even felt as if the old crystal Alpine days had returned, as Biddy +undressed her and presently tucked her into bed. Later, still in +semi-consciousness, she drank the hot milk that the old woman brought +her, and then sank into a deep, deep sleep. + +She awakened from that sleep with a sense of well-being such as she had +never known before, a feeling of complete security and rest. The house +was very quiet, and through the curtained window there came to her the +soft, slumberous splash of the waves. + +She lay very still, listening to the soothing murmur, gradually focusing +her mind again after its long oblivion. The memory of the previous night +and of the coming of the dawn came back to her, and with it the thought +of Isabel; but without grief and without regret. They had left her on the +mountain-top, and she knew that all must be well. + +A great peace seemed to have fallen like a veil upon the whole house. +Surely no one could be mourning over that glad release! She saw again the +flashing of those free wings in the dawn-light, and her heart thrilled +afresh. She remembered too the close, strong clasp of Scott's hand as +he had watched with her. + +Where was Scott now? The wonder darted suddenly through her brain, and +with it, swift as a flying cloud-shadow, came the want of him, the +longing for the quiet voice, the quivering delight of his near presence. +She half-raised herself, and then, caught by another thought, sank down +again to hide her burning face in the pillow. It would be a little +difficult to meet him again. On the old easy terms of friendship it +could not be, and they had hardly begun to be lovers yet. He--had not +even--kissed her! + +Another thought came to her--of an even more disturbing nature. Save for +old Biddy and the nurse, she was alone with the two brothers now. Would +they--would they insist upon sending her home until--until Scott was +ready to come and take her away? Oh, surely--surely Scott would never ask +that of her! + +Nevertheless the thought tormented her. She did not see any way out of +the difficulty, and she was terribly afraid that Scott would be equally +at a loss. + +"I don't think I could bear it," she whispered to herself. "And yet--if +he says so--if he says so--I suppose I must. I couldn't refuse--if he +said so." + +The soft opening of the door recalled her to the immediate present. She +saw old Biddy's face with its watchful, guardian look peep stealthily in +upon her. + +"Ah, mavourneen!" she whispered fondly, coming forward. "And is it awake +ye are? I've peeped round at ye this five times, and ye were sleeping +like a new-born babe. Lie still, darlint, while I fetch ye a cup o' tay +then!" + +She was gone with the words, but in a very little she was back again with +her own especial brew. She set her tray down by Dinah's side, but Dinah +did not even look at it. She raised herself instead, and threw warm arms +around the old woman's neck. "Oh, Biddy," she said, "Biddy, darling, I +can't think what ever I'd do without you!" + +Biddy uttered a sharp sob, and gathered her close. But in a moment, +half-angrily, "And what is it that I'd be crying for at all?" she said. +"Isn't my dear Miss Isabel safer with the Almighty than ever she was with +me? Isn't she gone to the blessed saints in Paradise? And would I have +her back? No, no! I'm not that selfish, Miss Dinah. I'm an old woman +moreover, and be the same token me own time can't be so far off now." + +But Dinah clung faster to her. "Please, Biddy, please--don't talk like +that! I want you," she said. + +"Ah, bless the dear lamb!" said Biddy, and tenderly kissed the upturned, +pleading face. "Miss Isabel said ye would now. But when ye've got Master +Scott to take care of ye, it's not old Biddy that ye'll be wanting any +longer." + +"I shall," Dinah vowed. "I shall. I shall always want my Biddy." + +"And may the Lord Almighty bless ye for the word!" said Biddy. + +When Dinah was dressed, a great shyness fell upon her, born partly of the +still mystery of the presence of Death that wrapped the little house. +She stood by the window of her room, looking forth, irresolute, over the +evening sea. + +The blinds were drawn only in the room of Death, for Scott had so +decreed, and the air blew in sweet and fresh from the rippling water. + +After a few minutes, Biddy came softly up behind her. "And is it himself +ye're looking for, mavourneen?" she murmured at Dinah's shoulder. + +Dinah started a little and flushed. She wondered if Biddy knew all or +only guessed. "I don't know--what to do," she said rather confusedly. + +Biddy gave her a quick, wise look. "Will I tell ye a secret, Miss Dinah +dear?" she whispered. + +Dinah looked at her. The old woman's face was full of shrewd +understanding. "Yes, tell me!" she said somewhat breathlessly. + +Biddy's brown hand grasped her arm. "Master Scott went to town this +morning," she said. "He'll be back any minute now. Sir Eustace is +downstairs. He wants to see ye--to tell ye something--before Master Scott +gets back." + +"Oh, what--what?" gasped Dinah. + +"There, now, there! Don't ye be afraid!" said Biddy, her beady eyes +softening. "It's something ye'll like. Master Scott--he's not the +gentleman to make ye do anything ye don't want to do. Don't ye trust him, +Miss Dinah?" + +"Of course--of course," Dinah said, with trembling lips. + +"Then ye've nothing to be afraid of," said Biddy wisely. "Faith, it's +only the marriage-licence he's been to fetch!" + +"Oh--Biddy!" Dinah wheeled from the window, with both her hands over her +heart. + +Biddy nodded with grave triumph. "It was Sir Eustace made him go. Master +Scott--he didn't think it would be dacent, not at first. But, as Sir +Eustace said, there's more ways than one of being ondacent, and after all +it was the dearest wish of Miss Isabel's heart. 'Don't you be a +conventional fool!' he said. And for once I agreed with him," said Biddy +naïvely, "though I think he needn't have used bad language over it." + +"Oh--Biddy!" Dinah said again, and then very oddly she began to smile, +and the tension went out of her attitude. She kissed the wrinkled cheek, +and turned. "I think perhaps I will go down and speak to Sir Eustace," +she said. + +She went quickly, aware that if she suffered herself to pause, that +overpowering shyness would seize upon her again. + +Guided by the scent of cigarette-smoke, she entered the dining-room. Sir +Eustace was seated at a writing-table near the window. He looked up +swiftly at her entrance. + +"Awake at last!" he said, and would have risen with the words, but she +reached him first and checked him. + +"Eustace! Oh, Eustace!" she said. "I--I--Biddy has just told me--" + +He frowned, as she stopped in confusion, steadying herself rather +piteously against his shoulder. But in a moment, seeing her agitation, he +put a kindly arm around her. + +"Biddy is an old fool--always was. Don't take any notice of her! What a +ferment you're in, child! What's the matter? There, sit down!" + +He drew her down on to the arm of his chair, and she leaned against him, +striving for self-control. + +"You--you are so--so much too good," she murmured. + +He smiled rather grimly. "No one ever accused me of that before! Was that +the staggering piece of information that Biddy has imparted to you?" + +"No," she said, a fleeting smile upon her awn face. "It was--it +was--about Scott. It took my breath away,--that's all." + +"That all?" said Eustace with a faintly wry lift of one eyebrow. + +She slipped a shy arm around his neck. "Eustace, do you--do you think +I--ought to let Scott marry me?" + +"I'm quite sure you'll break his heart if you don't," responded Eustace. + +"Oh, I couldn't do that!" she said quickly. + +"No. I shouldn't if I were you. It isn't a very amusing game for anyone +concerned." Sir Eustace took up his pen with his free hand. "He's rather +a good chap, you know," he said, "beastly good sometimes. He'll take a +little living up to. But you'll manage that, I daresay. When he told me +how things stood between you, I saw directly that there was only one +thing to be done, and I made him do it. The idea is to get you married +before the nurse goes, and she is off to-morrow." He paused, looking at +her critically, and again half-cynically, half-sadly, smiled. "You took +that well," he said. "If it had been to me, you'd have jumped sky-high. +You're a wise little creature, Dinah. You've chosen the best man, and +you'll never be sorry. I congratulate you on your choice." + +He turned his face fully to her, and she stooped swiftly and kissed him. +"I'm--dreadfully sorry I--treated you so badly first," she whispered. + +"You needn't be," he said. "It did me good. You showed me myself from a +point of view that I had never taken before. You taught me to be human. I +told Isabel so. She--poor girl--" he stopped a second, and she saw that +momentarily he was moved; but he continued almost at once--"she was +grateful to you too," he said. "You removed the outer crust at a single +stroke--just in time to prevent atrophy. Of course," he glanced down at +the letter under his hand, "it was a more or less painful process, but it +may comfort you to know that it didn't go quite so deep with me as I +thought it had at the time. There's no sense in crying over spilt milk +anyhow. I never was that sort of ass. You may--or may not--be pleased to +hear that I am already well on the way to consolation." He lifted his +eyes suddenly with an expression in them that completely baffled her. It +was almost as if he had detached himself for the moment from all +participation in his own doings, contemplating them with a half-pathetic +irony. "Shall I tell you what I was doing when you came in just now?" he +said. "I was writing to the girl you nearly sacrificed your happiness to +cut out." + +"Rose de Vigne?" she said quickly. + +He nodded. "Yes, Rose de Vigne" He paused for a second, just a second; +then: "The girl I am going to marry," he said quietly. + +"Oh, Eustace!" There was no mistaking the gladness in Dinah's tone. "I am +pleased!" she said earnestly. "I know you will be happy together. You +were simply made for each other." + +He smiled, still in that strange, half-rueful fashion. "I am doing the +best I can under the circumstances. It is kind of you to be pleased. But +now once more to your affairs. They are more pressing than mine just now. +It may interest you to know that Scott--although under Isabel's will he +is made absolutely independent of me--is willing to live at the Dower +House, if that arrangement meets with your approval." + +"Of course--I shall love it," Dinah said. + +"I am glad of that, for it will be a great help to me to have him there. +You will be able to have Billy to stay with you in the holidays and roam +about as you like. Scott is making all sorts of plans. I am going to +settle the place on him as a wedding-present." + +"Oh, Eustace! How kind! What a lovely gift!" + +Sir Eustace smiled at her. "I am giving him more than that, Dinah. I am +giving him his wife and--the wedding-ring." The irony was uppermost +again, but it held no sting. "It will fit no other hand but yours, and it +will serve to keep you in constant remembrance of your good luck. I can +hear him coming up the path. Aren't you going to meet him?" + +She sprang up like a startled fawn. "Oh, I can't--I can't meet him yet," +she said desperately. + +There was a curious glint in Eustace's eyes as he watched her, a flash of +mockery that came and went. + +"What?" he said. "Do you want me to help you to run away from him now?" + +She looked at him quickly, and in a moment her hesitation was gone. + +"Oh, no!" she said. "No!" and with a little breathless sound that might +have been a tremor of laughter, she fled away from him out into the +evening sunshine to meet her lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE SEVENTH HEAVEN + + +They were married in the early morning at the little old church that had +nestled for centuries among its trees in the village on the cliff. The +absolute simplicity of the service deprived it of all terrors for Dinah. +Standing with Scott in the glow of sunlight that smote full upon them +through the mellow east window, she could not feel afraid. The whole +world was so bright, so full of joy. + +"Do you think Isabel can see us now?" she whispered to him, as they rose +together from kneeling before the altar. + +He did not answer her in words, but his pale eyes were shining with that +steadfast light of the spirit which she had come to know. She wished she +could have knelt there by his side a little longer. They seemed to be so +near to the Gates of Heaven. + +But they were not alone, and they could not linger. Sir Eustace who had +given her away, Biddy who had tenderly supported her, the nurse who +carried the fragrant bouquet of honeysuckle--the bond of love--which she +had herself gathered for the bride, all were waiting to draw them back +to earth again; and with Scott's hand clasping hers she turned +regretfully and left the holy place. + +Later, when Sir Eustace kissed her with the careless observation that he +always kissed a bride, she had a moment of burning shyness, and she would +gladly have hidden her face. But Scott did not kiss her. He had not +offered to do so since that wonderful moment when he had first held her +against his heart. He had not attempted to make love to her, and she had +not felt the need of it. Grave and practical, he had laid his plans +before her, and with the supreme confidence that he had always inspired +in her she had acquiesced to all. + +At his desire she had refrained from entering Isabel's death-chamber. At +his desire she was to leave that day for the Dower House that was to be +their home. Biddy would accompany her thither. The place was ready for +occupation, for by Isabel's wish the work had gone on, though both she +and Scott had known that they would never share a home there. It almost +seemed as if she had foreseen the fulfilment of her earnest wish. And +here Dinah was to await her husband. + +"I won't come to you till the funeral is over," he said to her. "I must +be with Eustace. You won't be unhappy?" + +No, she would not be unhappy. She had never been so near to Death before, +but she was neither frightened nor dismayed. She stood in the shadow +indeed, but she looked forth from it over a world of such sunshine as +filled her heart with quivering gladness. + +He did not want her to attend the funeral at Willowmount, would not, if +he could help it, suffer her so much as to see the trappings of woe; and +in this Dinah acquiesced also, comprehending fully the motive that +underlay his wish. She knew that the earthly formalities, though they +had to be faced, were to Scott something of the nature of a grim farce in +which, while he could not escape it himself, he was determined that she +should take no part. He was not mourning for Isabel. He would not pretend +to mourn. Her death was to him but as the opening wide of a prison-door +to one who had long lain captive, pining for liberty. He would follow the +poor worn body to its grave rather with thanksgiving than with grief. And +realizing so well that this was his inevitable feeling, even as in a +smaller degree it had become her own, Dinah agreed without demur to his +wish to spare her all the jarring details, the travesty of mourning, that +could not fail to strike a false chord in her soul. + +It was well for her that she had Biddy to think of. The old woman was +pathetically eager to serve her. She had in fact attached herself to +Dinah in a fashion that went to her heart. It was Miss Isabel's wish that +she should take care of her, she told her tremulously, and Dinah, knew +that it had been equally her friend's wish that she should care for +Biddy. + +And Biddy was very good. Probably in accordance with Scott's desire, she +made a great effort to throw off all gloom, and undoubtedly her own sense +of loss and bereavement was greatly lessened by the consciousness of +Dinah's need of her. + +"Time enough to weep later," she told herself, as she lay down in the +room adjoining Dinah's on that first night in the Dower House. "She'll +not be wanting old Biddy when Master Scott comes to her." + +The two days that followed were very fully occupied. There were curtains +and pictures to hang, furniture to be arranged, and many things to be +unpacked. Dinah went to the work with zest. She did not know when Scott +would come. But it would be soon, she knew it would be soon; and she +thrilled to the thought. Everything must be ready for him. She wanted him +to feel that it was home from the moment he crossed the threshold. + +So, with Biddy's help, she went about her preparations, enlisting the old +nurse's sympathies till at last she succeeded in arousing her enthusiasm +also. There was certainly no time to weep. + +That second day after her arrival was the day of the funeral. It was +a beautiful still day of summer, and in the afternoon Dinah and Biddy +sat in the garden overlooking the winding river, and read the Burial +Service together. It was Dinah's suggestion, somewhat shyly proffered, +and--though she knew it not--from that time forward Biddy's heart was +at her feet. Whatever tears there might be yet to shed had lost all +bitterness from that hour. + +"I'll never be lonely so long as there's you to love, Miss Dinah +darlint," Biddy murmured, when the young arms closed about her neck for a +moment ere they went back to their work. "Ye've warmed and comforted me +all through." + +It was late in the evening when dusk was falling that there came the +sound of an uneven tread on the gravel path before the Dower House. + +Dinah was the first to hear it. Dinah wearing one of Biddy's voluminous +aprons and mounted on a pair of steps, arranging china on a high shelf +that ran round the old square hall. + +The front-door was open, and the birds were singing in the gloaming. She +had been listening to them while she worked, when suddenly this new sound +came. Her heart gave a wild leap and stood still. She had not expected +him to-night. + +She sat down on the top of the steps with a swift, indescribable rush of +feeling that seemed to deprive her of all her strength. She could not +have said for the moment if she were glad or dismayed at the sound of +that quiet footfall. But she was quite powerless to go and meet him. A +great wave of shyness engulfed her, possessing her, overwhelming her. + +He entered. He came straight to her. She wondered afterwards what he must +have thought of her, sitting there on her perch in burning embarrassment +with no word or sign of welcome. But whatever he thought, he dealt with +the situation with unerring instinct. + +He mounted a couple of steps with hands stretched up to hers. "Why, my +Dinah!" he said. "How busy you are! Let me help!" + +Her heart throbbed on again, fast and hard. But still for a few seconds +she could not speak. She stooped with a soft endearing sound and laid her +face upon the hands that had clasped her own. + +He suffered her for a moment or two in silence; she thought his hands +trembled slightly. Then: "Let's get finished, little wife!" he said +gently. "Isn't the day's work nearly over? Can't we take off our +sandals--and rest?" + +"I have just done," she said, finding her voice. "Biddy and I have got +through such a lot. Oh, Scott," as the light fell upon his face, "how +tired you look!" + +"It has been rather a tiring day," he made answer. "I didn't think I +could get over here to-night; but Eustace insisted." + +"How good of him!" she said, with quick gratitude. + +"Yes, he is good," Scott's voice was tender. "I couldn't sleep last +night, and he came into my room, and we had a long talk. He is one of the +best, Dinah; one of the best. I'm afraid you've made--rather a poor +exchange." + +Something in his tone banished the last of Dinah's shyness. She gave him +her basket of china and prepared to descend. He stretched up a courteous +hand to help her, but she would have none of it. "You are never to say +that--or anything like it--again," she said severely. "If--if you weren't +so dreadfully tired, I believe I'd be really angry. As it is--" she +reached the ground and stood there before him, a small, purposeful figure +clad in the great apron that wrapped about her like a garment. + +"As it is--" he suggested meekly, setting the basket on a chair and +turning back to face her. + +Two quivering hands came out to him in the gloaming, and fastened +resolutely on his coat. "Oh, Greatheart," whispered a tremulous voice, "I +love you so much--so much--I want--to kiss you!" + +"My darling," answered Greatheart softly, "you can't want it--more than I +do." + +His arms closed about her; he drew her to his breast. + + * * * * * + +"Arrah thin, what would I cry for at all?" said Biddy, as she lay +down that night. "I've got herself and Master Scott to care for, and +maybe--some day--the Almighty will remember old Biddy for good, and give +another little one into her care." + + * * * * * + +"And you left them quite happy?" smiled Rose to her lover two days later. +"It's a very suitable arrangement, isn't it? I always used to think that +Dinah and your brother should make a match." + +"Oh, quite suitable," agreed Eustace lazily, an odd blend of irony and +satisfaction in his tone. "They will be happy enough. Stumpy, you know, +is just the sort of chivalrous ass that a child like Dinah can +appreciate. They'll probably live in the seventh heaven, and fancy that +no one else has ever been within a million miles of it." + +"Poor little Dinah!" murmured Rose. "She will never know what she has +missed." + +And, "Just as well perhaps," said Sir Eustace, with his faintly cynical +smile. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREATHEART*** + + +******* This file should be named 13497-8.txt or 13497-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/4/9/13497 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13497-8.zip b/old/13497-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..91ecead --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13497-8.zip diff --git a/old/13497.txt b/old/13497.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2eebb10 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13497.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18420 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Greatheart, by Ethel M. Dell + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Greatheart + +Author: Ethel M. Dell + +Release Date: September 18, 2004 [eBook #13497] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREATHEART*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects, +Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +GREATHEART + +by + +ETHEL M. DELL + +Author of the Hundredth Chance, The Lamp in the Desert, +The Swindler, etc. + +1918 + + + + + + + +"NOW MR. GREATHEART WAS A STRONG MAN." +--_The Pilgrims Progress_. + + + +I Dedicate This Book to A. G. C. + +Friend of My Heart and to the Memory of All the Happy Days We have Spent +Together. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + + I. The Wanderer + II. The Looker-On + III. The Search + IV. The Magician + V. Apollo + VI. Cinderella + VII. The Broken Spell + VIII. Mr. Greatheart + IX. The Runaway Colt. + X. The House of Bondage + XI. Olympus + XII. The Wine of the Gods + XIII. Friendship in the Desert + XIV. The Purple Empress + XV. The Mountain Crest + XVI. The Second Draught + XVII. The Unknown Force + XVIII. The Escape of the Prisoner + XIX. The Cup of Bitterness + XX. The Vision of Greatheart + XXI. The Return + XXII. The Valley of the Shadow + XXIII. The Way Back + XXIV. The Lights of a City + XXV. The True Gold + XXVI. The Call of Apollo + XXVII. The Golden Maze + XXVIII. The Lesson + XXIX. The Captive + XXX. The Second Summons + + +PART II + + I. Cinderella's Prince + II. Wedding Arrangements + III. Despair + IV. The New Home + V. The Watcher + VI. The Wrong Road + VII. Doubting Castle + VIII. THE VICTORY + IX. THE BURDEN + X. THE HOURS OF DARKNESS + XI. THE NET + XII. THE DIVINE SPARK + XIII. THE BROKEN HEART + XIV. THE WRATH OF THE GODS + XV. THE SAPPHIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP + XVI. THE OPEN DOOR + XVII. THE LION IN THE PATH + XVIII. THE TRUTH + XIX. THE FURNACE + XX. THE COMING OF GREATHEART + XXI. THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION + XXII. SPOKEN IN JEST + XXIII. THE KNIGHT IN DISGUISE + XXIV. THE MOUNTAIN SIDE + XXV. THE TRUSTY FRIEND + XXVI. THE LAST SUMMONS + XXVII. THE MOUNTAIN-TOP + XXVIII. CONSOLATION + XXIX. THE SEVENTH HEAVEN + + + + +PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WANDERER. + + +Biddy Maloney stood at the window of her mistress's bedroom, and surveyed +the world with eyes of stern disapproval. There was nothing of the smart +lady's maid about Biddy. She abominated smart lady's maids. A flyaway +French cap and an apron barely reaching to the knees were to her the very +essence of flighty impropriety. There was just such a creature in +attendance upon Lady Grace de Vigne who occupied the best suite of rooms +in the hotel, and Biddy very strongly resented her existence. In her own +mind she despised her as a shameless hussy wholly devoid of all ideas of +"dacency." Her resentment was partly due to the fact that the indecent +one belonged to the party in possession of the best suite, which they had +occupied some three weeks before Biddy and her party had appeared on the +scene. + +It was all Master Scott's fault, of course. He ought to have written to +engage rooms sooner, but then to be sure the decision to migrate to this +winter paradise in the Alps had been a sudden one. That had been Sir +Eustace's fault. He was always so sudden in his ways. + +Biddy sighed impatiently. Sir Eustace had always been hard to manage. She +had never really conquered him even in the days when she had made him +stand in the corner and go without sugar in his tea. She well remembered +the shocking occasion on which he had flung sugar and basin together into +the fire so that the others might be made to share his enforced +abstinence. She believed he was equal to committing a similar act of +violence if baulked even now. But he never was baulked. At thirty-five he +reigned supreme in his own world. No one ever crossed him, unless it were +Master Scott, and of course no one could be seriously angry with him, +poor dear young man! He was so gentle and kind. A faint, maternal smile +relaxed Biddy's grim lips. She became aware that the white world below +was a-flood with sunshine. + +The snowy mountains that rose against the vivid blue were dream-like in +their beauty. Where the sun shone upon them, their purity was almost too +dazzling to behold. It was a relief to rest the eyes upon the great +patches of pine-woods that clothed some of the slopes. + +"I wonder if Miss Isabel will be happy here," mused Biddy. + +That to her mind was the only thing on earth that really mattered, +practically the only thing for which she ever troubled her Maker. Her own +wants were all amalgamated in this one great desire of her heart--that +her darling's poor torn spirit should be made happy. She had wholly +ceased to remember that she had ever wanted anything else. It was for +Miss Isabel that she desired the best rooms, the best carriages, +the best of everything. Even her love for Master Scott--poor dear young +man!--depended largely upon the faculty he possessed for consoling and +interesting Miss Isabel. Anyone who did that earned Biddy's undying +respect and gratitude. Of the rest of the world--save for a passing +disapproval--she was scarcely aware. Nothing else mattered in the same +way. In fact nothing else really mattered at all. + +Ah! A movement from the bed at last! Her quick ears, ever on the alert, +warned her on the instant. She turned from the window with such +mother-love shining in her old brown face under its severe white cap as +made it as beautiful in its way as the paradise without. + +"Why, Miss Isabel darlint, how you've slept then!" she said, in the soft, +crooning voice which was kept for this one beloved being alone. + +Two white arms were stretched wide outside the bed. Two dark eyes, +mysteriously shadowed and sunken, looked up to hers. + +"Has he gone already, Biddy?" a low voice asked. + +"Only a little way, darlint. He's just round the corner," said Biddy +tenderly. "Will ye wait a minute while I give ye your tay?" + +There was a spirit-kettle singing merrily in the room. She busied herself +about it, her withered face intent over the task. + +The white arms fell upon the blue travelling-rug that Biddy had spread +with loving care outside the bed the night before to add to her +mistress's comfort. "When did he go, Biddy?" the low voice asked, and +there was a furtive quality in the question as if it were designed for +none but Biddy's ears. "Did he--did he leave no message?" + +"Ah, to be sure!" said Biddy, turning her face for a moment. "And the +likes of me to have forgotten it! He sent ye his best love, darlint, and +ye were to eat a fine breakfast before ye went out." + +The sad eyes smiled at her from the bed, half-gratified, +half-incredulous, like the eyes of a lonely child who listens to a +fairy-tale. "It was like him to think of that, Biddy. But--I wish he had +stayed a little longer. I must get up and go and find him." + +"Hasn't he been with ye through the night?" asked Biddy, bent again to +her task. + +"Nearly all night long!" The answer came on a note of triumph, yet there +was also a note of challenge in it also. + +"Then what more would ye have?" said Biddy wisely. "Leave him alone for a +bit, darlint! Husbands are better without their wives sometimes." + +A low laugh came from the bed. "Oh, Biddy, I must tell him that! He would +love your _bon-mots_. Did he--did he say when he would be back?" + +"That he did not," said Biddy, still absorbed over the kettle. "But +there's nothing in that at all. Ye can't be always expecting a man to +give account of himself. Now, mavourneen, I'll give ye your tay, and +ye'll be able to get up when ye feel like it. Ah! There's Master Scott! +And would ye like him to come in and have a cup with ye?" + +Three soft knocks had sounded on the door. The woman in the bed raised +herself, and her hair fell in glory around her, hair that at twenty-five +had been raven-black, hair that at thirty-two was white as the snow +outside the window. + +"Is that you, Stumpy dear? Come in! Come in!" she called. + +Her voice was hollow and deep. She turned her face to the door--a +beautiful, wasted face with hungry eyes that watched and waited +perpetually. + +The door opened very quietly and unobtrusively, and a small, +insignificant man came in. He was about the size of the average schoolboy +of fifteen, and he walked with a slight limp, one leg being a trifle +shorter than the other. Notwithstanding this defect, his general +appearance was one of extreme neatness, from his colourless but carefully +trained moustache and small trim beard to his well-shod feet. His +clothes---like his beard--fitted him perfectly. + +His close-cropped hair was also colourless and grew somewhat far back on +his forehead. His pale grey eyes had a tired expression, as if they had +looked too long or too earnestly upon the turmoil of life. + +He came to the bedside and took the thin white hand outstretched to him +on which a wedding ring hung loose. He walked without awkwardness; there +was even dignity in his carriage. + +He bent to kiss the uplifted face. "Have you slept well, dear?" + +Her arms reached up and clasped his neck. "Oh, Stumpy, yes! I have had a +lovely night. Basil has been with me. He has gone out now; but I am going +to look for him presently." + +"Many happy returns of the day to ye, Master Scott!" put in Biddy rather +pointedly. + +"Ah yes. It is your birthday. I had forgotten. Forgive me, Stumpy +darling! You know I wish you always the very, very best." The clinging +arms held him more closely, + +"Thank you, Isabel." Scott's voice was as tired as his eyes, and yet it +had a certain quality of strength. "Of course it's a very important +occasion. How are we going to celebrate it?" + +"I have a present for you somewhere. Biddy, where is it?" Isabel's voice +had a note of impatience in it. + +"It's here, darlint! It's here!" Biddy bustled up to the bed with a +parcel. + +Isabel took it from her and turned to Scott. "It's only a silly old +cigarette-case, dear, but I thought of it all myself. How old are you +now, Stumpy?" + +"I am thirty," he answered, smiling. "Thank you very much, dear. It's +just the thing I wanted--only too good!" + +"As if anything could be too good for you!" his sister said tenderly. +"Has Eustace remembered?" + +"Oh yes. Eustace has given me a saddle, but as he didn't think I should +want it here, it is to be presented when we get home again." He sat down +on the side of the bed, still inspecting the birthday offering. + +"Haven't you had anything from anyone else?" Isabel asked, after a +moment. + +He shook his head. "Who else is there to bother about a minnow like me?" + +"You're not a minnow, Scott. And didn't--didn't Basil give you anything?" + +Scott's tired eyes looked at her with a sudden fixity. He said nothing; +but a piteous look came into Isabel's face under his steady gaze, and she +dropped her own as if ashamed. + +"Whisht, Master Scott darlint, for the Lord's sake, don't ye go upsetting +her!" warned Biddy in a sibilant whisper. "I had trouble enough last +night. If it hadn't been for the draught, she wouldn't have slept at all, +at all." + +Scott did not look at her. "You should have called me," he said, and +leaning forward took his sister's hand. "Isabel, wouldn't you like to +come out and see the skaters? There is some wonderful luging going on +too." + +She did not raise her eyes; her whole demeanour had changed. She seemed +to droop as if all animation had gone; "I don't know," she said +listlessly. "I think I would almost as soon stay here." + +"Have your tay, darlint!" coaxed Biddy, on her other side. + +"Eustace will be coming to look for you if you don't," said Scott. + +She started at that, and gave a quick shiver. "Oh no, I don't want +Eustace! Don't let him come here, Stumpy, will you?" + +"Shall I go and tell him you are coming then?" asked Scott, his eyes +still steadily watching her. + +She nodded. "Yes, yes. But I don't want to be made. Basil never made me +do things." + +Scott rose. "I will wait for you downstairs. Thank you, Biddy. Yes, I'll +drink that first. No tea in the world ever tastes like your brew." + +"Get along with your blarney, Master Scott!" protested Biddy. "And you +and Sir Eustace mustn't tire Miss Isabel out. Remember, she's just come a +long journey, and it's not wonderful at all that she don't feel like +exerting herself." + +A red fire of resentment smouldered in the old woman's eyes, but Scott +paid no attention to it. "You'd better get some sleep yourself, Biddy, if +you can," he said. "No more, thanks. You will be out in an hour then, +Isabel?" + +"Perhaps," she said. + +He paused, standing beside her. "If you are not out in an hour I shall +come and fetch you," he said. + +She put forth an appealing hand like a child. "I will come out, Stumpy. I +will come out," she said tremulously. + +He pressed the hand for a moment. "In an hour then, I want to show you +everything. There is plenty to be seen." + +He turned to the door, looked back with a parting smile, and went out. + +Isabel did not see the smile. She was staring moodily downwards with eyes +that only looked within. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LOOKER-ON + + +Down on the skating-rink below the hotel, a crowd of people were making +merry. The ice was in splendid condition. It sparkled in the sun like a +sheet of frosted glass, and over it the skaters glided with much mirth +and laughter. + +Scott stood on the road above and watched them. There were a good many +accomplished performers among them, and there were also several +beginners. But all seemed alike infected with the gaiety of the place. +There was not one face that did not wear a smile. + +It was an invigorating scene. From a slope of the white mountain-side +beyond the rink the shouts and laughter of higers came through the +crystal air. A string of luges was shooting down the run, and even as +Scott caught sight of it the foremost came to grief, and a dozen people +rolled ignominiously in the snow. He smiled involuntarily. He seemed to +have stepped into an atmosphere of irresponsible youth. The air was full +of the magic fluid. It stirred his pulses like a draught of champagne. + +Then his eyes returned to the rink, and almost immediately singled out +the best skater there. A man in a white sweater, dark, handsome, +magnificently made, supremely sure of himself, darted with the swift +grace of a swallow through the throng. His absolute confidence and +splendid physique made him conspicuous. He executed elaborate figures +with such perfect ease and certainty of movement that many turned to look +at him in astonished admiration. + +"Great Scott!" said a cracked voice at Scott's shoulder. + +He turned sharply, and met the frank regard of a rosy-faced schoolboy a +little shorter than himself. + +"Look at that bloomin' swell!" said the new-comer in tones of deep +disgust. "He seems to have sprouted in the night. I've no use for these +star skaters myself. They're all so beastly sidey." + +He addressed Scott as an equal, and as an equal Scott made reply. "P'raps +when you're a star skater yourself, you'll change your mind about 'em." + +The boy grinned. "Ah! P'raps! You're a new chum, aren't you?" + +"Very new," said Scott. + +"Can you skate?" asked the lad. "But of course you can. I suppose you're +another dark horse. It's too bad, you know; just as Dinah and I are +beginning to fancy ourselves at it. We began right at the beginning too." + +"Consider yourself lucky!" said Scott rather briefly. + +"What do you mean?" The boy's eyes flashed over him intelligently, green +eyes humorously alert. + +Scott glanced downwards. "I mean my legs are not a pair, so I can't even +begin." + +"Oh, bad luck, sir!" The equality vanished from the boy's voice. He +became suddenly almost deferential, and Scott realized that he was no +longer regarded as a comrade. "Still"--he hesitated--"you can luge, I +suppose?" + +"I don't quite see myself," said Scott, looking across once more to the +merry group on the distant run. + +"Any idiot can do that," the boy protested, then turned suddenly a deep +red. "Oh, lor, I didn't mean that! Hi, Dinah!" He turned to cover his +embarrassment and sent a deafening yell at the sun-bathed _facade_ of the +hotel. "Are you never coming, you cuckoo? Half the morning's gone +already!" + +"Coming, Billy!" at once a clear gay voice made answer, and the merriest +face that Scott had ever seen made a sudden appearance at an open window. +"Darling Billy, do keep your hair on for just two minutes longer! Yvonne +has been trying on my fancy dress, but she's nearly done." + +The neck and shoulders below the laughing face were bare and a bare arm +waved in a propitiatory fashion ere it vanished. + +"Looks as if the fancy dress is a minus quantity," observed Billy to his +companion with a grin. "I didn't see any of it, did you?" + +Scott tried not to laugh. "Your sister?" he asked. + +Billy nodded affirmation. "She ain't a bad urchin," he observed, "as +sisters go. We're staying here along with the de Vignes. Ever met 'em? +Lady Grace is a holy terror. Her husband is a horrible stuck-up bore of +an Anglo-Indian,--thinks himself everybody, and tells the most awful +howlers. Rose--that's the daughter--is by way of being very beautiful. +There she goes now; see? That golden-haired girl in red! She's another of +your beastly star skaters. I'll bet she'll have that big bounder cutting +capers with her before the day's out." + +"Think so?" said Scott. + +Billy nodded again. "I suppose he's a prince at least. My word, doesn't +he fancy himself? Look at that now? Side--sheer side!" + +The skater under discussion had just executed a most intricate figure not +far from them. Having accomplished it with that unerring and somewhat +blatant confidence that so revolted Billy's schoolboy soul, he +straightened his tall figure, and darted in a straight line for the end +of the rink above which they stood. His hands were in his pockets. His +bearing was superb. He described a complete circle below them before he +brought himself to a stand. Then he lifted his dark arrogant face. He +wore a short clipped moustache which by no means hid the strength of a +well-modelled though slightly sneering mouth. His eyes were somewhat +deeply set, and shone extraordinarily blue under straight black brows +that met. The man's whole expression was one of dominant self-assertion. +He bore himself like a king. + +"Well, Stumpy," he said, "where's Isabel?" + +Scott's companion jumped, and beat a swift retreat. Scott smiled a little +as he made reply. + +"I have been up to see her. She will be out presently. Biddy had to give +her a sleeping-draught last night." + +"Damn!" said the other in a fierce undertone. "Did she call you first?" + +"No." + +"Then why the devil didn't she? I shall sack that woman. Isabel hasn't a +chance to get well with a mischievous old hag like that always with her." + +"I think Isabel would probably die without her," Stumpy responded in his +quiet voice which presented a vivid contrast to his brother's stormy +utterance. "And Biddy would probably die too--if she consented to go, +which I doubt." + +"Oh, damn Biddy! The sooner she dies the better. She's nothing but a +perpetual nuisance. What is Isabel like this morning?" + +Scott hesitated, and his brother frowned. + +"That's enough. What else could any one expect? Look here, Scott! This +thing has got to end. I shall take that sleeping-stuff away." + +"If you can get hold of it," put in Scott drily. + +"You must get hold of it. You have ample opportunity. It's all very well +to preach patience, but she has been taking slow poison for seven years. +I am certain of it. It's ridiculous! It's monstrous! It's got to end." He +spoke with impatient finality, his blue eyes challenging remonstrance. + +Scott made none. Only after a moment he said, "If you take away one prop, +old chap, you must provide another. A broken thing can't stand alone. But +need we discuss it now? As I told you, she is coming out presently, and +this glorious air is bound to make a difference to her. It tastes like +wine." + +It was at this point that the golden-haired girl in red suddenly glided +up and sat down on the bank a few yards away to adjust a skate. + +Sir Eustace turned his head, and a sparkle came into his eyes. He watched +her for a moment, then left his brother without further words. + +"Can I do that for you?" he asked. + +She lifted a flushed face. "Oh, how kind of you! But I have just managed +it. How lovely the ice is this morning!" + +She rose with the words, balancing herself with a grace as finished as +his own, and threw him a dazzling smile of gratitude. Scott, from his +post of observation on the bank, decided that she certainly was +beautiful. Her face was almost faultless. And yet it seemed to him that +there was infinitely more of witchery in the face that had laughed from +the window a few minutes before. Almost unconsciously he was waiting to +see the owner of that face emerge. + +He watched the inevitable exchange of commonplaces between his brother +and the beautiful Miss de Vigne whose graciousness plainly indicated her +willingness for a nearer acquaintance, and presently he saw them move +away side by side. + +"What did I tell you?" said Billy's voice at his shoulder. "But you might +have said that chap belonged to you. How was I to know?" + +"Oh, quite so," said Scott. "Pray don't apologize! He doesn't belong to +me either. It is I who belong to him." + +Billy's green eyes twinkled appreciatively. "You're his brother, aren't +you?" + +Scott looked at him. "Now how on earth did you know that?" + +He looked back with his frank, engaging grin. "Oh, there's the same hang +about you. I can't tell you what it is. Dinah would know directly. You'd +better ask her." + +"I don't happen to have the pleasure of your sister's acquaintance," +observed Scott, with his quiet smile. + +"Oh, I'll soon introduce you if that's what you want," said Billy. "Come +along! There she is now, just crossing the road. By the way, I don't +think you told me your name." + +"My name is Studley--Scott Studley, Stumpy to my friends," said Scott, in +his whimsical, rather weary fashion. + +Billy laughed. "You're a sport," he said. "When I know you a bit better, +I shall remember that. Hi, Dinah! What a deuce of a time you've been. +This is Mr. Studley, and he saw you at the window without anything on." + +"I'm sure he didn't! Billy, how dare you?" Dinah's brown face burned an +indignant red; she looked at Scott with instant hostility. + +"Oh, please!" he protested mildly. "That's not quite fair on me." + +"Serves you right," declared Billy with malicious delight. "You played me +a shabby trick, you know." + +Dinah's brow cleared. She smiled upon Scott. "Isn't he a horrid little +pig? How do you do? Isn't it a ripping day? It makes you want to climb, +doesn't it? I wish I'd got an alpenstock." + +"Can't you get one anywhere?" asked Scott. "I thought they were always to +be had." + +"Yes, but they cost money," sighed Dinah. "And I haven't got any. It +doesn't really matter though. There are lots of other things to do. Are +you keen on luging? I am." + +Her bright eyes smiled into his with the utmost friendliness, and he knew +that she would not commit Billy's mistake and ask him if he skated. + +Her smile was infectious. The charm of it lingered after it had passed. +Her eyes were green like Billy's, only softer. They had a great deal of +sweetness in them, and a spice--just a spice of devilry as well. The rest +of the face would have been quite unremarkable, but the laughter-loving +mouth and pointed chin wholly redeemed it from the commonplace. She was a +little brown thing like a woodland creature, and her dainty air and quick +ways put Scott irresistibly in mind of a pert robin. + +In reply to her question he told her that he had arrived only the night +before. "And I am quite a tyro," he added. "I have been watching the +luging on that slope, and thanking all the stars that control my destiny +that I wasn't there." + +She laughed, showing a row of small white teeth. "Oh, you'd love it once +you started. It's a heavenly sport if the run isn't bumpy. Isn't this a +glorious atmosphere? It makes one feel so happy." + +She came and stood by his side to watch the skaters. Billy was seated on +the bank, impatiently changing his boots. + +"I'm not going to wait for you any longer, Dinah," he said. "I'm fed up." + +"Don't then!" she retorted. "I never asked you to." + +"What a lie!" said Billy, with all a brother's gallantry. + +She threw him a sister's look of scorn and deigned no rejoinder. But in a +moment the incident was forgotten. "Oh, look there!" she suddenly +exclaimed. "Isn't that just like Rose de Vigne? She's always sure to +appropriate the most handsome man within sight. I've been watching that +man from my window. He is a perfect Apollo, and skates divinely. And now +she's got him!" + +Deep disgust was audible in her voice. Billy looked up with a sideways +grin. "You don't suppose he'd look at a sparrow like you, do you?" he +said. "He prefers a swan, you bet." + +"Be quiet, Billy!" commanded Dinah, making an ineffectual dig at him with +her foot. "I don't want him to look at me. I hate men. But it is too bad +the way Rose always chooses the best. It's just the same with everything. +And I long--oh, I do long sometimes--to cut her out!" + +"I should myself," said Scott unexpectedly. "But why don't you. I'm sure +you could." + +She threw him a whimsical smile. "I!" she said. "Why that's about as +likely as--" she stopped short in some confusion. + +He laughed a little. "You mean I might as soon hope to cut out Apollo? +But the cases are not parallel, I assure you. Besides, Apollo happens to +be my brother, which makes a difference." + +"Oh, is he your brother? What a good thing you told me!" laughed Dinah. +"I might have said something rude about him in a minute." + +"Like me!" said Billy, stumbling to his feet. "I made a most horrific +blunder, didn't I, Mr. Studley? I called him a bounder!" + +Dinah looked at him witheringly. "You would!" she said. "Well, I hope you +apologized." + +Billy stuck out his tongue at her. "I didn't then!" he returned, and +skated elegantly away on one leg. + +"Billy," remarked Dinah dispassionately, "is not really such a horrid +little beast as he seems." + +Scott smiled his courteous smile. "I had already gathered that," he said. + +Her green eyes darted him a swift look, as if to ascertain if he were in +earnest. Then: "That was very nice of you," she said. "I wonder how you +knew." + +He still smiled, but without much mirth. "A looker-on sees a good many +things, you know," he said. + +Dinah's eyes flashed understanding. She said no more. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE SEARCH + + +When Isabel came slowly forth at length from the hotel door whither Biddy +had conducted her, Scott was sitting alone on a bench in the sunshine. + +He rose at once to join her. "Why, how quick you have been! Or else the +time flies here. Eustace is still skating. I had no idea he was so +accomplished. See, there he is!" + +But Isabel set her haggard face towards the mountain-road that wound up +beyond the hotel. "I am going to look for Basil," she said. + +"It is waste of time," said Scott quietly. + +But he did not attempt to withstand her. They turned side by side up the +hard, snowy track. + +For some time they walked in silence. At a short distance from the hotel, +the road ascended steeply through a pine-wood, dark and mysterious as an +enchanted forest, through which there rose the sound of a rushing stream. + +Scott paused to listen, but instantly his sister laid an imperious hand +upon him. + +"I can't wait," she said. "I am sure he is just round the corner. I heard +him whistle." + +He moved on in response to her insistence. "I heard that whistle too," he +said. "But it was a mountain-boy." + +He was right. At a curve in the road, they met a young Swiss lad who went +by them with a smile and salute, and fell to whistling again when he had +passed. + +Isabel pressed on in silence. She had started in feverish haste, but her +speed was gradually slackening. She looked neither to right nor left; her +eyes perpetually strained forward as though they sought for something +just beyond their range of vision. For a while Scott limped beside her +without speaking, but at last as they sighted the end of the pine-wood he +gently broke the silence. + +"Isabel dear, I think we must turn back very soon." + +"Oh, why?" she said. "Why? You always say that when--" There came a break +in her voice, and she ceased to speak. + +Her pace quickened so that he had some difficulty in keeping up with her, +but he made no protest. With the utmost patience he also pressed on. + +But it was not long before her strength began to fail. She stumbled once +or twice, and he put a supporting hand under her elbow. As they neared +the edge of the pines it became evident that the road dwindled to a mere +mountain-path winding steeply upwards through the snow. The sun shone +dazzlingly upon the great waste of whiteness. + +Very suddenly Isabel stopped. "He can't have gone this way after all," +she said, and turned to her brother with eyes of tragic hopelessness. +"Stumpy, Stumpy, what shall I do?" + +He drew her hand very gently through his arm. "We will go back, dear," he +said. + +A low sob escaped her, but she did not weep. "If I only had the strength +to go on and on and on!" she said. "I know I should find him some day +then." + +"You will find him some day," he answered with grave assurance. "But not +yet." + +They went back to the turn in the road where the sound of the stream rose +like fairy music from an unseen glen. The snow lay pure and untrodden +under the trees. + +Scott paused again, and this time Isabel made no remonstrance. They stood +together listening to the rush of the torrent. + +"How beautiful this place must be in springtime!" he said. + +She gave a sharp shiver. "It is like a dead world now." + +"A world that will very soon rise again," he answered. + +She looked at him with vague eyes. "You are always talking of the +resurrection," she said. + +"When I am with you, I am often thinking of it," he said with simplicity. + +A haunted look came into her face. "But that implies--death," she said, +her voice very low. + +"And what is Death?" said Scott gently, as if he reasoned with a child. +"Do you think it is more than a step further into Life? The passing of a +boundary, that is all." + +"But there is no returning!" she protested piteously. "It must be more +than that." + +"My dear, there is never any returning," he said gravely. "None of us can +go backwards. Yesterday is but a step away, but can we retrace that step? +No, not one of us." + +She made a sudden, almost fierce gesture. "Oh, to go back!" she cried. +"Oh, to go back! Why should we be forced blindly forward when we only +want to go back?" + +"That is the universal law," said Scott. "That is God's Will." + +"It is cruel! It is cruel!" she wailed. + +"No, it is merciful. So long as there is Death in the world we must go +on. We have got to get past Death." + +She turned her tragic eyes upon him. "And what then? What then?" + +Scott was gazing steadfastly into her face of ravaged beauty. "Then--the +resurrection," he said. "There are millions of people in the world, +Isabel, who are living out their lives solely for the sake of that, +because they know that if they only keep on, the Resurrection will give +back to them all that they have lost. My dear, it is not going back that +could help anyone. The past is past, the present is passing; there is +only the future that can restore all things. We are bound to go forward, +and thank God for it!" + +Her eyes fell slowly before his. She did not speak, but after a moment +gave him her hand with a shadowy smile. They continued the descent side +by side. + +Another curve of the road brought them within sight of the hotel. + +Scott broke the silence. "Here is Eustace coming to meet us!" + +She looked up with a start, and into her face came a curious, veiled +expression, half furtive, half afraid. + +"Don't tell him, Stumpy!" she said quickly. + +"What, dear?" + +"Don't tell him I have been looking for Basil this morning. He--he +wouldn't understand. And--and--you know--I must look for him sometimes. I +shall lose him altogether if I don't." + +"Shall we pretend we are enjoying ourselves?" said Scott with a smile. + +She answered him with feverish earnestness. "Yes--yes! Let us do that! +And, Stumpy, Stumpy dear, you are good, you can pray. I can't, you know. +Will you--will you pray sometimes--that I may find him?" + +"I shall pray that your eyes may be opened, Isabel," he answered, "so +that you may know you have never really lost him." + +She smiled again, her fleeting, phantom smile. "Don't pray for the +impossible, Stumpy!" she said. "I--I think that would be a mistake." + +"Is anything impossible?" said Scott. + +He raised his hand before she could make any answer, and sent a cheery +holloa down to his brother who waved a swift response. They quickened +their steps to meet him. + +Eustace was striding up the hill with the easy swing of a giant. He held +out both hands to Isabel as he drew near. She pulled herself free from +Scott, and went to him as one drawn by an unseen force. + +"Ah, that's right," he said, and bent to kiss her. "I'm glad you've been +for a walk. But you might have come and spoken to me first. I was only on +the rink." + +"I didn't want to see a lot of people," said Isabel, shrinking a little. +"I--I don't like so many strangers, Eustace." + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said lightly. "You have been buried too long. It's +time you came out of your shell. I shan't take you home again till you +have quite got over that." + +His tone was kindly but it held authority. Isabel attempted no protest. +Only she looked away over the sparkling world of white and blue with +something near akin to despair in her eyes. + +Scott took out his cigarette-case, and handed it to his brother. +"Isabel's birthday present to me!" he said. + +Eustace examined it with a smile. "Very nice! Did you think of it all by +yourself, Isabel?" + +"No," she said with dreary listlessness. "Biddy reminded me." + +Eustace's face changed. He frowned slightly and gave the case back to his +brother. + +"Have a cigarette!" said Scott. + +He took one absently, and Scott did the same. + +"How did you get on with the lady in red?" he asked. + +Eustace threw him a glance half-humorous, half-malicious. "If it comes to +that, how did you get on with the little brown girl?" + +"Oh, very nicely," smiled Scott. "Her name is Dinah. Your lady's name is +Rose de Vigne, if you care to know." + +"Really?" said Eustace. "And who told you that?" + +"Dinah, of course, or Dinah's brother. I forget which. They belong to the +same party." + +"I should think that little snub-nosed person feels somewhat in the +shade," observed Eustace. + +"I expect she does. But she has plenty of wits to make up for it. She +seems to find life quite an interesting entertainment." + +"She can't skate a bit," said Eustace. + +"Can't she? You'll have to give her a hint or two. I am sure she would be +very grateful." + +"Did she tell you so?" + +"I'm not going to tell you what she told me. It wouldn't be fair." + +Eustace laughed with easy tolerance. "Oh, I've no objection to giving her +a hand now and then if she's amusing, and doesn't become a nuisance. I'm +not going to let myself be bored by anybody this trip. I'm out for sport +only." + +"It's a lovely place," observed Scott. + +"Oh, perfect. I'm going to ski this afternoon. How do you like it, +Isabel?" + +Abruptly the elder brother accosted her. She was walking between them as +one in a dream. She started at the sound of her name. + +"I don't know yet," she said. "It is rather cold, isn't it? I--I am not +sure that I shall be able to sleep here." + +Eustace's eyes held hers for a moment. "Oh, no one expects to sleep +here," he said lightly. "You skate all day and dance all night. That's +the programme." + +Her lips parted a little. "I--dance!" she said. + +"Why not?" said Eustace. + +She made a gesture that was almost expressive of horror. "When I dance," +she said, in her deep voice, "you may put me under lock and key for good +and all, for I shall be mad indeed." + +"Don't be silly!" he said sharply. + +She shrank as if at a blow, and on the instant very quietly Scott +intervened. "Isabel and I prefer to look on," he said, drawing her hand +gently through his arm. "I fancy it suits us both best." + +His eyes met his brother's quick frown deliberately, with the utmost +steadiness, and for a few electric seconds there was undoubted tension +between them. Isabel was aware of it, and gripped the supporting arm very +closely. + +Then with a shrug Eustace turned from the contest. "Oh, go your own way! +It's all one to me. You're one of the slow coaches that never get +anywhere." + +Scott said nothing whatever. He smoked his cigarette without a sign of +perturbation. Save for a certain steeliness in his pale eyes, his +habitually placid expression remained unaltered. + +He walked in silence for a few moments, then without effort began to talk +in a general strain of their journey of the previous day. Had Isabel +cared about the sleigh-ride? If so, they would go again one day. + +She lighted up in response with an animation which she had not displayed +during the whole walk. Her eyes shone a little, as with a far-off fire of +gratitude. + +"I should like it if you would, Stumpy," she said. + +"Then we will certainly go," he said. "I should enjoy it very much." + +Eustace came out of a somewhat sullen silence to throw a glance of +half-reluctant approval towards his brother. He plainly regarded Scott's +move as an achievement of some importance. + +"Yes, go by all means!" he said. "Enjoy yourselves. That's all I ask." + +Isabel's faint smile flitted across her tired face, but she said nothing. + +Only as they reached and entered the hotel, she pressed Scott's hand for +a moment in both her own. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAGICIAN + + +"Well, Dinah, my dear, are you ready?" + +Rose de Vigne, very slim and graceful, with her beautiful hair mounted +high above her white forehead and falling in a shower of golden ringlets +behind after the style of a hundred years ago, stood on the threshold of +Dinah's room, awaiting permission to enter. Her dress was of palest green +satin brocade, a genuine Court dress of a century old. Her arms and neck +gleamed with a snowy whiteness. She looked as if she had just stepped out +of an ancient picture. + +There came an impatient cry from within the room. "Oh, come in! Come in! +I'm not nearly ready,--never shall be, I think. Where is Yvonne? Couldn't +she spare me a single moment?" + +The beautiful lady entered with a smile. She could afford to smile, being +complete to the last detail and quite sure of taking the ballroom by +storm. She found Dinah scurrying barefooted about the room with her hair +in a loose bunch on her neck, her attire of the scantiest description, +her expression one of wild desperation. + +"I've lost my stockings. Where can they be? I know I had them this +morning. Can Yvonne have taken them by mistake? She put everything ready +for me,--or said she had." + +The bed was littered with articles of clothing all flung together in +hopeless confusion. Rose came forward. "Surely Yvonne didn't leave your +things like this?" she said. + +"No. I've been hunting through everything for the stockings. Where can +they be? I shall have to go without them, that's all." + +"My dear child, they can't be far away. You had better get on with your +hair while I look for them. I am afraid you will not be able to count on +any help from Yvonne to-night. She has only just finished dressing me, +and has gone now to help Mother. You know what that means." + +"Oh, goodness, yes!" said Dinah. "I wish I'd never gone in for this +stupid fancy dress at all. I shall never be done." + +Rose smiled in her indulgent way. She was always kind to Dinah. "Well, I +can help you for a few minutes. I can't think how you come to be so late. +I thought you came in long ago." + +"Yes, but Billy wanted some buttons sewn on, and that hindered me." Dinah +was dragging at her hair with impatient fingers. "What a swell you look, +Rose! I'm sure no one will dare to ask you for any but square dances." + +"Do you think so, dear?" said Rose, looking at herself complacently in +the glass over Dinah's head. + +Dinah made a sudden and hideous grimace. "Oh, drat my hair! I can't do +anything with it. I believe I shall cut it all off, put on just a +pinafore, and go as a piccaninny." + +"That sounds a little vulgar," observed Rose. "There are your stockings +under the bed. You must have dropped them under. I should think the more +simply you do your hair the better if you are going to wear a coloured +kerchief over it. You have natural ringlets in front, and that is the +only part that will show." + +"And they will hang down over my eyes," retorted Dinah, "unless I fasten +them back with a comb, which I haven't got. Oh, don't stay, Rose! I know +you are wanting to go, and you can't help me. I shall manage somehow." + +"Are you quite sure?" said Rose turning again to survey herself. + +"Quite--quite! I shall get on best alone. I'm in a bad temper too, and I +want to use language--horrid language," said Dinah, tugging viciously at +her dark hair. + +Rose lowered her stately gaze and watched her for a moment. Then as +Dinah's green eyes suddenly flashed resentful enquiry upon her she +lightly touched the girl's flushed cheek, and turned away. "Poor little +Dinah!" she said. + +The door closed upon her graceful figure in its old-world, sweeping robe +and Dinah whizzed round from the glass like a naughty fairy in a rage. +"Rose de Vigne, I hate you!" she said aloud, and stamped her unshod foot +upon the floor. + +A period of uninterrupted misfortune followed this outburst. Everything +went wrong. The costume which the French maid had so deftly fitted upon +her that morning refused to be adjusted properly. The fastenings baffled +her, and finally a hook at the back took firm hold of the lawn of her +sleeve and maliciously refused to be disentangled therefrom. + +Dinah struggled for freedom for some minutes till the lawn began to tear, +and then at last she became desperate. "Billy must do it," she said, and +almost in tears she threw open the door and ran down the passage. + +Billy's room was round a corner, and this end of the corridor was dim. As +she turned it, she almost collided with a figure coming in the opposite +direction--a boyish-looking figure in evening dress which she instantly +took for Billy. + +"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed. "Do come along and help me like a +saint! I'm in such a fix." + +There was an instant's pause before she discovered her mistake, and then +in the same moment a man's voice answered her. + +"Of course I will help you with pleasure. What is wrong?" + +Dinah started back, as if she would flee in dismay. But perhaps it was +the kindness of his response, or possibly only the extremity of her +need--something held her there. She stood her ground as it were in spite +of herself. + +"Oh, it is you! I do beg your pardon. I thought it was Billy. I've got my +sleeve caught up at the back, and I want him to undo it." + +"I'll undo it if you will allow me," said Scott. + +"Oh, would you? How awfully kind! My arm is nearly broken with trying to +get free. You can't see here though," said Dinah. "There's a light by my +door." + +"Let us go to it then!" said Scott. "I know what it is to have things go +wrong at a critical time." + +He accompanied her back again with the utmost simplicity, stopped by the +light, and proceeded with considerable deftness to remedy the mischief. + +"Oh, thank you!" said Dinah, with heart-felt gratitude as he freed her at +last. "Billy would have torn the stuff in all directions. I'm dressing +against time, you see, and I've no one to help me." + +"Do you want any more help?" asked Scott, looking at her with a quizzical +light in his eyes. + +She laughed, albeit she was still not far from tears. "Yes, I want +someone to pin a handkerchief on my head in the proper Italian fashion. I +don't look much like a _contadina_ yet, do I?" + +He surveyed her more critically. "It's not a bad get-up. You look very +nice anyhow. If you like to bring me the handkerchief, I will see what I +can do. I know a little about it from the point of view of an amateur +artist. You want some earrings. Have you got any?" + +Dinah shook her head. "Of course not." + +"I believe my sister has," said Scott. "I'll go and see." + +"Oh no, no! What will she think?" cried Dinah in distress. + +He uttered his quiet laugh. "I will present you to her by-and-bye if I +may. I am sure she will be interested and pleased. You finish off as +quickly as you can! I shall be back directly." + +He limped away again down the passage, moving more quickly than was his +wont, and Dinah hastened back into her room wondering if this informality +would be regarded by her chaperon as a great breach of etiquette. + +"Rose thinks I'm vulgar," she murmured to herself. "I wonder if I really +am. But really--he is such a dear little man. How could I possibly help +it?" + +The dear little man's return put an end to her speculations. He came back +in an incredibly short time, armed with a leather jewel-case which he +deposited on the threshold. + +Dinah came light-footed to join him, all her grievances forgotten. Her +hair, notwithstanding its waywardness, clustered very prettily about her +face. There was a bewitching dimple near one corner of her mouth. + +"You can come in if you like," she said. "I'm quite dressed--all except +the handkerchief." + +"Thank you; but I won't come in," he answered. "We mustn't shock anybody. +If you could bring a chair out, I could manage quite well." + +She fetched the chair. "If anyone comes down the passage, they'll wonder +what on earth we are doing," she remarked. + +"They will take us for old friends," said Scott in a matter of-fact tone +as he opened the jewel-case. + +She laughed delightedly. There was a peculiarly happy quality about her +laugh. Most people smiled quite involuntarily when they heard it, though +Billy compared it to the neigh of a cheery colt. + +"Now," said Scott, looking at her quizzically, "are you going to sit in +the chair, or am I going to stand on it?" + +"Oh, I'll sit," she said. "Here's the handkerchief! You will fasten it so +that it doesn't flop, won't you? May I hold that case? I won't touch +anything." + +He put it open into her lap. "There is a chain of coral there. Perhaps +you can find it. I think it would look well with your costume." + +Dinah pored over the jewels with sparkling eyes. "But are you sure--quite +sure--your sister doesn't mind?" + +"Quite sure," said Scott, beginning to drape the handkerchief adroitly +over her bent head. + +"How very sweet of her--of you both!" said Dinah. "I feel like Cinderella +being dressed for the ball. Oh, what lovely pearls! I never saw anything +so exquisite." + +She had opened an inner case and was literally revelling in its contents. + +"They were--her husband's wedding present to her," said Scott in his +rather monotonous voice. + +"How lovely it must be to be married!" said Dinah, with a little sigh. + +"Do you think so?" said Scott. + +She turned in her chair to regard him. "Don't you?" + +"I can't quite imagine it," he said. + +"Oh, can't I!" said Dinah. "To have someone in love with you, wanting no +one but you, thinking there's no one else in the world like you. Have you +never dreamt that such a thing has happened? I have. And then waked up to +find everything very flat and uninteresting." + +Scott was intent upon fastening an old gold brooch in the red kerchief +above her forehead. He did not meet the questioning of her bright eyes. + +"No," he said. "I don't think I ever cajoled myself, either waking or +sleeping, into imagining that anybody would ever fall in love with me to +that extent." + +Dinah laughed, her upturned face a-brim with merriment. "If any woman +ever wants to marry you, she'll have to do her own proposing, won't she?" +she said. + +"I think she will," said Scott. + +"I wish Rose de Vigne would fall in love with you then," declared Dinah. +"Men are always proposing to her, she leads them on till they make +perfect idiots of themselves. I think it's simply horrid of her to do it. +But she says she can't help being beautiful. Oh, how I wish--" Dinah +broke off. + +"What do you wish?" said Scott. + +She turned her face away to hide a blush. "You must think me very silly +and childish. So I am, but I'm not generally so. I think it's in the air +here. I was going to say, how I wished I could outshine her for just one +night! Isn't that piggy of me? But I am so tired of being always in the +shade. She called me 'Poor little Dinah!' only to-night. How would you +like to be called that?" + +"Most people call me Stumpy," observed Scott, with his whimsical little +smile. + +"How rude of them! How horrid of them!" said Dinah. "And do you actually +put up with it?" + +He bent with her over the jewel-case, and picked out the coral chain. "I +don't care the toss of a halfpenny," he said. + +She gave him a quick, searching glance. "Not really? Not in your secret +heart?" + +"Not in the deepest depth of my unfathomable soul," he declared. + +"Then you're a great man," said Dinah, with conviction. + +Scott's laugh was one of genuine amusement. "Oh, does that follow? I've +never seen myself in that light before." + +But Dinah was absolutely serious and remained so. There was even a touch +of reverence in her look. "You evidently don't know yourself in the +least," she said. "Anyhow, you've made me feel a downright toad." + +"I don't know why," said Scott. "You don't look like one if that's any +comfort." He stooped to fasten the necklace. "Now for the earrings, and +you are complete." + +"It is good of you," she said gratefully. "I am longing to go and look at +myself. But can you fasten them first? I'm sure I can't." + +He complied with his almost feminine dexterity, and in a few moments a +sparkling and glorified Dinah rose and skipped into her room to see the +general effect of her transformation. + +Scott lingered to close the jewel-case. Frankly, he had enjoyed himself +during the last ten minutes. Moreover he was sure she would be pleased +with the result of his labours. But he was hardly prepared for the cry of +delight that reached him as he turned to depart. + +He paused as he heard it, and in a moment Dinah flashed out again like a +radiant butterfly and gave him both her hands. + +"You--magician!" she cried. "How did you do it? How can I thank you? I've +never been so nearly pretty in my life!" + +He bowed in courtly fashion over the little brown hands. "Then you have +never seen yourself with the eyes of others," he said. "I congratulate +you on doing so to-night." + +She laughed her merry laugh. "Thank you! Thank you a hundred times! I've +only one thing left to wish for." + +"What is that?" he said. + +She told him with a touch of shyness. "That--Apollo--will dance with me!" + +Scott laughed and let her go. "Oh, is that all? Then I will certainly see +that he does." + +"Oh, but don't tell him!" pleaded Dinah. + +"I never repeat confidences," declared Scott. "Good-bye, _Signorina_!" + +And with another bow, he left her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +APOLLO + + +The _salon_ was a blaze of lights and many shifting colours. The +fantastic crowd that trooped thither from the _salle-a-manger_ was like a +host of tropical flowers. The talking and laughter nearly drowned the +efforts of the string band in the far corner. + +Scott in ordinary evening-dress stood near the door talking to an immense +Roman Emperor, looking by contrast even smaller and more insignificant +than usual. Yet a closer observation would have shown that the same +instinctive dignity of bearing characterized them both. Utterly unlike +though they were, yet in this respect it was not difficult to trace their +brotherhood. Though moulded upon lines so completely dissimilar, they +bore the same indelible stamp--the stamp of good birth which can never be +attained by such as have it not. Sir Eustace Studley was the handsomest +man in the room. His imperial costume suited his somewhat arrogant +carriage. He looked like a man born to command. His keen eyes glanced +hither and thither with an eagle-like intensity that missed nothing. He +seemed to be on the watch for someone. + +"Who is it?" asked Scott, with a smile. "The lady of the rink?" + +The black brows went up haughtily for a moment, then descended in an +answering smile. "She is the only woman I've seen here yet that's worth +looking at," he observed. + +"Don't you be too sure of that!" said Scott. "I can show you a little +Italian peasant girl who is well worth your august consideration. I think +you ought to bestow a little favour on her as you have each chosen to +assume the same nationality." + +Sir Eustace laughed. "A _protegee_ of yours, eh? That little brown girl, +I suppose? Charming no doubt, my dear fellow; but ordinary--distinctly +ordinary." + +"You haven't seen her yet," said Scott. "You had your back to her in the +_salle-a-manger._" + +"Where is she then? You had better find her before the beautiful Miss de +Vigne makes her appearance. I don't mind giving her a dance or two, but +you must take her off my hands if we don't get on." + +"I will certainly do that," said Scott in his quiet voice that seemed to +veil a touch of irony. "I believe she is in the vestibule now. No, here +she is!" + +Dinah, with laughing lips and sparkling eyes, had just ventured to the +door with Billy. "We'll just peep," she said to her brother in the gay +young tones that penetrated so much further than she realized. "But I +shall never dare to dance. Why, I've never even seen the inside of a +ballroom before. And as to dancing with a real live man--" She broke off +as she caught sight of the two brothers standing together near the +entrance. + +Eustace turned his restless eyes upon her, gave her a swift, critical +glance and muttered something to Scott. + +The latter at once stepped forward, receiving a smile so radiant that +even Eustace was momentarily dazzled. The little brown girl certainly had +points. + +"May I introduce my brother?" said Scott. "Sir Eustace Studley--Miss--I +am afraid I don't know your surname." + +"Sketchy," murmured Eustace, as he bowed. + +But Dinah only laughed her ringing, merry laugh. "Of course you don't +know. How could you? Our name is Bathurst. I'm Dinah and this is Billy. I +am years older than he is, of course." She gave Eustace a shy glance. +"How do you do?" + +"She's just thirty," announced Billy, in shrill, cracked tones. "She's +just pretending to be young to-night, but she ain't young really. You +should see her without her warpaint." + +The music became somewhat more audible at this point. Eustace bent +slightly, looking down at the girl with eyes that were suddenly soft as +velvet. "They are beginning to dance," he said. "May I have the pleasure? +It's a pity to lose time." + +Her red lips smiled delighted assent. She laid her hand with a feathery +touch upon the arm he offered. "Oh, how lovely!" she said, and slid into +his hold like a giddy little water-fowl taking to its own beloved +element. + +"Well, I'm jiggered!" said Billy. "And she's never danced with a +man--except of course me--before!" + +"Live and learn!" said Scott. + +He watched the couple go up the great room, and he saw that, as he had +suspected, Dinah was an exquisite dancer. Her whole being was merged in +movement. She was as an instrument in the hand of a skilled player. + +Sir Eustace Studley was an excellent dancer too, though he did not +often trouble himself to dance as perfectly as he was dancing now. It +was not often that he had a partner worthy of his best, and it was a +semi-conscious habit of his never voluntarily to give better than he +received. + +But this little gipsy-girl of Scott's discovery called forth all his +talent. She did not want to talk. She only wanted to dance, to spend +herself in a passion of dancing that was an ecstasy beyond all speech. +She was as sensitive as a harp-string to his touch; she was music, she +was poetry, she was charm. The witchery of her began to possess him. Her +instant response to his mood, her almost uncanny interpretation thereof, +became like a spell to his senses. From wonder he passed to delight, and +from delight to an almost feverish desire for more. He swayed her to his +will with a well-nigh savage exultation, and she gave herself up to it so +completely, so freely, so unerringly, that it was as if her very +individuality had melted in some subtle fashion and become part of his. +And to the man there came a moment of sheer intoxication, as though he +drank and drank of a sparkling, inspiriting wine that lured him, that +thrilled him, that enslaved him. + +It was just when the sensation had reached its height that the music +suddenly quickened for the finish. That brought him very effectually to +earth. He ceased to dance and led her aside. + +She turned her bright face to him for a moment, in her eyes the dazed, +incredulous look of one awaking from an enthralling dream. "Oh, can't we +dance it out?" she said, as if she pleaded against being aroused. + +He shook his head. "I never dance to a finish. It's too much like the +clown's turn after the transformation scene. It is bathos on the top of +the superb. At least it would be in this case. Who in wonder taught you +to dance like that?" + +Dinah opened her eyes a little wider and gave him the Homage of shy +admiration; but she met a look in return that amazed her, that sent the +blood in a wild unreasoning race to her heart. For those eyes of burning, +ardent blue had suddenly told her something, something that no eyes had +ever told her before. It was incredible but true. Homage had met homage, +aye, and more than homage. There was mastery in his look; but there was +also wonder and a curious species of half-grudging reverence. She had +amazed him, this witch with the sparkling eyes that shone so alluringly +under the scarlet kerchief. She had swept him as it were with a fan of +flame. She had made him live. And he had pronounced her ordinary! + +"I have always loved to dance," she said in answer to his almost +involuntary question. "Do you like my dancing? I'm so glad." + +"Like it!" He laughed with an odd shamefacedness. "I could dance with you +the whole evening. But I should probably end by making a fool of myself +like a man who has had too much champagne." + +Dinah laughed. She had an exhilarating sense of having achieved a +conquest undreamed of. She also was feeling a little giddy, a little +uncertain of the ground under her feet. + +"Do you know," she said, dropping her eyes instinctively before the fiery +intensity of his, "I've never danced with a man before? I--I was a little +afraid just at first lest you should find me--gawky." + +"Ye gods!" said Sir Eustace. "And you have really never danced with a man +before! Tell me! How did you like it?" + +"It was--heavenly!" said Dinah, drawing a deep breath. + +"Will you dance with me again?" he asked. + +She nodded. "Yes." + +"The very next dance?" + +She nodded again. "Yes." + +"And again after that?" said Sir Eustace. + +She threw him a glance half-shy, half-daring. "Don't you think it might +be too much for you?" + +He laughed. "I'll risk it if you will." + +She turned towards him with a small, confidential gesture. "What about +Rose de Vigne?" she said. "Don't you want to dance with her?" + +"Oh, presently," he said. "She'll keep." + +Dinah broke into her high, sweet laugh. "And what about--all my other +partners?" she said, with more assurance. + +He bent to her. "They must keep too. Seriously, you don't want to dance +with any other fellow, do you?" + +"I'm not a bit serious," said Dinah. + +"Do you?" he insisted. + +She lifted her eyes momentarily. + +"You don't?" he insinuated. + +She surrendered without conditions. "Of course I don't." + +"Then you mustn't," he said. "Consider yourself booked to me for +to-night, and when you're not dancing with me, you can rest. Sit out with +Scott if you like! Will you do that?" + +"Why?" whispered Dinah. + +Again her heart was beating very fast; she wondered why. + +He answered her with an impetuosity that seemed to carry her along with +it. "Because your dancing is superb, magnificent, and I want to keep it +for myself. It may not be the same when you've danced with another man. A +flower fresh plucked is always sweeter than one that someone else has +worn." + +Dinah's hands clasped each other unconsciously. She had never dreamed +that Apollo could so stoop to favour her. + +"I will do as you like," she murmured after a moment. "But I don't +suppose for an instant that anyone else would want to dance with me. I +don't know anyone else." + +He smiled. "I'm glad of that. It would be sheer sacrilege for you to +dance with a young oaf who didn't know how. It's a bargain then. I'll +give you all I can. You mustn't tell, of course." + +"Oh, I won't tell," laughed Dinah. + +He gave her his arm. "They are tuning up. We won't lose a minute. I +always like a clear floor, before the rabble begin." + +He led her to the top of the room, stood for a moment; then, as the music +began, caught her to him, and they floated once more into the shining, +enchanted mazes of their dreamland. + +And Dinah danced as one inspired, for it seemed to her that her feet +moved upon air as though winged. Apollo had drawn her up to Olympus, and +she drifted in his arm in spheres unknown, far above the clouds. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CINDERELLA + + +"Come and sit down!" said Scott. + +Dinah gave a little start. She was standing close to him, but she had not +seen him. She looked at him for a second with far-away eyes, as if she +did not know him. + +Then recognition flashed into them. She smiled an eager greeting. "Oh, +Mr. Studley, I want to thank you for the very happiest evening of my +life." + +He smiled also as he sat down beside her. "You are enjoying yourself?" + +"Oh yes, indeed I am!" she assured him. "Thank you a hundred million +times!" + +"Why thank me?" questioned Scott. + +She drew a long, long breath. "Because you were the magician who pulled +the strings. I should never have got dressed in the first place but for +you." + +He gave a laugh of amused protest. "Oh, surely! I don't feel I deserve +that!" + +She laughed with him. "You did it anyhow. And in the second place you got +me out of a villainous bad temper and turned an ugly goblin into a very +happy butterfly. I'm downright ashamed of myself for being so horrid +about Rose de Vigne. She isn't at all a bad sort though she is so +impossibly beautiful. Your brother is going to dance with her now. See! +There they go!" + +She looked after them with a smile of complete content. + +"You're feeling generous," remarked Scott. + +She turned to him again, flushed and radiant. "I can afford to--though +it's for the first time in my life. I've never had such a happy +time,--never, never, never! Isn't your brother wonderful? His dancing +is--" Words failed her. She raised her hands and let them fall with a +gesture expressive of unbounded admiration. + +"You mustn't let him monopolize you," said Scott. "He has plenty to +choose from, you know. Others haven't." + +She laughed. "He says--I wonder if it's true!--he says I am the best +dancer he has ever met!" + +Scott smiled at her beaming face. "That is very nice--for him," he +observed. "I thought you seemed to be getting on very well." + +Her eyes travelled across the room again to her late partner and the +beautiful Miss de Vigne. She watched them intently for a few seconds. + +"Poor Rose!" she said suddenly. + +Scott was watching her. "Isn't she a good dancer?" he asked. + +She turned back to him. "Oh yes, I believe she is. She always has plenty +of partners anyway. At least I've always heard so. Is your sister +dancing? I don't think I can have seen her yet." + +"No. She is in her sitting-room upstairs. I wanted her to come down, but +she wouldn't be persuaded. She--" Scott hesitated a moment--"is not fond +of gaiety." + +"Then I shan't see her!" said Dinah in tones of genuine disappointment. +"I did so want to thank her for lending me these lovely things." + +"I can take you to her if you'll come," said Scott. + +"Oh, can you? Yes, I'll come. I can come now. But are you sure she will +like it?" Dinah's bright eyes met his with frank directness. "I don't +want to intrude on her, you know," she said. + +He smiled a little. "I am sure you won't intrude. Shall we go then? Are +you sure there is no one else you want to dance with here?" + +"Oh, quite sure." Again momentarily Dinah's look sought her late partner; +then briskly she stood up. + +Scott rose also, and gave her his arm. She bestowed a small, friendly +squeeze upon it. "I've never enjoyed myself so much before," she said. +"And it's all your doing." + +"Oh, not really!" he said. + +She nodded vigorously. "But it is! I should never have been presentable +but for you. And I should certainly never have danced with your brother. +He has actually promised to help me with my skating to-morrow. Isn't it +kind of him?" + +"I wonder," said Scott. + +"What do you wonder?" Dinah looked at him curiously. + +But he only smiled a baffling smile, and turned the subject. "Wouldn't +you like something to drink before we go up?" + +Dinah declined. She was not in the least thirsty. She did not feel as if +she would ever want to eat or drink again. + +"Only to dance!" said Scott. "Well, I mustn't keep you long then. Who is +that lady making signs to you? Hadn't you better go and speak to her?" + +"Oh, bother!" said Dinah. "You come too, then. It's only Lady +Grace--Rose's mother. I'm sure it can't be anything important." + +Scott piloted her across the vestibule to the couch on which Lady Grace +sat. She was a large, fair woman with limpid eyes and drawling speech. +She extended a plump white hand to the girl. + +"Dinah, my dear, I think you have had almost enough for to-night. And +they were so very behind time in starting. Your mother would not like you +to stay up late, I feel sure. You had better go to bed when this dance is +over. You are not accustomed to dissipation, remember." + +A swift cloud came over Dinah's bright face. "Oh, but, Lady Grace, I'm +not in the least tired. And I'm not a baby, you know. I'm nearly twenty. +I really couldn't go yet." + +"You will have plenty more opportunities, dear," said Lady Grace, quite +unruffled. "Rose has decided to retire after this dance, and I shall do +the same. The Colonel is suffering with dyspepsia, and he does not wish +us to be late." + +Dinah bit her lip. "Oh, very well," she said somewhat shortly; and to +Scott, "We had better go at once then." + +He led her away obediently. They ascended the stairs together. + +As they reached the top of the flight Dinah's indignation burst its +bounds. "Isn't it too bad? Why should I go to bed just because the +Colonel's got dyspepsia? I don't believe it's that at all really. It's +Rose who can't bear to think that I am having as good a time--or +Better--than she is." + +"May I say what I think?" asked Scott politely. + +She stopped, facing him. "Yes, do!" + +He was smiling somewhat whimsically. "I think that--like Cinderella--you +may break the spell if you stay too long." + +"But isn't it too bad?" protested Dinah. "Your brother too--I can't +disappoint him." + +Scott's smile became a laugh. "Oh, believe me, it would do him good, Miss +Bathurst. He gets his own way much too often." + +She smiled, but not very willingly. "It does seem such a shame. He has +been--so awfully nice to me." + +"That's nothing," said Scott airily. "We can all be nice when we are +enjoying ourselves." + +Dinah looked at him with sudden attention. "Are you pointing a moral?" +she asked severely. + +"Trying to," said Scott. + +She tried to frown upon him, but very abruptly and completely failed. Her +pointed chin went up in a gay laugh. "You do it very nicely," she said. +"Thank you, Mr. Studley. I won't be grumpy any more. It would be a pity +to break the spell, as you say. Will you explain to the prince?" + +"Certainly," he said, leading her on again. "I shall make it quite clear +to him that Cinderella was not to blame. Here is our sitting-room at the +end of this passage!" + +He stopped at the door and would have opened it, but Dinah, smitten with +sudden shyness, drew back. + +"Hadn't you better go in first and--and explain?" she said. + +"Oh no, quite unnecessary," he said, and turned the handle. + +At once a woman's voice accosted him. "For the Lord's sake, Master +Stumpy, come in quick and shut the door behind ye! The racket downstairs +is sending Miss Isabel nearly crazy, poor lamb. And it's meself that's +wondering what we'll do to-night, for there's no peace at all in this +wooden shanty of a place." + +"Be quiet, Biddy!" Scott's voice made calm, undaunted answer. "You can go +if you like. I've come to sit with Miss Isabel for a while. And I've +brought her a visitor. Isabel, my dear, I've brought you a visitor." + +Dinah moved forward in response to his gentle insistence, but her shyness +went with her. She was aware of something intangible in the atmosphere +that startled, that almost frightened, her. + +The gaunt figure of a woman clad in a long, white robe sat at a table in +the middle of the room with a sheaf of letters littered before her. Her +emaciated arms were flung wide over them, her white head was bowed. + +But at Scott's quiet announcement, it was raised with the suddenness of +eager expectancy. For the fraction of a second Dinah saw dark, sunken +eyes ablaze with a hope that was almost terrible in its intensity. + +It was gone on the instant. They looked at her with a species of dull +wonder. "Are you a friend of Scott's? I am very pleased to meet you," a +hollow voice said. + +A thin hand was extended to her, and as Dinah clasped it a sudden great +pity surged through her, dispelling her doubt. Something in her responded +swiftly, even passionately, to the hunger of those eyes. The moment's +shock passed from her like a cloud. + +"My sister Mrs. Everard," said Scott's voice at her shoulder. "Isabel, +this is Miss Bathurst of whom I was telling you." + +"You lent me your jewels," said Dinah, looking into the wasted face with +a sympathy at her heart that was almost too poignant to be borne. "Thank +you so very, very much for them! It was so very kind of you to lend them +to a total stranger like me." + +The strange eyes were gazing at her with a curious, growing interest. A +faint, faint smile was in their depths. "Are we strangers, child?" the +low voice asked. "I feel as if we had met before. Why do you look at me +so kindly? Most people only stare." + +Dinah was suddenly conscious of a hot sensation at the throat that made +her want to cry. "It is you who have been kind," she said, and her little +hand closed with confidence upon the limp, cold fingers. "I am wearing +your things still, and I have had such a lovely time. Thank you again for +letting me have them. I am going to return them now." + +"You need not do that." Isabel spoke with her eyes still fixed upon the +girlish face. "Keep them if you like them! I shall never wear them again. +They tell me--they tell me--I am a widow." + +"Miss Isabel darlint!" Biddy spoke sibilantly from the background. "Don't +be talking to the young lady of such things! Won't ye sit down then, +miss? And maybe I can get ye a cup o' tay." + +"Ah, do, Biddy!" Scott put in his quiet word. "There is no tea like +yours. Isabel, Miss Bathurst is a keen dancer. She and Eustace have been +most energetic. It was a pity you couldn't come down and see the fun." + +"Oh! Did you enjoy it?" Isabel still looked into the brown, piquant face +as though loth to turn her eyes away. + +"I loved it," said Dinah. + +"Was Eustace kind to you?" + +"Oh, most kind." Dinah spoke with candid enthusiasm. + +"I am glad of that," Isabel's voice held a note of satisfaction. "But I +should think everyone is kind to you, child," she said, with her faint, +glimmering smile. "How beautiful you are!" + +"Me!" Dinah opened her eyes in genuine astonishment. "Oh you wouldn't +think so if you saw me in my ordinary dress," she said. "I'm nothing at +all to look at really. It's just a case of 'Fine feathers,'--nothing +else." + +"My dear," Isabel said, "I am not looking at your dress. I seldom notice +outer things. I am looking through your eyes into your soul. It is that +that makes you beautiful. I think it is the loveliest thing that I have +ever seen." + +"Oh, you wouldn't say so if you knew me!" cried Dinah, +conscience-stricken. "I have horrid thoughts often--very often." + +The dark, watching eyes still smiled in their far-off way. "I should like +to know you, dear child," Isabel said. "You have helped me--you could +help me in a way that probably you will never understand. Won't you sit +down? I will put my letters away, and we will talk." + +She began to collect the litter before her, laying the letters together +one by one with reverent care. + +"Can I help?" asked Dinah timidly. + +But she shook her head. "No, child, your hands must not touch them. They +are the ashes of my life." + +An open box stood on the table. She drew it to her, and laid the letters +within it. Then she rose, and drew her guest to a lounge. + +"We will sit here," she said. "Stumpy, why don't you smoke? Ah, the music +has stopped at last. It has been racking me all the evening. Yes, you +love it, of course. That is natural. I loved it once. It is always sweet +to those who dance. But to those who sit out--those who sit out--" Her +voice sank, and she said no more. + +Dinah's hand slipped softly into hers. "I like sitting out too +sometimes," she said. "At least I like it now." + +Isabel's eyes were upon her again. They looked at her with a kind of +incredulous wonder. After a moment she sighed. + +"You would not like it for long, child. I am a prisoner. I sit in chains +while the world goes by. They are all hurrying forward so eager to get +on. But there is never any going on for me. I sit and watch--and watch." + +"Surely we must all go forward somehow," said Dinah shyly. + +"Surely," said Scott. + +But Isabel only shook her head with dreary conviction. "Not the +prisoners," she said. "They die by the wayside." + +There fell a brief silence, then impetuously Dinah spoke, urged by the +fulness of her heart. "I think we all feel like that sometimes. I know at +home it's just like being in a cage. Nothing ever happens worth +mentioning. And then quite suddenly the door is opened and out we come. +That's partly why I am enjoying everything so much," she explained. "But +it won't be a bit nice going back." + +"What about your mother?" said Scott. + +Dinah's bright face clouded again. "Yes, of course, there's Mother," she +agreed. + +She looked across at Scott as if she would say more; but he passed +quietly on. "Where is your home, Miss Bathurst?" + +"Right in the very heart of the Midlands. It is pretty country, but oh, +so dull. The de Vignes are the rich people of the place. They belong to +the County. We don't," said Dinah, with a sigh. + +Scott laughed, and she looked momentarily hurt. + +"I don't see what there is funny in that. The County people and the shop +people are the only ones that get any fun. It's horrid to be between the +two." + +"Forgive me!" Scott said. "I quite see your point. But if you only knew +it, the people who call themselves County are often the dullest of the +dull." + +"You say that because you belong to them, I expect," retorted Dinah. "But +if you were me, and lived always under the shadow of the de Vignes, you +wouldn't think it a bit funny." + +"Who are the de Vignes?" asked Isabel suddenly. + +Dinah turned to her. "We are staying here with them, Billy and I. My +father persuaded the Colonel to have us. He knew how dreadfully we wanted +to go. The Colonel is rather good-natured over some things, and he and +Dad are friends. But I don't think Lady Grace wanted us much. You see, +she and Rose are so very smart." + +"I see," said Scott. + +"Rose has been presented at Court," pursued Dinah. "They always go up for +the season. They have a house in town. We always say that Rose is waiting +to marry a marquis; but he hasn't turned up yet. You see, she really is +much too beautiful to marry an ordinary person, isn't she?" + +"Oh, much," said Scott. + +Dinah heaved another little sigh; then suddenly she laughed. "But your +brother has promised to help me with my skating to-morrow anyhow," she +said. "So she won't have him all the time." + +"Perhaps the marquis will come along to-morrow," suggested Scott. + +"I wish he would," said Dinah, with fervour. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BROKEN SPELL + + +Biddy was in the act of handing round the tea when there came the sound +of a step outside, and an impatient hand thrust open the door. + +"Hullo, Stumpy!" said a voice. "Are you here? What have you done with +Miss Bathurst? She's engaged to me for the next dance." Eustace entered +with the words, but stopped short on the threshold. "Hullo! You are here! +I thought you had given me the slip." + +Dinah looked up at him with merry eyes. "So I have--practically. I am on +my way to bed." + +"Oh, nonsense!" he said, with his easy imperiousness. "I can't spare you +yet. I must have one more dance just to soothe my nerves. I've been +dancing with a faultless automaton who didn't understand me in the least. +Now I want the real thing again." + +"Have some tea!" said Scott. + +"Thanks!" Sir Eustace sat down on the edge of the table, facing his +sister and Dinah. "You're not going to let me down, now are you?" he +said. "I'm counting on that dance, and I haven't enjoyed myself at all +since I saw you last. That girl is machine-made. There isn't a flaw in +her. She's been turned out of a mould; I'm certain of it. Miss Bathurst, +why are you laughing?" + +"Because I'm pleased," said Dinah. + +"Pleased? I thought you'd be sorry for me. You're going to take pity on +me anyway, I hope. The beautiful automaton has gone back to her band-box +for the night, so we can enjoy ourselves quite unhindered. Is that for +me? Thanks, Biddy! I'm needing refreshment badly." + +"You would have preferred coffee," observed Isabel. + +It was the first time she had spoken since his entrance. He gave her a +keen, intent look. "Oh, this'll do, thanks," he said. "It is all nectar +to-night. Why haven't you been down to the ballroom, Isabel? You would +have enjoyed it." + +Her lips twisted a little. "I have been listening to the music upstairs," +she said. + +"You ought to have come down," he said imperiously. "I shall expect you +next time." His hand inadvertently touched the box on the table and he +looked sharply downwards. "Here, Biddy! Take this thing away!" he ordered +with a frown. + +Isabel leaned swiftly forward. "Give it to me!" she said. + +His hand closed upon it. "No. Let Biddy take it!" + +"Let me!" said Dinah suddenly, and sprang to her feet. + +She took it from him before he had time to protest, and gave it forthwith +into Isabel's outstretched hands. + +Eustace took up his cup in heavy silence, and drained it. + +Then he rose. "Come along, Miss Bathurst!" + +But Dinah remained seated. "I am very sorry," she said. "But I can't." + +"Oh, nonsense!" He smiled very suddenly and winningly upon her. "Surely +you won't disappoint me!" + +She shook her head. Her eyes were wistful. "I'm disappointing myself +quite as much. But I mustn't. The Colonel has gone to bed with dyspepsia, +and Lady Grace and Rose have gone too by this time. I can't come down +again." + +"Nonsense!" he said again. "You want to. You know you do. No one pays any +attention to Mrs. Grundy out here. She simply doesn't exist. Scott can +come and play propriety. He's staid enough to chaperon a whole girls' +school." + +"Thanks, old chap," said Scott. "But I'm not coming down again, either." + +Eustace looked over his head. "Then you must, Isabel. Come along! Just to +oblige Miss Bathurst! It won't hurt you to sit in a safe corner for one +dance." + +Isabel looked up at him with a startled expression, as of one trapped. +"Oh, don't ask me!" she said. "I couldn't!" + +"No, don't!" said Dinah. "It isn't, fair to bother anyone else on my +account! I'm dreadfully sorry to have to refuse. But--in any case--I +ought not to come." + +"What of that?" said Eustace lightly. "Do you always do what you ought? +What a dull programme!" + +Dinah flushed. "Dull but respectable," she said, with a touch of spirit. + +He laughed. "But I'm not asking you to do anything very outrageous, and I +shouldn't ask it at all if I didn't know you wanted to do it. Besides, +you promised. It's generally considered the respectable thing to do to +keep one's promises." + +That reached Dinah. She wavered perceptibly. "Lady Grace will be so +vexed," she murmured. + +He snapped his fingers in careless disdain. + +She turned appealingly to Scott. "I think I might go--just for one dance, +don't you?" + +Scott's pale eyes met hers with steady comradeship. "I think I +shouldn't," he said. + +Eustace turned as if he had not heard and strolled to the door. He opened +it, and at once the room was filled with the plaintive alluring strains +of waltz-music. He stood and looked back. Dinah met the look, and +suddenly she was on her feet. + +He held out his hand to her with a smile half-mocking, half-persuasive. +The music swung on with a subtle enchantment. Dinah uttered a little +quivering laugh, and went to him. + +In another moment the door closed, and they stood alone in the passage. + +"I knew you wanted to," said Eustace, smiling down into her eyes with the +arrogance of the conqueror. + +Dinah was panting a little as one who had suffered a sudden strain. "Of +course I wanted to," she returned. "But that doesn't make it right." + +He pressed her hand to his heart for a moment, and she caught again a +glimpse of that fire in his eyes that had so thrilled her. She could not +meet it. She stood in palpitating silence. + +"Where is the use of fighting against fate?" he asked her softly. "A gift +of the gods is never offered twice." + +She did not understand him, but her heart was beating wildly, +tumultuously, and an inner voice urged her to be gone. + +She slipped her hand free. "Aren't we--wasting time?" she whispered. + +He laughed again in that subtle, half-mocking note, but he met her wish +instantly. They went downstairs to the _salon_. + +There were not so many dancers now. The de Vignes had evidently retired. +One rapid glance told Dinah this, and she dismissed them therewith from +her mind. The rhythm and lure of the music caught her. She slid into the +dance with delicious abandonment. The wonder and romance of it had got +into her veins. No stolen pleasure was ever more keenly enjoyed than was +that last perfect dance. Her very blood was a-fire with the strange, +intoxicating joy of life. She wanted to go on for ever. + +But it ended at length. She came to earth after her rapturous flight, and +found herself standing with her partner in a curtained recess of the +ballroom from which a glass door led on to the verandah that ran round +the hotel. + +"Just a glimpse of the moonlight on the mountains," he said, "before we +say good-night!" + +She went with him without a moment's thought. She was as one caught in +the meshes of a great enchantment. He opened the door, and she passed +through on to the verandah. + +The music throbbed into silence behind them. Before them lay a +fairy-world of dazzling silver and deepest, darkest sapphire. The +mountains stood in solemn grandeur, domes of white mystery. The great +vault of the sky was alight with stars, and a wonderful moon hung like a +silver shield almost in the zenith. + +"How--beautiful!" breathed Dinah. + +The air was crystal clear, cold but not piercing. The absolute stillness +held her spell-bound. + +"It is like a dream-world," she whispered. + +"In which you reign supreme," he murmured back. + +She glanced at him with uncomprehending eyes. Her veins were still +throbbing with the ecstasy of the dance. + +"Oh, how I wish I had wings!" she suddenly said. "To swim through that +glorious ether right above the mountain-tops as one swims through the +sea! Don't you think flying must be very like swimming?" + +"With variations," said Eustace. + +His eyes dwelt upon her. They were fierily blue in that great flood of +moonlight. His hand still rested upon her waist. + +"But what a mistake to want the impossible!" he said, after a moment. + +"I always do," said Dinah. "At least," she glanced up at him again, "I +always have--until to-night." + +"And to-night?" he questioned, dropping his voice. + +"Oh, I am quite happy to-night," she said, with a little laugh, "even +without the wings. If I hadn't thought of them, I should have nothing +left to wish for." + +"I wish I could say the same," said Sir Eustace, with the faint mocking +smile at the corners of his lips. + +"What can you want more?" asked Dinah innocently. + +He leaned to her. "A big thing--a small thing! Would you give it to me, +my elf of the mountains, if I dared to tell you what it was?" + +Her eyes fluttered and fell before the flaming ardour of his. "I--I don't +know," she faltered, in sudden confusion. "I expect so--if I could." + +His arm slipped round her. "Would you?" he whispered. "Would you?" + +She gave a little gasp, caught unawares like a butterfly on the wing. All +the magic of the night seemed suddenly to be concentrated upon her like +fairy batteries. Her first feeling was dismay, followed instantly by the +wonder if she could be dreaming. And then, as she felt the drawing of his +arm, something vehement, something almost fierce, awoke within her, +clamouring wildly for freedom. + +It was a blind instinct, but she obeyed it without question. She had no +choice. + +"Oh no!" she cried. "Oh no! I couldn't!" and wrested herself from him in +a panic. + +He let her go, and she heard him laugh as she broke away. But she did not +wait for more. To linger was unthinkable. Urged by that imperative, inner +prompting she turned and fled, not pausing for a moment's thought. + +The glass door closed behind her. She burst impetuously into the deserted +ballroom. And here, on the point of entering the small recess from which +she was escaping, she came suddenly face to face with Scott. + +So headlong was her flight that she actually ran into him. He put out a +steadying hand. + +"I was just coming to look for you," he said in his quiet, composed +fashion. + +She stopped unwillingly. "Oh, were you? How kind! I--I think I ought to +go up now. It's getting late, isn't it? Good-night!" + +He did not seek to detain her. She wondered with a burning sense of shame +what he could have thought of her wild rush. But she was too agitated to +attempt any excuse, too agitated to check her retreat. Without a backward +glance she hastened away like Cinderella overtaken by fate; the spell was +broken, the glamour gone. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MR. GREATHEART + + +It was a very meek and subdued Dinah who made her appearance in the +_salle-a-manger_ on the following morning. + +She and Billy were generally in the best of spirits, and the room usually +rang with their young laughter. But that morning even Billy was +decorously quiet, and his sister scarcely spoke or raised her eyes. + +Colonel de Vigne, white-moustached and martial, sat at the table with +them, but neither Lady Grace nor Rose was present. The Colonel's face was +stern. He occupied himself with letters with scarcely so much as a glance +for the boy and girl on either side of him. + +There was a letter by Dinah's plate also, but she had not opened it. Her +downcast face was very pale. She ate but little, and that little only +when urged thereto by Billy, whose appetite was rampant notwithstanding +the decorum of his behaviour. + +Scott, breakfasting with his brother at a table only a few yards distant, +observed the trio with unobtrusive interest. + +He had made acquaintance with the Colonel on the previous evening, and +after a time the latter caught his eye and threw him a brief greeting. +Most people were polite to Scott. But the Colonel's whole aspect was +forbidding that morning, and his courtesy went no further. + +Sir Eustace did not display the smallest interest in anyone. His black +brows were drawn, and he looked even more haughtily unapproachable than +the Colonel. + +He conversed with his brother in low tones on the subject of the +morning's mail which lay at Scott's elbow and which he was investigating +while he ate. Now and then he gave concise and somewhat peremptory +instructions, which Scott jotted down in a note-book with business-like +rapidity. No casual observer would have taken them for brothers that +morning. They were employer and secretary. + +Only when the last letter had been discussed and laid aside did the elder +abruptly abandon his aloof attitude to ask a question upon a more +intimate matter. + +"Did Isabel go without a sleeping-draught last night?" + +Scott shook his head. + +Eustace's frown became even more pronounced. "Did Biddy administer it on +her own?" + +"No. I authorized it." Scott's voice was low. He met his brother's look +with level directness. + +Eustace leaned towards him across the table. "I won't have it, Stumpy," +he said very decidedly. "I told you so yesterday." + +"I know." Very steadily Scott made answer. "But last night there was no +alternative. It is impossible to do the thing suddenly. She has hardly +got over the journey yet." + +"Rubbish!" said Eustace curtly. + +Scott slightly raised his shoulders, and said no more. + +"It comes to this," Eustace said, speaking with stern insistence. "If you +can't--or won't--assert your authority, I shall assert mine. It is all a +question of influence." + +"Or forcible persuasion," said Scott, with a touch of irony. + +"Very well. Call it that! It is in a good cause. If you haven't the +strength of mind, I have; and I shall exercise it. These drugs must be +taken away. Can't you see it's the only possible thing to do?" + +"Not yet," Scott said. He was still facing his brother's grim regard very +gravely and unflinchingly. "I tell you, man, it is too soon. She is +better than she used to be. She is calmer, more reasonable. We must do +the thing gradually, if at all. To interfere forcibly would do infinitely +more harm than good. I know what I am saying. I know her far better than +you do now. I am in closer touch with her. You are out of sympathy. You +only startle her when you try to persuade her to anything. You must leave +her to me. I understand her. I know how to help her." + +"You haven't achieved much in the last seven years," Eustace observed. + +"But I have achieved something." Scott's answer was wholly free from +resentment. He spoke with quiet confidence. "I know it's a slow process. +But she is moving in the right direction. Give her time, old chap! I +firmly believe that she will come back to us by slow degrees." + +"Damnably slow," commented Eustace. "You're so infernally deliberate +always. You talk as if it were your life-work." + +Scott's eyes shone with a whimsical light. "I begin to think it is," he +said. "Have you finished? Suppose we go." He gathered up the sheaf of +papers at his elbow and rose. "I will attend to these at once." + +Eustace strode down the long room looking neither to right nor left, +moving with a free, British arrogance that served to emphasize somewhat +cruelly the meagreness and infirmity of the man behind him. Yet it was +upon the latter's slight, halting figure that Dinah's eyes dwelt till it +finally limped out of sight, and in her look were wonder and a vagrant +admiration. There was an undeniable attraction about Scott that affected +her very curiously, but wherein it lay she could not possibly have said. +She was furious when a murmured comment and laugh from some girls at the +next table reached her. + +"What a dear little lap-dog!" said one. + +"Yes, I've been wanting to pat its head for a long time," said another. + +"Warranted not to bite," laughed a third. "Can it really be full-grown?" + +"Oh, no doubt, my dear! Look at its pretty little whiskers! It's just a +toy, you know, nothing but a toy." + +Dinah turned in her chair, and gazed scathingly upon the group of +critics. Then, aware of the Colonel's eyes upon her, she turned back and +gave him a swift look of apology. + +He shook his head at her repressively, his whole air magisterial and +condemnatory. "You may go if you wish," he said, in the tone of one +dismissing an offender. "But be good enough to bear in mind what I have +said to you!" + +Billy leapt to his feet. "Can I go too, sir?" he asked eagerly. + +The Colonel signified majestic assent. His mood was very far from genial +that morning, and he had not the smallest desire to detain either of +them. In fact, if he could have dismissed his two young charges +altogether, he would have done so with alacrity. But that unfortunately +was out of the question--unless by their behaviour they provoked him to +fulfil the very definite threat that he had pronounced to Dinah in the +privacy of his wife's room an hour before. + +He was very seriously displeased with Dinah, more displeased than he had +been with anyone since his soldiering days, and he had expressed himself +with corresponding severity. If she could not conduct herself becomingly +and obediently, he would take them both straight home again and thus put +a summary end to temptation. His own daughter had never given him any +cause for uneasiness, and he did not see why he should be burdened with +the escapades of anyone else's troublesome offspring. It was too much to +expect at his time of life. + +So a severe reprimand had been Dinah's portion, to which she, very meek +and crestfallen, shorn of all the previous evening's glories, had +listened with a humility that had slightly mollified her judge though he +had been careful not to let her know it. She had been wild and flighty, +and he was determined that she should feel the rod of discipline pretty +smartly. + +But when he finally rose from the table and stalked out of the room, it +was a little disconcerting to find the culprit awaiting him in the +vestibule to slip a shy hand inside his arm and whisper, "Do forgive me! +I'm so sorry." + +He looked down into her quivering face, saw the pleading eyes swimming in +tears, and abruptly found that his displeasure had evaporated so +completely that he could not even pretend to be angry any longer. He had +never taken much notice of Dinah before, treating her, as did his wife +and daughter, as a mere child and of no account. But now he suddenly +realized that she was an engaging minx after all. + +"Ashamed of yourself?" he asked gruffly, his white moustache twitching a +little. + +Dinah nodded mutely. + +"Then don't do it again!" he said, and grasped the little brown hand for +a moment with quite unwonted kindness. + +It was a tacit forgiveness, and as such Dinah treated it. She smiled +thankfully through her tears, and slipped away to recover her composure. + +Nearly an hour later, Scott, having finished his letters, came upon her +sitting somewhat disconsolately in the verandah. He paused on his way +out. + +"Good morning, Miss Bathurst! Aren't you going to skate this morning?" + +She turned to him with a little movement of pleasure. "Good morning, Mr. +Studley! I have been waiting here for you. I have brought down your +sister's trinkets. Here they are!" She held out a neat little paper +parcel to him. "Please will you thank her again for them very, very much? +I do hope she didn't think me very rude last night,--though I'm afraid I +was." + +Her look was wistful. He took the packet from her with a smile. + +"Of course she didn't. She was delighted with you. When are you coming to +see her again?" + +"I don't know," said Dinah. + +"Come to tea!" suggested Scott. + +Dinah hesitated, flushing. + +"You've something else to do?" he asked in his cheery way. "Well, come +another time if it won't bore you!" + +"Oh, it isn't that!" said Dinah, and her flush deepened. "I--I would love +to come. Only--" She glanced round at an elderly couple who had just come +out, and stopped. + +"I'm going down to the village with my letters," said Scott. "Will you +come too?" + +She welcomed the idea. "Oh yes, I should like to. It's such a glorious +morning again, isn't it? It's a shame not to go out." + +"Sure you're not wanting to skate?" he questioned. + +"Yes, quite sure. I--I'm rather tired this morning, but a walk will do me +good." + +They passed the rink without pausing, though Scott glanced across to see +his brother skimming along in the distance with a red-clad figure beside +him. He made no comment upon the sight, and Dinah was silent also. Her +gay animation that morning was wholly a minus quantity. + +They went on down the hill, talking but little. Speech in Scott's society +was never a necessity. His silences were so obviously friendly. He had a +shrewd suspicion on this occasion that the girl beside him had something +to say, and he waited for it with a courteous patience, abstaining from +interrupting her very evident preoccupation. + +They walked between fields of snow, all glistening in the sunshine. The +blue of the sky was no longer sapphire but glorious turquoise. The very +air sparkled, diamond-clear in the crystal splendour of the day. + +Suddenly Dinah spoke. "I suppose one always feels horrid the next +morning." + +"Are you feeling the reaction?" asked Scott. + +"Oh, it isn't only that, I'm feeling--ashamed," said Dinah, blushing very +deeply. + +He did not look at her. "I don't see why," he said gently, after a +moment. + +"Oh, but you do!" she said impatiently. "At least you can if you try. You +knew I was wrong to go down again for that last dance, just as well as I +did. Why, you tried to stop me!" + +"Which was very presumptuous of me," said Scott. + +"No, it wasn't. It was kind. And I--I was a perfect pig not to listen. I +want you to know that, Mr. Studley. I want you to know that I'm very, +very sorry I didn't listen." She spoke with trembling vehemence. + +Scott smiled a little. He was looking tired that morning. There were +weary lines about his eyes. "I don't know why you should be so very +penitent, Miss Bathurst," he said. "It was quite a small thing." + +"It got me into bad trouble anyway," said Dinah. "I've had a tremendous +wigging from the Colonel this morning, and if--if I ever do anything so +bad again, we're to be sent home." + +"I call that unreasonable," said Scott with decision. "It was not such a +serious matter as all that. If you want my opinion, I think it was a +mistake--a small mistake--on your part; nothing more." + +"But that wasn't all," said Dinah, looking away from him and quickening +her pace, "I--I have offended your brother too." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott. "And is that serious too?" + +"Don't laugh!" protested Dinah. "Of course it's serious. He--he won't +even look at me this morning." The sound of tears came suddenly into +her voice. "I was waiting for you on the verandah a little while ago, +and--and he went by with Rose and never glanced my way. All +because--because--oh, I am a little fool!" she declared, with an angry +stamp of the foot as she walked. + +"He's the fool!" said Scott rather shortly. "I shouldn't bother myself +over that if I were you." + +"I can't help it," said Dinah, her voice squeaking on a note +half-indignant, half-piteous. "I--I behaved so idiotically, just like a +raw schoolgirl. And I hate myself for it now!" + +Scott looked at her for the first time since the beginning of her +confidences. "Do you know, Miss Bathurst," he said, "I have a suspicion +that you are much too hard on yourself. Of course I don't know what +happened, but I do know that my brother is much more likely to have been +in the wrong than you were. The best thing you can do is simply to +dismiss the matter from your mind. Behave as if nothing had happened! Cut +him next time! It's far the best way of treating him." + +Dinah smiled woefully. "And he will spread himself at Rose's feet like +all the rest, and never come near me again." + +Scott frowned a little. "Miss de Vigne won't have the monopoly, I can +assure you." + +"She will," protested Dinah. "She knows how to flirt without being +caught. I don't." + +"Thank the gods for that!" said Scott with fervour. "So he tried to +flirt, did he? And you objected. Was that it?" + +"Something like that," murmured Dinah, with hot face averted. + +"Then in heaven's name, continue to object!" he said, with unusual +vehemence. "You did the right thing, child. Don't be drawn into doing +what others do! Strike out a straight line for yourself, and stick to it! +Above all, don't be ashamed of sticking to it! No woman was ever yet the +better or the more attractive for cultivating her talent for flirting. +Don't you know that it is your very genuineness and straightforwardness +that is your charm?" + +Dinah looked at him in sheer surprise. "I haven't got any charm," she +said. "That's just the trouble. It was only my dancing that made your +brother fancy I had last night." + +Scott's frown deepened, became almost formidable, then suddenly vanished +in a laugh. "That's just your point of view," he said. "Perhaps it's a +pity to open your eyes. But whatever you do, don't try to humour my +brother's whims! It would be very bad for him, and you certainly wouldn't +gain anything by it. Put up with me for a change, and come to tea +instead!" + +A flash of gaiety gleamed for a moment in Dinah's eyes. It was the first +he had seen that morning. "I'll come," she said, "if Lady Grace will let +me. But I think I had better ask first, don't you?" + +"Perhaps it would be safer," agreed Scott. "Tell her my sister is an +invalid! I don't think she will object. I made the acquaintance of the +doughty Colonel last night." + +"You know he isn't a bad sort," said Dinah. "He is much nicer than Lady +Grace or Rose. Of course he's rather stuck up, but that's only natural. +He's lived so long in India, and now he's a J.P. into the bargain. It +would be rather wonderful if he were anything else. Billy can't bear him, +but then Billy's a boy." + +"I like Billy," observed Scott. + +"Yes, and Billy likes you," she answered warmly. "He's quite an +intelligent boy." + +"Evidently," agreed Scott, with a smile. "Now here is the village! Where +do I post my letters?" + +Dinah directed him with cheerful alacrity. She was feeling much happier; +her tottering self-respect was almost restored. + +"He is a dear little man!" she said to herself with enthusiasm, as she +waited for him to purchase some stamps. + +"You've done me no end of good," she said frankly to the man himself as +they turned back. + +"I am very pleased to hear it," said Scott. "And it is extremely kind of +you to say so." + +"It's the truth," she maintained. "And, oh, you haven't been smoking all +this time. Don't you want to?" + +He stopped at once, and took out his cigarette-case. "Now you mention it, +I think I do. But I mustn't dawdle. I have got to get back to Isabel." + +Dinah waited while the cigarette kindled. Then, with a touch of shyness, +she spoke. + +"Mr. Studley, has--has your sister been an invalid for long?" + +He looked at her. "Do you want to hear about her?" + +"Yes, please," said Dinah. "If you don't mind." + +He began to walk on. It was evident that the hill was something of a +difficulty to him. He moved slowly, and his limp became more pronounced. +"No, I should like to tell you about her," he said. "You were so good +yesterday, and I hadn't prepared you in the least. I hope it didn't give +you a shock." + +"Of course it didn't," Dinah answered. "I'm not such a donkey as that. I +was only very, very sorry." + +"Thank you," he said, as if she had expressed direct sympathy with +himself. "It's hard to believe, isn't it, that seven years ago she +was--even lovelier than the beautiful Miss de Vigne, only in a very +different style?" + +"Not in the least," Dinah assured him. "She is far lovelier than Rose +now. She must have been--beautiful." + +"She was," said Scott. "She was like Eustace, except that she was always +much softer than he is. You would scarcely believe either that she is +three years younger than he is, would you?" + +"I certainly shouldn't," Dinah admitted. "But then, she must have come +through years of suffering." + +"Yes," Scott spoke with slight constraint, as though he could not bear to +dwell on the subject. "She was a girl of intensely vivid feelings, very +passionate and warmhearted. She and Eustace were inseparable in the old +days. They did everything together. He thought more of her than of anyone +else in the world. He does still." + +"He wasn't very nice to her last night," Dinah ventured. + +"No. He is often like that, and she is afraid of him. But the reason of +it is that he feels her trouble so horribly, and whenever he sees her in +that mood it hurts him intolerably. He is quite a good chap underneath, +Miss Bathurst. Like Isabel, he feels certain things intensely. Of course +he is five years older than I am, and we have never been pals in the +sense that he and she were pals. I was always a slow-goer, and they went +like the wind. But I know him. I know what his feelings are, and what +this thing has been to him. And though I am now much more to Isabel than +he will probably ever be again, he has never resented it or been anything +but generous and willing to give place to me. That, you know, indicates +greatness. With all his faults, he is great." + +"He shouldn't make her afraid of him," Dinah said. + +"I am afraid that is inevitable. He is strong, and she has lost her +strength. Her marriage too alienated them in the first place. She had +refused so many before Basil Everard came along, and I suppose he had +begun to think that she was not the marrying sort. But Everard caught her +almost in a day. They met in India. Eustace and she were touring there +one winter. Everard was a senior subaltern in a Ghurka regiment--an +awfully taking chap evidently. They practically fell in love with one +another at sight. Poor old Eustace!" Scott paused, faintly smiling. "He +meant her to marry well if she married at all, and Basil was no more than +the son of a country parson without a penny to his name. However, the +thing was past remedy. I saw that when they came home, and Isabel told me +about it. I was at Oxford then. She came down alone for a night, and +begged me to try and talk Eustace over. It was the beginning of a barrier +between them even then. It has grown high since. Eustace is a difficult +man to move, you know. I did my level best with him, but I wasn't very +successful. In the end of course the inevitable happened. Isabel lost +patience and broke away. She was on her way out again before either of us +knew. Eustace--of course Eustace was furious." Scott paused again. + +Dinah's silence denoted keen interest. Her expression was absorbed. + +He went on, the touch of constraint again apparent in his manner. It was +evident that the narration stirred up deep feelings. "We three had always +hung together. The family tie meant a good deal to us for the simple +reason that we were practically the only Studleys left. My father had +died six years before, my mother at my birth. Eustace was the head of the +family, and he and Isabel had been all in all to each other. He felt her +going more than I can possibly tell you, and scarcely a week after the +news came he got his things together and went off in the yacht to South +America to get over it by himself. I stayed on at Oxford, but I made up +my mind to go out to her in the vacation. A few days after his going, I +had a cable to say they were married. A week after that, there came +another cable to say that Everard was dead." + +"Oh!" Dinah drew a short, hard breath. "Poor Isabel!" she whispered. + +"Yes." Scott's pale eyes were gazing straight ahead. "He was killed two +days after the marriage. They had gone up to the Hills, to a place he +knew of right in the wilds on the side of a mountain, and pitched camp +there. There were only themselves, a handful of Pathan coolies with +mules, and a _shikari_. The day after they got there, he took her up the +mountain to show her some of the beauties of the place, and they lunched +on a ledge about a couple of hundred feet above a great lonely tarn. It +was a wonderful place but very savage, horribly desolate. They rested +after the meal, and then, Isabel being still tired, he left her to bask +in the sunshine while he went a little further. He told her to wait for +him. He was only going round the corner. There was a great bastion of +rock jutting on to the ledge. He wanted to have a look round the other +side of it. He went,--and he never came back." + +"He fell?" Dinah turned a shocked face upon him. "Oh, how dreadful!" + +"He must have fallen. The ledge dwindled on the other side of the rock to +little more than four feet in width for about six yards. There was a +sheer drop below into the pool. A man of steady nerve, accustomed to +mountaineering, would make nothing of it; and, from what Isabel has told +me of him, I gather he was that sort of man. But on that particular +afternoon something must have happened. Perhaps his happiness had +unsteadied him a bit, for they were absolutely happy together. Or it may +have been the heat. Anyhow he fell, he must have fallen. And no one +ever knew any more than that." + +"How dreadful!" Dinah whispered again. "And she was left--all alone?" + +"Quite alone except for the natives, and they didn't find her till the +day after. She was pacing up and down the ledge then, up and down, up and +down eternally, and she refused--flatly refused--to leave it till he +should come back. She had spent the whole night there alone, waiting, +getting more and more distraught, and they could do nothing with her. +They were afraid of her. Never from that day to this has she admitted for +a moment that he must have been killed, though in her heart she knows it, +poor girl, just as she knew it from the very beginning." + +"But what happened?" breathed Dinah. "What did they do? They couldn't +leave her there." + +"They didn't know what to do. The _shikari_ was the only one with any +ideas among them, and he wasn't especially brilliant. But after another +day and night he hit on the notion of sending one of the coolies back +with the news while he and the other men waited and watched. They kept +her supplied with food. She must have eaten almost mechanically. But she +never left that ledge. And yet--and yet--she was kept from taking the one +step that would have ended it all. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't +have been better--more merciful--" He broke off. + +"Perhaps God was watching her," murmured Dinah shyly. + +"Yes, I tell myself that. But even so, I can't help wondering sometimes." +Scott's voice was very sad. "She was left so terribly desolate," he said. +"Those letters that you saw last night are all she has of him. He has +gone, and taken the mainspring of her life with him. I hate to think of +what followed. They sent up a doctor from the nearest station, and she +was taken away,--taken by force. When I got to her three weeks later, she +was mad, raving mad, with brain fever. I had the old nurse Biddy with me. +We nursed her between us. We brought her back to what she is now. Some +day, please God, we shall get her quite back again; but whether it will +be for her happiness He only knows." + +Scott ceased to speak. His brows were drawn as the brows of a man in +pain. + +Dinah's eyes were full of tears. "Oh, thank you for telling me! Thank +you!" she murmured. "I do hope you will get her quite back, as you say." + +He looked at her, saw her tears, and put out a gentle hand that rested +for a moment upon her arm. "I am afraid I have made you unhappy. Forgive +me! You are so sympathetic, and I have taken advantage of it. I think we +shall get her back. She is coming very, very gradually. She has never +before taken such an interest in anyone as she took in you last night. +She was talking of you again this morning. She has taken a fancy to you. +I hope you don't mind." + +"Mind!" Dinah choked a little and smiled a quivering smile. "I am +proud--very proud. I only wish I deserved it. What--what made you bring +her here?" + +"That was my brother's idea. Since we brought her home she has never been +away, except once on the yacht; and then she was so miserable that we +were afraid to keep her there. But he thought a thorough change--mountain +air--might do her good. The doctor was not against it. So we came." + +"And do you never leave her?" questioned Dinah. + +"Practically never. Ever since that awful time in India she has been very +dependent upon me. Biddy of course is quite indispensable to her. And I +am nearly so." + +"You have given yourself up to her in fact?" Quick admiration was in +Dinah's tone. + +He smiled. "It didn't mean so much to me as it would have meant to some +men, Miss Bathurst,--as it would have meant to Eustace, for instance. I'm +not much of a man. To give up my college career and settle down at home +wasn't such a great wrench. I'm not especially clever. I act as my +brother's secretary, and we find it answers very well. He is a rich man, +and there is a good deal of business in connection with the estate, and +so on. I am a poor man. By my father's will nearly everything was left to +him and to Isabel. I was something of an offence to him, being the cause +of my mother's death and misshapen into the bargain." + +"What a wicked shame!" broke from Dinah. + +"No, no! Some people are like that. They are made so. I don't feel in the +least bitter about it. He left me enough to live upon, though as a matter +of fact neither he nor anyone else expected me to grow up at the time +that will was made. It was solely due to Biddy's devotion, I believe, +that I managed to do so." He uttered his quiet laugh. "I am talking +rather much about myself. It's kind of you not to be bored." + +"Bored!" echoed Dinah, with shining eyes. "I think you are simply +wonderful. I hope--I hope Sir Eustace realizes it." + +"I hope he does," agreed Scott with a twinkle. "He has ample +opportunities for doing so. Ah, there he is! He is actually skating +alone. What has become of the beautiful Miss de Vigne, I wonder." + +They walked on, nearing the rink. "I'm not going to be horrid about her +any more," said Dinah suddenly. "You must have thought me a perfect +little cat. And so I was!" + +"Oh, please!" protested Scott. "I didn't!" + +She laughed. "That just shows how kind you are. It doesn't make me feel +the least bit better. I was a cat. There! Oh, your brother is calling +you. I think I'll go." + +She blushed very deeply and quickened her steps. Sir Eustace had come to +the edge of the rink. + +"Stumpy!" he called. "Stumpy!" + +"How dare he call you that?" said Dinah. "I can't think how you can put +up with it." + +Scott raised his shoulders slightly, philosophically. "Doesn't the cap +fit?" he said. + +"Not a bit," Dinah declared with emphasis. "I have another name for you +that suits you far better." + +"Oh! What is that?" he looked at her with smiling curiosity. + +Dinah's blush deepened from carmine to crimson. "I call you--Mr. +Greatheart," she said, her voice very low. "Because you help everybody." + +A gleam of surprise crossed his face. He flushed also; but she saw that +though embarrassed, he was not displeased. + +He put a hand to his cap. "Thank you, Miss Bathurst," he said simply, and +turned without further words to answer his brother's summons. + +Dinah walked quickly on. That stroll with Scott had quite lifted her out +of her depression. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RUNAWAY COLT + + +"It really is very tiresome," complained Lady Grace. "I knew that child +was going to be a nuisance from the very outset." + +"What has she done now?" growled the Colonel. + +He was lounging in the easiest chair in the room, smoking an excellent +cigar, preparatory to indulging in his afternoon nap. His wife reclined +upon a sofa with a French novel which she had not begun to read. Through +the great windows that opened on to the balcony the sunshine streamed in +a flood of golden light. Rose was seated on the balcony enjoying the +warmth. Lady Grace's eyes rested upon her slim figure in its scarlet coat +as she made reply. + +"These people--these Studleys--won't leave her alone. Or else she runs +after them. I can't quite make out which. Probably the latter. Anyhow the +sister--who, I believe is what is termed slightly mental--has asked her +to go to tea in their private sitting-room. I have told her she must +decline." + +"Quite right," said the Colonel. "What did she say?" + +Lady Grace uttered a little laugh. "Oh, she was very ridiculous and +high-flown, as you may imagine. But, as I told her, I am directly +responsible to her mother for any friendships she may make out here, and +I am not disposed to take any risks. We all know what Mrs. Bathurst can +be like if she considers herself an injured party." + +"A perfect she-dragon!" agreed the Colonel. "I fancy the child herself is +still kept in order with the rod. Why, even Bathurst--great hulking +ox--is afraid of her. Billy isn't, but then Billy apparently can do no +wrong." + +"She certainly loves no one else," said Lady Grace. "I never met anyone +with such an absolutely vixenish and uncontrolled temper. I am sorry for +Dinah. I have always pitied her, for she certainly works hard, and gets +little praise for it. But at the same time, I can't let her run wild now +she is off the rein for a little. It wouldn't be right. And these people +are total strangers." + +"I believe they are of very good family," said the Colonel. "The title is +an old one, and Sir Eustace is evidently a rich man. I had the +opportunity for a little talk with the brother yesterday evening. A very +courteous little chap--quite unusually so. I think we may regard them as +quite passable." His eyes also wandered to the graceful, lounging figure +on the balcony. "At the same time I shouldn't let Dinah accept +hospitality from them, anyhow at this stage. She is full young. She must +be content to stay in the background--at least for the present." + +"Just what I say," said Lady Grace. "Of course if the younger brother +should take a fancy to her--and he certainly seems to be attracted--it +might be a very excellent thing for her. Her mother can't hope to keep +her as maid of all work for ever. But I can't have her pushing herself +forward. I was very glad to hear you reprimand her so severely this +morning." + +"She deserved it," said the Colonel judicially. "But at the same time if +there is any chance of what you suggest coming to pass, I have no wish to +stand in the child's way. I have a fancy that she will find the bondage +at home considerably more irksome after this taste of freedom. It might, +as you say, be a good thing for her if the little chap did fall in love +with her. Her mother can't expect much of a match for her." + +"Oh, if that really happened, her mother would be charmed," said Lady +Grace. "She is a queer, ill-balanced creature, and I don't believe she +has ever had the smallest affection for her. She would be delighted to +get her off her hands, I should say. But things mustn't move too quickly, +or they may go in the wrong direction." Again her eyes sought her +daughter's graceful outline. "You say Sir Eustace is rich?" she asked, +after a moment. + +"Extremely rich, I should say. He has his own yacht, a house in town as +well as a large place in the country, and he will probably get a seat in +Parliament at the next election. I'm not greatly taken with the man +myself," declared Colonel de Vigne. "He is too overbearing. At the same +time," again his eyes followed his wife's, "he would no doubt be a +considerable catch." + +"I don't mean Dinah to have Sir Eustace," said Lady Grace very decidedly. +"It would be most unsuitable. Yes, what is it?" as a low knock came at +the door. "Come in!" + +It opened, and Dinah, looking flushed and rather uncertain, made her +appearance. + +"I wish you would have the consideration not to disturb us at this hour, +my dear Dinah," said Lady Grace peevishly. "What is it you want now?" + +"I am sorry," said Dinah meekly. "But I heard your voices, so I knew you +weren't asleep. I just came in to say that Billy and I are going luging +if you don't mind." + +"What next?" said Lady Grace, still fretful. "Of course I don't mind so +long as you don't get up to mischief." + +"Dinah, come here!" said the Colonel suddenly. + +Dinah, on the point of beating a swift retreat, stood still with obvious +reluctance. + +"Come here!" he repeated. + +She went to him hesitatingly. + +He reached up a hand and grasped her by the arm. "Were you eavesdropping +just now?" he demanded. + +Dinah started as if stung. "I--I--of course I wasn't!" she declared, with +vehemence. "How can you suggest such a thing?" + +"Quite sure?" said the Colonel, still holding her. + +She wrenched herself from him in a sudden fury. "Colonel de Vigne, +you--you insult me! I am not the sort that listens outside closed doors. +How dare you? How dare you?" + +She stamped her foot with the words, gazing down at him with blazing +eyes. + +The Colonel stiffened slightly, but he kept his temper. "If I have done +you an injustice, I apologize," he said. "You may go." + +And Dinah went like a whirlwind, banging the door behind her. + +"Well, really!" protested Lady Grace in genuine displeasure. + +Her husband smiled somewhat grimly. "A vixen's daughter, my dear! What +can you expect?" + +"She behaves like a fishwife's daughter," said Lady Grace. "And if she +wasn't actually eavesdropping I am convinced she heard what I said." + +"So am I," said the Colonel drily. "I was about to tax her with it. Hence +her masterly retreat. But she was not deliberately eavesdropping or she +would not have given herself away so openly. I quite agree with you, my +dear. A match between her and Sir Eustace would not be suitable. And I +also think Sir Eustace would be the first to see it. Anyhow, I shall take +an early opportunity of letting him know that her birth is by no means a +high one, and that her presence here is simply due to our kindness. At +the same time, should the rather ludicrous little younger brother take it +into his head to follow her up, so far as family goes he is of course too +good for her, but I am sorry for the child and I shall put no obstacle in +the way." + +"All the same she shall not go to tea there unless Rose is invited too," +said Lady Grace firmly. + +"There," said the Colonel pompously, "I think that you are right." + +Lady Grace simpered a little, and opened her novel. "It really wouldn't +surprise me to find that she is a born fortune-hunter," she said. "I am +certain the mother is avaricious." + +"The mother," said Colonel de Vigne with the deliberation of one arrived +at an unalterable decision, "is the most disagreeable, vulgar, and wholly +objectionable person that I have ever met." + +"Oh, quite," said Lady Grace. "If she were in our set, she would be +altogether intolerable. But--thank heaven--she is not! Now, dear, if you +don't mind, I am going to read myself to sleep. I have promised Rose to +go to the ice carnival to-night, and I need a little relaxation first." + +"I suppose Dinah is going?" said the Colonel. + +"Oh, yes. But she is nothing of a skater." Lady Grace suddenly broke into +a little laugh. "I wonder if the redoubtable Mrs. Bathurst does really +beat her when she is naughty. It would be excellent treatment for her, +you know." + +"I haven't a doubt of it," said the Colonel. "She is absolutely under her +mother's control. That great raw-boned woman would have a heavy hand too, +I'll be bound." + +"Oh, there is no doubt Dinah stands very much in awe of her. I never knew +she had any will of her own till she came here. I always took her for the +meekest little creature imaginable." + +"There is a good deal more in Miss Dinah than jumps to the eye," said the +Colonel. "In fact, if you ask me, I should say she is something of a dark +horse. She is just beginning to feel her feet and she'll surprise us all +one of these days by turning into a runaway colt." + +"Not, I do hope, while she is in my charge," said Lady Grace. + +"We will hope not," agreed the Colonel. "But all the same, I rather think +that her mother will find her considerably less tame and tractable when +she sees her again than she has ever been before. Liberty, you know, is a +dangerous joy for the young." + +"Then we must be more strict with her ourselves," said Lady Grace. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE + + +Dinah ran swiftly down the corridor to her own room. + +As a matter of fact, she had intruded upon the Colonel and Lady Grace in +the secret hope of finding a propitious moment for once again pressing +her request to be allowed to accept Scott's invitation to tea. Her +failure to do so added fuel to the flame, arousing in her an almost +irresistible impulse to rebel openly. + +The fear of consequences alone restrained her, for to be escorted home in +disgrace after only a week in this Alpine paradise was more than she +could face. All her life the dread of her mother's wrath had overhung +Dinah like a cloud, sometimes near, sometimes distant, but always +present. She had been brought up to fear her from her cradle. All through +her childhood her punishments had been bitterly severe. She winced still +at the bare thought of them; and she was as fully convinced as was Lady +Grace that her mother had never really loved her. To come under the ban +of her displeasure meant days of harsh treatment, nor, now that her +childhood was over, had the discipline been relaxed. She never attempted +to rebel openly. Her fear of her mother had become an integral part of +herself. Her spirit shrank before her fits of violence. But for her +father and Billy she sometimes thought that home would be an impossible +place. + +But her affection for her father was of a very intense order. Lazy, +self-indulgent, supremely easy-going, yet possessed of a fascination that +had held her from babyhood, such was Guy Bathurst. Despised at least +outwardly by his wife and adored by his daughter, he went his indifferent +way, enjoying life as he found it and quite impervious to snubs. + +"I never interfere with your mother," was a very frequent sentence on his +lips, and by that axiom he ruled his life, looking negligently on while +Dinah was bent without mercy to the wheel of tyranny. + +He was fond of Dinah,--her devotion to him made that inevitable--but he +never obtruded his fondness to the point of interference on her behalf; +for both of them were secretly aware that the harshness meted out to her +had much of its being in a deep, unreasoning jealousy of that very +selfish fondness. They kept their affection as it were for strictly +private consumption, and it was that alone that made life at home +tolerable to Dinah. + +For upon one point her father was insistent. He would not part with her +unless she married. He did not object to her working at home for his +comfort, but the idea of her working elsewhere and making her living was +one which he refused to consider. With rare self-assertion, he would not +hear of it, and when he really asserted himself, which was seldom, his +wife was wont to yield, albeit ungraciously enough, to his behest. + +Besides Dinah was undoubtedly useful at home, and would certainly grow +out of hand if she left her. + +Not very willingly had she agreed to let her go upon this Alpine jaunt +with the de Vignes, but Billy had been so keen, and the invitation would +scarcely have been extended to him alone. + +The whole idea had originated between the heads of the two families, +riding home together after a day's hunting. Dinah had chanced to come +into the conversation, and the Colonel, comparing her with that of his +own daughter and being stirred to pity, had suggested that the two +children might like to join them on their forthcoming expedition. +Bathurst had at once accepted the tentative proposal, and had blurted +forth the whole matter to his assembled family on his return with the +result that Billy's instant and eager delight had made it virtually +impossible for his mother to oppose the suggestion. + +Dinah had been delighted too, almost deliriously so; but she had kept her +pleasure to herself, not daring to show it in her mother's presence till +the actual arrival of the last day. Then indeed she had lost her head, +had sung and danced and made merry, till some trifling accident had +provoked her mother's untempered wrath and a sound boxing of ears had +quite sobered her enthusiasm. She had fared forth finally upon the +adventure with tearful eyes and drooping heart, her mother's frigid kiss +of farewell hurting her more poignantly than her drastic punishment of an +hour before. For Dinah was intensely sensitive, keenly susceptible to +rebuke and coldness, and her warm heart shrank from unkindness with a +shrinking that was actual pain. + +She knew that the little social world of Perrythorpe looked down upon her +mother though not actually refusing to associate with her. Bathurst had +married a circus-girl in his green Oxford days; so the story went,--a +hard, handsome woman older than himself, and fiercely, intensely +ambitious. Lack of funds had prevented her climbing very high, and +bitterly she resented her failure. He had never done a day's work in his +life, but, unlike his wife, he had plenty of friends. He was well-bred, a +good rider, a straight shot, and an entertaining guest. He knew everyone +within a radius of twenty miles, and was upon terms of easy intimacy with +the de Vignes and many others who received him with pleasure, but very +seldom went out of their way to encounter his wife. + +Dinah shrewdly suspected that this fact accounted for much of the +bitterness of her mother's outlook. Her ambition had apparently died of +starvation long since, but her resentment remained. Her hand was against +practically all the world, including her daughter, whose fairy-like +daintiness and piquancy were so obvious a contrast to the somewhat coarse +and flashy beauty that had once been hers. For all that Dinah inherited +from her mother was her gipsy darkness. Mrs. Bathurst was not flashy now, +and any attempt at personal adornment on Dinah's part was always very +sternly repressed. She had met and writhed under the eye of scornful +criticism too often, and she distrusted her own taste. She was determined +that Dinah should never be subjected to the same humiliation. + +She humiliated her often enough herself. It was the only means she knew +of asserting her authority; for she had no intention of ever being the +object of her daughter's contempt. She was harsh to the point of +brutality, so that the girl's heart was wont to quicken apprehensively +whenever she heard her step. She scolded, she punished, she coerced. But +from an outsider, the bare thought of a snub was unendurable, and the +possibility that Dinah might by any means lay herself open to one was +enough to bring down the vials of wrath upon her head. Dinah remembered +still with shivering vividness the whipping she had received on one +occasion for demeaning herself by running after the de Vignes's carriage +to deliver a message. Her mother's whippings had always been very +terrible, vindictively thorough. The indignity of them lashed her soul +even more cruelly than the unsparing thong her body. Because of them she +went in daily trepidation, submissive almost to the point of abjectness, +lest this hateful and demoralizing form of punishment should be inflicted +upon her. For some time now, by great wariness and circumspection she had +evaded it, and she had begun to entertain the trembling hope that she was +at last considered to have passed the age for such childish correction. +But her mother's outbreak of violence on the day of their departure had +been a painful disillusion, and she knew well what it would mean to +return home in disgrace with the de Vignes. Her cheeks burned and tingled +still with the shame of the discovery. She felt that another of the old +dreadful chastisements would overwhelm her utterly. And yet that she +would most certainly have to endure it if she were unruly now was +conviction that pressed like a cold weight upon her heart. Had not the +letter she had received from her mother only that morning contained a +stern injunction to her to behave herself, as though she had been a +naughty, wayward child? + +"It would kill me!" she told herself passionately. "Oh, why, why, why +can't I grow up quick and marry? But I never shall grow up at home. +That's the horrible, horrible part of it. And I shall never have a chance +of marrying with mother looking on. I'm just a slave--a slave. Other +girls can have a good time, do as they like, flirt when they like. But +I--never--never!" + +Her fit of rebellion lasted long. The emancipation from the home bondage +was beginning to work within her as the Colonel had predicted. Seen from +a distance, the old tyranny seemed outrageous and impossible, to go back +into it monstrous. And yet, so far as she could see, there was no way of +escape. She was not apparently to be allowed to make any friends outside +her own sphere. The freedom she had begun to enjoy so feverishly had very +suddenly been circumscribed, and if she dared to overstep the bounds +marked out for her, she knew what to expect. + +And yet she longed for freedom as she had never longed in her life +before. She was nearly desperate with longing, so sweet had been the +first, intoxicating taste thereof. For the first time she had seen life +from the standpoint of the ordinary, happy girl, and the contrast to the +life she knew had temporarily upset her equilibrium. Her mother's +treatment, harsh before, seemed unendurable now. Her cheeks burned afresh +with a fierce, intolerable shame. No, no! She could never face it again. +She could not! She could not! Already her brief emancipation had begun to +cost her dear. She must--she must--find a way of escape ere she went back +into thraldom. For she knew her mother's strength so terribly well. It +would conquer all resistance by sheer, overwhelming weight. She could not +remember a single occasion upon which she had ever in the smallest degree +held her own against it. Her will had been broken to her mother's so +often that the very thought of prolonged resistance seemed absurd. She +knew herself to be incapable of it. She was bound to crumple under the +strain, bound to be humbled to the dust long ere the faintest hope of +outmatching her mother's iron will had begun to dawn in her soul. The +very thought made her feel puny and contemptible. If she resisted to the +very uttermost of her strength, yet would she be crushed in the end, and +that end would be more horribly painful than she dared to contemplate. +All her childhood it had been the same. She had been conquered ere she +had passed the threshold of rebellion. She had never been permitted to +exercise a will of her own, and the discovery that she possessed one had +been something of a surprise to Dinah. + +It was partly this discovery that made her long so passionately for +freedom. She wanted to grow, to develop, to get beyond the stultifying +influence of that unvarying despotism. She longed to get away from the +perpetual dread of consequences that so haunted her. She wanted to +breathe her own atmosphere, live her own life, be herself. + +"I believe I could do lots of things if I only had the chance," she +murmured to herself; and then she was suddenly plunged into the memory of +another occasion when she had received summary and austere punishment for +omitting scales from her practising. But then no one ever liked doing +what they must, and she had never had any real taste for music; or if she +had had, it had vanished long since under the uninspiring goad of +compulsion. + +All her morning depression came back while these bitter meditations +racked her brain. Oh, if only--if only--her father had chosen a lady for +his wife! It was disloyal, she knew, to indulge such a thought, but her +mood was black and her soul was in revolt. She was sure--quite sure--that +marriage presented the only possibility of deliverance, and deliverance +was beginning to seem imperative. Her whole individuality, which this +past week of giddy liberty had done so much to develop, cried aloud for +it. + +She went to the window. Billy had grown tired of waiting and gone off +without her. She fancied she could see his sturdy figure on the further +slope. Her eyes took in the whole lovely scene, and suddenly, +effervescently, her spirits began to rise. The inherent gaiety of her +bubbled to the surface. What a waste of time to stay here grizzling while +that paradise lay awaiting her! The sweetness of her nature began to +assert itself once more, and an almost fevered determination to live in +the present, to be happy while she could, entered into her. With +impetuous energy she pushed the evil thoughts away. She would be happy. +She would! She would! And happiness was not difficult to Dinah. It +bubbled in her, a natural spring, that ever flowed again even after the +worst storms had forced it from its course. + +She even laughed to herself as she prepared to join Billy. Life was +good,--oh yes, life was good! And home and the trials thereof were many +miles away. Who could be unhappy for long in such a world as this, where +the air sparkled like champagne, and the magic of it ran riot in the +blood? + +The black mood passed away from her spirit like a cloud. She threw on cap +and coat and ran to join the merry-makers. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OLYMPUS + + +All through that afternoon Dinah and Billy played like cubs in the snow. +They were very inexperienced in the art of luging, but they took their +spills with much heartiness and a total disregard of dignity that made +for complete enjoyment. + +When the sun went down they forsook the sport, and joined in a +snowballing match with a dozen or more of their fellow-visitors. But +Dinah proved herself so adroit and impartial at this game that she +presently became a general target, and found it advisable to retreat +before she was routed. This she did with considerable skill and no small +strategy, finally darting flushed and breathless into the hotel, covered +with snow from head to foot, but game to the last. + +"Well done!" commented a lazy voice behind her. "Now raise the drawbridge +and lower the portcullis, and the honours of war are assured." + +She turned with the flashing movement of a bird upon the wing, and found +herself face to face with Sir Eustace. + +His blue eyes met hers with deliberate nonchalance. "Sit down," he said, +"while I fetch you some tea!" + +Her heart gave an odd little leap that was half of pleasure and half of +dread. She stammered incoherently that he must not take the trouble. + +But he was evidently bent upon so doing, for he pressed her into the seat +which he had just vacated. "Keep the place in the corner for me!" he +commanded, and lounged away upon his errand with imperial leisureliness. + +Dinah watched his tall figure out of sight. The encounter both astounded +and thrilled her. She wondered if she were cheapening herself by meekly +obeying his behest, wondered what Rose--that practised coquette--would +have done under such circumstances; but to depart seemed so wholly out of +the question that she dismissed the wonder as futile. She could only wait +for the play to develop, and trust to her own particular luck, which had +so favoured her the night before, to give her a cue. + +He returned with tea and cake which he set before her on a little table +that he had apparently secured beforehand for the purpose. "I am sure you +must be ravenous," he said, in those high-bred, somewhat insolent accents +of his. + +"I am," Dinah admitted frankly. + +"Then let me see you satisfy your hunger!" he said, seating himself in +the corner he had reserved. + +"Oh, but not alone!" she protested. "You--you must have some too." + +He laughed. "No. I am going to smoke--with your permission. It will do me +more good." + +"Oh, pray do!" said Dinah, embarrassed still but strangely elated. "It +makes me feel rather greedy, that's all." + +"I am greedy too," he told her, his blue eyes still upon her vivid, +sparkling face. "And--always with your permission--I am going to indulge +my greed." + +She did not understand him, but prudence restrained her from telling him +so. Seated as she was he was the only person in the vestibule whom she +could see, her back being turned to all beside. She wondered, again with +that delightful yet half-startled thrill, if his meaning were in any way +connected with this fact. He certainly absorbed the whole of her +attention, if that were what he wanted. Her hunger faded completely into +the background. + +He lighted a cigarette and began to smoke. The space beyond them was full +of moving figures and laughing voices; but the turmoil scarcely reached +Dinah. An invisible barrier seemed to shut them off from all the rest. +They were not merely aloof; they were alone, and a curiously intimate +touch pervaded their solitude. She felt her spirit start in quivering +response to the call of his, just as the night before when she had +floated with him above the clouds. What was happening to her she had not +the least idea, but the consciousness of his near presence pulsed +magnetically through and through her. Scott's brief advice of the morning +was scattered from her memory like feathers before the wind. She had no +memory. She lived only in this burning splendid ardour of a moment. + +She drank her tea mechanically, finding nothing enigmatic in his silence. +The direct look of his blue eyes discomfited her strangely, but it was a +sublime discomfiture--the discomfiture of the moth around the flame. She +longed to meet it, but did not wholly dare. With veiled glances she +yielded to the attraction, not yet bold enough for complete surrender. + +He spoke at last, and she started. + +"Well? Am I forgiven?" + +The nonchalant enquiry sent the blood in another hot wave to her cheeks. +Had she ever presumed to be angry with this godlike person? + +"For what?" she asked, her voice very low. + +He leaned towards her. "Did I only fancy that by some evil chance I had +offended you?" + +She kept her eyes lowered. "I thought you were the offended one," she +said. + +"I?" She caught the note of surprise in his voice, and it sent a very +curious little sense of shame through her. + +With an effort she raised her eyes. "Yes. I thought you were offended. +You went by me this morning without seeing me." + +His look was very intent, almost as if he were searching for something; +but it did not disconcert her as she had half-expected to be +disconcerted. His eyes were more caressing than dominant just then. + +"What if I didn't see you because I didn't dare?" he said. + +That gave her confidence. "I should think you couldn't be so silly as +that," she said with decision. + +He smiled a little. "Thank you, _miladi_. Then wasn't it--almost equally +silly--your word, not mine!--of you to be afraid of me last night?" + +She felt the thrust in a moment, and went white, conscious of the weak +sick feeling that so often came over her at the sound of her mother's +step when she was in disgrace. + +He saw her distress, but he allowed several moments to elapse before he +came to the rescue; Then lightly, "Pray don't let the matter disturb +you!" he said. "Only--for your peace of mind--let me tell you that you +really have nothing to fear. Out here we live in fairyland, and no one +is in earnest. We just enjoy ourselves, and Mrs. Grundy simply doesn't +exist. We are not ashamed of being frivolous, and we do whatever we like. +And there are no consequences. Always remember that, Miss Bathurst! There +are never any consequences in fairyland." + +His eyes suddenly laughed at her, and Dinah was vastly reassured. Her +dismay vanished, leaving a blithe sense of irresponsibility in its place. + +"I shall remember that," she said, with her gay little nod. "I dreamt +last night that we were in Olympus." + +"We?" he said softly. + +She nodded again, flushed and laughing, confident that she had received +her cue. "And you--were Apollo." + +She saw his eyes change magically, flashing into swift life, and dropped +her own before the mastery that dawned there. + +"And you," he questioned under his breath, "were Daphne?" + +"Perhaps," she said enigmatically. After all, flirting was not such a +difficult art, and since he had declared that there could be no +consequences, she did not see why she should bury this new-found talent +of hers. + +"What a charming dream!" he commented lazily. "But you know what happened +to Daphne when she ran away, don't you?" + +She flung him a laughing challenge. "He didn't catch her anyway." + +"True!" smiled Sir Eustace. "But have you never wondered whether it +wouldn't have been more sport for her if he had? It wouldn't be very +exciting, you know, to lead the life of a vegetable." + +"It isn't!" declared Dinah, with abrupt sincerity. + +"Oh, you know something about it, do you?" he said. "Then the modern +Daphne ought to have too much sense to run away." + +She laughed with a touch of wistfulness. "I wonder how she felt about it +afterwards." + +"I wonder," he agreed, tipping the ash off his cigarette. "It didn't +matter so much to Apollo, you see. He had plenty to choose from." + +Dinah's wistfulness vanished in a swift breath of indignation. "Really!" +she said. + +He looked at her. "Yes, really," he told her, with deliberation. "And he +didn't need to run after them either. But, possibly," his gaze softened +again, "possibly that was what made him want Daphne the most. Elusiveness +is quite a fascinating quality if it isn't carried too far. Still--" he +smiled--"I expect he got over it in the end, you know; but in her case I +am not quite so sure." + +"I don't suppose he did get ever it," maintained Dinah with spirit. "All +the rest must have seemed very cheap afterwards." + +"Perhaps he was more at home with the cheap variety," he suggested +carelessly. + +His eyes had wandered to the buzzing throng behind her, and she saw a +glint of criticism--or was it merely easy contempt?--dispel the smile +with which he had regarded her. His mouth wore a faint but unmistakable +sneer. + +But in a moment his look returned to her, kindled upon her. "Are you for +the ice carnival to-night?" he asked. + +She drew a quick, eager breath. "Oh, I do want to come! But I don't +know--yet--if I shall be allowed." + +"Why ask?" he questioned. + +She hesitated, then ingenuously she told him her difficulty. "I got into +trouble last night for dancing so late with you. And--and--I may be sent +to bed early to make up for it." + +He frowned. "Do you mean to say you'd go?" + +She coloured vividly. "I'm only nineteen, and I have to do as I'm told." + +"Heavens above!" he said. "You belong to the generation before the last +evidently. No girl ever does as she is told now-a-days. It isn't the +thing." + +"I do," whispered Dinah, in dire confusion. "At least--generally." + +"And what happens if you don't?" he queried. "Do they whip you and put +you to bed?" + +She clenched her hands hard. "Don't!" she said. "You're only joking, I +know. But--I hate it!" + +His manner changed in a moment, became half-quizzical, half-caressing. +"Poor little brown elf, what a shame! Well, come if you can! I shall look +out for you. I may have something to show you." + +"May you? Oh, what?" cried Dinah, all eagerness in a moment. + +He laughed. There was a provoking hint of mystery in his manner. "Ah! +That lies in the future, _miladi_." + +"But tell me!" she persisted. + +"Will you come then?" he asked. + +"Perhaps," she said. "If I can!" + +"Ah! And perhaps not!" he said. "What then?" + +Dinah's mouth grew suddenly firm. "I will come," she said. + +"You will?" His keen eyes held hers with smiling compulsion. + +"Yes, I will." + +He made a gesture as if he would take her hand, but restrained himself, +and paused to tip the ash once more off his cigarette. + +"Now tell me!" commanded Dinah. + +"I don't think I will," he said deliberately. + +"But you must!" said Dinah. + +His eyes sought hers again with that look which she found it impossible +to meet. She bent over her cup. + +"What will you show me?" she persisted. "Tell me!" + +"I didn't say I would show you anything," he pointed out. "I said I +might." + +"Tell me what it was anyhow!" she said. + +He leaned nearer to her, and suddenly it seemed to her that they were +quite alone, very far removed from the rest of the world. "It may not be +to-night," he murmured. "Or even to-morrow. But some day--in this land +where there are no consequences--I will show you--when the fates are +propitious, not before--some of the things that Daphne missed when she +ran away." + +He ceased to speak. Dinah's face was burning. She could not look at him. +She felt as if a magic flame had wrapped her round. Her whole body was +tingling, her heart wildly a-quiver. There was a rapture in that moment +that was almost too intense, too poignant, to be borne. + +He was the first to move. Calmly he leaned back, and resumed his +cigarette. Through the aromatic smoke his voice came to her again. + +"Are you angry?" + +Her whole being stirred in response. She uttered a little quivering laugh +that was near akin to tears. + +"No--of course--no! But I--I think I ought to go and dress! It's getting +late, isn't it? Thank you for giving me tea!" She rose, her movements +quick and dainty as the flight of a robin. "Good-bye!" she murmured +shyly. + +He rose also with a sweeping bow. "_A bientot_,--Daphne!" he said. + +She gave him a single swift glance from under fluttering lashes, and +turned away in silence. + +She went up the stairs with the speed of a bird on the wing, but she +could not outpace the wonder and the wild delight at her heart. As she +entered her own room at length, she laughed, a breathless, rippling +laugh. How amazing--and how gorgeous--was this new life! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WINE OF THE GODS + + +The rink was ablaze with fairy-lights under the starry sky. Rose de +Vigne, exquisitely fair in ruby velvet and ermine furs paused on the +verandah, looking pensively forth. + +Very beautiful she looked standing there, and Captain Brent of the +Sappers striding forth with his skates jingling in his hand stopped as +one compelled. + +"Are you waiting for someone, Miss de Vigne? Or may I escort you?" + +She looked at him with a faint smile as if in pity for his +disappointment. "Too late, I am afraid, Captain Brent. I have promised +Sir Eustace to skate with him." + +"Who?" Brent glanced towards the rink. "Why, he's down there already +dancing about with your little cousin. That's her laugh. Don't you hear +it?" + +Dinah's laugh, clear and ringing, came to them on the still air. Rose's +slim figure stiffened very slightly, barely perceptibly, at the sound. +"Sir Eustace has forgotten his engagement," she said icily. "Yes, Captain +Brent, I will come with you." + +"Good business!" he said heartily. "It's a glorious night. Somebody said +there was a change coming; but I don't believe it. Maddening if a thaw +comes before the luging competition. The run is just perfection now. I'm +going up there presently. It's glorious by moonlight." + +He chattered inconsequently on, happy in the fact that he had secured the +prettiest girl in the hotel for his partner, and not in the least +disturbed by any lack of response on her part. To skate with her hand in +hand was the utmost height of his ambition just then, his brain not being +of a particularly aspiring order. + +Down on the rink all was gaiety and laughter. The lights shone ruby, +emerald, and sapphire, upon the darting figures. The undernote of the +rushing skates made magic music everywhere. The whole scene was +fantastic--a glittering fairyland of colour and enchantment. + +"Each evening seems more splendid than the last," declared Dinah. + +"They always will if you spend them in my company," said Sir Eustace. "Do +you know I could very soon teach you to skate as perfectly as you dance?" + +"I believe you could teach me anything," she answered happily. + +"Given a free hand I believe I could," he said. "But the gift is yours, +not mine. You have the most wonderful knack of divining a mood. You adapt +yourself instinctively. I never knew anyone respond so perfectly to the +unspoken wish. How is it, I wonder?" + +"I don't know," she answered shyly. "But I can't help understanding what +you want." + +"Does that mean that we are kindred spirits?" he asked, and suddenly the +clasp of his hands was close and intimate. + +"I expect it does," said Dinah; but she said it with a touch of +uneasiness. The voice that had spoken within her the night before, +warning her, urging her to be gone, was beginning to murmur again, +bidding her to beware. + +She turned from the subject with ready versatility, obedient to the +danger-signal. "Oh, there is Rose! I am afraid I ran away from her after +dinner. They went upstairs for coffee, but I was so dreadfully afraid of +being stopped that I hung behind and escaped. I do hope the Colonel won't +be in a wax again. But I don't see that there was anything wicked in it; +for Lady Grace herself is coming to look on presently." + +"I skated with Miss de Vigne nearly all the afternoon," observed Sir +Eustace. "But she is a regular ice-maiden. I couldn't get any enthusiasm +out of her. Tell me, is she like that all through? Or is it just a pose?" + +"Oh, I don't know," Dinah said. "I've never got through the outer crust. +But then of course I'm far beneath her." + +"How so?" asked Sir Eustace. + +She laughed up at him with the happy confidence of a child. "Can't you +see it for yourself? I--I am a mere guttersnipe compared to the de +Vignes. They live in a great house with lots of servants and cars. They +never do a thing for themselves. I don't suppose Rose could do her hair +to save her life. While we--we live in a tumble-down, ramshackle old +place, and do all the work ourselves. I've never been away from home in +my life before. You see, we're poor, and Billy's schooling takes up a lot +of money. I had to leave school when he first went as a boarder. And that +is three years ago now. So I have forgotten all I ever learnt." + +"Except dancing," he suggested. + +"Oh, well, that's born in me. I couldn't very well forget that. My +mother--" Dinah hesitated momentarily--"my mother was a dancer before she +married." + +"And she taught you?" asked Sir Eustace. + +"No, no! She never taught me anything except useful things--like cooking +and sewing and house-work. And I detest them all," said Dinah frankly. "I +like sweeping the garden and digging the potatoes far better." + +"She keeps you busy then," commented Sir Eustace, with semi-humorous +interest. + +"Busy isn't the word for it," declared Dinah. "I'm going from morning +till night. We do the washing at home too. I get up at five and go to bed +at nine. I make nearly all my own clothes too. That's why I haven't got +any," she ended naively. + +He laughed. "Not really! But what makes you work so hard as that? You're +wasting all your best time. You'll never be so young again, you know." + +"I know!" cried Dinah, and suddenly a wild gust of rebellion went +through her. "It's hateful! I never knew how hateful till I came here. +Going back will be--too horrible for words. But--" her voice fell +abruptly flat--"what am I to do?" + +"I should go on strike," he said lightly. "Tell your good mother that she +must find someone else to do the work! You are going to take it easy and +enjoy yourself." + +Dinah uttered a short, painful laugh. + +"Wouldn't that do?" he asked. + +"No." + +"Why not?" he questioned with indolent amusement. "Surely you're not +afraid of the broomstick!" + +Dinah gave a great start, and suddenly, as they skated, pressed close to +him with the action of some small, terrified creature seeking shelter. +"Oh, don't--don't let us spoil this perfect night by talking of my home +affairs!" she pleaded, her voice quick and passionate. "I want to put +everything right away. I want to forget there is such a place as home." + +His arm was around her in a moment. He held her caught to him. "I can +soon make you forget that, my Daphne," he said. "I can lead you through +such a wonderland as will dazzle you into complete forgetfulness of +everything else. But you must trust me, you know. You mustn't be afraid." + +He was drawing her away from the glare of coloured lights as he spoke, +drawing her to the further end of the rink where stood a tiny, rustic +pavilion. + +She went with him with a breathless sense of high adventure, skimming the +ice in time with his rhythmic movements, mesmerized into an enchanted +quiescence. + +They reached the pavilion, and he paused. The other skaters were left +behind. They stood as it were in a magic circle all their own. And only +the moon looked on. + +"Ah, Daphne!" he said, and took her in his arms. + +There came to Dinah then a wild and desperate sense of fear, fear that +was coupled with a wholly unreasoning and instinctive shame. She strained +back from him. "Oh no! Oh no!" she gasped. "I mustn't! I'm sure it's +wrong!" + +But he mastered her very slowly, wholly without violence, yet wholly +irresistibly. His dark face with its blue, compelling eyes dominated her, +conquered her. And all her life resistance had been quelled in her. Her +will wavered and was down. + +"Why should it be wrong?" he whispered. "I tell you that nothing +matters--nothing matters. We take our pleasures, and we tell no one. It +is no one's business but our own, sweetheart. And nothing is wrong, if no +harm is done to anyone." + +Subtle, alluring, half-laughing, half-relentless, he drew her closer yet, +he bent and pressed his lips upon her upturned face. But she quivered +still and shrank, though unresisting. She could not give her lips to his. +His kiss burned through and through her, so that she longed to flee away +and hide. + +For though that kiss sent a thrill of wild ecstasy through her, there was +anguish mingled therewith. Even while she exulted over her unexpected +victory, she was smitten with the thought that it had cost her too dear. +Had she told him too much about herself that he held her thus cheaply? +Would he--however urgent his desire to do so--would he have dreamed of +treating Rose thus? Or any other girl of his own standing? + +The thought went through her like a dagger. She bent herself back over +his arm avoiding his lips a second time. That one kiss had opened her +eyes. + +"Oh, let me go!" she said, her voice muffled and tremulous. "You +mustn't--ever--do it again." + +"Why not?" he whispered softly. "What does it matter? This is the land of +no consequences." + +"I can't help it," she whispered back. "It may not mean anything to you. +But--but--it makes me feel--wicked." + +He laughed at her with tender ridicule. His arms still held her, but no +longer closely. + +"Don't be afraid, my elf of the mountains!" he said. "I won't do it +again--yet. But there is nothing in it I tell you. And what does it +matter if no one knows? Why shouldn't you have all the fun you can get?" + +Dinah straightened herself, and passed her hands over her face with an +oddly childish gesture. He behaved as though he had conferred a favour +upon her; but yet the horrible feeling of shame lingered. Her mother's +most drastic punishments had never humbled her more completely. + +She drew herself from his hold. "I feel it does matter," she said, her +voice pathetically small and shy. "But--I know you didn't mean to--to +offend me. So let's forget it, please! Let's go back!" + +She gave him her hand with a timid gesture, and he took it with a smile +that held arrogance as well as amusement. "We will go back certainly," he +said. "But we shall not forget. We have tasted the wine of the gods, my +Daphne, and there is magic in the draught. Those who drink once are bound +to come again for more." + +"Oh no! Oh no!" said Dinah. + +But even as she said it, she felt herself to be battling against destiny. + +In that moment she knew beyond all doubting that by some means of which +she had no understanding he had caught her will and made it captive. +Elude him though she might for a time, she was bound to be his helpless +prisoner at the last. + +Yet his magnetism was such that she yielded herself to him almost +mechanically as they went back into the giddy vortex of the carnival. +Even in the midst of her dismay and uncertainty, she was strangely, +almost deliriously happy. + +Romance with gold-tipped wings unfurled had suddenly descended from the +high heavens and flitted before her, luring her on. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FRIENDSHIP IN THE DESERT + + +On the edge of the rink immediately below the hotel, a slight figure was +standing, patient as the Sphinx, awaiting them. + +Sir Eustace's keen eyes lighted upon it from afar. "There is my brother," +he said. "We will go and speak to him if you have no objection." + +Dinah received the suggestion with eagerness. She was possessed for the +moment by an urgent desire to get back to the commonplace. She had been +whirled off her feet, and albeit the flight had held rapture, she had a +desperate longing to tread solid ground once more. + +Possibly her companion shared something of this feeling. The game was +his, but there was no more to be won from her that night. The time had +come to descend from the heights to the dull and banal levels. He divined +her wish to return to earth, and he had no reason for thwarting it. With +a careless laugh he put on speed and rushed her dizzily through the +throng. + +To Dinah it was as a rapid fall through space. She felt as if she had +been suddenly shot from the gates of Olympus. She reached Scott, flushed +and breathless and quivering still with the wonder of it. + +He greeted her courteously. "Are you having a good time, Miss Bathurst?" + +She answered him gaspingly. Somehow it was an immense relief to find +herself by his side. "Yes; a glorious time. But I am coming off now. Have +you--have you seen anything of Lady Grace or the Colonel?" + +"I have just had the pleasure of making Lady Grace's acquaintance," he +said. "Are you really coming off now? Have you had enough?" + +She passed over his last question, for the wonder pierced her if she had +not had too much. "Yes, really. I am going to change my boots. I left +them somewhere here. I wonder where they are. Ah, there they are against +the railing! No, please don't! I can manage quite well. I would rather." + +She sat down on the bank, and bent her hot face over her task. + +The two brothers remained near her. Scott was apparently waiting for her. +They exchanged a few low words. + +"I'll do my level best, old chap," she heard Scott say. "But if I don't +succeed, it can't be helped. Rome wasn't built in a day." + +Eustace made an impatient sound, and muttered something in a whisper. + +"No," Scott said in answer. "Not that! Never with my consent. It wouldn't +do, man! I tell you it wouldn't do. Can't you take my word for it?" + +"You're as obstinate as a mule, Stumpy," his brother said, in tones of +irritation. "It'll come to it sooner or later. You're only prolonging the +agony." + +"I am doing my best," Scott said gravely. "Give me credit for that at +least!" + +Sir Eustace clapped a sudden hand on his shoulder. "No one doubts that, +my boy. You're true gold. But it's sheer foolishness to go on in the same +old way that's proved a failure a hundred times. In heaven's name, now +that we've hauled her out of that infernal groove, don't let idiotic +sentimentality spoil everything! Don't shy at the consequences! I'll be +responsible for them." + +Dinah glanced up. She saw that for the moment she was forgotten. The +light was shining upon Scott's face, and she read in it undeniable +perplexity, but the eyes were steadfast and wholly calm. + +He even smiled a little as he said, "My dear chap, have you ever +considered the consequences of anything--counted the cost before you came +to pay? No, never!" + +"Don't preach to me!" Eustace said sharply. + +"No. I won't. But don't you talk in that airy way about responsibility +to me! Because--" Scott's smile broadened and became openly +affectionate--"it just won't go down, dear fellow! I can't swallow +camels--never could." + +"You can strain at gnats though," commented Sir Eustace, pivoting round +on his skates. "Well, you know my sentiments. I haven't put my foot down +yet. But I'm going to--pretty soon. It's got to be done. And if you can't +bring yourself to it,--well, I shall, that's all." + +He was gone with the words, swift as an arrow, leaving behind him a space +so empty that Dinah felt a sudden queer little pang of desolation. + +Scott remained motionless, deep in thought, for the passage of several +seconds. Then abruptly the consciousness of her presence came upon him, +and he turned to her. She was sitting on the bank looking up at him with +frank interest. Their eyes met. + +And then a very curious thing happened to Dinah. She flinched under his +look, flinched and averted her own. A great shyness suddenly surged +through her, a quivering, overmastering sense of embarrassment. For in +that moment she viewed the flight to Olympus as he would have viewed it, +and was horribly, overwhelmingly ashamed. She could not break the +silence. She had no words to utter--no possible means at hand by which to +cover her discomfiture. + +It was he who spoke, in his voice a tinge of restraint. "I was going to +ask if it would bore you to come and see my sister again this evening. I +have obtained Lady Grace's permission for you to do so." + +She sprang to her feet. "Of course--of course I would love to!" she said +rather incoherently. "How could it bore me? I--I should like it--more +than anything." + +He smiled faintly, and held out his hand for the boots she had just +discarded. "That is more than kind of you," he said. "My sister was +afraid you might not want to come." + +"Of course I want to come!" maintained Dinah. "Oh no, thank you; I +couldn't let you carry my boots. How clever of you to tackle Lady Grace! +What did she say?" + +"Neither she nor the Colonel made any difficulty about it at all," Scott +said. "I told them my sister was an invalid. Lady Grace said that I must +not keep you after ten, and I promised I wouldn't." + +His manner was kindly and quizzical, and Dinah's embarrassment began to +pass. But he discomfited her afresh as they walked across the road by +saying, "You have made it up with my brother, I see." + +Dinah's cheeks burned again. "Yes," she said, after a moment. "We made it +up this afternoon." + +"That was very lucky--for him," observed Scott rather dryly. + +Dinah made a swift leap for the commonplace. "I hate being cross with +people," she said, "or to have them cross with me; don't you?" + +"I think it is sometimes unavoidable," said Scott gravely. + +"Oh, surely you are never cross!" said Dinah impetuously. "I can't +imagine it." + +"Wait till you see it!" said Scott, with a smile. + +They entered the hotel together. Dinah was tingling with excitement. She +had managed to escape from her discomfiture, but she still felt that any +prolonged intercourse with the man beside her would bring it back. She +was beginning to know Scott as one who would not hesitate to say exactly +what he thought, and not for all she possessed in the world would she +have had him know what had passed in that far corner of the rink so short +a time before. + +She chattered inconsequently upon ordinary topics as they ascended the +stairs together, but when they reached the door of Isabel's sitting-room +she became suddenly shy again. + +"Hadn't I better run and take off my things?" she whispered. "I feel so +untidy." + +He looked at her. She was clad in the white woollen cap and coat that she +had worn in the day. Her eyes were alight and sparkling, her brown face +flushed. She looked the very incarnation of youth. + +"I think she will like to see you as you are," said Scott. + +He knocked upon the door three times as before, and in a moment opened +it. + +"Go in, won't you?" he said, standing back. + +Dinah entered. + +"Ah! She has come!" A hollow voice said, and in a moment her shyness was +gone. + +She moved forward eagerly, saw Isabel seated in a low chair, and +impulsively went to her. "How kind you are to ask me to come again!" she +said. + +And then all in a moment Isabel's arms came out to her, and she slipped +down upon her knees beside her into their close embrace. + +"How kind of you to come, dear child!" Isabel murmured. "I am afraid it +is a visit to the desert for you." + +"But I love to come!" Dinah told her with warm lips raised. "I can't tell +you how much. I was never so happy before. Each day seems lovelier than +the last." + +Isabel kissed her lingeringly, tenderly. "My dear, you have a happy +heart," she said. "Tell me what you have been doing since I saw you +last!" + +She would have let her go, but Dinah clung to her still, her cheek +against her shoulder. "I have been very frivolous, dear Mrs. Everard," +she said. "I have done lots of things. This afternoon we were luging, and +now I have just come from the carnival, I wish you could have been there. +Some people are wearing the most horrible masks. Billy--my brother--has a +beauty. He made it himself. I rather wanted it to wear, but he wouldn't +part with it." + +"You could never wear a mask, sweetheart," Isabel said, clasping the +small brown hand in hers. "Your face is too sweet a thing to hide." + +Dinah hugged her in naive delight. "I always thought I was ugly before," +she said. + +Isabel's face wore a wan smile. She stroked the girl's soft cheek. "My +dear, no one with a heart like yours could have an ugly face. How did you +enjoy your dance with Eustace last night?" + +Dinah bent her head a little, wishing earnestly that Scott were not in +the room. "I loved it," she said in a low voice. + +"And afterwards?" questioned Isabel. "No one was vexed with you, I hope?" + +Dinah hesitated. "Colonel de Vigne wasn't best pleased, I'm afraid," she +said, after a moment. + +"He scolded you!" said Isabel, swift regret in her voice. "I am so sorry, +dear child. I ought to have gone to look after you. I was selfish." + +"Oh no--indeed!" Dinah protested. "It was entirely my own fault. He would +have been cross in any case. They are like that." + +Isabel uttered a sigh. "I shall have to try to meet them. Naturally they +will not let you come to total strangers. Stumpy, remind me in the +morning! I must manage somehow to meet this child's guardians." + +"Of course, dear," said Scott. + +Dinah, glancing towards him, saw him exchange a swift look with the old +nurse in the background, but his voice held neither surprise nor +gratification. He took out a cigarette and began to smoke. + +Isabel leaned back in her chair with abrupt weariness as if in reaction +from the strain of a sudden unwonted exertion. "Let me see! Do I know +your Christian name? Ah yes,--Dinah! What a pretty gipsy name! I think +you are a little gipsy, are you not? You have the charm of the woods +about you. Won't you sit in that chair, dear? You can't be comfortable on +the floor." + +But Dinah preferred to sit down against her knee, still holding the +slender, inert hand. + +"Tell me about your home!" Isabel said, closing languid eyes. "I can't +talk much more, but I can listen. It does not tire me to listen." + +Dinah hesitated somewhat. "I don't think you would find it very +interesting," she said. + +"But I am interested," Isabel said. "You live in the country, I think you +said." + +"At a place called Perrythorpe," Dinah said. "It's a great hunting +country. My father hunts a lot and shoots too." + +"Do you hunt?" asked Isabel. + +"Oh no, never! There's never any time. I go for rambles sometimes on +Sundays. Other days I am always busy. Fancy me hunting!" said Dinah, with +a little laugh. + +"I used to," said Isabel. "They always said I should end with a broken +neck. But I never did." + +"Are you very fond of riding?" asked Dinah. + +"Not now, dear. I am not fond of anything now. Tell me some more, won't +you? What makes you so busy that you never have time for any fun?" + +Again Dinah hesitated. "You see, we're poor," she said. "My mother and I +do all the work of the house and garden too." + +"And your father is able to hunt?" Isabel's eyes opened. Her hand closed +upon Dinah's caressingly. + +"Oh yes, he has always hunted," Dinah said. "I don't think he could do +without it. He would find it so dull." + +"I see," said Isabel. "But he can't afford pleasures for you." + +There was no perceptible sarcasm in her voice, but Dinah coloured a +little and went at once to her father's defence. + +"He sends Billy to a public school. Of course I--being only a girl--don't +count. And he has sent us out here, which was very good of him--the +sweetest thing he has ever done. He had a lucky speculation the other +day, and he has spent it nearly all on us. Wasn't that kind of him?" + +"Very kind, dear," said Isabel gently. "How long are you to have out +here?" + +"Only three weeks, and half the time is gone already," sighed Dinah. "The +de Vignes are not staying longer. The Colonel is a J.P., and much too +important to stay away for long. And they are going to have a large +house-party. There isn't much more than a week left now." She sighed +again. + +"And then you will have no more fun at all?" asked Isabel. + +"Not a scrap--nothing but work." Dinah's voice quivered a little. "I +don't suppose it has been very good for me coming out here," she said. +"I--I believe I'm much too fond of gaiety really." + +Isabel's hand touched her cheek. "Poor little girl!" she said. "But you +wouldn't like to leave your mother to do all the drudgery alone." + +"Oh yes, I should," said Dinah, with a touch of recklessness. "I'd never +go back if I could help it. I love Dad of course; but--" She paused. + +"You don't love your mother?" supplemented Isabel. + +Dinah leaned her face suddenly against the caressing hand. "Not much, I'm +afraid," she whispered. + +"Poor little girl!" Isabel murmured again compassionately. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PURPLE EMPRESS + + +Colonel De Vigne once more wore his most magisterial air when after +breakfast on the following morning he drew Dinah aside. + +She looked at him with swift apprehension, even with a tinge of guilt. +His lecture of the previous morning was still fresh in her mind. Could he +have seen her on the ice with Sir Eustace on the previous night, she +asked herself? Surely, surely not! + +Apparently he had, however; for his first words were admonitory. + +"Look here, young lady, you're making yourself conspicuous with that +three-volume-novel baronet: You don't want to be conspicuous, I suppose?" + +Her face burned crimson at the question. Then he had seen, or at least he +must know, something! She stood before him, too overwhelmed for speech. + +"You don't, eh?" he insisted, surveying her confusion with grim +relentlessness. + +"Of course not!" she whispered at last. + +He put a hand on her shoulder. "Very well then! Don't let there be any +more of it! You've been a good girl up till now but the last two days +seem to have turned your head. I shan't be able to give a good report to +your mother when we get home if this sort of thing goes on." + +Dinah's heart sank still lower. The thought of the return home had begun +to dog her like an evil dream. + +With a great effort she met the Colonel's stern gaze. "I am very sorry," +she faltered. "But--but Lady Grace did say I might go and see Mrs. +Everard--the invalid sister--yesterday." + +"I know she did. She thought you had been flirting with Sir Eustace long +enough." + +Dinah's sky began to clear a little. "Then you don't mind my going to see +her?" she said. + +"So long as you are not there too often," conceded the Colonel. "The +younger brother is a nice little chap. There is no danger of your getting +up to mischief with him." + +Dinah's face burned afresh at the suggestion. He evidently did not +actually know; but he suspected very strongly. Still it was a great +relief to know that all intercourse with these wonderful new friends of +hers was not to be barred. + +"There was some talk of a sleigh-drive this afternoon," she ventured, +after a moment. "Mr. Studley is taking his sister and she asked me to go +too. May I?" + +"You accepted, I suppose?" demanded the Colonel. + +"I said I thought I might," Dinah admitted. And then very suddenly she +caught a kindly gleam in his eyes, and summoned courage for entreaty. "Do +please--please--let me go!" she begged, clasping his arm. "I shan't ever +have any fun again when this is over." + +"How do you know that?" said the Colonel gruffly. "Yes, you can +go--you can go. But behave yourself soberly, there's a good girl. And +remember--no running after the other fellow to-night! I won't have it. +Is that understood?" + +Dinah, too rejoiced over this concession to trouble about future +prohibitions, gave cheerful acquiescence to the fiat. Perhaps she was +beginning to realize that she would see quite as much of Sir Eustace as +was at all advisable or even to be desired, without running after him. In +fact, so shy had the previous night's flight with him made her, that she +did not feel the slightest wish to encounter him again at present. To go +out sleigh-driving with Scott and his sister was all that she asked of +life that day. + +It was a glorious morning despite all prophecies of a coming change, and +she spent it joyously luging with Billy. Sir Eustace had gone ski-ing +with Captain Brent, and the only glimpse she had of him was a very far +one, so far that she knew him only by the magnificence of his physique as +he descended the mountain-side as one borne upon wings. + +She recalled the brief conversation that the brothers had held in her +hearing the night before, and marvelled at the memory of Scott's attitude +towards him. + +"He isn't a bit afraid of him," she reflected. "In fact he behaves +exactly as if he were the bigger of the two." + +This phenomenon puzzled her very considerably, for Scott was wholly +lacking in the pomposity that characterizes many little men. She wondered +what had been the subject of their discussion. It had been connected with +Isabel, she felt sure. She was glad to think that she had Scott to +protect her, for there was something of tyranny about the elder brother +from which she shrank instinctively, his magnetism notwithstanding, and +the thought of poor, tragic Isabel being coerced by it was intolerable. + +The memory of the latter's resolution to make the acquaintance of the de +Vignes recurred to her as she and Billy returned for luncheon. Would she +carry it out? She wondered. The look that Scott had flung at the old +nurse dwelt in her mind. It would evidently be an extraordinary move if +she did. + +They reached the hotel, Rose and another girl had just come up from the +rink together. A little knot of people were gathered on the verandah. +Dinah and Billy kept behind Rose and her companion; but in a moment Dinah +heard her name. + +The group parted, and she saw Isabel Everard, very tall and stately in a +deep purple coat, standing with Lady Grace de Vigne. + +Billy gave her a push. "Go on! They're calling you." + +And Dinah found the strange sad eyes upon her, alight with a smile of +welcome. She went forward impetuously, and in a moment Isabel's cold +hands were clasped upon her warm ones. + +"I have been waiting for you, dear child," the low voice said. "What have +you been doing?" + +Dinah suddenly felt as if she were standing in the presence of a +princess. Isabel in public bore herself with a haughtiness fully equal to +that displayed by Sir Eustace, and she knew that Lady Grace was impressed +by it. + +"I would have come back sooner if I had known," she said, closely holding +the long, slender fingers. + +"My dear, you are woefully untidy now you have come," murmured Lady +Grace. + +But Isabel gently freed one hand to put her arm about the girl. "To me +she is--just right," she said, and in her voice there sounded the music +of a great tenderness. "Youth is never tidy, Lady Grace; but there is +nothing in the world like it." + +Lady Grace's eyes went to her daughter whose faultless apparel and +perfection of line were in vivid contrast to Dinah's harum-scarum +appearance. + +"I do not altogether agree with you in that respect, Mrs. Everard," she +said, with a smile. "I think young girls should always aim at being +presentable. But I quite admit that it is more difficult for some than +for others. Dinah, my dear, Mrs. Everard has been kind enough to ask you +to lunch in her sitting-room with her, and to go for a sleigh-drive +afterward; so you had better run and get respectable as quickly as you +can." + +"Oh, how kind you are!" Dinah said, with earnest eyes uplifted. "You know +how I shall love to come, don't you?" + +"I thought you might, dear," Isabel said. "Scott is coming to keep us +company. He has arranged for a sleigh to be here in an hour. We are going +for a twelve-mile round, so we must not be late starting. It gets so cold +after sundown." + +"I had better go then, hadn't I?" said Dinah. + +"I am coming too," Isabel said. Her arm was still about her. It remained +so as she turned to go. "Good-bye, Lady Grace! I will take great care of +the child. Thank you for allowing her to come." + +She bowed with regal graciousness and moved away, taking Dinah with her. + +"Exit Purple Empress!" murmured a man in the background close to Rose. +"Who on earth is she? I haven't seen her anywhere before." + +Rose uttered her soft, artificial laugh. "She is Sir Eustace Studley's +sister. Rather peculiar, I believe, even eccentric. But I understand they +are of very good birth." + +"That covers a multitude of sins," he commented. "She's been a mighty +handsome woman in her day. She must be many years older than Sir Eustace. +She looks more like his mother than his sister." + +"I believe she is actually younger," Rose said. "They say she has never +recovered from the sudden death of her husband some years ago, but I know +nothing of the circumstances." + +"A very charming woman," said Lady Grace, joining them. "We have had +quite a long chat together. Yes, her manner is a little strange, slightly +abstracted, as if she were waiting for something or someone. But a very +easy companion on the whole. I think you will like her, Rose dear." + +"She's dead nuts on Dinah," observed Billy with a chuckle. "She don't +look at anyone else when she's got Dinah." + +Lady Grace smiled over his head and took no verbal notice of the remark. + +"They are a distinguished-looking family," she said. "Run and wash your +hands, Billy. Are you thinking of ski-ing this afternoon, Rose?" + +"You bet!" murmured Billy, under his breath. He too had seen the distant +figure of Sir Eustace on the mountain-side. + +"It depends," said Rose, non-committally. + +"Captain Brent and Sir Eustace have been on skis all the morning," said +her mother. "We must see what they say about it." + +Billy spun a coin into the air behind her back. "Heads Sir Eustace and +tails Captain Brent," he muttered to the man who had commented upon +Isabel's beauty. "Heads it is!" + +Lady Grace turned round with a touch of sharpness at the sound of his +companion's laugh. "Billy! Did I not tell you to go and wash your hands?" + +Billy's green eyes smiled impudent acknowledgment. "You did, Lady Grace. +And I'm going. Good-bye!" + +He pocketed the coin, winked at his friend, and departed whistling. + +"A very unmannerly little boy!" observed Lady Grace, with severity. +"Come, my dear Rose! We must go in." + +"I don't like either the one or the other," said Rose, with a very +unusual touch of petulance. "They are always in the way." + +"I fully agree with you," said Lady Grace acidly. "But it is for the +first and last time in their lives. I have already told the Colonel so. +He will never ask them to accompany us again." + +"Thank goodness for that!" said Rose, with restored amiability. "Of +course I am sorry for poor little Dinah; but there is a limit." + +"Which is very nearly reached," said Lady Grace. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MOUNTAIN CREST + + +That sleigh-drive was to Dinah the acme of delight, and for ever after +the jingle of horse-bells was to recall it to her mind. The sight of the +gay red trappings, the trot of the muffled hoofs, the easy motion of the +sleigh slipping over the white road, and above all, Isabel, clad in +purple and seated beside her, a figure of royal distinction, made a +picture in her mind that she was never to forget. She rode in a magic +chariot through wonderland. + +She longed to delay the precious moments as they flew, like a child +chasing butterflies in the sunshine; but they only seemed to fly the +faster. She chattered almost incessantly for the first few miles, and +occasionally Isabel smiled and answered her; but for the most part it was +Scott, seated opposite, who responded to her raptures,--Scott, +unfailingly attentive and courteous, but ever watchful of his sister's +face. + +She gazed straight ahead when she was not looking at anything to which +Dinah called her attention. Her eyes had the intense look of one who +watches perpetually for something just out of sight. + +Quiet but alert, he marked her attitude, marked also the emaciation which +was so painfully apparent in the strong sunshine and formed so piteous a +contrast to the vivid youth of the girl beside her. Presently Dinah came +out of her rhapsodies and observed his vigilance. She watched him +covertly for a time while she still chatted on. And she noted that there +were very weary lines about his eyes, lines of anxiety, lines of +sleeplessness, that filled her warm heart with quick sympathy and a +longing to help. + +The road was one of wild beauty. It wound up a desolate mountain pass +along which great black boulders were scattered haphazard like the mighty +toys of a giant. The glittering snow lay all around them, making their +nakedness the more apparent. And far, far above, the white crags shone +with a dazzling purity in the sunlit air. + +Below them the snow lay untrodden, exquisitely pure, piled here in great +drifts, falling away there in wonderful curves and hollows, but always +showing a surface perfect and undesecrated by any human touch. And ever +the sleigh ran smoothly on over the white road till it seemed to Dinah as +if they moved in a dream. She fell silent, charmed by the swift motion, +and by the splendour around her. + +"You are quite warm, I hope?" Scott said, after an interval. + +She was wrapped in a fur cloak belonging to Isabel. She smiled an +affirmative, but she saw him as through a veil. The mystery and the +wonder of creation filled her soul. + +"I feel," she said, "I feel as if we were being taken up into heaven." + +"Oh, that we were!" said Isabel, speaking suddenly with a force that had +in it something terrible. "Do you see those golden peaks, sweetheart? +That is where I would be. That is where the gates of Heaven open--where +the lost are found." + +Dinah's hand was clasped in hers under the fur rug, and she felt the thin +fingers close with a convulsive hold. + +Scott leaned forward. "Heaven is nearer to us than that, Isabel," he said +gently. + +She looked at him for a moment, but her eyes at once passed beyond. "No, +no, Stumpy! You never understand," she said restlessly. "I must reach the +mountain-tops or die. I am tired--I am tired of my prison. And I stifle +in the valley--I who have watched the sun rise and set from the very edge +of the world. Why did they take me away? If I had only waited a little +longer--a little longer--as he told me to wait!" Her voice suddenly +vibrated with a craving that was passionate. "He would have come with the +next sunrise. I always knew that the dawn would bring him back to me. +But"--dull despair took the place of longing--"they took me away, and the +sun has never shone since." + +"Isabel!" Scott's voice was very grave and quiet. "Miss Bathurst will +wonder what you mean. Don't forget her!" + +Dinah pressed close to her friend's side. "Oh, but I do understand!" she +said softly. "And, dear Mrs. Everard, I wish I could help you. But I +think Mr. Studley must be right. It is easier to get to heaven than to +climb those mountain-peaks. They are so very steep and far away." + +"So is Heaven, child," said Isabel, with a sigh of great weariness. + +As it were with reluctance, she again met the steady gaze of Scott's +eyes, and gradually her mood seemed to change. Her brief animation +dropped away from her; she became again passive, inert, save that she +still seemed to be watching. + +Scott broke the silence, kindly and practically. "We ought to reach the +_chalet_ at the head of the pass soon," he said. "You will be glad of +some tea." + +"Oh, are we going to stop for tea?" said Dinah. + +"That's the idea," said Scott. "And then back by another way. We ought to +get a good view of the sunset. I hope it won't be misty, but they say a +change is coming." + +"I hope it won't come yet," said Dinah fervently. "The last few days have +been so perfect. And there is so little time left." + +Scott smiled. "That is the worst of perfection," he said. "It never +lasts." + +Dinah's eyes were wistful. "It will go on being perfect here long after +we have left," she said. "Isn't it dreadful to think of all the good +things--all the beauty--one misses just because one isn't there?" + +"It would be if there were nothing else to think of," said Scott. "But +there is beauty everywhere--if we know how to look for it." + +She looked at him uncertainly. "I never knew what it meant before I came +here," she told him shyly. "There is no time for beautiful things in my +life. It's very, very drab and ugly. And I am very discontented. I have +never been anything else." + +Her voice quivered a little as she made the confession. Scott's eyes were +so kind, so full of friendly understanding. Isabel had dropped out of +their intercourse as completely as though her presence had been +withdrawn. She lay back against her cushions, but her eyes were still +watching, watching incessantly. + +"I think the very dullest life can be made beautiful," Scott said, after +a moment. "Even the desert sand is gold when the sun shines on it. The +trouble is,--" he laughed a little--"to get the sun to shine." + +Dinah leaned forward eagerly, confidentially. "Yes?" she questioned. + +He looked her suddenly straight in the eyes. "There is a great store of +sunshine in you," he said. "One can't come near you without feeling it. +Isabel will tell you the same. Do you keep it only for the Alps? If +so,--" he paused. + +Dinah's face flushed suddenly under his look. "If so?" she asked, under +her breath. + +He smiled. "Well, it seems a pity, that's all," he said. "Rather a waste +too when you come to think of it." + +Dinah's eyes caught the reflection of his smile. "I shall remember that, +Mr. Greatheart," she said. + +"Forgive me for preaching!" said Scott. + +She put out a hand to him quickly, spontaneously. "You don't preach--and +it does me good," she said somewhat incoherently. "Please--always--say +what you like to me!" + +"At risk of hurting you?" said Scott. He held the small, impulsive hand a +moment and let it go. + +"You could never hurt me," Dinah answered. "You are far too kind." + +"I think the kindness is on your side," he answered gravely. "Most people +of my acquaintance would think me a bore--if nothing worse." + +"Most people have never really met you, Stumpy," said Isabel +unexpectedly. "Dinah is one of the privileged few, and I am glad she +appreciates it." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott, flushing a deep red. "Spare me, Isabel!" + +Dinah broke into her gay, infectious laugh. "Please--please don't be +upset about it! I'm glad I'm one of the few. I've felt you were a prince +in disguise all along." + +"Very much in disguise!" protested Scott. "Remove that, and there would +be nothing left." + +"Except a man," said Isabel, "You can't get away, Stumpy. You're caught." + +A fleeting smile crossed her face like a gleam of light and was gone. She +turned her look upon Dinah, and became silent again. + +Scott, much disconcerted, hunted in every pocket for his cigarette-case. +"You don't mind my smoking, I hope?" he murmured. + +"I like it," said Dinah. "Let me help you light up!" + +She made a screen with her hands, and guarded the flame from the draught. + +He thanked her courteously, recovering his composure with a smile that +was not without self-ridicule, and in a moment they were talking again +upon impersonal matters. But the episode, slight though it was, dwelt in +Dinah's mind thereafter with an odd persistence. She felt as if Isabel +had given her a flashlight glimpse of something which otherwise she would +scarcely have realized. In that single fleeting moment of revelation she +had seen that which no vision of knight in shining armour could have +surpassed. + +They reached the _chalet_ at the top of the pass, and descended for tea. +The windows looked right down the snow-clad valley up which they had +come. The sun had begun to sink, and the greater part of it lay in +shadow. + +Far away, rising out of the shadows, all golden amid floating mists, was +a mighty mountain crest, higher than all around. The sun-rays lighted up +its wondrous peaks. The glory of it was unearthly, almost more than the +eye could bear. + +Dinah stood on the little wooden verandah of the _chalet_ and gazed and +gazed till the splendour nearly blinded her. + +"Still watching the Delectable Mountains?" said Scott's voice at her +shoulder. + +She made a little gesture in response. She could not take her eyes off +the wonder. + +He came and stood beside her in mute sympathy while he finished his +cigarette. There was a certain depression in his attitude of which +presently she became aware. She summoned her resolution and turned +herself from the great vision that so drew her. + +He was leaning against a post of the verandah, and she read again in his +attitude the weariness that she had marked earlier in the afternoon. + +"Are you--troubled about your sister?" she asked him diffidently. + +He threw away the end of his cigarette and straightened himself. "Yes, I +am troubled," he said, in a low voice. "I am afraid it was a mistake to +bring her here." + +"I thought her looking better this morning," Dinah ventured. + +His grey eyes met hers. "Did you? I thought it a good sign that she +should make the effort to speak to strangers. But I am not certain now +that it has done her any good. We brought her here to wake her from her +lethargy. Eustace thought the air would work wonders, but--I am not sure. +It is certainly waking her up. But--to what?" + +His eyelids drooped heavily, and he passed his hand across his forehead +with a gesture that went to her heart. + +"It's rather soon to judge, isn't it?" she said. + +"Yes," he admitted. "But there is a change in her; there is an +undoubted change. She gets hardly any rest, and the usual draught at +night scarcely takes effect. Of course the place is noisy. That may have +something to do with it. My brother is very anxious to put a stop to the +sleeping-draught altogether. But I can't agree to that. She has never +slept naturally since her loss--never slept and never wept. Biddy--the +old nurse--declares if she could only cry, all would come right. But I +don't know--I don't know." + +He uttered a deep sigh, and leaned once more upon the balustrade. + +Dinah came close to him, her sweet face full of concern. "Mr. Studley," +she murmured, "you--you don't think I do her any harm, do you?" + +"You!" He gave a start and looked at her with that in his eyes that +reassured her in a moment. "My dear child, no! You are a perfect godsend +to her--and to me also, if you don't mind my saying so. No--no! The +mischief that I fear will probably develop after you have gone. As long +as you are here, I am not afraid for her. Yours is just the sort of +influence that she needs." + +"Oh, thank you!" Dinah said gratefully. "I was afraid just for a moment, +because I know I have been silly and flighty. I try to be sober when I am +with her, but--" + +"Don't try to be anything but yourself, Miss Bathurst!" he said. "I have +confided in you just because you are yourself; and I wouldn't have you +any different for the world. You help her just by being yourself." + +Dinah laughed while she shook her head. "I wish I were as nice as you +seem to think I am." + +He laughed also. "Perhaps you have never realized how nice you really +are," he returned with a simplicity equal to her own. "Ah! Here comes +Isabel! I expect she is ready. We had better go in." + +They met her as they turned inwards. The reflection of the sunset glory +was in her face recalling some of its faded beauty. She took Dinah's arm, +looking at her with a strangely wistful smile. + +"I want you now, sweetheart," she said. "Scott can have his +turn--afterwards." + +"I want you too," said Dinah instantly, squeezing her hand very closely. +"Come and look at the mountains! They are so glorious now that the sun is +setting." + +They turned back for a few moments and Isabel's eyes went to that far and +wonderful mountain crest. The gold was turning to rose. The glory +deepened even as they watched. + +"The peaks of Paradise," breathed Dinah softly. + +Isabel was silent for a space, her eyes fixed and yearning. Then at +length in a low voice that thrilled with an emotion beyond words she +spoke. + +"I know now where to look. That is where he is waiting for me. That is +where I shall find him." + +And then swiftly she turned, aware of her brother close behind her. + +He looked at her with eyes of deep compassion. "Some day, Isabel!" he +said gently. + +She made a swift gesture as of one who brushes aside every hindrance. +"Soon!" she said. "Very soon!" + +Scott's eyes met Dinah's for a single instant, and she thought they held +suffering as well as weariness. But they fell immediately. He stood back +in silence for them to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE SECOND DRAUGHT + + +They returned to the hotel by a circuitous route that brought them by a +mountain-road into the village just below the hotel. The moon was rising +as they ascended the final slope. The chill of mist was in the air. + +Sir Eustace was waiting for them in the porch. He helped his sister to +alight, but she went by him at once with a rapt look as though she had +not seen him. She had sat in almost unbroken silence throughout the +homeward drive. + +Dinah would have followed her in, but Sir Eustace held her back a moment. +"There is to be a dance to-night," he murmured in her ear. "May I count +on you?" + +She looked at him, the ecstasy of the mountains still shining in her +starry eyes. "Yes--yes! If I am allowed!" And then, with a sudden memory +of her promise to the Colonel, "But I don't suppose I shall be. And I +haven't anything to wear except my fancy dress." + +"What of that?" he said lightly. "Call the fairies in to help!" + +She laughed, and ran in. + +Not for a moment did she suppose that she would be allowed to dance that +night; but it seemed that luck was with her, for the first person she met +was the Colonel, and he was looking so particularly well pleased with +himself and affairs in general that she stopped to tell him of her drive. + +"It's been so perfect," she said. "I have enjoyed it! Thank you ever so +many times for letting me go!" + +Her flushed and happy face was very fair to see, and the Colonel smiled +upon her with fatherly kindness. He could not help liking the child. She +was such a taking imp! + +"Glad you've had a good time," he said. "I hope you thanked your friends +for taking you." + +"I should think I did!" laughed Dinah; and then seeing that his +expression was so benignant she slipped an ingratiating hand through his +arm. "Colonel, please--please--may I dance to-night?" + +"What?" He looked at her searchingly, with a somewhat laboured attempt to +be severe. "Now--now--who do you want to dance with?" + +"Anyone or no one," said Dinah boldly. "I feel happy enough to dance by +myself." + +"That means you're in a mischievous mood," said the Colonel. + +"It's only a Cinderella affair," pleaded Dinah. "To-morrow's Sunday, you +know. There'll be no dancing to-morrow." + +"And a good thing too," he commented. "A pity Sunday doesn't come +oftener! What will Lady Grace say I wonder?" + +"But Rose is sure to dance," urged Dinah. + +"I'm not so sure of that, Sir Eustace Studley has been teaching her to +ski all the afternoon, and if she isn't tired, she ought to be." + +"Oh, lucky Rose!" Dinah knew an instant's envy. "But I expect she'll +dance all the same. And--and--I may dance with him--just once, mayn't I? +There couldn't be any harm in just one dance. No one would notice that, +would they?" + +She pressed close to the Colonel with her petition, and he found it hard +to refuse. She made it with so childlike an earnestness, and--all his +pomposity notwithstanding--he had a soft heart for children. + +"There, be off with you!" he said. "Yes, you may give him one dance if he +asks for it. But only one, mind! That's a bargain, is it?" + +Dinah beamed radiant acquiescence. "I'll save all the rest for you. +You're a dear to let me, and I'll be ever so good. Good-bye!" + +She went, flitting like a butterfly up the stairs, and the Colonel smiled +in spite of himself as he watched her go. "Little witch!" he muttered. "I +wonder what your mother would say to you if she knew." + +Dinah raced breathless to her room, and began a fevered toilet. It was +true that she possessed nothing suitable for ballroom wear; but then the +dance was to be quite informal, and she was too happy to fret herself +over that fact. She put on the white muslin frock which she had worn for +dinner ever since she had been with the de Vignes. It gave her a +fairylike daintiness that had a charm of its own of which she was utterly +unconscious. Perhaps fortunately, she had no time to think of her +appearance. When she descended again, her eyes were still shining with a +happiness so obvious that Billy, meeting her, exclaimed, "What have you +got to be so cheerful about?" + +She proceeded to tell him of the glorious afternoon she had spent, and +was still in the midst of her description when Sir Eustace came up and +joined them. + +"I thought you would manage it," he said, with smiling assurance. "And +now how many may I have? All the waltzes?" + +Dinah's laugh rang so gaily that several heads were turned in her +direction, and she smothered it in alarm. + +"I can only give you one," she said, with a great effort at sobriety. + +"What? Oh, nonsense!" he protested, his blue eyes dominating hers. "You +couldn't be so shabby as that!" + +Dinah's chin pointed merrily upwards. The situation had its humour. It +was certainly rather amusing to elude him. She knew he had caught her far +too easily the night before. + +"It's all I have to offer," she declared. + +"Meaning you're not going to dance more than one dance?" he asked. + +She opened her laughing eyes wide. "Why should it mean that? You're not +the only man in the room, are you?" + +Sir Eustace's jaw set itself suddenly after a fashion that made him +look formidable, albeit he laughed back at her with his eyes. "All +right--Daphne," he murmured. "I'll have the first." + +Dinah's heart gave a little throb of apprehension, but she quieted it +impatiently. What had she to fear? She nodded and lightly turned away. + +All through dinner she alternately dreaded and longed for the moment of +his coming to claim that dance from her. That haughty confidence of his +had struck a curious chord in her soul, and the suspense was almost +unbearable. + +She noticed that Rose was very serene and smiling, and she regarded her +complacency with growing resentment. Rose could dance as often as she +liked with him, and no one would find fault. Rose had had him all to +herself throughout the afternoon moreover. She knew very well that had +the ski-ing lesson been offered to her, she would not have been allowed +to avail herself of it. + +A wicked little spirit awoke within her. Why should she always be kept +thus in the background? Surely her right to the joys of life was as great +as--if not greater than--Rose's! With her it would all end so soon, while +Rose had the whole of her youth before her like a pleasant garden in +which she might wander or rest at will. + +Dinah began to feel feverish. It seemed so imperative that she should +miss nothing good during this brief, brief time of happiness vouchsafed +her by the gods. + +Her frame of mind when she entered the ballroom was curious. Mutiny and +doubt, longing and dread, warred strangely together. But the moment he +came to her, the moment she felt his arm about her, rapture came and +drove out all beside. She drank again of the wine of the gods, drank +deeply, giving herself up to it without reservation, too eager to catch +every drop thereof to trouble as to what might follow. + +He caught her mood. Possibly it was but the complement of his own. Freely +he interpreted it, feeling her body throb in swift accord to every +motion, aware of the almost passionate surrender of her whole being to +the delight of that one magic dance. She was reckless, and he was +determined. If this were to be all, he would take his fill at once, and +she should have hers. Before the dance was more than half through, he +guided her out of the labyrinth into the darkly curtained recess that led +out to the verandah, and there holding her, before she so much as +realized that they had ceased to dance, he gathered her suddenly and +fiercely to him and covered her startled, quivering face with kisses. + +She made no outcry, attempted no resistance. He had been too sudden for +that. His mastery was too absolute. Holding her fast in the gloom, he +took what he would, till with a little sob her arms clasped his neck and +she clung to him, giving herself wholly up to him. + +But when his hold relaxed at last, she hid her face panting against his +breast. He smoothed the dark hair with a possessive touch, laughing +softly at her agitation. + +"Did you think you could get away from me, you brown elf?" he whispered. + +"I--I could if I tried," she whispered back. + +His hold tightened again. "Try!" he said. + +She shook her head without lifting it. "No," she murmured, +with a shy laugh. "I don't want to. Shan't we go back--and +dance--before--before--" She broke off in confusion. + +"Before what?" he said. + +She made a motion to turn her face upwards, but, finding his still close, +buried it a little deeper. "I--promised the Colonel--I'd be good," she +faltered into his shoulder. "I think I ought to begin--soon; don't you?" + +"Is that why I am to have only this one dance?" he asked. + +"Yes," she admitted. + +His caressing hand found and lightly pressed her cheek. "What are you +going to do when it's over?" he asked. + +"I don't know," she said. "There's Billy. I may dance with him." + +He laughed. "That's an exciting programme. Shall I tell you what I should +do--if I were in your place?" + +"What?" said Dinah. + +Again she raised her face a few inches and again, catching a glimpse of +the compelling blue eyes, plunged it deeply into his coat. + +He laughed again softly, with a hint of mockery. "I should have one dance +with Billy, and one with the omnipotent Colonel. And then I should be +tired and say good night." + +"But I shan't be a bit tired," protested Dinah, faintly indignant. + +"Of course not," laughed Sir Eustace. "You will be just ripe for a little +fun. There's quite a cosy sitting-out place at the end of our corridor. I +should go to bed _via_ that route." + +"Oh!" said Dinah, with a gasp. + +She lifted her head in astonishment, and met the eyes that so thrilled +her. "But--but that would be wrong!" she said. + +"I've done naughtier things than that, my virtuous sprite," he said. + +But Dinah did not laugh. Very suddenly quite unbidden there flashed +across her the memory of Scott's look the night before and her own +overwhelming confusion beneath it. What would her friend Mr. Greatheart +say to such a proposal? What would he say could he see her now? The hot +blood rushed to her face at the bare thought. She drew herself away from +him. Her rapture was gone; she was burningly ashamed. The Colonel's +majestic displeasure was as nothing in comparison with Scott's wordless +disapproval. + +"Oh, I couldn't do that," she said. "I--couldn't. I ought not to be here +with you now." + +"My fault," he said easily. "I brought you here before you knew where you +were. If you go to confession, you can mention that as an extenuating +circumstance." + +"Oh, don't!" said Dinah, inexplicably stung by his manner. "It--it isn't +nice of you to talk like that." + +He put out his hand and touched her arm lightly, persuasively. "Then you +are angry with me?" he said. + +Her resentment melted. She threw him a fleeting smile. "No--no! But how +could you imagine I could tell anyone? You didn't seriously--you +couldn't!" + +"There isn't much to tell, is there?" he said, his fingers closing gently +over the soft roundness of her arm. "And you don't like that plan of +mine?" + +"I didn't say I didn't like it," said Dinah, her eyes lowered. +"But--but--I can't do it, that's all. I'm going now. Good-bye!" + +She turned to go, but his fingers still held. He drew a step nearer. + +"Daphne, remember--you are not to run away!" + +A transient dimple showed at the corner of Dinah's mouth. "You must let +me go then," she said. + +"And if I do--how will you reward me?" His voice was very deep; the tones +of it sent a sharp quiver through her. She felt unspeakably small and +helpless. + +She made a little gesture of appeal. "Please--please let me go! You know +you are much stronger than I am." + +He drew nearer, his face bent so low that his lips touched her shoulder +as she stood turned from him. "You don't know your strength yet," he +said. "But you soon will. Are you going away from me like this? Don't you +think you're rather hard on me?" + +It was a point of view that had not occurred to Dinah. Her warm heart had +a sudden twinge of self-reproach. She turned swiftly to him. + +"I didn't mean to be horrid. Please don't think that of me! I know I +often am. But not to you--never to you!" + +"Never?" he said. + +His face was close to her, and it wore a faint smile in which she +detected none of the arrogance of the conqueror. She put up a shy, +impulsive hand and touched his cheek. + +"Of course not--Apollo!" she whispered. + +He caught the hand and kissed it. She trembled as she felt the drawing of +his lips. + +"I--I must really go now," she told him hastily. + +He stood up to his full height, and again she quivered as she realized +how magnificent a man he was. + +"_A bientot_, Daphne!" he said, and let her go. + +She slipped away from his presence with the feeling of being caught in +the meshes of a great net from which she could never hope to escape. She +had drunk to-night yet deeper of the wine of the gods, and she knew +beyond all doubting that she would return for more. + +The memory of his kisses thrilled her all through the night. When she +dreamed she was back again in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE UNKNOWN FORCE + + +"Arrah thin, Miss Isabel darlint, and can't ye rest at all?" + +Old Biddy stooped over her charge, her parchment face a mass of wrinkles. +Isabel was lying in bed, but raised upon one elbow in the attitude of one +about to rise. She looked at the old woman with a queer, ironical smile +in her tragic eyes. + +"I am going up the mountain," she said. "It is moonlight, and I know the +way. I can rest when I get to the top." + +"Ah, be aisy, darlint!" urged the old woman. "It's much more likely he'll +come to ye if ye lie quiet." + +"No, he will not come to me." There was unalterable conviction in +Isabel's voice. "It is I who must go to him. If I had waited on the +mountain I should never have missed him. He is waiting for me there now." + +She flung off the bedclothes and rose, a gaunt, white figure from which +all the gracious lines of womanhood had long since departed. Her silvery +hair hung in two great plaits from her shoulders, wonderful hair that +shone in the shaded lamplight with a lustre that seemed luminous. + +"Will I have to fetch Master Scott to ye?" said Biddy, eyeing her +wistfully. "He's very tired, poor young man. There's two nights he's had +no sleep at all. Won't ye try and rest aisy for his sake, Miss Isabel +darlint? Ye can go up the mountain in the morning, and maybe that little +Miss Bathurst will like to go with ye. Do wait till the morning now!" she +wheedled, laying a wiry old hand upon her. "It's no Christian hour at all +for going about now." + +"Let me go!" said Isabel. + +Biddy's black eyes pleaded with a desperate earnestness. "If ye'd only +listen to reason, Miss Isabel!" she said. + +"How can I listen," Isabel answered, "when I can hear his voice in my +heart calling, calling, calling! Oh, let me go, Biddy! You don't +understand, or you couldn't seek to hold me back from him." + +"Mavourneen!" Biddy's eyes were full of tears; the hand she had laid upon +Isabel's arm trembled. "It isn't meself that's holding ye back. It's God. +He'll join the two of ye together in His own good time, but ye can't +hurry Him. Ye've got to bide His time." + +"I can't!" Isabel said. "I can't! You're all conspiring against me. I +know--I know! Give me my cloak, and I will go." + +Biddy heaved a great sigh, the tears were running down her cheeks, but +her face was quite resolute. "I'll have to call Master Scott after all," +she said. + +"No! No! I don't want Scott. I don't want anyone. I only want to be up +the mountain in time for the dawn. Oh, why are you all such fools? Why +can't you understand?" There was growing exasperation in Isabel's voice. + +Biddy's hand fell from her, and she turned to cross the room. + +Scott slept in the next room to them, and a portable electric bell which +they adjusted every night communicated therewith. Biddy moved slowly to +press the switch, but ere she reached it Isabel's voice stayed her. + +"Biddy, don't call Master Scott!" + +Biddy paused, looking back with eyes of faithful devotion. + +"Ah, Miss Isabel darlint, will ye rest aisy then? I dursn't give ye the +quieting stuff without Master Scott says so." + +"I don't want anything," Isabel said. "I only want my liberty. Why are +you all in league against me to keep me in just one place? Ah, listen to +that noise! How wild those people are! It is the same every night--every +night. Can they really be as happy as they sound?" + +A distant hubbub had arisen in the main corridor, the banging of doors +and laughter of careless voices. It was some time after one o'clock, and +the merry-markers were on their way to bed. + +"Never mind them!" said Biddy. "They're just a set of noisy children. Lie +down again, Miss Isabel! They'll soon settle, and then p'raps ye'll get +to sleep. It's not this way they'll be coming anyway." + +"Someone is coming this way," said Isabel, listening with sudden close +attention. + +She was right. The quiet tread of a man's feet came down the corridor +that led to their private suite. A man's hand knocked with imperious +insistence upon the door. + +"Sir Eustace!" said Biddy, in a dramatic whisper. "Will I tell him ye're +asleep, Miss Isabel? Quick now! Get back to bed!" + +But Isabel made no movement to comply. She only drew herself together +with the nervous contraction of one about to face a dreaded ordeal. + +Quietly the door opened. Biddy moved forward, her face puckered with +anxiety. She met Sir Eustace on the threshold. + +"Miss Isabel hasn't settled yet, Sir Eustace," she told him, her voice +cracked and tremulous. "But she'll not be wanting anybody to disturb her. +Will your honour say good night and go?" + +There was entreaty in the words. Her eyes besought him. Her old gnarled +hands gripped each other, trembling. + +But Sir Eustace looked over her head as though she were not there. His +gaze sought and found his sister; and a frown gathered on his clear-cut, +handsome face. + +"Not in bed yet?" he said, and closing the door moved forward, passing +Biddy by. + +Isabel stood and faced him, but she drew back a step as he reached her, +and a hunted look crept into her wide eyes. + +"You are late," she said. "I thought you had forgotten to say good +night." + +He was still in evening dress. It was evident that he had only just come +upstairs. "No, I didn't forget," he said. "And it seems I am not too late +for you. I shouldn't have disturbed you if you had been asleep." + +She smiled a quivering, piteous smile. "You knew I should not be asleep," +she said. + +He glanced towards the bed which Biddy was setting in order with tender +solicitude. "I expected to find you in bed nevertheless," he said. "What +made you get up again?" + +She shook her head in silence, standing before him like a child that +expects a merited rebuke. + +He put a hand on her shoulder that was authoritative rather than kind. +"Lie down again!" he said. "It is time you settled for the night." + +She threw him a quick, half-furtive look. "No--no!" she said hurriedly. +"I can't sleep. I don't want to sleep. I think I will get a book and +read." + +His hand pressed upon her. "Isabel!" he said quietly. "When I say a thing +I mean it." + +She made a quivering gesture of appeal. "I can't go to bed, Eustace. It +is like lying on thorns. Somehow I can't close my eyes to-night. They +feel red-hot." + +His hold did not relax. "My dear," he said, "you talk like a hysterical +child! Lie down at once, and don't be ridiculous!" + +She wavered perceptibly before his insistence. "If I do, Scott must give +me a draught. I can't do without it--indeed--indeed!" + +"You are going to do without it to-night," Eustace said, with cool +decision. "Scott is worn out and has gone to bed. I made him promise to +stay there unless he was rung for. And he will not be rung for to-night." + +Isabel made a sharp movement of dismay. "But--but--I always have the +draught sooner or later. I must have it. Eustace, I must! I can't do +without it! I never have done without it!" + +Eustace's face did not alter. It looked as if it were hewn in granite. +"You are going to make a beginning to-night," he said. "You have been +poisoned by that stuff long enough, and I am going to put a stop to it. +Now get into bed, and be reasonable! Biddy, you clear out and do the +same! You can leave the door ajar if you like. I'll call you if you are +wanted." + +He pointed to the half-open door that led into the small adjoining room +in which Biddy slept. The old woman stood and stared at him with +consternation in her beady eyes. + +"Is it meself that could do such a thing?" she protested. "I never leave +my young lady till she's asleep, Sir Eustace. I'd sooner come under the +curse of the Almighty." + +He raised his brows momentarily, but he kept his hand upon his sister. He +was steadily pressing her towards the bed. "If you don't do as you are +told, Biddy, you will be made," he observed. "I am here to-night for a +definite purpose, and I am not going to be thwarted by you. So you had +better take yourself out of my way. Now, Isabel, you know me, don't you? +You know it is useless to fight against me when my mind is made up. Be +sensible for once! It's for your own good. You can't have that draught. +You have got to manage without it." + +"Oh, I can't! I can't!" moaned Isabel. She was striving to resist his +hold, but her efforts were piteously weak. The force of his personality +plainly dominated her. "I shall lie awake all night--all night." + +"Very well," he said inexorably. "You must. Sleep will come sooner or +later, and then you can make up for it." + +"Oh, but you don't understand." Piteously she turned and clasped his arm +in desperate entreaty. "I shall lie awake in torture. I shall hear him +calling all night long. He is there beyond the mountains, wanting me. And +I can't get to him. It is agony--oh, it is agony--to lie and listen!" + +He took her between his hands, very firmly, very quietly. "Isabel, you +are talking nonsense--utter nonsense! And I refuse to listen to it. Get +into bed! Do you hear? Yes, I insist. I am capable of putting you there. +If you mean to behave like a child, I shall treat you as one. Now for the +last time, get into bed." + +"Sir Eustace!" pleaded Biddy in a hoarse whisper. "Don't force her, Sir +Eustace! Don't now! Don't!" + +He paid no attention to her. His eyes were fixed upon his sister's +death-white face, and her eyes, strained and glassy were upturned to his. + +He said no more. Isabel's breath came in short sobbing gasps. She +resisted him no longer. Under the steady pressure of his hands, her body +yielded. She seemed to wilt under the compulsion of his look. Slowly, +tremblingly, she crumpled in his hold, sinking downwards upon the bed. + +He bent over her, laying her back, taking the bedclothes from Biddy's +shaking hands and drawing them over her. + +Then over his shoulder briefly he addressed the old woman. "Turn out the +light, and go!" + +Biddy stood and gibbered. There was that in her mistress's numb +acquiescence that terrified her. "Sure, you'll kill her, Sir Eustace!" +she gasped. + +He made a compelling gesture. "You had better do as I say. If I want your +help--or advice--I'll let you know. Do as I say! Do you hear me, Biddy?" + +His voice fell suddenly and ominously to a note so deep that Biddy drew +back still further affrighted and began to whimper. + +Sir Eustace turned back to his sister, lying motionless on the pillow. +"Tell her to go, Isabel! I am going to stay with you myself. You don't +want her, do you?" + +"No," said Isabel. "I want Scott." + +"You can't have Scott to-night." There was absolute decision in his +voice. "It is essential that he should get a rest. He looked ready to +drop to-night." + +"Ah! You think me selfish!" she said, catching her breath. + +He sat down by her side. "No," he answered quietly. "But I think you have +not the least idea how much he spends himself upon you. If you had, you +would be shocked." + +She moved restlessly. "You don't understand," she said. "You never +understand. Eustace, I wish you would go away." + +"I will go in half an hour," he made calm rejoinder, "if you have not +moved during that time." + +"You know that is impossible;" she said. + +"Very well then. I shall remain." His jaw set itself in a fashion that +brought it into heavy prominence. + +"You will stay all night?" she questioned quickly. + +"If necessary," he answered. + +Biddy had turned the lamp very low. The faint radiance shone upon him as +he sat imparting a certain mysterious force to his dominant outline. He +looked as immovable as an image carved in stone. + +A great shiver went through Isabel. "You want to see me suffer," she +said. + +"You are wrong," he returned inflexibly. "But I would sooner see you +suffer than give yourself up to a habit which is destroying you by +inches. It is no kindness on Scott's part to let you do it." + +"Don't talk of Scott!" she said quickly. "No one--no one--will ever know +what he is to me--how he has helped me--while you--you have only looked +on!" + +Her voice quivered. She flung out a restless arm. Instantly, yet without +haste, he took and held her hand. His fingers pressed the fevered wrist. +He spoke after a moment while he quelled her instinctive effort to free +herself. "I am not merely looking on to-night. I am here to help you--if +you will accept my help." + +"You are here to torture me!" she flung back fiercely. "You are here to +force me down into hell, and lock the gates upon me!" + +His hold tightened upon her. He leaned slightly towards her. "I am here +to conquer you," he said, "if you will not conquer yourself." + +The sudden sternness of his speech, the compulsion of his look, took +swift effect upon her. She cowered away from him. + +"You are cruel!" she whispered. "You always were cruel at heart--even in +the days when you loved me." + +Sir Eustace's lips became a single, hard line. His whole strength was +bent to the task of subduing her, and he meant it to be as brief a +struggle as possible. + +He said nothing whatever therefore, and so passed his only opportunity of +winning the conflict by any means save naked force. + +To Isabel in her torment that night was the culmination of sorrows. For +years this brother who had once been all the world to her had held aloof, +never seeking to pass the barrier which her widowed love had raised +between them. He had threatened many times to take the step which now at +last he had taken; but always Scott had intervened, shielding her from +the harshness which such a step inevitably involved. And by love he had +never sought to prevail. Her mental weakness seemed to have made +tenderness from him an impossibility. He could not bear with her. It was +as though he resented in her the likeness to one beloved whom he mourned +as dead. + +Possibly he had never wholly forgiven her marriage--that disastrous +marriage that had broken her life. Possibly her clouded brain was to him +a source of suffering which drove him to hardness. He had ever been +impatient of weakness, and what he deemed hysteria was wholly beyond his +endurance; and the spectacle of the one being who had been so much to him +crushed beneath a sorrow the very existence of which he resented was one +which he had never been able to contemplate with either pity or +tolerance. As he had said, he would rather see her suffering than a +passive slave to that sorrow and all that it entailed. + +So during the dreadful hours that followed he held her to her inferno, +convinced beyond all persuasion---with the stubborn conviction of an iron +will--that by so doing he was acting for her welfare, even in a sense +working out her salvation. + +He relied upon the force of his personality to accomplish the end he had +in view. If he could break the fatal rule of things for one night only, +he believed that he would have achieved the hardest part. But the process +was long and agonizing. Only by the sternest effort of will could he keep +up the pressure which he knew he must not relax for a single moment if he +meant to attain the victory he desired. + +There came a time when Isabel's powers of endurance were lost in the +abyss of mental suffering into which she was flung, and she struggled +like a mad creature for freedom. He held her in his arms, feeling her +strength wane with every paroxysm, till at last she lay exhausted, only +feebly entreating him for the respite he would not grant. + +But even when the bitter conflict was over, when she was utterly +conquered at last, and he laid her down, too weak for further effort, he +did not gather the fruits of victory. For her eyes remained wide and +glassy, dry and sleepless with the fever that throbbed ceaselessly in the +poor tortured brain behind. + +She was passive from exhaustion only, and though he closed the staring +eyes, yet they opened again with tense wakefulness the moment he took his +hand from the burning brow. + +The night was far advanced when Biddy, creeping softly came to her +mistress's side in the belief that she slept at last. She had not dared +to come before, had not dared to interfere though she had listened with a +wrung heart to the long and futile battle; for Sir Eustace's wrath was +very terrible, too terrible a thing to incur with impunity. + +But the moment she looked upon Isabel's face, her courage came upon a +flood of indignation that carried all before it. + +"Faith, I believe you've killed her!" she uttered in a sibilant whisper +across the bed. "Is it yourself that has no heart at all?" + +He looked back to her, dominant still, though the prolonged struggle had +left its mark upon him also. His face was pale and set. + +"This is only a phase," he said quietly. "She will fall asleep presently. +You can get her a cup of tea if you can do it without making a fuss." + +Biddy turned from the bed. That glimpse of Isabel's face had been enough. +She had no further thought of consequences. She moved across the room to +set about her task, and in doing so she paused momentarily and pressed +the bell that communicated with Scott's room. + +Sir Eustace did not note the action. Perhaps the long strain had weakened +his vigilance somewhat. He sat in massive obduracy, relentlessly watching +his sister's worn white face. + +Two minutes later the door opened, and a shadowy figure slipped into the +room. + +He looked up then, looked up sharply. "You!" he said, with curt +displeasure. + +Scott came straight to him, and leaned over his sister for a moment with +a hand on his shoulder. She did not stir, or seem aware of his presence. +Her eyes gazed straight upwards with a painful, immovable stare. + +Scott stood up again. His hand was still upon Eustace. He looked him in +the eyes. "You go to bed, my dear chap!" he said. "I've had my rest." + +Eustace jerked back his head with a movement of exasperation. "You +promised to stay in your room unless you were rung for," he said. + +Scott's brows went up for a second; then, "For the night, yes!" he said. +"But the night is over. It is nearly six. I shan't sleep again. You go +and get what sleep you can." + +Eustace's jaw looked stubborn. "If you will give me your word of honour +not to drug her, I'll go," he said. "Not otherwise." + +Scott's hand pressed his shoulder. "You must leave her in my care now," +he said. "I am not going to promise anything more." + +"Then I remain," said Eustace grimly. + +A muffled sob came from Biddy. She was weeping over her tea-kettle. + +Scott took his brother by the shoulders as he sat. "Go like a good +fellow," he urged. "You will do harm if you stay." + +But Eustace resisted him. "I am here for a definite purpose," he said, +"and I have no intention of relinquishing it. She has come through so far +without it, I am not going to give in at this stage." + +"And you think your treatment has done her good?" said Scott, with a +glance at the drawn, motionless face on the pillow. + +"Ultimate good is what I am aiming at," his brother returned stubbornly. + +Scott's hold became a grip. He leaned suddenly down and spoke in a +whisper. "If I had known you were up to this, I'm damned if I'd have +stayed away!" he said tensely. + +"Stumpy!" Eustace opened his eyes in amazement. Strong language from +Scott was so unusual as to be almost outside his experience. + +"I mean it!" Scott's words vibrated. "You've done a hellish thing! Clear +out now, and leave me to help her in my own way! Before God, I believe +she'll die if you don't! Do you want her to die?" + +The question fell with a force that was passionate. There was violence in +the grip of his hands. His light eyes were ablaze. His whole meagre body +quivered as though galvanized by some vital, electric current more potent +than it could bear. + +And very curiously Sir Eustace was moved by the unknown force. It struck +him unawares. Stumpy in this mood was a complete stranger to him, a being +possessed by gods or devils, he knew not which; but in any case a being +that compelled respect. + +He got up and stood looking down at him speculatively, too astonished to +be angry. + +Scott faced him with clenched hands. He was white as death. "Go!" he +reiterated. "Go! There's no room for you in here. Get out!" + +His lips twisted over the words, and for an instant his teeth showed with +a savage gleam. He was trembling from head to foot. + +It was no moment for controversy. Sir Eustace recognized the fact just as +surely as he realized that his brother had completely parted with his +self-control. He had the look of a furious animal prepared to spring at +his throat. + +Greek had met Greek indeed, but upon ground that was wholly unsuitable +for a tug of war. With a shrug he yielded. + +"I don't know you, Stumpy," he said briefly. "You've got beyond yourself. +I advise you to pull up before we meet again. I also advise you to bear +in mind that to administer that draught is to undo all that I have spent +the whole night to accomplish." + +Scott stood back for him to pass, but the quivering fury of the man +seemed to emanate from him like the scorching draught from a blast +furnace. As Eustace said, he had got beyond himself,--so far beyond that +he was scarcely recognizable. + +"Your advice be damned!" he flung back under his breath with a +concentrated bitterness that was terrible. "I shall follow my own +judgment." + +Sir Eustace's mouth curled superciliously. He was angry too, though by no +means so angry as Scott. "Better look where you go all the same," he +observed, and passed him by, not without dignity and a secret sense of +relief. + +The long and fruitless vigil of the night had taught him one thing at +least. Rome was not built in a day. He would not attempt the feat a +second time, though neither would he rest till he had gained his end. + +As for Scott, he would have a reckoning with him presently--a strictly +private reckoning which should demonstrate once and for all who was +master. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE ESCAPE OF THE PRISONER + + +Dinah spent her Sunday afternoon seated in a far corner of the verandah, +inditing a very laboured epistle to her mother--a very different affair +from the gay little missives she scribbled to her father every other day. + +The letter to her mother was a duty which must of necessity be +accomplished, and perhaps in consequence she found it peculiarly +distasteful. She never knew what to say, being uncomfortably aware that a +detailed account of her doings would only give rise to drastic comment. +The glories of the mountains were wholly beyond her powers of description +when she knew that any extravagance of language would be at once termed +high-flown and ridiculous. The sleigh-drive of the day before was +disposed of in one sentence, and the dance of the evening could not be +mentioned at all. The memory of it was like a flame in her inner +consciousness. Her cheeks still burned at the thought, and her heart +leapt with a wild longing. When would he kiss her again, she wondered? +Ah, when, when? + +There was another thought at the back of her wonder which she felt to be +presumptuous, but which nevertheless could not be kept completely in +abeyance. He had said that there would be no consequences; but--had he +really meant it? Was it possible ever to awake wholly from so perfect a +dream? Was it not rather the great reality of things to which she had +suddenly come, and all her past life a mere background of shadows? How +could she ever go back into that dimness now that she felt the glorious +rays of this new radiance upon her? And he also--was it possible that he +could ever forget? Surely it had ceased to be just a game to either of +them! Surely, surely, the wonder and the rapture had caught him also into +the magic web--the golden maze of Romance! + +She leaned her head on her hand and gave herself up to the great +enchantment, feeling again his kisses upon lips and eyes and brow, and +the thrilling irresistibility of his hold. Ah, this was life indeed! Ah, +this was life! + +A soft footfall near her made her look up sharply, and she saw Rose de +Vigne approaching. Rose was looking even more beautiful than usual, yet +for the first time Dinah contemplated her without any under-current of +envy. She moved slightly to make room for her. + +"I haven't come to stay," Rose announced with her quiet, well-satisfied +smile, as she drew near. "I have promised to sing at to-night's concert +and the padre wants to look through my songs. Well, Dinah, my dear, how +are you getting on? Is that a letter to your mother?" + +Dinah suppressed a sigh. "Yes. I've only just begun it. I don't know in +the least what to say." + +Rose lifted her pretty brows. "What about your new friend Sir Eustace +Studley's sister? Wouldn't she be interested to hear of her? Poor soul, +it's lamentably sad to think that she should be mentally deranged. Some +unfortunate strain in the family, I should say, to judge by the younger +brother's appearance also." + +Dinah's green eyes gleamed a little. "I don't see anything very unusual +about him," she remarked. "There are plenty of little men in the world." + +"And crippled?" smiled Rose. + +"I shouldn't call him a cripple," rejoined Dinah quickly. "He is quite +active." + +"Many cripples are, dear," Rose pointed out. "He has learnt to get the +better of his infirmity, but nothing can alter the fact that the +infirmity exists. I call him a most peculiar little person to look at. Of +course I don't deny that he may be very nice in other ways." + +Dinah bit her lip and was silent. To hear Scott described as nice was to +her mind less endurable than to hear him called peculiar. But somehow she +could not bring herself to discuss him, so she choked down her +indignation and said nothing. + +Rose seated herself beside her. "I call Sir Eustace a very interesting +man," she observed. "He fully makes up for the deficiencies of his +brother and sister. He seems to be very kind-hearted too. Didn't I see +him helping you with your skating the other night?" + +Dinah's eyes shone again with a quick and ominous light. "He helped you +with your ski-ing too, didn't he?" she said. + +"He did, dear. I had a most enjoyable afternoon." Rose smiled again as +over some private reminiscence. "He told me he thought you were coming +on, in fact he seems to think that you have the makings of quite a good +skater. It's a pity your opportunities are so limited, dear." Rose paused +to utter a soft laugh. + +"I don't see anything funny in that," remarked Dinah. + +"No, no! Of course not. I was only smiling at the way in which he +referred to you. 'That little brown cousin of yours' he said, 'makes me +think of a water-vole, there one minute and gone the next.' He seemed to +think you a rather amusing child, as of course you are." Rose put up a +delicate hand and playfully caressed the glowing cheek nearest to her. "I +told him you were not any relation, but just a dear little friend of mine +who had never seen anything of the world before. And he laughed and said, +'That is why she looks like a chocolate baby out of an Easter egg.'" + +"Anything else?" said Dinah, repressing an urgent desire to shiver at the +kindly touch. + +"No, I don't think so. We had more important matters to think of and talk +about. He is a man who has travelled a good deal, and we found that we +had quite a lot in common, having visited the same places and regarded +many things from practically the same point of view. He took the trouble +to be very entertaining," said Rose, with a pretty blush. "And his +trouble was not misspent. I am convinced that he enjoyed the afternoon +even more than I did. We also enjoyed the evening," she added. "He is an +excellent dancer. We suited each other perfectly." + +"Did you find him good at sitting out?" asked Dinah unexpectedly. + +Rose looked at her enquiringly, but her eyes were fixed upon the distant +mist-capped mountains. There was nothing in her aspect to indicate what +had prompted the question. + +"What a funny thing to ask!" she said, with her soft laugh. "No; we +enjoyed dancing much too much to waste any time sitting out. He gave you +one dance, I believe?" + +"No," Dinah said briefly. "I gave him one." + +She turned from her contemplation of the mountains. An odd little smile +very different from Rose's smile of complacency hovered at the corners of +her mouth. She gave Rose a swift and comprehensive glance, then slipped +her pen into her writing-case and closed it. + +"I am afraid I have interrupted you," said Rose. + +"Oh no, it doesn't matter." Dinah's dimple showed for a second and was +gone. "I can't write any more now. There's something about this air that +makes me feel now and then that I must get up and jump. Does it affect +you that way?" + +"You funny little thing!" said Rose. "Why, no!" + +Dinah's chin pointed upwards. She looked for the moment almost +aggressively happy. But the next her look went beyond Rose, and she +started. Her expression altered, became suddenly tender and anxious. + +"There is Mrs. Everard!" she said softly. + +Rose looked round. "Ah! Captain Brent's Purple Empress!" she said. "How +haggard the poor soul looks!" + +As if drawn magnetically, Dinah moved along the verandah. + +Isabel was dressed in the long purple coat she had worn the previous day. +She had a cap of black fur on her head. She stood as if irresolute, +glancing up and down as though she searched for someone. There was an odd +furtiveness in her bearing that struck Dinah on the instant. It also +occurred to her as strange that though the restless eyes must have seen +her they did not seem to take her in. + +The fact deterred her for a second, but only for a second. Then swiftly +she went forward and joined her. + +"Are you looking for someone, dear Mrs. Everard?" + +Isabel's eyes glanced at her, and instantly looked beyond. "I am looking +for my husband," she said, her voice quick and low. "He does not seem to +be here. You have not seen him, I suppose? He is tall and fair with a +boyish smile, and eyes that look straight at you. He laughs a good deal. +He is always laughing. You couldn't fail to notice him. He is one whom +the gods love." + +Again her eyes roamed over Dinah, and again they passed her to scan the +mist-wreathed mountains. + +Dinah slipped a loving hand through her arm. "He is not here, dear," she +said. "Come and sit down for a little! The sun won't be gone yet. We can +watch it go." + +She tried to draw her gently along the verandah, but Isabel resisted. +"No--no! I am not going that way. I have to go up the mountains to meet +him. Don't keep me! Don't keep me!" + +Dinah threw an anxious look around. There was no one near them. Rose had +moved away to join a group just returned from the rink. The laughter and +gay voices rose on the still air in merry chorus. No one knew or cared of +the living tragedy so near. + +Pleadingly she turned to Isabel. "Darling Mrs. Everard, need you go now? +Wait till the morning! It is so late now. It will soon be dark." + +Isabel made a sharp gesture of impatience. "Be quiet, child! You don't +understand. Of course I must go now. I have escaped from them, and if I +wait I shall be taken again. It would kill me to be kept back now. I must +meet him in the dawn on the mountain-top. What was it you called it? The +peaks of Paradise! That is where I shall find him. But I must start at +once--at once." + +She threw another furtive look around, and stepped forth. Dinah's hand +closed upon her arm. "If you go, I am coming too," she said, with quick +resolution. "But won't you wait a moment--just a moment--while I run +and get some gloves?" + +Isabel made a swift effort to disengage herself. "No, child, no! I can't +wait. If you met Eustace, he would make you tell him where you were +going, and then he would follow and bring me back. No, I must go now--at +once. Yes, you may come too if you like. But you mustn't keep me back. I +must go quickly--quickly--before they find out. Everything depends on +that." + +There was no delaying her. Dinah cast another look towards the chattering +group, and gave up hope. She dared not leave her, for she had no idea of +the whereabouts of either of the brothers. And there was no time to make +a search. The only course open to her was to accompany her friend +whithersoever the fruitless quest should lead. She was convinced that +Isabel's physical powers of endurance were slight, and that when they +were exhausted she would be able to bring her back unresisting. + +Nevertheless, she was conscious of a little tremor at the heart as they +set forth. There was an air of desperation about her companion that it +was impossible to overlook. Isabel's manner towards her was so wholly +devoid of that caressing element that had always marked their intimacy +till that moment. Without being actually frightened, she was very uneasy. +It was evident that Isabel was beyond all persuasion that day. + +The sun was beginning to sink towards the western peaks as they turned up +the white track, casting long shadows across the snow. The pine-wood +through which the road wound was mysteriously dark. The rush of the +stream in the hollow had an eerie sound. It seemed to Dinah that the +ground they trod was bewitched. She almost expected to catch sight of +goblin-faces peering from behind the dark trunks. Now and then muffled in +the snow, she thought she heard the scamper of tiny feet. + +Isabel went up the steep track with a wonderful elasticity, looking +neither to right nor left. Her eyes were fixed perpetually forwards, with +the look in them of one who strains towards a goal. Her lips were parted, +and the eagerness of her face went to Dinah's heart. + +They came out above the pine-wood. They reached and passed the spot where +she and Scott had turned back on their first walk together. The snow +crunched crisply underfoot. The ascent was becoming more and more acute. + +Dinah was panting. Light as she was, with all the activity of youth in +her veins, she found it hard to keep up, for Isabel was pressing, +pressing hard. She went as one in whom the fear of pursuit was ever +present, paying no heed to her companion, seeming indeed to have almost +forgotten her presence. + +On and on, up and up, they went on their rapid pilgrimage. The winding of +the road had taken them out of sight of the hotel, and the whole world +seemed deserted. The sun-rays slanted ever more and more obliquely. The +valley behind them had fallen into shadow. + +Before them and very far above them towered the great pinnacles, clothed +in the everlasting snows, beginning to turn golden above their floating +wreaths of mist. Even where they were, trails like the ragged edges of a +cloud drifted by them, and the coldness of the air held a clammy quality. +The sparkling dryness of the atmosphere seemed to be dissolving into +these thin, veil-like vapours. The cold was more penetrating than Dinah +had ever before experienced. + +Now and then an icy draught came swirling down upon them, making her +shiver, though it was evident that Isabel was unaware of it. The harder +the way became, the more set upon her purpose did she seem to be. Dinah +marvelled at her strength and unvarying determination. There was about it +an element of the wild, not far removed from ferocity. Her uneasiness was +growing with every step, and something that was akin to fear began to +knock at her heart. The higher they mounted, the more those trails of +mist increased. Very soon now the sun would be gone. Already it had +ceased to warm that world of snow. And what would happen then? What if +the dusk came upon them while still they pressed on up that endless, +difficult track? + +Timidly she clasped Isabel's arm at last. "It will be getting dark soon," +she said. "Shouldn't we be going back?" + +For a moment Isabel's eyes swept round upon her, and she marvelled at +their intense and fiery brilliance. But instantly they sought the +mountain-tops again, all rose-lit in the opal glow of sunset. + +"You can go back, child," she said. "I must go on." + +"But it is getting so late," pleaded Dinah. "And look at the mist! If we +keep on much longer, we may be lost." + +Isabel quickened her pace. "I am not afraid," she said, and her voice +thrilled with a deep rapture. "He is waiting for me, there where the +mountains meet the sky. I shall find him in the dawn. I know that I shall +find him." + +"But, dear Mrs. Everard, we can't go on after dark," urged Dinah. "We +should be frozen long before morning. It is terribly cold already. And +poor Biddy will be so anxious about you." + +"Oh no!" Isabel spoke with supreme confidence. "Biddy will know where I +have gone. She was asleep when I left, poor old soul. She had had a bad +night." A sudden sharp shudder caught her. "All night I was struggling +against the bars of my cage. It was only when Biddy fell asleep that I +found the door was open. But you can go back, child," she added. "You had +better go back. Eustace won't want to follow me if he has you." + +But Dinah's hold instantly grew close and resolute. "I shall not leave +you," she said, with decision. + +Isabel made no further attempt to persuade her. She seemed to regard it +as a matter of trifling importance. Her one aim was to reach those +glowing peaks that glittered far above the floating mists like the +glories half-revealed of another world. + +It was nothing to her that the road by which they had come should be +blotted out. She had no thought for that, no desire or intention to +return. If an earthquake had rent away the ground behind them, she would +not have been dismayed. It was only the forward path, leading ever +upwards to the desired country, that held her mind, and the memory of a +voice that called far above the mountain height. + +The sun sank, the glory faded. The dark and the cold wrapped them round. +But still was she undaunted. "When the dawn comes, we shall be there," +she said. + +And Dinah heard her with a sinking heart. She had no thought of leaving +her, but she knew and faced the fact that in going on, she carried her +life in her hand. Yet she kept herself from despair. Surely by now the +brothers would have found out, and they would follow! Surely they would +follow! And Eustace--Eustace would thank her for what she had done. + +She strained her ears for their coming; but she heard nothing--nothing +but their own muffled footsteps on the snow. And ever the darkness +deepened, and the mist crept closer around them. + +She gathered all her courage to face the falling night. She was sure she +had done right to come and so she hoped God would take care of them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CUP OF BITTERNESS + + +It was growing late on that same evening that Scott came through the +hotel vestibule after a rehearsal of the concert which was to take place +that evening and at which he had undertaken to play the accompaniments. +He glanced about him as he came as though in search of someone, and +finally passed on to the smoking-room. His eye were heavy and his face +worn, but there was an air of resolution about him that gave purpose to +his movements. + +In the smoking-room several men were congregated, and in a corner of it +sat Sir Eustace, writing a letter. Scott came straight to him, and bent +over him a hand on the back of his chair. + +"Can I have a word with you?" he asked in a low voice. + +Sir Eustace did not look round or cease to write. "Presently," he said. + +Scott drew back and sat down near him. He did not smoke or take up a +paper. His attitude was one of quiet vigilance. + +Minutes passed. Sir Eustace continued his task exactly as if he were not +there. Now and then he paused to flick the ash from his cigarette, but he +did not turn his head. The dressing-gong boomed through the hotel, but he +paid no attention to it. One after another the men in the room got up and +sauntered away, but Scott remained motionless, awaiting his brother's +pleasure. + +Sir Eustace finished his letter, and pulled another sheet of paper +towards him. Scott made no sign of impatience. + +Sir Eustace began to write again, paused, wrote a few more words, then +suddenly turned in his chair. They were alone. + +"Oh, what the devil is it?" he said irritably. "I haven't any time to +waste over you. What do you want?" + +Scott stood up. "It's all right, old chap," he said gently. "I'm going. I +only came in to tell you I was sorry for all the beastly things I said to +you last night--this morning, rather. I lost my temper which was fairly +low of me, considering you had been up all night and I hadn't." + +He paused. Eustace was looking up at him from under frowning brows, his +blue eyes piercing and merciless. + +"It's all very fine, Stumpy," he said, after a moment. "Some people think +that an apology more than atones for the offence. I don't." + +"Neither do I," said Scott quietly. "But it's better than nothing, isn't +it?" His eyes met his brother's very steadily and openly. His attitude +was unflinching. + +"It depends," Eustace rejoined curtly. "It is if you mean it. If you +don't, it's not worth--that," with a snap of the fingers. + +"I do mean it," said Scott, flushing. + +"You do?" Eustace looked at him still more searchingly. + +"I always mean what I say," Scott returned with deliberation. + +"And you meant what you said this morning?" Eustace pounced without mercy +upon the weak spot. + +But the armour was proof. Scott remained steadfast. "I meant it--yes. But +I might have put it in a different form. I lost my temper. I am sorry." + +Eustace continued to regard him with a straight, unsparing scrutiny. "And +you consider that to be the sort of apology I can accept?" he asked, +after a moment. + +"I think you might accept it, old chap," Scott made pacific rejoinder. + +Eustace turned back to the table, and began to put his papers together. +"I might do many things," he observed, "which, not being a weak-kneed +fool, I don't. If you really wish to make your peace with me, you had +better do your best to make amends--to pull with me and not against me. +For I warn you, Stumpy, you went too far last night. And it is not the +first time." + +He paused, as if he expected a disclaimer. + +Scott waited a second or two; then with a very winning movement he bent +and laid his arm across his brother's shoulders. "Try and bear with me, +dear chap!" he said. + +His voice was not wholly steady. There was entreaty in his action. + +Eustace made a sharp gesture of surprise, but he did not repel him. There +fell a brief silence between them; then Scott's hand came gently down and +closed upon his brother's. + +"Life isn't so confoundedly easy at the best of times," he said, speaking +almost under his breath. "I'm generally philosopher enough to take it as +it comes. But just lately--" he broke off. "Let it be _pax,_ Eustace!" he +urged in a whisper. + +Eustace's hand remained for a moment or two stiffly unresponsive; then +very suddenly it closed and held. + +"What's the matter with you?" he said gruffly. + +"Oh, I'm a fool, that's all," Scott answered, and uttered a shaky laugh. +"Never mind! Forget it like a dear fellow! God knows I don't want to pull +against you; but, old chap, we must go slow." + +It was the conclusion that events had forced upon Eustace himself during +the night, but he chafed against acknowledging it. "There's no sense in +drifting on in the same old hopeless way for ever," he said. "We have got +to make a stand; and it's now or never." + +"I know. But we must have patience a bit longer. There is a change +coming. I am certain of it. But--last night has thrown her back." Scott +spoke with melancholy conviction. + +"You gave her the draught?" Eustace asked sharply. + +"I gave her a sedative only; but it took no effect. In the middle of the +morning she was still in the same unsatisfactory state, and I gave her a +second sedative. After that she fell asleep, but it was not a very easy +sleep for a long time. This afternoon I saw Biddy for a moment, and she +told me she seemed much more comfortable. The poor old thing looked tired +out, and I told her to get a rest herself. She said she would lie down in +the room. If it hadn't been for this concert business, I would have +relieved her. But they couldn't muster anyone to take my place. I am just +going up now to see how she is getting on." + +Scott straightened himself slowly, with a movement that was unconsciously +very weary. Eustace gave him a keen glance. + +"You're wearing yourself out over her, Stumpy," he said. + +"Oh, rot!" Scott smiled upon him, a light that was boyishly affectionate +in his eyes. "I'm much tougher than I look. Thanks for being decent to +me, old chap! I don't deserve it. If there are any more letters to be +written, bring them along, and I'll attend to them to-night after the +concert." + +"No. Not this lot. I shall attend to them myself." Eustace got up, and +passed a hand through his arm. "You are working too hard and sleeping too +little. I'm going to take you in hand and put a stop to it." + +Scott laughed. "No, no! Thanks all the same, I'm better left alone. Are +you coming to the show to-night? The beautiful Miss de Vigne is going to +sing." + +Eustace looked supercilious. "Is there anything that young lady can't do, +I wonder? Her accomplishments are legion. She told me yesterday that she +could play the guitar. She can also recite, play bridge, and take cricket +scores. She is a scratch golf-player, plays a good game of tennis, rides +to hounds, and visits the poor. And that is by no means a complete list. +I don't wonder that she gives the little brown girl indigestion. Her +perfection is almost nauseating at times." + +Scott laughed again. It was a relief to have diverted his brother's +attention from more personal subjects. "She ought to suit you rather +well," he observed. "You are something of the perfect knight yourself. I +heard a lady exclaim only yesterday when you started off together on that +ski-ing expedition, 'What a positively divine couple! Apollo and +Aphrodite!' I think it was the parson's wife. You couldn't expect her to +know much about heathen theology." + +"Don't make me sick if you don't mind!" said Sir Eustace. "Look here, my +friend! We shall be late if we don't go. You can't spend long with +Isabel, if you are to turn up in time for this precious concert. Hullo! +What's the matter?" + +The door of the smoking-room had burst suddenly open, and Colonel de +Vigne, very red in the face and as agitated as his pomposity would allow, +stood glaring at them. + +"So you are here!" he exclaimed, his tone an odd blend of relief and +anxiety. + +"Do you mean me?" said Sir Eustace, with a touch of haughtiness. + +"Yes, sir, you! I was looking for you," explained the Colonel, pulling +himself together. "I thought perhaps you might be able to give me some +idea as to the whereabouts of my young charge, Miss Bathurst. She is +missing." + +Sir Eustace raised his black brows. "What should I know about her +whereabouts?" he said. + +Scott broke in quickly. "I saw her in the verandah this afternoon with +your daughter." + +"I know. She was there." The Colonel spoke with brevity. "Rose left her +there talking to your sister. No one seems to have seen her since. I +thought she might have been with Sir Eustace. I see I was mistaken. I +apologize. But where the devil can she be?" + +Sir Eustace raised his shoulders. "She was certainly not talking to my +sister," he remarked. "She has kept her room to-day. Miss Bathurst is +probably in her own room dressing for dinner." + +"That's just where she isn't!" exploded the Colonel. "I missed her at +tea-time but thought she must be out. Now her brother tells me that he +has been all over the place and can't find her. I suppose she can't be +upstairs with your sister?" He turned to Scott. + +"I'll go and see," Scott said. "She may be--though I doubt it. My sister +was not so well, and so stayed in bed to-day." + +He moved towards the stairs with the words; but ere he reached them there +came the sound of a sudden commotion on the corridor above, and a wailing +voice made itself heard. + +"Miss Isabel! Miss Isabel! Wherever are you, mavourneen? Ah, what'll I do +at all? Miss Isabel's gone!" + +Old Biddy in her huge white apron and mob cap appeared at the top of the +staircase and came hobbling down with skinny hands extended. + +"Ah, Master Scott--Master Scott--may the saints help us! She's gone! +She's gone! And meself sleeping like a hog the whole afternoon through! +I'll never forgive meself, Master Scott,--never, never! Oh, what'll I do? +I pray the Almighty will take my life before any harm comes to her!" + +She reached Scott at the foot of the stairs and caught his hand +hysterically between her own. + +Sir Eustace strode forward, white to the lips. "Stop your clatter, woman, +and answer me! How did Miss Isabel get away? Is she dressed?" + +The old woman cowered back from the blazing wrath in his eyes. "Yes, your +honour! No, your honour! I mean--Yes, your honour!" she stammered, still +clinging pathetically to Scott. "I was asleep, ye see. I never knew--I +never knew!" + +"How long did you sleep?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +"And how am I to tell at all?" wailed Biddy. "It didn't seem like five +minutes, and I opened me eyes, and she was all quiet in the dark. And +I said to meself, 'I won't disturb the dear lamb,' and I crept into me +room and tidied meself, and made a cup o' tay. And still she kept so +quiet; so I drank me tay and did a bit of work. And then--just a minute +ago it was--I crept in and went to her thinking it was time she woke +up,--and--and--and she wasn't there, your honour. The bed was laid up, +and she was gone! Oh, what'll I do at all? What'll I do?" She burst into +wild sobs, and hid her face in her apron. + +Two or three people were standing about in the vestibule. They looked at +the agitated group with interest, and in a moment a young man who had +just entered came up to Scott. + +"I believe I saw your sister in the verandah this afternoon," he said. + +"That's just what Rose said," broke in the Colonel. "And you wouldn't +believe me. She came out, and Dinah went to speak to her. And now the two +of them are missing. It's obvious. They must have gone off together +somewhere." + +"Not up the mountain. I hope," the young man said. + +"That is probably where they have gone," Scott said, speaking for the +first time. He was patting Biddy's shoulder with compassionate kindness. +"Why do you say that?" + +"It's just begun to snow," the other answered. "And the mist up the +mountain path is thick." + +"Damnation!" exclaimed Sir Eustace furiously. "And she may have been gone +for hours!" + +"Miss Bathurst was with her," said Scott. "She would keep her head. I am +certain of that." He turned to the Colonel who stood fuming by. "Hadn't +we better organize a search-party sir? I am afraid that there is not much +doubt that they have gone up the mountain. My sister, you know--" he +flushed a little--"my sister is not altogether responsible for her +actions. She would not realize the danger." + +"But surely Dinah wouldn't be such a little fool as to go too!" burst +forth the Colonel. "She's sane enough, when she isn't larking about with +other fools." He glared at Sir Eustace. "And how the devil are we to know +where to look, I'd like to know? We can't hunt all over the Alps." + +"There may be some dogs in the village," Scott said. "There is certainly +a guide. I will go down at once and see what I can find." + +"No, no, Stumpy! Not you!" Sharply Sir Eustace intervened. "I won't have +you go. It's not your job, and you are not fit for it." He laid a +peremptory hand upon his brother's shoulder. "That's understood, is it? +You will not leave the hotel." + +He spoke with stern insistence, looking Scott straight in the eyes; and +after a moment or two Scott yielded the point. + +"All right, old chap! I'm not much good, I know. But for heaven's sake, +lose no time." + +"No time will be lost." Sir Eustace turned round upon the Colonel. "We +can't have any but young men on this job," he said. "See if you can +muster two or three to go with me, will you? A doctor if possible! And we +shall want blankets and restoratives and lanterns. Stumpy, you can see to +that. Yes, and send for a guide too though he won't be much help in a +thick mist. And take that wailing woman away! Have everything ready for +us when we come back! They can't have gone very far. Isabel hasn't the +strength. I shall be ready immediately." + +He turned to the stairs and went up them in great leaps, leaving the +little group below to carry out his orders. + +There was a momentary inaction after his departure, then Scott limped +across to the door and opened it. Thick darkness met him, the clammy +darkness of fog, and the faint, faint rustle of falling snow. + +He closed the door and turned back, meeting the Colonel's eyes, "It's +hard to stay behind, sir," he said. + +The Colonel nodded. He liked Scott. "Yes, infernally hard. But we'll do +all we can. Will you find the doctor and get the necessaries together? +I'll see to the rest." + +"Very good, sir; I will." Scott went to the old woman who still sobbed +piteously into her apron. "Come along, Biddy! There's plenty to be done. +Miss Isabel's room must be quite ready for her when she comes back, and +Miss Bathurst's too. We shall want boiling water--lots of it. That's your +job. Come along!" + +He urged her gently to the stairs, and went up with her, holding her arm. + +At the top she stopped and gave him an anguished look. "Ah, Master Scott +darlint, will the Almighty be merciful? Will He bring her safe back +again?" + +He drew her gently on. "That's another thing you can do, Biddy," he said. +"Ask Him!" + +And before his look Biddy commanded herself and grew calmer. "Faith, +Master Scott," she said, "if it isn't yourself that's taught me the +greatest lesson of all!" + +A very compassionate smile shone in Scott's eyes as he passed on and left +her. "Poor old Biddy," he murmured, as he went. "It's easy to preach to +such as you. But, O God, there's no denying it's bitter work for those +who stay behind!" + +He knew that he and Biddy were destined to drink that cup of bitterness +to the dregs ere the night passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE VISION OF GREATHEART + + +The darkness of the night lay like a black pall upon the mountain. The +snow was falling thickly, and ever more thickly. It drifted in upon +Dinah, as she crouched in the shelter of an empty shed that had been +placed on that high slope for the protection of sheep from the spring +storms. They had come upon this shelter just as the gloom had become too +great for even Isabel to regard further progress as possible, and in +response to the girl's insistence they had crept in to rest. They had +lost the beaten track long since; neither of them had realized when. But +the certainty that they had done so had had its effect upon Isabel. Her +energies had flagged from the moment that it had dawned upon her. A +deadly tiredness had come over her, a feebleness so complete that Dinah +had had difficulty in getting her into the shelter. Return was utterly +out of the question. They were hopelessly lost, and to wander in that +densely falling snow was to court disaster. + +Very thankful Dinah had been to find even so poor a refuge in that waste +of drifting fog; but now as she huddled by Isabel's side it seemed to her +that the relief afforded was but a prolonging of their agony. The cold +was intense. It seemed to penetrate to her very bones, and she knew by +her companion's low moaning that she was suffering keenly also. + +Isabel seemed to have sunk into a state of semi-consciousness, and only +now and then did broken words escape her--words scarcely audible to +Dinah, but which testified none the less to the bitterness of despair +that had come upon her. + +She sat in a corner of the desolate place with Dinah pressed close to +her, while the snow drifted in through the door-less entrance and +sprinkled them both. But it was the darkness rather than the cold or the +snow that affected the girl as she crouched there with her arms about her +companion, striving to warm and shelter her while she herself felt frozen +to the very heart. It was so terrible, so monstrous, so nerve-shattering. +And the silence that went with it was like a nightmare horror to her +shrinking soul. For all Dinah's sensibilities were painfully on the +alert. No merciful dulness of perception came to her. Responsibility had +awakened in her a nervous energy that made her realize the awfulness of +their position with appalling vividness. That they could possibly survive +the night she did not believe. And Death--Death in that fearful +darkness--was a terror from which she shrank almost in panic. + +That she retained command of her quivering nerves was due solely to the +fact of Isabel's helplessness--Isabel's dependence upon her. She knew +that while she had any strength left, she must not give way. She must be +brave. Their sole chance of rescue hung upon that. + +Like Scott, she thought of the guide, though the hope was a forlorn one. +He might know of this shelter; but whether in the awful darkness he would +ever be able to find it she strongly doubted. Their absence must have +been discovered long since, she was sure; and Scott--Scott would be +certain to think of the mountain path. He would remember his sister's +wild words of the day before, and he would know that she, Dinah, had had +no choice but to accompany her upon the mad quest. It comforted her to +think that Scott would understand, and was already at work to help them. +If by any means deliverance could be brought to them she knew that Scott +would compass it. His quiet and capable spirit was accustomed to grapple +with difficulties, and the enormity of a task would never dismay him. He +had probably organized a search-party long ere this. He would not rest +until he had done his very utmost. She wondered if he would come himself +to look for them; but discarded the idea as unlikely. His infirmity made +progress on the mountains a difficult matter at all times, and he would +not wish to hamper the movements of the others. That was like Scott, she +reflected. He would always keep his own desires in the background, +subservient to the needs of others. No, he would not come himself. He +would stay behind in torturing inaction while fitter men fared forth. + +The thought of Eustace came again to her. He would be one of the +search-party. She pictured him forcing his way upwards, all his +magnificent strength bent to the work. Her heart throbbed at the memory +of that all-conquering presence--the arms that had held her, the lips +that had pressed her own. And he had stooped to plead with her also. She +would always remember that of him with a thrill of ecstasy. He the +princely and splendid--Apollo the magnificent! + +Always? A sudden chill smote her heart numbing her through and through. +Always? And Death waiting on the threshold to snatch her away from the +wonderful joy she had only just begun to know! Always! Ah, would she +remember even to-morrow--even to-morrow? And he--would he not forget? + +Isabel stirred in her arms and murmured an inarticulate complaint. +Tenderly she drew her closer. How cold it was! How cruelly, how bitingly +cold! All her bones were beginning to ache. A dreadful stiffness was +creeping over her. How long would her senses hold out, she wondered +piteously? How long? How long? + +It must be hours now since they had entered that freezing place, and with +every minute it seemed to be growing colder. Never in her life had she +imagined anything so searching, so agonizing, as this cold. It held her +in an iron rigour against which she was powerless to struggle. The +strength to clasp Isabel in her arms was leaving her. She thought that +her numbed limbs were gradually turning to stone. Even her lips were so +numbed with cold that she could not move them. The steam of her breath +had turned to ice upon the wool of her coat. + +The need for prayer came upon her suddenly as she realized that her +faculties were failing. Her belief in God was of that dim and far-off +description that brings awe rather than comfort to the soul. The sudden +thought of Him came upon her in the darkness like a thunderbolt. In all +her life Dinah had never asked for anything outside her daily prayers +which were of a strictly formal description. She had shouldered her own +troubles unassisted with the philosophy of a disposition that was +essentially happy. She had seldom given a serious thought to the life of +the spirit. It was all so vague to her, so far removed from the daily +round and the daily burden. But now--face to face with the coming +night--the spiritual awoke in her. Her soul cried out for comfort. + +With Isabel still clasped in her failing arms, she began a desperate +prayer for help. Her words came haltingly. They sounded strange to +herself. But with all the strength that remained she sent forth her cry +to the Infinite. And even as she prayed there came to her--whence she +knew not--the conviction that somewhere--probably not more than a couple +of miles from her though the darkness made the distance seem +immeasurable--Scott was praying too. That thought had a wonderfully +comforting effect upon her. His prayer was so much more likely to be +answered than hers. He was just the sort of man who would know how to +pray. + +"How I wish he were here!" she whispered piteously into the darkness. "I +shouldn't be afraid of dying--if only he were here." + +She was certain--quite certain--that had he been there with her, no fear +would have reached her. He wore the armour of a strong man, and by it he +would have shielded her also. + +"Oh, dear Mr. Greatheart," she murmured through her numb lips, "I'm sure +you know the way to Heaven." + +Isabel stirred again as one who moves in restless slumber. "We must scale +the peaks of Paradise to reach it," she said. + +"Are you awake, dearest?" asked Dinah very tenderly. + +Isabel's head was sunk against her shoulder. She moved it, slightly +raised it. "Yes, I am awake," she said. "I am watching for the dawn." + +"It won't come yet," whispered Dinah tremulously. "It's a long, long way +off." + +Isabel moved a little more, feeling for Dinah in the darkness. "Are you +frightened, little one?" she said. "Don't be frightened!" + +Dinah swallowed down a sob. "It is so dark," she murmured through +chattering teeth. "And so, so cold." + +"You are cold, dear heart?" Isabel sat up suddenly. "Why should you be +cold?" she said. "The darkness is nothing to those who are used to it. I +have lived in outer darkness for seven weary years. But now--now I think +the day is drawing near at last." + +With an energy that astounded Dinah she got upon her knees and by her +movements she realized, albeit too late, that she was divesting herself +of the long purple coat. + +With all her strength she sought to frustrate her, but her strength had +become very feebleness; and when, despite resistance, Isabel wrapped her +round in the garment she had discarded, her resistance was too puny to +take effect. + +"My dear," Isabel said, in her voice the deep music of maternal +tenderness, "I am not needing it. I shall not need any earthly things for +long. I am going to meet my husband in the dawning. But you--you will go +back." + +She fastened the coat with a quiet dexterity that made Dinah think again +of Scott, and sat down again in her corner as if unconscious of the cold. + +"Come and lie in my arms, little one!" she said. "Perhaps you will be +able to sleep." + +Dinah crept close. "It will kill you--it will kill you!" she sobbed. "Oh, +why did I let you?" + +Isabel's arms closed about her. "Don't cry, dear!" she murmured fondly. +"It is nothing to me. A little sooner--a little later! If you had +suffered what I have suffered you would say as I do, 'Dear God, let it be +soon!' There! Put your head on my shoulder, dear child! See if you can +get a little sleep! You have cared for me long enough. Now I am going to +care for you." + +With loving words she soothed her, calming her as though she had been a +child in nightmare terror, and gradually a certain peace began to still +the horror in Dinah's soul. An unmistakable drowsiness was stealing over +her, a merciful lethargy lulling the sensibilities that had been so +acutely tried. Her weakness was merging into a sense of almost blissful +repose. She was no longer conscious of the anguish of the cold. Neither +did the darkness trouble her. And the comfort of Isabel's arms was rest +to her spirit. + +As one who wanders in a golden maze she began to dream strange dreams +that yet were not woven by the hand of sleep. Dimly she saw as down a +long perspective a knight in golden armour climbing, ever climbing, the +peaks of Paradise, from which, as from an eagle's nest, she watched his +difficult but untiring progress. She thought he halted somewhat in the +ascent--which was unlike Apollo, who walked as walk the gods with a gait +both arrogant and assured. But still he came on, persistently, +resolutely, carrying his golden shield before him. + +His visor was down, and she wished that he would raise it. She yearned +for the sight of that splendid face with its knightly features and blue, +fiery eyes. She pictured it to herself as he came, but somehow it did not +seem to fit that patient climbing figure. + +And then as he gradually drew nearer, the thought came to her to go and +meet him, and she started to run down the slope. She reached him. She +gave him both her hands. She was ready--she was eager--to be drawn into +his arms. + +But he did not so draw her. To her amazement he only bowed himself before +her and stretched forth the shield he bore that it might cover them both. + +"It is Mr. Greatheart!" she said to herself in wonder. "Of course--it is +Mr. Greatheart!" + +And then, while she still gazed upon the glittering, princely form, he +put up a hand and lifted the visor. And she saw the kindly, steadfast +eyes all kindled and alight with a glory before which instinctively she +hid her own. Never--no, never--had she dreamed before that any man could +look at her so! It was not passion that those eyes held for her;--it was +worship. + +She stood with bated breath and throbbing heart, waiting, waiting, as one +in the presence of a vision, who longs--yet fears--to look. And while she +waited she knew that the sun was shining upon them both with a glowing +warmth that filled her soul abrim with such a rapture as she had never +known before. + +"How wonderful!" she murmured to herself. "How wonderful!" + +And then at last she summoned courage to look up, and all in a moment her +vision was shattered. The darkness was all about her again; Greatheart +was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE RETURN + + +What happened after the passing of her vision Dinah never fully knew, so +slack had become her grip upon material things. Her spirit seemed to be +wandering aimlessly about the mountain-side while her body lay in icy +chains within that miserable shelter. Of Isabel's presence she was no +longer even dimly aware, and she knew neither fear nor pain, only a wide +desolation of emptiness that encompassed her as atmosphere encompasses +the world. + +Sometimes she fancied that the sound of voices came muffled through the +fog that hung impenetrably upon the great slope. And when this fancy +caught her, her spirit drifted back very swiftly to the near +neighbourhood of that inert and frozen body that lay so helpless in the +dark. For that strange freedom of the spirit seemed to her to be highly +dangerous and in a fashion wrong. It would be a terrible thing if they +found and buried the body, and the spirit were left alone to wander for +ever homeless on that desolate mountain-side. She could not imagine a +fate more awful. + +At the same time, being free from the body, she knew no physical pain, +and she shrank from returning before she need, knowing well the anguish +of suffering that awaited her. The desolation and loneliness made her +unhappy in a vague and not very comprehensible fashion, but she did not +suffer actively. That would come later when return became imperative. +Till then she flitted to and fro, intangible as gossamer, elusive as the +snow. She wondered what Apollo would say if he could see her thus. Even +he would fail to catch her now. She pictured the strong arms closing upon +her, and clasping--emptiness. That thought made her a little cold, and +sent her floating back to make sure that the lifeless body was still +there. + +And as she went, drifting through the silence, there came to her the +thought that Scott would be unutterably shocked if they brought her back +to him dead. It was strange how the memory of him haunted her that night. +It almost seemed as if his spirit were out there in the great waste, +seeking hers. + +She reached the shelter and entered, borne upon snowflakes. Yes, the body +was still there. She hovered over it like a bird over its nest. For +Scott's sake, should she not return? + +And then very suddenly there came a great sound close to her--the loud +barking of a dog;--and in a second--in less--she had returned. + +A long, long shiver went through the poor frozen thing that was herself, +and she knew that she moaned as one awaking.... + +Vaguely, through dulled senses, she heard the great barking yet again, +and something immense that was furry and soft brushed against her. She +heard the panting of a large animal close to her in the hut, and very +feebly she put out a hand. + +She did not like that loud baying. It went through and through her brain. +She was not frightened, only dreadfully tired. And now that she was back +again in the body, she longed unspeakably to sleep. + +But the noise continued, a perfect clamour of sound; and soon there came +other sounds, the shouting of men, the muffled tread of feet sorely +hampered by snow. A dim light began to shine, and gradually increased +till it became a single, piercing eye that swept searchingly around the +wretched shelter. An arc of fog surrounded it, obscuring all besides. + +Dinah gazed wide-eyed at that dazzling arc, wondering numbly, whence it +came. It drew nearer to her. Its brightness became intolerable. She tried +to shut her eyes, but the lids felt too stiff to move. Again, more +feebly, she moved her hand. It would be terrible if they thought her +dead, especially after all the trouble she had taken to return. + +And then very suddenly the deadly lethargy passed from her. All her +nerves were pricked into activity. For someone--someone--was kneeling +beside her. She felt herself gathered into strong arms. + +"Quick, Wetherby! The brandy!" Ah, well she knew those brief, peremptory +tones! "My God! We're only just in time!" + +Fast pressed against a man's heart, a faint warmth went through her. She +knew an instant of perfect serenity; but the next she uttered a piteous +cry of pain. For fire--liquid, agonizing--was on her bloodless lips and +in her mouth. It burned its ruthless way down her throat, setting her +whole body tingling, waking afresh in her the power to suffer. + +She turned, weakly gasping, and hid her face upon the breast that +supported her. + +Instantly she felt herself clasped more closely. "It's all right, little +darling, all right!" he whispered to her with an almost fierce +tenderness. "Take it like a good child! It'll pull you through." + +With steady insistence he turned her face back again, chafing her icy +cheek hard. And in a moment or two another burning dose was on its way. + +It made her choke and gurgle, but it did its work. The frozen heart in +her began to beat again with great jerks and bounds, sending quivering +shocks throughout her body. + +She tried to speak to him, to whisper his name; but she could only gasp +and gasp against his breast, and presently from very weakness she began +to cry. + +He gathered her closer still, murmuring fond words, while he rubbed her +face and hands, imparting the warmth of his own body to hers. His +presence was like a fiery essence encompassing her. Lying there against +his heart, she felt the tide of life turn in her veins and steadily flow +again. Like a child, she clung to him, and after a while, with an impulse +sublimely natural, she lifted her lips to his. + +He pressed his lips upon them closely, lingeringly. "Better now, +sweetheart?" he whispered. + +And she, clinging to him, found voice to answer, "Nothing matters now you +have come." + +The consciousness of his protecting care filled her with a rapture almost +too great to be borne. She throbbed in his arms, pressing closer, ever +closer. And the grim Shadow of Death receded from the threshold. She knew +that she was safe. + +It was soon after this that the thought of Isabel came to her, and +tremulously she begged him to go to her. But he would not suffer her out +of his arms. + +"The others can see to her," he said. "You are my care." + +She thrilled at the words, but she would not be satisfied. "She has been +so good to me," she told him pleadingly "See, I am wearing her coat." + +"But for her you would never have come to this," he made brief reply, and +she thought his words were stern. + +Then, as she would not be pacified, he lifted her like a child and held +her so that she could look down upon Isabel, lying inert and senseless +against the doctor's knee. + +"Oh, is she dead?" whispered Dinah, awe-struck. + +"I don't know," he made answer, and by the tightening of his arms she +knew that her safety meant more to him at the moment than that of Isabel +or anyone else in the world. + +But in a second or two she heard Isabel moan, and was reassured. + +"She is coming round," the doctor said. "She is not so far gone as the +other lassie." + +Dinah wondered hazily what he could mean, wondered if by any chance he +suspected that long and dreary wandering of her spirit up and down the +mountain-side. She nestled her head down against Eustace's shoulder with +a feeling of unutterable thankfulness that she had returned in time. + +Her impressions after that were of a very dim and shadowy description. +She supposed the brandy had made her sleepy. Very soon she drifted off +into a state of semi-consciousness in which she realized nothing but the +strong holding of his arms. She even vaguely wondered after a time +whether this also were not a dream, for other fantasies began to crowd +about her. She rocked on a sea of strange happenings on which she found +it impossible to focus her mind. It seemed to have broken adrift as it +were--a rudderless boat in a gale. But still that sense of security never +wholly left her. Dreaming or waking, the force of his personality +remained with her. + +It must have been hours later, she reflected afterwards, that she heard +the Colonel's voice exclaim hoarsely over her head, "In heaven's name, +say she isn't dead!" + +And, "Of course she isn't," came Eustace's curt response. "Should I be +carrying her if she were?" + +She tried to open her eyes, but could not. They seemed to be weighted +down. But she did very feebly close her numbed hands about Eustace's +coat. Emphatically she did not want to be handed over like a bale of +goods to the Colonel. + +He clasped her to him reassuringly, and presently she knew that he bore +her upstairs, holding her comfortably close all the way. + +"Don't go away from me!" she begged him weakly. + +"Not so long as you want me, little sweetheart," he made answer. But her +woman's heart told her that a parting was imminent notwithstanding. + +In all her life she had never had so much attention before. She seemed to +have entered upon a new and amazing phase of existence. Colonel de Vigne +faded completely into the background, and she found herself in the care +of Biddy and the doctor. Eustace left her with a low promise to return, +and she had to be satisfied with that thought, though she would fain have +clung to him still. + +They undressed her and put her into a hot bath that did much to lessen +the numb constriction of her limbs, though it brought also the most +agonizing pain she had ever known. When it was over, the limit of her +endurance was long past; and she lay in hot blankets weeping helplessly +while Biddy tried in vain to persuade her to drink some scalding mixture +that she swore would make her feel as gay as a lark. + +In the midst of this, someone entered quietly and stood beside her; and +all in a moment there came to Dinah the consciousness of an unknown force +very strangely uplifting her. She looked up with a quivering smile in the +midst of her tears. + +"Oh, Mr. Greatheart," she whispered brokenly, "is it you?" + +He smiled down upon her, and took the cup from Biddy's shaky old hand. + +"May I give you this?" he said. + +Dinah was filled with gratified confusion. "Oh, please, you mustn't +trouble! But--how very kind of you!" + +He took Biddy's place by her side. His eyes were shining with an odd +brilliance, almost, she thought to herself wonderingly, as if they held +tears. A sharp misgiving went through her. How was it they were bestowing +so much care upon her, unless Isabel--Isabel-- + +She did not dare to put her doubt into words, but he read it and +instantly answered it. "Don't be anxious!" he said in his kindly, tired +voice. "All is well. Isabel is asleep--actually sleeping quietly without +any draught. The doctor is quite satisfied about her." + +He spoke the simple truth, she knew; he was incapable of doing anything +else. A great wave of thankfulness went through her, obliterating the +worst of her misery. + +"I am so glad," she told him weakly. "I was--so dreadfully afraid. I--I +had to go with her, Mr. Studley. I do hope everyone understands." + +"Everyone does," he made answer gently. "Now let me give you this, and +then you must sleep too." + +She drank from the cup he held, and felt revived. + +He did not speak again till she had finished; then he leaned slightly +towards her, and spoke with great earnestness. "Miss Bathurst, do you +realize, I wonder, that you saved my sister's life by going with her? I +do; and I shall never forget it." + +She was sure now that she caught the gleam of tears in the grey eyes. She +slipped her hands out to him. "I only did what I could," she murmured +confusedly. "Anyone would have done it. And please, Mr. Greatheart, will +you call me Dinah?" + +"Or Mercy?" he suggested smiling, her hands clasped close in his. + +She smiled back with shy confidence. The memory of her dream was in her +mind, but she could not tell him of that. + +"No," she said. "Just Dinah. I'm not nice enough to be called anything +else. And thank you--thank you for being so good to me." + +"My dear child," he made quiet reply, "no one who really knows you could +be anything else." + +"Oh, don't you think they could?" said Dinah wistfully. "I wish there +were more people in the world like you." + +"No one ever thought of saying that to me before," said Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + + +After that interview with Scott there followed a long, long period of +pain and weakness for Dinah. She who had never known before what it meant +to be ill went down to the Valley of the Shadow and lingered there for +many days and nights. And there came a time when those who watched beside +her began to despair of her ever turning back. + +So completely had she lost touch with the ordinary things of life that +she knew but little of what went on around her, dwelling as it were +apart, conscious sometimes of agonizing pain, but more often of a +dreadful sinking as of one overwhelmed in the billows of an everlasting +sea. At such times she would cling piteously to any succouring hand, +crying to them to hold her up--only to hold her up. And if the hand were +the hand of Greatheart, she always found comfort at length and a sense of +security that none other could impart. + +Her fancy played about him very curiously in those days. She saw him in +many guises,--as prince, as knight, as magician; but never as the mean +and insignificant figure which first had caught her attention on that +sunny morning before the fancy-dress ball. + +This man who sat beside her bed of suffering for hours together because +she fretted when he went away, who held her up when the gathering billows +threatened to overwhelm her fainting soul, who prayed for her with the +utmost simplicity when she told him piteously that she could not pray for +herself, this man was above and beyond all ordinary standards. She looked +up to him with reverence, as one of colossal strength who had power with +God. + +But she never dreamed again that golden dream of Greatheart in his +shining armour with the light of a great worship in his eyes. That had +been a wild flight of presumptuous fancy that never could come true. + +His was not the only hand to which she clung during those terrible days +of fear and suffering. Another presence was almost constantly beside her +night and day,--a tender, motherly presence that watched over and +ministered to her with a devotion that never slackened. For some time +Dinah could not find a name for this gracious and comforting presence, +but one day when a figure clothed in a violet dressing-gown stooped over +her to give her nourishment an illuminating memory came to her, and from +that moment this loving nurse of hers filled a particular niche in her +heart which was dedicated to the Purple Empress. She could think of no +other name for her. That quiet and stately presence seemed to demand a +royal appellation. In her calmer moments Dinah liked to lie and watch the +still face with its crown of silvery hair. She loved the touch of the +white hands that always knew with unerring intuition exactly what needed +to be done. There seemed to be healing in their touch. + +Very strangely the thought of Eustace never came to her, or coming, but +flitted unrecorded and undetained across the surface of her mind. He had +receded with all the rest of the world into the far, far distance that +lay behind her. He had no place in this region of many shadows where +these others so tenderly guided her wandering feet. No one else had any +place there save old Biddy who, being never absent, seemed a part of the +atmosphere, and the doctor who came and went like a presiding genie in +that waste of desolation. + +She did not welcome his visits, although he was invariably kind, for on +one occasion she caught a low murmur from him to the effect that her +mother had better come to her, and this suggestion had thrown her into a +most painful state of apprehension. She had implored them weeping to let +her mother stay away, and they had hushed her with soothing promises; but +she never saw the doctor thereafter without a nervous dread that she +might also see her mother's gaunt figure accompanying him. And she was +sure--quite sure--that her mother would be very angry with her when she +saw her helplessness. + +Nightmares of her mother's advent began to trouble her. She would start +up in anguish of soul, scarcely believing in the soothing arms that held +her till their tenderness hushed her back to calmness. + +"No one can come to you, sweetheart, while I am here." How often she +heard the low words murmured lovingly over her head! "See, I am holding +you! You are quite safe. No one can take you from me." + +And Dinah would cling to her beloved empress till her panic died away. + +On one of these occasions Scott was present, and he presently left the +sick-room with a look in his eyes that gave him a curiously hard +expression. He went deliberately in search of Billy whom he found playing +a not very spirited game with the two little daughters of the +establishment. The weather had broken, and several people had left in +consequence. + +Billy was bored as well as anxious, and his attitude said as much as he +unceremoniously left his small playfellows to join Scott. + +"Just amusin' the kids," he observed explanatorily. "How is she now?" + +Scott linked his hand in the boy's arm. "She's pretty bad, Billy," he +said. "Both lungs are affected. The doctor thinks badly of her, though he +still hopes he may pull her through." + +"You may you mean," returned Billy. "Can't say the de Vignes have put +themselves out at all over her. There's Rose flirts all day long with +your brother, and Lady Grace grumbling continually about the folly of +undertaking other people's responsibilities. She swears she must get back +at the end of next week for their precious house-party. And the Colonel +fumes and says the same. I told him I shouldn't go unless she was out of +danger, though goodness knows, sir, I don't want to sponge on you." + +Scott's hand pressed his arm reassuringly. "Don't imagine such a thing +possible!" he said. "Of course you must stay if she isn't very much +better by that time. But now, Billy, tell me--if it isn't an unwelcome +question--why doesn't your sister want your mother to come to her?" + +Billy gave him one of his shrewd glances. "She's told you that, has she? +Well, you know the mater is rather a queer fish, and I doubt very much if +she'd come if you asked her." + +"My good fellow!" Scott said. "Not if she were dying?" + +"I doubt it," said Billy, unmoved. "You see, the mater hasn't much use +for Dinah, except as a maid-of-all work. Never has had. It's not +altogether her fault. It's just the way she's made." + +"Good heavens!" said Scott, and added, as if to himself, "That little +fairy thing!" + +"She can't help it," said Billy. "She can't get on with the female +species. It's like cats, you know,--a sort of jealousy." + +"And your father?" questioned Scott, the hard look growing in his eyes. + +"Oh, Dad!" said Billy, smiling tolerantly. "He's all right--quite a +decent sort. But you wouldn't get him to leave home in the middle of the +hunting season. He's one of the Whips." + +Scott's hand had tightened unconsciously to a grip. Billy looked at him +in surprised interrogation, and was amazed to see a heavy frown drawing +the colourless brows. There was a fiery look in the pale eyes also that +he had never seen before. + +He waited in silence for developments, being of a wary disposition, and +in a moment Scott spoke in a voice of such concentrated fury that Billy +felt as if a total stranger were confronting him. + +"An infernal and blackguardly shame!" he said. "It would serve them right +if the little girl never went back to them again. I never heard of such +damnable callousness in all my life before." + +Billy opened his eyes wide, and after a second or two permitted himself a +soft whistle. + +Scott's hold upon his arm relaxed. "Yes, I know," he said. "I've no right +to say it to you. But when the blood boils, you've got to let off the +steam somehow. I suppose you've written to tell them all about her?" + +"Oh yes, I wrote, and so did the Colonel. I had a letter from Dad this +morning. He said he hoped she was better and that she was being well +looked after. That's like Dad, you know. He never realizes a thing unless +he's on the spot. I daresay I shouldn't myself," said Billy +broadmindedly. "It's want of imagination in the main." + +"Or want of heart," said Scott curtly. + +Billy did not attempt to refute the amendment. "It's just the way you +chance to be made," he said philosophically. "Of course I'm fond of +Dinah. We're pals. But Dad's an easy-going sort of chap. He isn't +specially fond of anybody. The mater,--well, she's keen on me, I +suppose," he blushed a little; "but, as I said before, she hasn't much +use for Dinah. Even when she was a small kid, she used to whip her no +end. Dinah is frightened to death at her. I don't wonder she doesn't want +her sent for." + +Scott's face was set in stern lines. "She certainly shall not be sent +for," he said with decision. "The poor child shall be left in peace." + +"She is going to get better, isn't she?" said Billy quickly. + +"I hope so, old chap. I hope so." Scott patted his shoulder kindly and +prepared to depart. + +But Billy detained him a moment. "I say, can't I come and see her?" + +"Not now, lad." Scott paused, and all the natural kindliness came back +into his eyes. "My sister was just getting her calm again when I came +away. We won't disturb her now." + +"How is your sister, sir?" asked Billy. "Isn't she feeling the strain +rather?" + +"No, she is standing it wonderfully. In fact," Scott hesitated +momentarily, "I believe that in helping Dinah, she has found herself +again." + +"Do you really?" said Billy. "Then I do hope for her sake that Dinah will +buck up and get well." + +"Thanks, old chap." Scott held out a friendly hand. "I'm sorry you're +having such a rotten time. Come along to me any time when you're feeling +bored! I shall be only too pleased when I'm at liberty." + +"You're a brick, sir," said Billy. "And I say, you'll send for me, won't +you, if--if--" He broke off. "You know, as I said before, Dinah and I are +pals," he ended wistfully. + +"Of course I will, lad. Of course I will." Scott wrung his hand hard. +"But we'll pull her through, please God! We must pull her through." + +"If anyone can, you will," said Billy with conviction. + +Like Dinah, he had caught a glimpse in that brief conversation of the +soul that inhabited that weak and puny form. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE WAY BACK + + +It was three days later that Dinah began at last the long and weary +pilgrimage back again. Almost against her will she turned her faltering +steps up the steep ascent; for she was too tired for any sustained +effort. Only that something seemed to be perpetually drawing her she +would not have been moved to make the effort at all. For she was so +piteously weak that the bare exertion of opening her eyes was almost more +than she could accomplish. But ever the unknown influence urged her, very +gently but very persistently, never passive, never dormant, but always +drawing her as by an invisible cord back to the world of sunshine and +tears that seemed so very far away from the land of shadows in which she +wandered. + +All active suffering had left her, and she would fain have been at peace; +but the hand that clasped hers would not be denied. The motherly voice +that had calmed the wildest fantasies of her fevered brain spoke now to +her with tenderest encouragement; the love that surrounded her drew her, +uplifted her, sustained her. And gradually, as she crept back from the +shadows, she came to lean upon this love as upon a sure support, to count +upon it as her own exclusive possession--a wonderful new gift that had +come to her out of the darkness. + +She still welcomed her friend Scott at her bedside, but very curiously +she had grown a little shy in his presence. She could not forget that +dream of hers, and for a long time she was haunted by the dread that he +had in some way come to know of it. Though the steady eyes never held +anything but the utmost kindness and sympathy, she was half afraid to +meet them lest they should look into her heart and see the vision she had +seen. She never called him Mr. Greatheart now. + +With Isabel, beloved nurse and companion, she was completely at her ease. +A great change had come over Isabel--such a change as turns the bare +earth into a garden of spring when the bitter winter is past at last. All +the ice-bound bitterness had been swept utterly away, and in its place +there blossomed such a wealth of mother-love as transformed her +completely. + +She spent herself with the most lavish devotion in Dinah's service. There +was not a wish that she expressed that was not swiftly and abundantly +satisfied. Night and day she was near her, ignoring all Biddy's +injunctions to rest, till the old woman, seeing the light that had dawned +in the shadowed eyes, left her to take her own way in peace. She hovered +in the background, always ready in case her mistress's new-found strength +should fail. But Isabel did not need her care. All her being was +concentrated upon the task of bringing Dinah back to life, and she +thought of nothing else, meeting the strain with that strength which +comes in great emergencies to all. + +And as she gradually succeeded in her task, a great peace descended upon +her, such as she had never known before. Biddy sometimes gazed in +amazement at the smooth brow and placid countenance at Dinah's bedside. + +"Sure, the young lady's been a blessing straight from the Almighty," she +said to Scott. + +"I think so too, Biddy," he made quiet answer. + +He was much less in the sick-room now that Dinah's need of him had +passed. He sometimes wondered if she even knew how many hours he had +formerly spent there. He visited her every day, and it was to him that +the task fell of telling her that the de Vignes had arranged to leave +her in their charge. + +"We have your father's permission," he said, when her brows drew together +with a troubled expression. "You see, it is quite impossible to move you +at present, and they must be getting home. Billy is to go with them if +you think you can be happy alone with us." + +She put out her little wasted hand. "I could be happy with you anywhere," +she said simply. "But it doesn't seem right." + +"Of course it is right," he made quiet reply. "In fact, if you ask me, I +think it is our business rather than anyone else's to get you well +again." + +She flushed in quick embarrassment. "Oh, please, you mustn't put it like +that. And I have been such a trouble to everyone ever since." + +He smiled at her very kindly. "Biddy says you are a blessing from the +Almighty, and I quite agree with her. It is settled then? You are content +to stay with us until we take you home?" + +Her hand was clasped in his, but she did not meet his look. "Oh, much +more than content," she said, her voice very low. "Only--" + +"Only?" he said gently. + +She made an effort to lift her eyes, but dropped them again instantly. +"It will make it much harder to go home," she said. + +She thought he sounded somewhat grim as he said, "There is no need to +meet troubles half-way, you know. You won't be strong enough for the +journey for some time to come." + +"I wish I could stay just as I am now," she told him tremulously, "for +ever and ever and ever." + +"Ah!" he said, with a faint sigh. "It is not given to any of us to bask +in the sun for long." + +And so, two days after, the de Vignes paid a state visit of farewell to +Dinah, now pronounced out of danger but still pitiably weak,--so weak +that she cried when the Colonel bade her be a good girl and get well +enough to come home as soon as possible, so as not to be a burden to +these kind friends of hers longer than she need. + +Lady Grace's kiss was chilly and perfunctory. "I also hope you will get +well quickly, Dinah," she said, "as I believe Mr. Studley and his sister +are staying on mainly on your account. Sir Eustace, I understand, is +returning very shortly, and I have asked him to join our house-party." + +"Good-bye, dear!" murmured Rose, bending her smiling lips to kiss Dinah's +forehead. "I am sorry your good time has had such a tragic end. I was +hoping that you might be allowed to come to the Hunt Ball, but I am +afraid that is out of the question now. Sir Eustace will be sorry too. +He says you are such an excellent little dancer." + +"Good-bye!" said Dinah, swallowing her tears. + +She wept unrestrainedly when Billy bade her a bluff and friendly +farewell, and he was practically driven from the room by Isabel; who then +returned to her charge, gathered her close in her arms, and sat with her +so, rocking her gently till gradually her agitation subsided. + +"Do forgive me!" Dinah murmured at last, clinging round her neck. + +To which Isabel made answer in that low voice of hers that so throbbed +with tenderness whenever she spoke to her. "Dear child, there is nothing +to forgive. You are tired and worn out. I know just how you feel. But +never mind--never mind! Forget it all!" + +"I know I am a burden," whispered Dinah, clinging closer. + +Isabel's lips pressed her forehead. "My darling," she said, "you are such +a burden as I could not bear to be without." + +That satisfied Dinah for the time; but it was not the whole of her +trouble, and presently, still clasped close to Isabel's heart, she gave +hesitating utterance to the rest. + +"It would have been--so lovely--to have gone to the Hunt Ball. I should +like to dance with--with Sir Eustace again. Is he--is he really going to +stay with the de Vignes?" + +"I don't know, dear. Very possibly not." Isabel's voice held a hint of +constraint though her arms pressed Dinah comfortingly close. "He will +please himself when the time comes no doubt." + +Dinah did not pursue the subject, but her mind was no longer at rest. She +wondered how she could have forgotten Sir Eustace for so long, and now +that she remembered him she was all on fire with the longing to see him +again. Rose had spoken so possessively, so confidently, of him, as +though--almost as though--he had become her own peculiar property during +the long dark days in which Dinah had been wandering in another world. + +Something in Dinah hotly and fiercely resented this attitude. She yearned +to know if it were by any means justified. She could not, would not, +believe that he had suffered himself to fall like other men a victim to +Rose's wiles. He was so different from all others, so superbly far above +all those other captives. And had she not heard him laugh and call Rose +machine-made? + +A great restlessness began to possess her. She felt she must know what +had been happening during her absence from the field. She must know if +Rose had succeeded in adding yet another to her long list of devoted +admirers. She felt that if this were so, she could never, never forgive +her. But it was not possible. She was sure--she was sure it was not +possible. + +Sir Eustace was not the man to grovel at any woman's feet. She recalled +the arrogance of his demeanour even in his moments of greatest +tenderness. She recalled the magnetic force of his personality, his +overwhelming mastery. She recalled the strong holding of his arms, +thrilled yet again to the burning intensity of his kisses. + +No, no! He had never stooped to become one of Rose's adorers. If +he had ever flirted with her, he had done it out of boredom. She was +beautiful--ah yes, Rose was beautiful; but Dinah was quite convinced +she had no brains. And Eustace would never seriously consider a woman +without brains. + +Seriously! But then had he ever taken her into his serious consideration +either? Had he not rather been at pains to make her understand that what +had passed between them was no more than a game to which no serious +consequences were attached? She had caught his fancy, his passing fancy, +and now was not her turn over? Had he not laughed and gone his way? + +She chafed terribly at the thought, and ever the longing to see him again +grew within her till she did not know how to hide it from those about +her. + +In the evening her temperature rose, and the doctor was dissatisfied with +her. She passed a restless night, and was considerably weaker in the +morning. + +"There is something on her mind," the doctor said to Isabel. "See if you +can find out what it is!" + +But it was Scott who succeeded with the utmost gentleness in discovering +the trouble. He came in late in the morning and sat down beside her for a +few minutes. + +"I have been writing letters for my brother," he said in his quiet way, +"or I should have called for news of you sooner. Isabel tells me you have +had a bad night." + +Dinah's face was flushed and her eyes very bright. "I heard the +dance-music in the distance," she said nervously. "It--it made me want to +go and dance." + +"I am sorry it disturbed you," he said gently. "It was only that then? +You weren't really troubled about anything?" + +She hesitated, then, meeting the kindness of his look, her eyes suddenly +filled with tears. She turned her head away in silence. + +He leaned towards her. "Is there anything you want?" he said. "Tell me +what it is! I will get it for you if it is humanly possible." + +"I know--I know!" faltered Dinah, and hid her face in the pillow. + +He waited a moment or two, then laid a very gentle hand upon her dark +head. "Don't cry, little one!" he said softly. "Tell me what it is!" + +"I can't," murmured Dinah. + +"You wanted to go and dance," said Scott sympathetically. "Was it just +that?" + +"Not--just--that!" she whispered forlornly. + +"I thought not. You were wanting something more than that. What was it?" + +She tried not to tell him. She would have given almost all she had to +keep silence on the subject; but somehow she had to speak. Under the +pressure of that kind hand, she could not maintain her silence any +longer. + +"I was thinking of--of your brother," she told him with tears. "I was +wondering if--if he were dancing, and--and I not there!" + +It was out at last, and she hid her face in overwhelming shame because +she had given him a glimpse of her secret heart which none had ever seen +before. She wondered with anguish what he thought of her, if she had +forfeited his good opinion of her for ever, if indeed he would ever speak +to her with kindness again. + +And then very quietly he did speak, and in a moment all her anxiety was +gone. "He may have been dancing," he said. "But I believe he has been +very bored ever since the weather broke. I wonder if he might come and +see you. Would it be too much for you? Should you mind?" + +"Mind!" Dinah's tears were gone in a flash. She turned shining eyes upon +him. "But would he come?" she said, with sudden misgiving. "Wouldn't that +bore him too?" + +Scott smiled at her in a way that set her mind wholly at rest. "No, I +think not," he said. "When shall he come? This evening?" + +Dinah slipped a confiding hand into his. She felt that now Scott knew and +was not scandalized, there was no further need for embarrassment. "Oh, +just any time," she said. "But hadn't I better get up? It would look +better, wouldn't it?" + +"I don't know about that," said Scott. "You had better ask the doctor." + +Dinah's face flushed red. "Need the doctor know?" she asked him shyly. "I +am--so afraid of his saying I am well enough to go home. And that--that +will end everything." + +"He shan't say that," Scott promised, still smiling in the fashion that +so warmed her heart. "I will drop him a hint." + +"Oh, you are good!" Dinah said very earnestly. "I think you are the +kindest man I have ever met." + +He laughed at that. "My dear, it is easy to be kind to you," he said. + +"I'm sure I don't know why," she protested. "I'm getting very spoilt and +selfish." + +He patted her hand gently and laid it down. "You are--just you," he said, +and rising with the words rather abruptly he left her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE LIGHTS OF A CITY + + +"May I come in?" said Sir Eustace. + +He stood in the doorway, a gigantic figure to Dinah's unaccustomed eyes, +and looked in upon her with a careless smile on his handsome face. + +"Oh, please do!" she said. + +She was lying on a couch under a purple rug belonging to Isabel. Very +fragile and weak she looked, but her face was flushed and eager, her eyes +alight with welcome. She thought he had never looked so splendid, so +godlike, as at that moment. She wanted to hold out both her arms to him +and be borne upward to Olympus in his embrace. + +He came forward with his easy carriage and stood beside her. His smile +was one of kindly indulgence. He looked down at her as he might have +looked upon an infant. + +An uneasy sense of her own insignificance went through Dinah. She could +not remember that he had ever regarded her thus before. A faint, faint +throb of resentment also pulsed through her. His attitude was so +suggestive of the mere casual acquaintance. Surely--surely he had not +forgotten! + +"Won't you sit down?" she asked in a small voice that was quite +unconsciously formal. + +He seated himself in the chair that had been placed at her side. "So they +have left you behind to be mended, have they?" he said. "I hope it is a +satisfactory process, is it?" + +She had meant to give him her hand, but as he did not seem to expect it +she refrained from doing so. A great longing to cover her face and burst +into tears took possession of her; she resisted it frantically, with all +her strength. + +"Oh yes, I am getting better, thank you," she said, in a voice that +quivered in spite of her. "I am afraid I have been a great nuisance to +everybody. I am sure the de Vignes thought so; and--and--I expect you do +too." + +She could not keep the tears from springing to her eyes, strive as she +would. He was so different--so different. He might have been a total +stranger, sitting there beside her. + +Yet as he looked at her, she felt something of the old quick thrill; for +the blue eyes regarded her with a slightly warmer interest as he said, "I +can't answer for the de Vignes of course, but it doesn't seem to me that +either they or I have had much cause for complaint. I shouldn't fret +about that if I were you." + +She commanded herself with an effort. "I don't. Only it isn't nice to +feel a burden to anyone, is it? You wouldn't like it, would you?" + +"Oh, I don't know," he said, with his easy arrogance. "I think I should +expect to be waited on if I were ill. You've had rather a bad time, I'm +afraid. But you haven't missed much. The weather has been villainous." + +"I've missed all the dances," said Dinah, stifling a sob. + +He began to smile. "I wish I had. I haven't enjoyed one of them." + +That comforted her a little. At least Rose had not scored an unqualified +victory! "You've been bored?" she asked. + +"Horribly bored," said Sir Eustace. "There's been no fun for anyone since +the weather broke." + +She gathered her courage in both hands. "And so you're going home?" she +said, and lay in quivering dread of his answer. + +He did not make one immediately. He seemed to be considering the matter. +"There doesn't seem to be much point in staying on," he said finally, +"unless things improve." + +"But they will improve," said Dinah quickly. "At least--at least they +ought to." + +"A fortnight of bad weather isn't particularly encouraging," he remarked. + +"Of course it isn't! It's horrid," she agreed. "But every day makes it +less likely that it will last much longer. And I expect it's much worse +in England," she added. + +"I wonder," said Sir Eustace. "There's the hunting anyway." + +"Oh no; it would freeze directly you got there," she said, with a shaky +little laugh. "And then you would wish you had stayed here." + +"I could shoot," said Sir Eustace. + +"And there is the Hunt Ball, isn't there?" said Dinah with more +assurance. + +He looked at her keenly. "What Hunt Ball?" + +She met his eyes with a faint challenge in her own. "I heard you were +going to stay with the de Vignes. They always go to the Hunt Ball every +year." + +"Do you go?" asked Sir Eustace. + +She shook her head. "No. I never go anywhere." + +She saw his eyes soften unexpectedly as he said, "Then there isn't much +inducement for me to go, is there?" + +Her heart gave a wild throb of half-incredulous delight. She made a small +movement of one hand towards him, and quite suddenly she found it grasped +in his. He bent to her with a laugh in his eyes. + +"Shall we go on with the game,--Daphne?" he whispered. "Are you well +enough?" + +Her eyes answered him. Was he not irresistible? "Oh," she whispered, "I +thought--I thought you had forgotten." + +He glanced round, as if to make sure that they were alone, and then +swiftly bent and kissed her quivering lips. "But the past has no claims," +he said. "Remember, it is a game without consequences!" + +She laughed very happily, clasping his hand. "I was afraid it was all +over," she said. "But it isn't, is it?" + +He laughed too under his breath. "I am under the very strictest orders +not to excite you," he said, passing the question by. "If the doctor were +to come and feel your pulse now, there would be serious trouble. And I +shouldn't be allowed within a dozen yards of you again for many a long +day." + +"What nonsense!" murmured Dinah. "Why, you have done me so much good that +I feel almost well." She squeezed his hand with all the strength she +could muster. "Don't go away till I'm quite well!" she begged him +wistfully. "We must have--one more dance." + +His eyes kindled suddenly with that fire which she dared not meet. "I +will grant you that," he said, "on condition that you promise--mind, you +promise--not to run away afterwards." + +His intensity embarrassed her, she knew not wherefore. "Why--why should I +run away?" she faltered. + +"You ran away last time," he said. + +"Oh, that was only--only because I was afraid the Colonel might be angry +with me," she murmured. + +"Oh well, there is no Colonel to be angry now," he said. "It's a promise +then, is it?" + +But for some reason wholly undefined she hesitated. She felt as if she +could not bring herself thus to cut off her own line of retreat. "No, I +don't think I can quite promise that," she said, after a moment. + +"You won't?" he said. + +His tone warned her to reconsider her decision. "I--I'll tell you +to-morrow," she said hastily. + +"I may be gone by to-morrow," he said. + +She looked up at him with swift daring. "Oh no, you won't," she said, +with conviction. "Or if you are, you'll come back." + +"How do you know that?" he demanded, frowning upon her while his eyes +still gleamed with that lambent fire that made her half afraid. + +She dropped her own. "There's someone coming," she whispered. "It doesn't +matter, does it? I do know. Good-bye!" + +She slipped her hand from his with a little secret sense of triumph; for +though he had so arrogantly asserted himself she was conscious of a +certain power over him which gave her confidence. She was firmly +convinced in that moment that he would not go. + +He rose to leave her as Isabel came softly into the room, and between the +brother and sister there flashed a look that was curiously like the +crossing of blades. + +Isabel came straight to Dinah's side. "You must settle down now, dear +child," she said, in that low, musical voice of hers that Dinah loved. +"It is getting late, and you didn't sleep well last night." + +Dinah smiled, and drew the hand that had so often smoothed her pillow to +her cheek. But her eyes were upon Eustace, and she caught a parting gleam +from his as with a gesture of farewell he turned away. + +"I am much better," she said to Isabel later, as she composed herself to +rest. "I feel as if I am going to sleep well." + +Isabel stooped to kiss her. "Sleep is the best medicine in the world," +she said. + +"Do you sleep better now?" Dinah asked, detaining her. + +Isabel hesitated for a second. "Oh yes, I sleep," she said then. "I am +able to sleep now that you are safe, my darling." + +Dinah clung to her. "I can't think what I would do without you," she +murmured. "No one was ever so good to me before." + +Isabel held her closely. "Don't you realize," she said fondly, "that you +have been my salvation." + +"Not--not really?" faltered Dinah. + +"Yes, really." There was a throb of passion in Isabel's voice. "I have +been a prisoner for years, but you--you, little Dinah,--have set me free. +I am travelling forward again now--like the rest of the world." She +paused a moment, and her arms clasped Dinah more closely still. "I do not +think I have very far to go," she said, speaking very softly. "My night +has been so long that I think the dawn cannot be far off now. God knows +how I am longing for it." + +"Oh, darling, don't--don't!" whispered Dinah piteously. + +"I won't, dearest." Very tenderly Isabel kissed her again. "I didn't mean +to distress you. Only I want you to know that you are just all the world +to me--the main-spring of what life there is left to me. I shall never +forgive myself for leading you away on that terrible Sunday, and causing +you all this suffering." + +"Oh, but I should have been home again by now if that hadn't happened," +said Dinah quickly. "See what I should have missed! I'd far, far rather +be ill with you than well at home." + +"Yours isn't a happy home, sweetheart," Isabel said gently. + +"Not very," Dinah admitted. "But being away makes it seem much worse. I +have been so spoilt with you." + +Isabel smiled. "I only wish I could keep you always, dear child." + +Dinah drew a sharp breath. "Oh, if you only could!" she said. + +Isabel pressed her to her heart, and laid her down. "I must get you back +to bed, dear," she said. "We have talked too long already." + +Late that night Isabel went softly to the door in answer to a low knock, +and found Scott on the threshold. + +She lifted a warning finger. "She is asleep." + +"That's right," he said quietly. "I only came to say good night to you. +Are you going to bed now?" + +She looked at him with a faint smile in her shadowed eyes. "I daresay I +shall go some time," she said; then seeing the concern in his eyes: +"Don't worry about me, Stumpy dear. I don't sleep a great deal, you know; +but I rest." + +He took her arm and drew her gently outside the room. "I want you to take +care of yourself now that she is safe," he said. "Will you try?" + +The smile still lingered in her eyes. She bent her stately neck to kiss +him. "Oh yes, dear; I shall be all right," she said. "It does me good to +have the little one to think of." + +"I know," he said. "But don't wear yourself out! Remember, you are not +strong." + +"Nothing I can do for her would be too much," she answered with quick +feeling. "Think--think what she has done for me!" + +"For us all," said Scott gently. "But all the same, dear, you can spare a +little thought for yourself now." He hesitated momentarily, then: "I +think Eustace would like to see more of you," he said, speaking with a +touch of diffidence. + +She made a sharp gesture of impatience. "Why did you send him to disturb +the child's peace?" + +"She wanted him," said Scott simply. + +"Ah!" Isabel stood tense for a second. "And he?" she questioned. + +"He was quite pleased to see her again," said Scott. + +She grasped his arm suddenly. "Stumpy, don't let him break her heart!" + +He met her look with steadfast eyes. "He shall not do that," he said, +with inflexible resolution. + +Her hold became a grip. "Can you prevent it? You know what he is" + +"Oh yes, I know," very steadily Scott made answer. "But you needn't be +afraid, Isabel. He shall not do that." + +A measure of relief came into her drawn face. "Thank you, Stumpy," she +said. "I was horribly afraid--when I saw him just now--and she, poor +child, so innocently glad to have him!" + +"You needn't be afraid," he reiterated. "Eustace is too much of a +sportsman to amuse himself at the expense of an unsophisticated child +like that." + +Isabel suppressed a shiver. "I don't think he is so scrupulous as you +imagine," she said. "We must watch, Stumpy; we must watch." + +He patted her arm with his quiet smile. "And we mustn't let ourselves get +over-anxious," he said. "Now go to bed, like a dear girl! You are looking +absolutely worn out." + +Her lips quivered as she smiled back. "At least you are getting better +nights," she said. + +"Yes, I sleep very well," he answered. "I want to know you are doing the +same." + +Her face shone as though reflecting the lights of a city seen from afar. +"Oh yes, I sleep," she said. "And sometimes I dream that I have really +found the peaks of Paradise. But before I reach the summit--I am awake." + +He drew her to him, and kissed her. "It is better that you should wake, +dear," he said. + +She returned his kiss with tenderness, but her eyes were fixed and +distant. "Some day the dream will come true, Stumpy," she said softly. +"And I shall find him there where he has been waiting for me all these +years." + +"But not yet, Isabel," murmured Scott, and there was pleading in his +voice. + +She looked at him for a moment ere she turned to re-enter the room in +which Dinah lay. "Not just yet," she answered softly. "Good night, dear! +Good night!" + +The strange light was still upon her face as she went, and Scott looked +after her with a faint, wistful smile about his mouth. As he went to his +own room, he passed his hand across his forehead with a gesture of +unutterable weariness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE TRUE GOLD + + +The actual turning-point in Dinah's illness seemed to date from that +brief interview with Sir Eustace. They had drawn her back half against +her will from the land of shadows, but from that day her will was set to +recover. The old elasticity came back to her, and with every hour her +strength increased. The joy of life was hers once more. She was like a +flower opening to the sun. + +Sir Eustace presented himself every evening for admittance and sat with +her for a little while. Isabel was generally present, and their +conversation was in consequence of a strictly commonplace order; but the +keen blue eyes told Dinah more than the proud lips ever uttered. She came +to watch for that look which she could not meet, and though at times it +sent a wild dart of fear through her, yet it filled her also with a +rapture indefinable but unspeakably precious. She felt sure that he had +never turned that look on Rose or any other girl. It was kept exclusively +for her, and its fiery intensity thrilled her soul. It was the sign of a +secret understanding between them which she believed none other +suspected. + +It was a somewhat terrible joy, for the man's strength had startled her +more than once, but in moments of dread she reassured herself with the +memory of his reiterated declaration that the magic bond that existed +between them was no bond at all in reality--only a game without +consequences. She would not look forward to the time when that game +should be over. She was not looking forward at all, so sublimely happy +was she in the present. The period of convalescence which to most +patients is the hardest of all to bear was to her a dream of delight. + +A week after the departure of the de Vignes she was well enough to be +moved into Isabel's sitting-room, and here on that first day both Sir +Eustace and Scott joined them at tea. + +The weather had cleared again, and Sir Eustace came in from an +afternoon's ski-ing attired in the white sweater in which Dinah always +loved to see him. She lay on her couch and watched him with shining eyes, +telling herself that no prince had ever looked more royal. + +It was Scott who waited upon her, but she was scarcely aware of his +presence. Even Isabel seemed to have faded into the background. She could +think only of Eustace lounging near her in careless magnificence, talking +in his deep voice of the day's sport. + +"There are several new people arrived," he said, "both ancient and +modern. The place was getting empty, but it has filled up again. There is +to be a dance to-night," his eyes sought Dinah's. "I am going down +presently to see if any of the new-comers have any talents worth +cultivating." + +She met his look with a flash of daring. "I wish you luck," she said. + +He made her a bow. "You are very generous. But I scarcely expect any. My +star has not been in the ascendant for a long time." + +Scott uttered a laugh that sounded faintly derisive. "You'll have to make +the best of the second best for once, my dear chap," he said. "You can't +always have your cake iced." + +Eustace glanced at him momentarily. "I am not you, Stumpy," he said. "The +philosophy of the second best is only for those who have never tasted the +best." + +There was in his tone a touch of malice that caught Dinah very oddly, +like the flick of a lash intended for another. She awoke very suddenly to +the realization of Scott sitting near Isabel with the light shining on +his pale face and small, colourless beard. How insignificant he looked! +And yet the narrow shoulders had an independent set about them as though +they were not without a certain strength. + +The smile still lingered about his lips as he made quiet rejoinder. "It +sometimes needs a philosopher to tell what is the best." + +Eustace gave an impatient shrug. "The philosopher is not always a wise +man," he observed briefly. + +"But seldom an utter fool," returned Scott. + +The elder brother's face was contemptuous as he said, "A philosopher may +recognize what is best, but it is seldom within his reach." + +"And so, being a philosopher, he does without it." Scott spoke +thoughtfully; he was gazing straight before him. + +Isabel suddenly leaned forward. "He is not always the loser, Stumpy," she +said. + +He looked at her. "Certainly a man can't lose what he has never had," he +said. + +"Every man has his chance once," she insisted. + +"And--if he's a philosopher--he doesn't take it," laughed Eustace. "Don't +you know, my dear Isabel, that that is the very cream and essence of +philosophy?" + +She gave him a swift look that was an open challenge. "What do you know +of philosophy and the greater things of life?" she said. + +He looked momentarily surprised. Dinah saw the ready frown gather on his +handsome face; but before he could speak Scott intervened. + +"How on earth did we get onto this abstruse subject?" he said easily. +"Miss Bathurst will vote us all a party of bores, and with reason. What +were we talking about before? Iced cake, wasn't it? Are you a cook Miss +Bathurst?" + +"I can make some kinds of cakes," Dinah said modestly, "but I like making +pastry best. I often make sausage-rolls for Dad to take hunting." + +"That sounds more amusing for him than for you," observed Eustace. + +"Oh no, I love making them," she assured him. "And he always says he +likes mine better than anyone's. But I'm not a particularly good cook +really. Mother generally does that part, and I do all the rest." + +"All?" said Isabel. + +"Yes. You see, we can't afford to keep a servant," said Dinah. "And I +groom Rupert--that's the hunter--too, when Billy isn't at home. I like +doing that. He's such a beauty." + +"Do you ever ride him?" asked Eustace. + +She shook her head. "No. I'd love to, of course, but there's never any +time. I can't spend as long as I like over grooming him because there are +so many other things. But he generally looks very nice," she spoke with +pride; "quite as nice as any of the de Vignes's horses." + +"You must have a very busy time of it," said Scott. + +"Yes." Dinah's bright face clouded a little. "I often wish I had more +time for other things; but it's no good wishing. Anyway, I've had my time +out here, and I shall never forget it." + +"You must come out again with us," said Isabel. + +Dinah beamed. "Oh, how I should love it!" she said. "But--" her face fell +again--"I don't believe mother will ever spare me a second time." + +"All right. I'll run away with you in the yacht," said Eustace. "Come for +a trip in the summer!" + +She looked at him with shining eyes. "It's not a bit of good thinking +about it," she said. "But oh, how lovely it would be!" + +He laughed, looking at her with that gleam in his eyes that she had come +to know as exclusively her own. "Where there's a will, there's a way," he +said. "If you have the will, you can leave the way to me." + +She drew a quick breath. Her heart was beating rather fast. "All right," +she said. "I'll come." + +"Is it a promise?" said Eustace. + +She shook her head instantly. "No. I never make promises. They have a way +of spoiling things so." + +"Exactly my own idea," he said. "Never turn a pleasure into a duty, or it +becomes a burden at once. Well, I must go and make myself pretty for this +evening's show. If I'm very bored, I shall come and sit out with you." + +"Not to-night," said Isabel with quick decision. "Dinah is going to bed +very soon." + +"Really?" He stood by Dinah's couch, looking down at her with his faint +supercilious smile. "Do you submit to that sort of tyranny?" he said. + +She held up her hand to him. "It isn't tyranny. It is the very dearest +kindness in the world. Don't you know the difference?" + +He held the little, confiding hand a moment or two, and she felt his +fingers close around it with a strength that seemed as if it encompassed +her very soul. "There are two ways of looking at everything," he said. +"But I shouldn't be too docile if I were you; not, that is, if you want +to get any fun out of life. Remember, life is short." + +He let her go with the words, straightened himself to his full, splendid +height, and sauntered with regal arrogance to the door. + +"I want you, Stumpy," he said, in passing. "There are one or two letters +for you to deal with. You can come to my room while I dress." + +"In that case, I had better say good night too," said Scott, rising. + +"Oh no," said Dinah, with her quick smile. "You can come in and say good +night to me afterwards--when I'm in bed. Can't he, Isabel?" + +She had fallen into the habit of calling Isabel by her Christian name +from hearing Scott use it. It had begun almost in delirium, and now it +came so naturally that she never dreamed of reverting to the more formal +mode of address. + +Scott smiled in his quiet fashion, and turned to join his brother. "I +will with pleasure," he said. + +Eustace threw a mocking glance backwards. "It seems that philosophers +rush in where mere ordinary males fear to tread," he observed. "Stumpy, +allow me to congratulate you on your privileges!" + +"Thanks, old chap!" Scott made answer in his tired voice. "But there is +no occasion for the ordinary male to envy me my compensations." + +"What did he mean by that?" said Dinah, as the door closed. + +Isabel moved to her side and sat down on the edge of the couch. "Scott is +very lonely, little one," she said. + +"Is he?" said Dinah, wonderingly. "But--surely he must have lots of +friends. He's such a dear." + +Isabel smiled at her rather sadly. "Yes, everyone who knows him thinks +that." + +"Everyone must love him," protested Dinah. "Who could help it?" + +"I wonder," said Isabel slowly, "if he will ever meet anyone who will +love him best of all." + +Dinah was suddenly conscious of a rush of blood to her face. She knew not +wherefore, but she felt it beat in her temples and sing in her ears. "Oh, +surely--surely!" she stammered in confusion. + +Isabel looked beyond her. "You know, Dinah," she said, her voice very +low, "Scott is a man with an almost infinite greatness of soul. I don't +know if you realize it. I have thought sometimes that you did. But there +are very few--very few--who do." + +"I know he is great," whispered Dinah. "I told him so almost--almost the +first time I saw him." + +Isabel's smile was very tender. She stooped and gathered Dinah to her +bosom. "Oh, my dear," she murmured, "never prefer the tinsel to the true +gold! He is far, far the greatest man I know. And you--you will never +meet a greater." + +Dinah clung to her in quick responsiveness. Her strange agitation was +subsiding, but she could feel the blood yet pulsing in her veins. "I know +it," she whispered. "I am sure of it. He is very much to you, dear, isn't +he?" + +"For years he has been my all," Isabel said. "Listen a moment! I will +tell you something. In the first dreadful days of my illness, I was crazy +with trouble, and--and they bound me to keep me from violence. I have +never forgotten it. I never shall. Then--he came. He was very young at +that time, only twenty-three. He had his life before him, and mine--mine +was practically over. Yet he gave up everything--everything for my sake. +He took command; he banished all the horrible people who had taken +possession of me. He gave me freedom, and he set himself to safe-guard +me. He brought me home. He was with me night and day, or if not actually +with me, within call. He and Biddy between them brought me back. They +watched me, nursed me, cared for me. Whenever my trouble was greater than +I could bear, he was always there to help me. He never left me; and +gradually he became so necessary to me that I couldn't contemplate life +without him. I have been terribly selfish." A low sob checked her +utterance for a moment, and Dinah's young arms tightened. "I let my grief +take hold of me to the exclusion of everything else. I didn't see--I +didn't realize--the sacrifice he was making. For years I took it all as a +right, living in my fog of misery and blind to all beside. But now--now +at last--thanks to you, little one, whom I nearly killed--my eyes are +open once more. The fog has rolled away. No, I can never be happy. I am +of those who wait. But I will never again, God helping me, deprive others +of happiness. Scott shall live his own life now. His devotion to me must +come to an end. My greatest wish in life now is that he may meet a woman +worthy of him, who will love him as he deserves to be loved, before I +climb the peaks of Paradise and find my beloved in the dawning." Isabel's +voice sank. She pressed Dinah close against her heart. "It will not be +long," she whispered. "I have had a message that there is no mistaking, I +know it will not be long. But oh, darling, I do want to see him happy +first." + +Dinah was crying softly. She could find no words to utter. + +So for awhile they clung together, the woman who had suffered and come at +last through bitter tribulation into peace, and the child whose feet yet +halted on the threshold of the enchanted country that the other had long +since traversed and left behind. + +Nothing further passed between them. Isabel had said her say, and for +some reason Dinah was powerless to speak. She could think of no words to +utter, and deep in her heart she was half afraid to break the silence. +That sudden agitation of hers had left her oddly confused and +embarrassed. She shrank from pursuing the matter further. + +Yet for a long time that night she lay awake pondering, wondering. +Certainly Scott was different from all other men, totally, undeniably +different. He seemed to dwell on a different plane. She could not grasp +what it was about him that set him thus apart. But what Isabel had said +showed her very clearly that the spirit that dwelt behind that unimposing +exterior was a force that counted, and could hold its own against odds. + +She slept at last with the thought of him still present in her mind. And +in her dreams the vision of Greatheart in his shining armour came to her +again, filling her with a happiness which even sleeping she did not dare +to analyse, scarcely to contemplate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE CALL OF APOLLO + + +Dinah's strength came back to her in leaps and bounds, and three weeks +after the de Vignes's departure she was almost herself again. The season +was drawing to a close. The holidays were over, and English people were +turning homeward. Very reluctantly Isabel had to admit that her charge +was well enough for the journey back. Mrs. Bathurst wrote in an insistent +strain, urging that the time had come for her to return, and no further +excuse could be invented for keeping her longer. + +They decided to return themselves and take Dinah to her home, Isabel +having determined to make the acquaintance of the redoubtable Mrs. +Bathurst, and persuade her to spare her darling to them again in the +summer. The coming parting was hard to face, so hard that Dinah could not +bear to speak of it. She shed a good many tears in private, as Isabel was +well aware; but she never willingly made any reference to the ordeal she +so dreaded. + +The only time she voluntarily broached the subject was when she entreated +to be allowed to go down to the last dance that was to be held in the +hotel. It chanced that this was fixed for the night before their own +departure, and Isabel demurred somewhat; for though Dinah had shaken +off most of her invalid habits, she was still far from robust. + +"You will be so tired in the morning, darling," she protested gently, +while Dinah knelt beside her, earnestly pleading. "You will get that +tiresome side-ache, and you won't be fit to travel." + +"I shall--I shall," Dinah assured her. "Oh, please, dear, just this +once--just this once--let me have this one more fling! I shall never have +another chance. I'm sure I never shall." + +Isabel's hand stroked the soft dark hair caressingly. She saw that Dinah +was very near to tears. "I don't believe I ought to say Yes, dear child," +she said. "You know I hate to deny you anything. But if it were to do you +harm, I should never forgive myself." + +"It couldn't! It shan't!" declared Dinah, almost incoherent in her +vehemence. "It isn't as if I wanted to dance every dance. I'd come and +sit out with you in between. And if I got tired, you could take me away. +I would go directly if you said so. Really I would." + +She was hard to resist, kneeling there with her arms about Isabel and her +bright eyes lifted. Isabel took the sweet face between her hands and +kissed it. + +"Let me ask Scott what he thinks!" she said. "I want to give in to you, +Dinah darling, but it's against my judgment. If it is against his +judgment too, will you be content to give it up?" + +"Oh, of course," said Dinah instantly. She was confident that Scott--that +kind and gentle friend of hers--would deny her nothing. It seemed almost +superfluous to ask him. + +The words had scarcely left her lips when his quiet knock came at the +sitting-room door, and he entered. + +She looked round at him with a smile of quick welcome. "I'll give it up +in a minute if he says so," she said. + +Isabel turned in her chair. "Come here, Stumpy!" she said. "We want your +advice. We are talking about the dance to-night. Dinah has set her heart +on going. Would it--do you think it would--do her any harm?" + +Scott came up to them in his halting way. He looked at Dinah pressed +close to his sister's side, and his smile was very kindly as he said, +"Poor little Cinderella! It's hard lines; but, you know, the doctor's +last words to you were a warning against over-exerting yourself." + +"But I shouldn't," she assured him eagerly. "Really, truly, I shouldn't! +I walked all the way to the village with you yesterday, and wasn't a bit +tired--or hardly a bit--when I got back." + +"You looked jaded to death," he said. + +"I am afraid it is thumbs down," said Isabel, a touch of regret in her +voice. + +"Oh no,--no!" entreated Dinah. "Mr. Studley, please--please say I may go! +I promise I won't dance too much. I promise I'll stop directly I'm +tired." + +"My dear child," Scott said, "it would be sheer madness for you to +attempt to dance at all. Isabel," he turned to his sister with most +unusual sharpness, "how can you tantalize her in this way? Say No at +once! You know perfectly well she isn't fit for it." + +Isabel made no attempt to argue the point. "You hear, Dinah?" she said. + +A quick throb of anger went through Dinah. She disengaged herself +quickly, and stood up. "Mr. Studley," she said in a voice that quivered, +"it's not right--it's not fair! How can you know what is good for me? And +even if you did, what--what right--" She broke off, trembling and holding +to Isabel's chair to steady herself. + +Scott's eyes, very level, very kind, were looking straight at her in a +fashion that checked the hot words on her lips. "My child, no right +whatever," he said. "I have no more power to control your actions than +the man in the moon. But if you want my approval to your scheme, I can't +give it you. I don't approve, and because I don't, I tell Isabel that she +ought to refuse to carry it through. I have no right to control her +either, but I think my opinion means something to her. I hope it does at +least." + +He looked at Isabel, but she said nothing. Only she put her arm about +Dinah as she stood. + +There followed a few moments of very difficult silence; then abruptly the +mutiny went out of Dinah's face and attitude. + +"I'm horrid," she said, in a voice half-choked. "Forgive me! You--you +shouldn't spoil me so." + +"Oh, don't, please!" said Scott. "I am infernally sorry. I know what it +means to you." + +He took out his cigarette-case and turned away with a touch of +embarrassment. She saw that for some reason he was moved. + +Impulsively she left Isabel and came to him. "Don't think any more about +it!" she said. "I'll go to bed and be good." + +"You always are," said Scott, faintly smiling. + +"No, no, I'm not! What a fib! You know I'm not. But I'm going to be good +this time--so that you shall have something nice to remember me by." +Dinah's voice quivered still, but she managed to smile. + +He gave her a quick look. "You will always be the pleasantest memory I +have," he said. + +The words were quietly spoken, so quietly that they sounded almost +matter-of-fact. But Dinah flushed with pleasure, detecting the sincerity +in his voice. + +"It's very nice of you to say that," she said, "especially as I deserve +it so little. Thank you, Mr.--Scott!" She uttered the name timidly. She +had never ventured to use it before. + +He held out his hand to her. "Oh, drop the prefix!" he said. "Call me +Stumpy like the rest of the world!" + +But Dinah shook her head with vehemence. There were tears standing in her +eyes, but she smiled through them. "I will not call you Stumpy!" she +declared. "It doesn't suit you a bit. I never even think of you by that +name. It--it is perfectly ludicrous applied to you!" + +"Some people think I am ludicrous," observed Scott. + +His hand grasped hers firmly for a moment, and let it go. The steadfast +friendliness in his eyes shone out like a beacon. And there came to Dinah +a swift sense of great and uplifting pride at the thought that she +numbered this man among her friends. + +The moment passed, but the warmth at her heart remained. She went back to +Isabel, and slipped down into the shelter of her arm, feeling oddly shy +and also inexplicably happy. Her disappointment had shrunk to a +negligible quantity. She even wondered at herself for having cared so +greatly about so trifling a matter. + +There came the firm tread of a man's feet outside the door, and it swung +open. Eustace entered with his air of high confidence. + +"Ah, Stumpy, there you are! I want you. Well, Miss Bathurst, what about +to-night?" + +She faced him bravely from Isabel's side. "I've promised to go to bed +early, as usual," she said. + +"What? You're not dancing?" She saw his ready frown. "Well, you will come +and look on anyway. Isabel, you must show for once." + +He spoke imperiously. Isabel looked up. "I am sorry, Eustace. It is out +of the question," she said coldly. "Both Dinah and I are retiring early +in preparation for to-morrow." + +He bit his lip. "This is too bad. Miss Bathurst, don't you want to come +down? It's for the last time." + +Dinah hesitated, and Scott came quietly to her rescue. + +"She is being prudent against her own inclination, old chap. Don't make +it hard for her!" + +"What a confounded shame!" said Eustace. + +"No, no, it isn't!" said Dinah. "It is quite right. I am not going to +think any more about it." + +He laughed with a touch of mockery. "Which means you will probably think +about it all night. Well, you will have the reward of virtue anyhow, +which ought to be very satisfying. Come along, Stumpy! I want you to +catch the post." + +He bore his brother off with him, and Dinah went rather wistfully to help +Biddy pack. She had done right, she knew; but it was difficult to stifle +the regret in her heart. She had so longed for that one last dance, and +it seemed to her that she had treated Sir Eustace somewhat shabbily also. +She was sure that he was displeased, and the thought of it troubled her. +For she had almost promised him that last dance. + +"Arrah thin, Miss Dinah dear, don't ye look so sad at all!" counselled +Biddy. "Good times pass, but there's always good times to come while +ye're young. And it's the bonny face ye've got on ye. Sure, there'll be a +fine wedding one of these days. There's a prince looking for ye, or me +name's not Biddy Maloney." + +Dinah tried to smile, but her heart was heavy. She could not share +Biddy's cheery belief in the good times to come, and she was quite sure +that no prince would ever come her way. + +Sir Eustace--that king among men--might think of her sometimes, but not +seriously, oh no, not seriously. He had so many other interests. It was +only her dancing that drew him, and he would never have another +opportunity of enjoying that. + +She rested in the afternoon at Isabel's desire, but she did not sleep. +Some teasing sprite had set a waltz refrain running in her brain, and it +haunted her perpetually. She went down to the vestibule with Isabel for +tea, and here Scott joined them; but Sir Eustace did not put in an +appearance. In their company she sought to be cheerful, and in a measure +succeeded; but the thought of the morrow pressed upon her. In another +brief twenty-four hours this place where she had first known the wonder +and the glory of life would know her no more. In two days she would be +back in the old bondage, chained once more to the oar, with the dread of +her mother ever present in her heart, however fair the world might be. + +She could keep her depression more or less at bay in the presence of her +friends, but when later she went to her room to prepare for dinner +something like desperation seized her. How was she going to bear it? One +last wild fling would have helped her, but this inaction made things +infinitely worse, made things intolerable. + +While she dressed, she waged a fierce struggle against her tears. She +knew that Isabel would be greatly distressed should she detect them, and +to hurt Isabel seemed to her the acme of selfish cruelty. She would not +give way! She would not! + +And then--suddenly she heard a step in the corridor, and her heart leapt. +Well she knew that careless, confident tread! But what was he doing +there? Why had he come to her door? + +With bated breath she stood and listened. Yes, he had paused. In a moment +she heard a rustle on the floor. A screw of paper appeared under the door +as though blown in by a wandering wind. Then the careless feet retreated +again, and she thought she heard him whistling below his breath. + +Eagerly she swooped forward and snatched up the note. Her hands shook so +that she could scarcely open it. Trembling, she stood under the light to +read it. + +It was headed in a bold hand: "To Daphne." And below in much smaller +writing she read: "Come to the top of the stairs when the band plays +_Simple Aveu_, and leave the rest to me. + +"APOLLO." + +A wild thrill went through her. But could she? Dared she? Had she not +practically promised Isabel that she would go to bed? + +Yet how could she go, and leave this direct invitation, which was almost +a command, unanswered? And it was only one dance--only one dance! Would +it be so very wrong to snatch just that one? + +The thought of Scott came to her and the look of sincerity in his eyes +when he had told her that she would always be the pleasantest memory he +had. But she thrust it from her almost fiercely. Ah no, no, no! She could +not let him deprive her thus of this one last gaiety. Apollo had called +her. It only remained for her to obey. + +She dressed in a fever of excitement, and hid the note--that precious +note--in her bosom. She would meet him at dinner, and he would look for +an answer. How should she convey it? And oh, what answer should she give? + +Looking back afterwards, it seemed to her that Fate had pressed her hard +that night,--so hard that resistance was impossible. When she was dressed +in the almost childishly simple muslin she looked herself in the eyes and +fancied that there was something in her face that she had never seen +there before. It was something that pleased her immensely giving her a +strangely new self-confidence. She did not wot that it was the charm of +her coming womanhood that had burst into sudden flower. + +At the last moment she cast all her scruples away from her, and snatched +up a slip of paper. + +"I will be there. Daphne," were the words she wrote, and though her +conscience smote her as she did it, she stifled it fiercely. Had she not +promised him that one dance long ago? + +She met him at dinner with a face of smiling unconcern. The new force +within had imbued her with a wondrous strength. She exulted in the +thought of her power over him, transient though she knew it to be. Deep +down in her heart she was afraid, yet was she wildly daring. It was her +last night, and she was utterly reckless. + +She left her note in his hand with the utmost coolness when she bade him +good night in the vestibule. She bade good night to Scott also, but she +met his eyes for no more than a second; and then she had to stifle afresh +the sharp pang at her heart. + +She went away up the stairs with Isabel, leaving them smoking over their +coffee, leaving also the dreamy strains of the band, the gay laughter and +movement of the happy crowd that drifted towards the ballroom. + +Isabel accompanied her to her room. "You are a dear, good child," she +said tenderly, as she held her for a last kiss. "I shall never forget how +sweetly you gave up the thing you wanted so much." + +Dinah clung to her fast for a moment or two, and her hold was passionate. +"Oh, don't praise me for that!" she whispered into Isabel's neck. "I am +not good at all. I am very bad." + +She almost tore herself free a second later, and Isabel, divining that +any further demonstration from her would cause a breakdown, bade her a +loving good night and went away. + +Dinah stood awhile struggling for self-control. She had been perilously +near to baring her soul to Isabel in those moments of tenderness. Even +now the impulse urged her to run after her and tell her of the temptation +to which she was yielding. She forced it down with clenched hands, +telling herself over and over that it was her last chance, her last +chance, and she must not lose it. And so at length it passed; and with it +passed also the pricks of conscience that had so troubled her. She +emerged from the brief struggle with a sense of mad triumph. The spirit +of adventure had entered into her, and she no longer paused to count the +cost. + +"I expect I shall be sorry in the morning," she said to herself. "But +to-night--oh, to-night--nothing matters except Apollo!" + +She whisked to the door and set it ajar. The dance-music drew her, drew +her, like the voice of a siren. For that one night she would live again. +She would feel his arm about her and the magic in her brain. Already her +feet yearned to the alluring rhythm. She leaned against the door-post, +and gave herself up to her dream. Yet once more the wine of the gods was +held to her lips. She would drink deeply, deeply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE GOLDEN MAZE + + +Softly the strains of _Simple Aveu_ floated along the corridor. It came +like fairy music, now near, now far, haunting as a dream, woven through +and through with the gold of Romance. + +Someone was coming along the passage with the easy swing of the born +dancer, and pressed against her door-post in the shadows, another born +dancer awaited him with a wildly throbbing heart. + +The die was cast, and there was no going back. She heard the deep voice +humming the magic melody as he came. In a moment the superb figure came +into sight, moving with that royal ease of carriage so characteristic and +so wonderful. + +He drew near. He spied the small white figure lurking in the dimness. +With a low laugh he opened his arms to her. + +And then there came to Dinah, not for the first time, a strange, wholly +indefinable misgiving. It was a warning so insistent that she suddenly +and swiftly drew back, as if she would flee into the room behind her. + +But he was too quick for her. He caught her on the threshold. "Oh no, +no!" he laughed. "That's not playing the game." He drew her to him, +holding her two wrists. "Daphne! Daphne!" he said. "Still running away? +Do you call that fair?" + +She did not resist him, for the moment she felt his touch she knew +herself a captive. The magic force of his personality had caught her; but +she did not give herself wholly to him. She stood and palpitated in his +hold, her head bent low. + +"I--I'm not running away," she told him breathlessly. "I was just--just +coming. But--but--shan't we be seen? Your brother--" + +"What?" He was stooping over her; she felt his breath upon her neck. "Oh, +Scott! Surely you're not afraid of Scott, are you? You needn't be. I've +sent him off to write some letters. He'll be occupied for an hour at +least. Come! Come! You promised. And we're wasting time." + +There was a subtle caressing note in his voice. It thrilled her as she +stood, and ever the soft music drifted on around them, pulsing with a +sweetness almost too intense to be borne. + +He held her with the hold of a conqueror. She was quivering from head to +foot, but all desire to free herself was gone. Still she would not raise +her face. + +Panting, she spoke. "Yes, we--we are wasting time. Let us go!" + +He laughed above her head--a low laugh of absolute assurance. "Are you +too shy to look at me,--Daphne?" + +She laughed also very tremulously. "I think I am--just at present. Let us +dance first anyway! Must we go down to the salon? Couldn't we dance in +the corridor?" + +His arm was round her. He led her down the passage. "No, no! We will go +down. And afterwards--" + +"Afterwards," she broke in breathlessly, "we will just peep at the +moonlight on the mountains, and then I must come back." + +"I will show you something better than the moonlight on the mountains," +said Sir Eustace. + +She did not ask him what he meant, though her whole being was strung to a +tense expectancy. He had brought her once more to the heights of Olympus, +and each moment was full of a vivid life that had to be lived to the +utmost. She lacked the strength to look forward; the present was too +overwhelming. It was almost more than she could bear. + +They reached the head of the stairs. His arm tightened about her. She +descended as though upon wings. Passing through the vestibule, her feet +did not seem to touch the ground. And then like a golden maze the +ballroom received them. + +Before she knew it, they were among the dancers and the magic of her +dream had merged into reality. She closed her eyes, for the glare of +light and moving figures dazzled her, and gave herself up to the rapture +of that one splendid dance. Her heart was beating wildly, as though it +would choke her. A curious thirst that yet was part of her delight made +her throat burn. A weakness that exulted in the man's supporting strength +held her bound and entranced by such an ecstasy as she had never known +before. She laughed, a gurgling laugh through panting lips. She wondered +whether he realized that she was floating through the air, held up by his +arm alone above the glitter and the turmoil all around them. She wondered +too how soon they would find their way to the heart of that golden maze, +and what nameless treasure awaited them there. For that treasure was for +them, and them alone, she never doubted. It was the gift of the gods, +bestowed upon no others in all that merry crowd. + +The magic deepened and grew within her. She felt that the climax was +drawing near. He would not dance to a finish, she knew, and already the +music was quickening. She was too giddy, too spent had she but known it, +to open her eyes. Only by instinct did she know that he was bearing her, +sure and swift as a swallow, to the curtained recess whither he had led +her twice before. This, she told herself, this was the heart of the maze. +All things began and ended here. Her lips quivered and tingled. She would +never escape him now. He had her firmly in the net. Nor did she seriously +want to escape. Only she felt desperately afraid of him. His strength, +his determination, above all, his silence, sent tumultuous fear throbbing +through her heart. And when at length the pause came, when she knew that +they were alone in the gloom with the music dying away behind them, a +last wild dread that was almost anguish made her hide her face deep, deep +in his arm while her body hung powerless in his embrace. + +He laughed a little--a laugh that thrilled her with its exultation, its +passion. And then, whether she would or not, he turned her face upwards +to meet his own. + +His kisses descended upon her hotly, suffocatingly. He held her pressed +to him in such a grip as seemed to drive all the breath out of her +quivering frame. His lips were like a fierce flame on face and neck--a +flame that grew in intensity, possessing her, consuming her. The mastery +of his hold was utterly irresistible. + +She gasped and gasped for breath as one suddenly plunged in deep waters. +His violence appalled her, well-nigh quenching her rapture. She was more +terrified in those moments than she had ever been before. She almost felt +as if the godlike being she had so humbly adored from afar had turned +upon her with the demand for human sacrifice. Those devouring kisses sent +unimagined apprehensions through her heart. They seemed to satisfy him so +little while they sapped from her every atom of vitality, leaving her +helpless as an infant, her body drawn to his as a needle to the magnet, +not of her own volition, but simply by his strength. And ever the fire of +his passion grew hotter till she felt as one bound on the edge of a +mighty furnace which scorched her mercilessly from head to foot. + +She was near to fainting when she felt his arms relax, and suddenly above +her upturned face she heard his voice, low and deep, like the growl of an +angry beast. + +"What have you come here for? Go! You're not wanted." + +In a flash she realized that they were no longer alone. She would have +disengaged herself, but she was too weak to stand. She could only cling +feebly to the supporting arm. + +In that moment a great wave of humiliation burst over her, sweeping away +her last foothold. For without turning she knew who it was who stood +behind her; she knew to whom those furious words had been addressed. + +Before her inner sight with overwhelming vividness there arose a +vision--the vision of Greatheart in his shining armour with a drawn sword +in his hand; and in his eyes--But no, she could not look into his eyes. + +She hid her face instead, burning and quivering still from the touch of +those passionate lips, hid it low against her lover's breast, too shamed +even for speech. + +There came a movement, the halting movement of a lame man, and she heard +Scott's voice. It pierced her intolerably, perfectly gentle though it +was. + +"I am sorry to intrude," he said. "But Isabel begged me to come and look +for--Dinah." His pause before the name was scarcely perceptible, but that +also pierced her through and through. "I don't think she is quite equal +to this." + +Sir Eustace uttered his faint, contemptuous laugh. "You hear, Dinah?" he +said. "This gallant knight has come to your rescue. Look up and tell him +if you want to be rescued!" + +But she could not look up. She could, only cling to him in voiceless +abasement. There was a brief silence, and then she felt his hand upon her +head. He spoke again, the sneering note gone from his voice though it +still held a faint inflection of sardonic humour. + +"You needn't be anxious, most worthy Scott. Leave her to me for five +minutes, and I will undertake to return her to Isabel in good condition! +You're not wanted for the moment, man. Can't you see it?" + +That moved Dinah. She lifted her head from its shelter, and found her +voice. + +"Oh, don't send him away:" she entreated. "He--he--it was very kind of +him to come and look for me." + +Eustace's hand caressed her dark hair for a moment. His eyes looked down, +into hers, and she saw that the glowing embers of his passion still +smouldered there. + +She caught her breath with a sob. "Tell him--not to go away!" she begged. + +He smiled a little, but electricity lingered in the pressure of his arm. +"I think it is time we broke up the meeting," he said. "You had better +run back to Isabel. If you wish to keep this episode a secret, Scott is, +I believe, gentleman enough to hold his peace." + +She was free, and very slowly she released herself. She turned round to +Scott, but still she could not--dared not--meet his eyes. + +Her limbs were trembling painfully. She felt weak and dizzy. Suddenly she +became aware of his hand held out to her, proffering silent assistance. + +Thankfully she accepted it, feeling it close firmly, reassuringly, upon +her own. "Shall we go upstairs?" he asked, in his quiet, matter-of-fact +way. "Isabel is a little anxious about you." + +"Oh yes," she whispered tremulously. "Let us go!" + +She tottered a little with the words, and he transferred his hold to her +elbow. He supported her steadily and sustainingly. + +Eustace stepped forward, and lifted the heavy curtain for them with a +mask-like ceremony. She glanced up at him as she went through. + +"Good night!" he said. + +Her lips quivered in response. + +He suddenly bent to her. "Good night!" he said again. + +There was imperious insistence in his voice. His eyes compelled. + +Mutely she responded to the mastery that would not be denied. She lifted +her trembling lips to his; and deliberately--in Scott's presence--he +kissed her. + +"Sleep well!" he said lightly. + +She returned his kiss, because she could not do otherwise. She felt as if +he had so merged her will into his that she was deprived of all power to +resist. + +But the hand that held her arm urged her with quiet strength. It led her +unfalteringly away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE LESSON + + +Ten minutes later Scott descended the stairs alone and returned to the +salon. + +A dance was in progress. He stood for a space in the doorway, watching. +Finally, having satisfied himself that his brother was not among the +dancers, he turned away. + +With his usual quietness of demeanour, he crossed the vestibule, and +looked into the smoking-room. Sir Eustace was not there either, and he +was closing the door again when the man himself came up the passage +behind him, and clapped a careless hand on his shoulder. + +"Are you looking for me, most doughty knight?" he asked. + +Scott turned so sharply that the hand fell. "Yes, I am looking for you," +he said, and his voice was unusually curt. "Come outside a minute, will +you? I want to speak to you." + +"I am not going outside," Sir Eustace said, with exasperating coolness. +"If you want to talk, you can come in here and smoke with me." + +"I must be alone with you," Scott said briefly. "There are two or three +men in there." + +His brother gave him a look of amused curiosity. "Do you want to do +something violent then? There's plenty of room for a quiet talk in there +without disturbing or being disturbed by anyone." + +But Scott stood his ground. "I must see you alone for a minute," he said +stubbornly. "You can come to my room, or I will come to yours,--whichever +you like." + +Sir Eustace shrugged his shoulders. "You are damned persistent. I don't +know that I am specially anxious to hear what you have to say. In any +case it can keep till the morning. I can't be bothered now." + +Scott's hand grasped his arm. A queer gleam shone in his pale eyes. +"Man," he said, "I think you had better hear me now." + +Eustace looked down at him, half-sneering, half-impressed. "What a mule +you are, Stumpy! Come along then if you must! But you had better mind how +you go. I'm in no mood for trifling." + +"Nor I," said Scott, with very unaccustomed bitterness. + +He kept his hand upon his brother's arm as they turned. He leaned +slightly upon him as they ascended the stairs. Eustace's room was the +first they reached, and they turned into that. + +Scott was very pale, but there was no lack of resolution about him as he +closed the door and faced the elder man. + +"Well, what is it?" Eustace demanded. + +"Just this." Very steadily Scott made answer. "I want to know how far +this matter has gone between you and Miss Bathurst. I want to know--what +you are going to do." + +"My intentions, eh?" Eustace's sneer became very pronounced as he put the +question. He pulled forward a chair and sat down with an arrogant air as +though to bring himself thus to Scott's level. + +Scott's eyes gleamed again momentarily at the action, but he stood like a +rock. "Yes, your intentions," he said briefly. + +Sir Eustace's black brows went up, he looked him up and down. "Can you +give me any reason at all why I should hold myself answerable to you?" he +asked. + +Scott's hands clenched as he stood. "I can," he said. "I regard Miss +Bathurst as very peculiarly our charge--under our protection. We are both +in a great measure responsible for her, though possibly--" he hesitated +slightly--"my responsibility is greater than yours, in so far as I take +it more seriously. I do not think that either of us is in a position to +make love to her under existing circumstances. But that, I admit, is +merely a matter of opinion. Most emphatically neither of us has the right +to trifle with her. I want to know--and I must know--are you trifling +with her, as you have trifled with Miss de Vigne for the past fortnight? +Or are you in earnest? Which?" + +He spoke sternly, as one delivering an ultimatum. His eyes, steel-bright +and unwavering, were fixed upon his brother's face. + +Sir Eustace made a sharp gesture, as of one who flings off some stinging +insect. "It is not particularly good form on your part to bring another +lady's name into the discussion," he said. "At least you have no +responsibilities so far as Miss de Vigne is concerned." + +"I admit that," Scott answered shortly. "Moreover, she is fully capable +of taking care of herself. But Miss Bathurst is not. She is a mere child +in many ways, but she takes things hard. If you are merely amusing +yourself at her expense--" He stopped. + +"Well?" Sir Eustace threw the question with sudden anger. His great, +lounging figure stiffened. A blue flame shot up in his eyes. + +Scott stood silent for a moment or two; then with a great effort he +unclenched his hands and came forward. "I am not going to believe that of +you unless you tell me it is so," he said. + +Sir Eustace reached out an unexpected hand without rising, and took him +by the shoulder. "You may be small of stature, Stumpy," he said, "but +you're the biggest fool I know. You're making mountains out of molehills, +and you'll get yourself into trouble if you're not careful." + +Scott looked at him. "Do you imagine I'm afraid of you, I wonder?" he +said, a faint tremor of irony in his quiet voice. + +Sir Eustace's hold tightened. His mouth was hard. "I imagine that I could +make things highly unpleasant for you if you provoked me too far," he +said. "And let me warn you, you have gone quite far enough in a matter in +which you have no concern whatever. I never have stood any interference +from you and I never will. Let that be understood--once for all!" + +He met Scott's look with eyes of smouldering wrath. There was more than +warning in his hold; it conveyed menace. + +Yet Scott, very pale, supremely dignified, made no motion to retreat. +"You have not answered me yet," he said. "I must have an answer." + +Sir Eustace's brows met in a thick and threatening line. "You will have +very much more than you bargain for if you persist," he said. + +"Meaning that I am to draw my own conclusions?" Scott asked, unmoved. + +The smouldering fire suddenly blazed into flame. He pulled Scott to him +with the movement of a giant, and bent him irresistibly downwards. "I +will show you what I mean," he said. + +Scott made a swift, instinctive effort to free himself, but the next +instant he was passive. Only as the relentless hands forced him lower he +spoke, his voice quick and breathless. + +"You can hammer me to your heart's content, but you'll get nothing out of +it. That sort of thing simply doesn't count--with me." + +Sir Eustace held him in a vice-like grip. "Are you going to take it lying +down then?" he questioned grimly. + +"I'm not going to fight you certainly." Scott's voice had a faint quiver +of humour in it, as though he jested at his own expense. "Not--that +is--in a physical sense. If you choose to resort to brute force, that's +your affair. And I fancy you'll be sorry afterwards. But it will make no +actual difference to me." He broke off, breathing short and hard, like a +man who struggles against odds yet with no thought of yielding. + +Sir Eustace held him a few seconds as if irresolute, then abruptly let +him go. "I believe you're right," he said. "You wouldn't care a damn. But +you're a fool to bait me all the same. Now clear out, and leave me alone +for the future!" + +"I haven't done with you yet," Scott said. He straightened himself, and +returned indomitably to the attack. "I asked you a question, and--so +far--you haven't answered it. Are you ashamed to answer it?" + +Sir Eustace got up with a movement of exasperation, but very oddly his +anger had died down. "Oh, confound you, Stumpy! You're worse than a swarm +of mosquitoes!" he said. "I dispute your right to ask that question. It +is no affair of yours." + +"I maintain that it is," Scott said quietly. "It matters to me--perhaps +more than you realize--whether you behave honourably or otherwise." + +"Honourably!" His brother caught him up sharply. "You're on dangerous +ground, I warn you," he said. "I won't stand that from you or any man." + +"I've no intention of insulting you," Scott answered. "But I must know +the truth. Are you hoping to marry Miss Bathurst, or are you not?" + +Sir Eustace drew himself up with a haughty gesture. "The time has not +come to talk of that," he said. + +"Not when you are deliberately making love to her?" Scott's voice +remained quiet, but the glitter was in his eyes again--a quivering, +ominous gleam. + +"Oh, that! My dear fellow, you are disquieting yourself in vain. She +knows as well as I do that that is a mere game." Eustace spoke +scoffingly, looking over his brother's head, ignoring his attitude. "I +assure you she is not so green as you imagine," he said. "It has been +nothing but a game all through." + +"Nothing but a game!" Scott repeated the words slowly as if incredulous. +"Do you actually mean that?" + +Sir Eustace laughed and took out his cigarettes. "What do you take me +for, you old duffer? Think I should commit myself at this stage? An old +hand like me! Not likely!" + +Scott stood up before him, white to the lips. "I take you for an infernal +blackguard, if you want to know!" he said, speaking with great +distinctness. "You may call yourself a man of honour. I call you a +scoundrel!" + +"What?" Eustace put back his cigarette-case with a smile that was oddly +like a snarl. "It looks to me as if you'll have to have that lesson after +all," he said. "What's the matter with you now-a-days? Fallen in love +yourself? Is that it?" + +He took Scott by the shoulders, not roughly, but with power. + +Scott's eyes met his like a sword in a master-hand. "The matter is," he +said, "that this precious game of yours has got to end. If you are not +man enough to end it--I will." + +"Will you indeed?" Eustace shook him to and fro as he stood, but still +without violence. "And how?" + +"I shall tell her," Scott spoke without the smallest hesitation, "the +exact truth. I shall tell her--and she will believe me--precisely what +you are." + +"Damn you!" said Sir Eustace. + +With the words he shifted his grasp, took Scott by the collar, and swung +him round. + +"Then you may also tell her," he said, his voice low and furious, "that +you have had the kicking that a little yapping cur like you deserves." + +He kicked him with the words, kicked him thrice, and flung him brutally +aside. + +Scott went down, grabbing vainly at the bed to save himself. His face was +deathly as he turned it, but he said nothing. He had said his say. + +Sir Eustace was white also, white and terrible, with eyes of flame. He +stood a moment, glaring down at him. Then, as though he could not trust +himself, wheeled and strode to the door. + +"And when you've done," he said, "you can come to me for another, you +beastly little cad!" + +He went, leaving the door wide behind him. His feet resounded along the +passage and died away. The distant waltz-music came softly in. And Scott +pulled himself painfully up and sat on the end of the bed, panting +heavily. + +Minutes passed ere he moved. Then at last very slowly he got up. He had +recovered his breath. His mouth was firm, his eyes resolute and +indomitable, his whole bearing composed, as with that dignity that Dinah +had so often remarked in him he limped to the door and passed out, +closing it quietly behind him. + +The dance-music was still floating through the passages with a mocking +allurement. The tramp of feet and laughter of many voices rose with it. A +flicker of irony passed over his drawn face. He straightened his collar +with absolute steadiness, and moved away in the direction of his own +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CAPTIVE + + +Isabel uttered no reproaches to her charge as, quivering with shame, she +returned from her escapade. She exchanged no more than a low "Good +night!" with Scott, and then turned back into the room with Dinah. But as +the latter stood before her, crest-fallen and humiliated, expecting a +reprimand, she only laid very gentle hands upon her and began to unfasten +her dress. + +"I wasn't spying upon you, dear child," she said. "I only looked in to +see if you would care for a cup of milk last thing." + +That broke Dinah utterly and overwhelmingly. In her contrition, she cast +herself literally at Isabel's feet. "Oh, what a beast I am! What a +beast!" she sobbed. "Will you ever forgive me? I shall never forgive +myself!" + +Isabel was very tender with her, checking her wild outburst with loving +words. She asked no question as to what had been happening, for which +forbearance Dinah's gratitude was great even though it served to +intensify her remorse. With all a mother's loving care she soothed her, +assuring her of complete forgiveness and understanding. + +"I did wild things in my own girlhood," she said. "I know what it means, +dear, when temptation comes." + +And so at last she calmed her agitation, and helped her to bed, waiting +upon her with the utmost gentleness, saying no word of blame or even of +admonition. + +Not till she had gone, did it dawn upon Dinah that this task had probably +been left to Scott, and with the thought a great dread of the morrow came +upon her. Though he had betrayed no hint of displeasure, she felt +convinced that she had incurred it; and all her new-born shyness in his +presence, returned upon her a thousandfold. She did not know how she +would face him when the morning came. + +He would not be angry she knew. He would not scold her like Colonel de +Vigne. But yet she shrank from the thought of his disappointment in her +as she had never before shrunk from the Colonel's rebuke. She was sure +that she had forfeited his good opinion for ever, and many and bitter +were the tears that she shed over her loss. + +Her thoughts of Eustace were of too confused a nature to be put into +coherent form. The moment they turned in his direction her brain became a +flashing whirl in which doubts, fears, and terrible ectasies ran wild +riot. She lay and trembled at the memory of his strength, exulting almost +in the same moment that he had stooped with such mastery to possess her. +His magnificence dazzled her, deprived her of all powers of rational +judgment. She only realized that she--and she alone--had been singled out +of the crowd for that fiery worship; and it seemed to her that she had +been created for that one splendid purpose. + +But always the memory of Scott shot her triumph through with a regret so +poignant as to deprive it of all lasting rapture. She had hurt him, she +had disappointed him; she did not know how she would ever look him in the +eyes again. + +Her sleep throughout that last night was broken and unrefreshing, and +ever the haunting strains of _Simple Aveu_ pulsed through her brain like +a low voice calling her perpetually, refusing to be stilled. Only one +night more and she would be back in her home; this glittering, Alpine +dream would be over, never to return. And again she turned on her pillow +and wept. It was so hard, so hard, to go back. + +In the morning she arose white-faced and weary, with dark shadows under +her eyes, and a head that throbbed tormentingly. She breakfasted with +Isabel in the latter's room, and was again deeply grateful to her friend +for forbearing to comment upon her subdued manner. She could not make any +pretence at cheerfulness that day, being in fact still so near to tears +that she could scarcely keep from breaking down. + +"Don't wait for me, dear!" Isabel said gently at length. "I see you are +not hungry. We are taking some provisions with us; perhaps you will feel +more like eating presently." + +Dinah escaped very thankfully and returned to her own room. + +Here she remained for awhile till more sure of herself; then Biddy came +in to finish her packing and she slipped away to avoid the old woman's +shrewd observation. She feared to go downstairs lest she should meet +Scott; but presently, as she hovered in the passage, she heard his +halting tread in the main corridor. + +He was evidently on his way to his sister's room, and seizing her +opportunity, she ran like a hare in the opposite direction and managed to +slip downstairs without adventure. + +She was not to escape unnoticed, however. The first person she +encountered in the vestibule came forward instantly at sight of her with +the promptitude of one who has been lying in wait. + +She recoiled with a gasp, but she could not run away. She was caught as +surely as she had been the night before. + +"Hullo!" smiled Sir Eustace, with extended hand. "Going out for a last +look round? May I come too?" + +She felt the dominance of his grip. It was coolly, imperially possessive. +To answer his request seemed superfluous, even bordering upon +presumption. It was obvious that he had every intention of accompanying +her. + +She gave a confused murmur of assent, and they passed through the +vestibule side by side. She was conscious of curious glances from several +strangers who were standing about, and Eustace exchanged a few words with +a species of regal condescension here and there as they went. And then +they were out in the pure sunlight of the mountains, alone for the last +time in their paradise of snow. + +Almost instinctively Dinah turned up the winding track. They had half an +hour before them, and she felt she could not bear to stand still. He +strolled beside her, idly smoking, not troubling to make conversation, +now as ever sublimely at his ease. + +The snow sparkled around them like a thousand gems Dinah's eyes were +burning and smarting with the brightness. And still that tender +waltz-music ran lilting through her brain, drifting as it were through +the mist of her unshed tears. + +Suddenly he spoke. They were nearing the pine-wood and quite alone. "Is +there anything the matter?" + +She choked down a great lump in her throat before she could speak in +answer. "No," she murmured then. "I--I am just--rather low about leaving; +that's all." + +"Quite all?" he said. + +His tone was so casual, so normal, that it seemed impossible now to think +of last night's happening save as an extravagant dream. She almost felt +for the moment as if she had imagined it all. And then he spoke again, +and she caught a subtle note of tenderness in his voice that brought +it all back upon her in an overwhelming rush. + +"That's really all, is it? You're not unhappy about anything else? Scott +hasn't been bullying you?" + +She gasped at the question. "Oh no! Oh no! He wouldn't! He couldn't! +I--haven't even seen him today." + +He received the information in silence; but in a moment or two he tossed +away his cigarette with the air of a man having come to an abrupt +resolution. + +"And so you're fretting about going home?" he said. + +She nodded mutely. The matter would not bear discussion. + +"Poor little Daphne!" he said. "It's been a good game, hasn't it?" + +She nodded again. "Just like the dreams that never come true," she +managed to say. + +"Would you like it to come true?" he asked her unexpectedly. + +She glanced up at him with a woeful little smile. "It's no good thinking +of that, is it?" she said. + +"I have an idea we could make it come true between us," he said. + +She shook her head. That brief glimpse of his intent eyes had sent a +sudden and overwhelming wave of shyness through her. She remembered again +the fiery holding of his arms, and was afraid. + +He paused in his walk and turned aside to the railing that bounded the +side of the track above the steep, pine-covered descent. "Wish hard +enough," he said, "and all dreams come true!" + +Dinah went with him as if compelled. She leaned against the railing, glad +of the support, while he sat down upon it. His attitude was supremely +easy and self-possessed. + +"Do you know, Daphne," he said, "I've taken a fancy to that particular +dream myself? Now I've caught you, I don't see myself letting you go +again." + +Her heart throbbed at his words. She bent her head, fixing her eyes upon +the rough wood upon which she leaned. + +"But it's no good, is it?" she said, almost below her breath. "I've just +got to go." + +He put his hand on her shoulder, and she was conscious afresh of the +electricity of his touch. She shrank a little--a very little; for she was +frightened, albeit curiously aware of a magnetism that drew her +irresistibly. + +"Yes, I suppose you've got to go," he said. "But--there's nothing to +prevent me following you, is there?" + +She quivered from head to foot. That hand upon her shoulder sent such a +tumult of emotions through her that she could not collect her thoughts in +any coherent order. "I--I don't know," she whispered, bending her head +still lower. "They--I don't know what they would say at home." + +"Your people?" His hand was drawing her now with an insistent pressure +that would not be denied. "They'd probably dance on their heads with +delight," he said, his tone one of slightly supercilious humour. "I +assure you I am considered something of a catch by a good many anxious +mammas." + +She started at that, started and straightened herself, lifting shy eyes +to his. "Oh, but we've only been--playing," she said rather uncertainly. +"Just--just pretending to flirt, that's all." + +He laughed, bending his handsome, imperious face to hers. "It's been a +fairly solid pretence, hasn't it?" he said. "But I'm proposing something +slightly different now. I'm offering you my hand--as well as my heart." + +Dinah was trembling all over. She gasped for breath, drawing back +slightly from the nearness of his lips. "Do you mean--you'd like--to +marry me?" she whispered tremulously, and hid her face on the instant; +for the bald words sounded preposterous. + +He laughed again, softly, half-mockingly, and drew her into his arms. +"Whatever made you think of that, my elf of the mountains? I'll vow it +came into your head first. Ah, you needn't hide your eyes from me. I know +you're mine--all mine. I've known it from the first--ever since you began +to run away. But I've caught you now. Haven't I? Haven't I?" + +She clung to him desperately. It seemed the only way; for she was for the +moment swept off her feet, terribly afraid of arousing that storm of +passion which had so overwhelmed her the night before. Instinct warned +her what to expect if she attempted to withdraw herself. Moreover, the +tumult of her feeling was such that she did not want to do so. She wanted +only to hide her head for a space, and be still. + +He pressed her close, still laughing at her shyness. "What a good thing +I'm not shy!" he said. "If I were, to-day would be the end of everything +instead of the beginning. Can't you bring yourself to look at your new +possession? Did you think you could laugh and run away for all time?" + +Then, as in muffled accents she besought him to be patient with her, he +softened magically and for the first time spoke of love. + +"Don't you know you have wrenched the very heart out of me, you little +brown witch? I loved you from the very first moment of our dance +together. You've been too much for me all through. I had to have you. I +simply had to have you." + +She trembled afresh at his words, but she clung closer. If the fear +deepened, so also did the fascination. She tried to picture him as +hers--hers, and failed. He was so fine, so splendid, so much too big for +her. + +He went on, dropping his voice lower, his breath warm upon her neck. "Are +you going to take all and give--nothing, Daphne? Did they make you +without a heart, I wonder? Like a robin that mates afresh a dozen times +in a season? Haven't you anything to give me, little sweetheart? Are you +going to keep me waiting for a long, long time, and then send me empty +away?" + +That moved her. That he should stoop to plead with her seemed so amazing, +almost a fabulous state of affairs. + +With a little sob, she lifted her face at last. "Oh, Apollo!" she said +brokenly. "Apollo the magnificent! I am all yours--all yours! But +don't--don't take too much--at a time!" + +The plea must have touched him, accompanied as it was by that full +surrender. He held her a moment, looking down into her eyes with the +fiery possessiveness subdued to a half-veiled tenderness in his own. + +Then, very gently, even with reverence, he bent his face to hers. "Give +me--just what you can spare, then, little sweetheart!" he said. "I can +always come again for more now." + +She slipped her arms around his neck, and shyly, childishly, she kissed +the lips that had devoured her own so mercilessly the night before. + +"Yes--yes, I will always give you more!" she said tremulously. + +He took her face between his hands and kissed her in return, not +violently, but with confidence. "That seals you for my very own," he +said. "You will never run away from me again?" + +But she would not promise that. The memory of the previous night still +scorched her intolerably whenever her thoughts turned that way. + +"I shan't want to run away if--if you stay as you are now," she told him +confusedly. + +He laughed in his easy way. "Oh, Daphne, I shall have a lot to teach you +when we are married. How soon do you think you can be ready?" + +She started in his hold at the question, and then quickly gave herself +fully back to him again. "I don't know a bit. You'll have to ask mother. +P'raps--she may not allow it at all." + +"Ho! Won't she?" said Sir Eustace. "I think I know better. What about +that trip on the yacht in July? Can you be ready in time for that?" + +"Oh, I expect I could be ready sooner than that," said Dinah naively. + +"You could?" He smiled upon her. "Well, next week then! What do you say +to next week?" + +But she shrank again at that. "Oh no! Not possibly! Not possibly! +You--you're laughing!" She looked at him accusingly. + +He caught her to him. "You baby! You innocent! Yes, I'm going to kiss +you. Where will you have it? Just anywhere?" + +He held her and kissed her, still laughing, yet with a heat that made her +flinch involuntarily; kissed the pointed chin and quivering lips, the +swift-shut eyes and soft cheeks, the little, trembling dimple that came +and went. + +"Yes, you are mine--all mine," he said. "Remember, I have a right to you +now that no one else has. Not all the mammas in the world could come +between us now." + +She laughed, half-exultantly, half-dubiously, peeping at him through her +lowered lashes. "I wonder if you'll still say that when--when you've +seen--my mother," she murmured. + +He kissed her again, kissed anew the dimples that showed and vanished so +alluringly. "You will see presently, my Daphne," he said. "But I'm going +to have you, you know. That's quite understood, isn't it?" + +"Yes," whispered Dinah, with docility. + +"No more running away," he insisted. "That's past and done with." + +She gave him a fleeting smile. "I couldn't if--if I wanted to." + +"I'm glad you realize that," he said. + +She clung to him suddenly with a little movement that was almost +convulsive. "Oh, are you sure--quite sure--that you wouldn't rather marry +Rose de Vigne?" + +He uttered his careless laugh. "My dear child, there are plenty of +Roses in the world. There is only one--Daphne--Daphne, the fleet of +foot--Daphne, the enchantress!" + +She clung to him a little faster. "And there is only one Apollo," she +murmured. "Apollo the magnificent!" + +"We seem to be quite a unique couple," laughed Eustace, with his lips +upon her hair. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE SECOND SUMMONS + + +When they went down the hill again to the hotel, Dinah felt as if she +were treading on air. The whole world had magically changed for her. +Fears still lurked in the background, such fears as she did not dare to +turn and contemplate; but she herself had stepped into such a blaze of +sunshine that she felt literally bathed from head to foot in the glow. + +Her dread of returning to the old home-life had dwindled to a mere +shadow. Sir Eustace's absolute confidence on the subject of his +desirability as a husband had accomplished this. There would be paens of +rejoicing, he told her, and she had actually begun to think that he spoke +the truth. She was quite convinced that her mother would be pleased. It +was Cinderella and the prince indeed. Who could be otherwise? + +Her escapade of the night before had also shrunk to a matter of small +importance. Eustace in his grand, easy way had justified her, and she was +no longer tormented by the thought of the mute reproach she would +encounter in Scott's eyes. She was triumphantly vindicated, and no one +would dream of reproaching her now. Isabel too--surely Isabel would be +glad, would welcome her as a sister, though the realization of this +nearness of relationship made her blush in sheer horror at her +presumption. + +She to be Lady Studley! She--little, insignificant, moneyless Dinah! The +thought of Rose's soft patronage flashed through her brain, and she +chuckled aloud. Poor dear Rose, waiting for him at the Court, expecting +every day to hear of his promised advent! What a shock for them all! Why, +she would rank with the County now! Even Lady Grace would scarcely be in +a position to patronize her! Again, quite involuntarily, she chuckled. + +"What's the joke?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +She blushed very deeply, realizing that she had allowed her thoughts to +run away with her. + +"There isn't a joke really," she told him. "It wasn't important anyhow. I +was only thinking how--how surprised the de Vignes would be." + +He frowned momentarily; then he laughed. "Proud of your conquest, eh?" he +asked. + +She blushed still more deeply. "It's easy to laugh now, but I shall never +dare to face them," she murmured. + +He took her hand as they walked, linking his fingers in hers with a +careless air of possession. "When you are Lady Studley," he said, "I +shall not allow you to knock under to anyone--except your husband." + +She gave a faint laugh. "I--shall have to learn to swagger," she said. +"But I'm afraid I shall never do it as well as you do." + +"What? Swagger?" He frowned again. "How dare you accuse me of that?" + +"Oh, I didn't! I don't!" Hastily she sought to avert his displeasure. +"No, no! I only meant that you were born to it. I'm not. I--I'm very +ordinary; not nearly good enough for you." + +His frown melted again. "You are--Daphne," he said. "Ah! Here is Scott, +coming to look for us! Who is going to break the news to him?" + +She made a small, ineffectual attempt to release her hand. Then, under +her breath, "He--saw you kiss me last night," she whispered. "Don't you +think he may have guessed already?" + +A very cynical look came into Eustace's face. "I wonder," he said +briefly. + +They went on side by side down the white, shining track; but Dinah was no +longer treading on air. She could see the slight, insignificant figure +that awaited them close to the hotel-entrance, and her heart felt oddly +weighted within her. It was not the memory of the night before that +oppressed her. That episode had faded almost into nothingness. But the +ordeal of facing him, of telling him of the wonderful thing that had just +happened to her, seemed suddenly more than she could bear. Something +within her seemed to cry out against it. She had a curious feeling of +looking out at him across great billows of seething uncertainty that +rolled ever higher and higher between them, threatening to separate them +for all time. + +Yet when she neared him, the tumult of feeling sank again as the +quietness of his presence reached her. Out of the tempest she found +herself drifting into a safe harbour of still waters. + +He moved to meet them, and she heard his voice greet her as he raised his +cap. "So you have been for your farewell stroll!" + +She did not answer in words, only she freed her hand from Eustace with a +resolute little tug and gave it to him. + +Eustace spoke, a species of half-veiled insolence in his tone. "Like the +psalmist she went forth weeping and has returned bearing her sheaf with +her--in the form of a fairly substantial _fiance_." + +Dinah ventured to cast a lightning-glance at Scott to see how he took the +information and was conscious of an instant's shock. He looked so grey, +so ill, like a man who had received a deadly wound. + +But the impression passed in a flash as she felt his hand close upon +hers. + +"My dear," he said simply, "I'm awfully pleased." + +The warm grasp did her good. It brought her swiftly back to a normal +state of mind. She drew a hard breath and met his eyes, reassuring +herself in a moment with the conviction that after all he looked quite as +usual. Somehow her imagination had tricked her. His kindly smile seemed +to make everything right. + +"Oh, it is kind of you not to mind," she said impulsively. + +Whereat Sir Eustace laughed. "He is rather magnanimous, isn't he? Well, +come along and tell Isabel!" + +Scott's eyes came swiftly to him. He released Dinah, and offered his hand +to his brother. "Let me congratulate you, old chap!" he said, his voice +rather low. "I hope you will both have--all happiness." + +"Thanks!" said Eustace. He took the hand, looking at the younger man with +keen, hawk-eyes. "We mean to make a bid for it anyway. Dinah is lucky in +one thing at least. She will have an ideal brother-in-law." + +The words were carelessly spoken, but they were not without meaning. +Scott flushed slightly; even while for an instant he smiled. "I shall do +my best in that capacity," he said. "But before you go in, I want you to +wait a moment. Isabel has had a slight fainting attack. We mustn't take +her by surprise." + +"A fainting attack!" Sharply Eustace echoed the words. "How did it +happen?" he demanded. + +Scott raised his shoulders. "We were talking together. I can't tell you +exactly what caused it. It came rather suddenly. Biddy and I brought her +round almost immediately, and she declares that she will make the +journey. She did not wish me to tell you of it, but I thought it better." + +"Of coarse." Sir Eustace's voice was short and stern; his face wore a +heavy frown. "But something must have caused it. What were you talking +about?" + +Scott hesitated for a second. "I can't tell you that, old fellow," he +said then. + +Eustace uttered a brief laugh. "Too personal, eh? Well, how did it +happen? Did she suddenly lose consciousness?" + +"She suddenly gasped, and said her heart had stopped. She fell across the +table. I called to Biddy, and we lifted her and gave her brandy. That +brought her to very quickly. I left her lying down in her room. But she +says she feels much better, and she is very set upon leaving the +arrangements for the journey unaltered." + +Scott spoke rather wearily. Dinah's heart went out to him in swift +sympathy which she did not know how to express. + +"May I--could I--go to her?" she suggested, after a moment timidly. + +Scott turned to her instantly. "Please do! I know she would like to see +you. We ought to be starting in another quarter of an hour. The sleigh +will be here directly." + +"May I do as I like about--about telling her?" Dinah asked, pausing. + +Scott's eyes shone with a very kindly gleam. "Of course, I know you will +not startle her. You always do her good." + +The words followed her as she turned away. How good he was to her! How +full of understanding and human sympathy! Her heart throbbed with a +warmth that filled her with an odd desire to weep. She wished that +Eustace did not treat him quite so arrogantly. + +And then, looking back, she reproached herself for the thought; for +Eustace had linked a hand in his arm, and she saw that they were walking +together in complete accord. + +"But I will never--no, never--call him Stumpy!" she said to herself, as +she passed into the hotel. + +She went up the stairs rapidly, and hastened to Isabel's room. That look +she had caught in Scott's face--that stricken look--had doubtless been +brought there by his sudden anxiety for his sister. That would fully +account for it, she was sure. + +On the threshold of Isabel's room an overwhelming nervousness assailed +her. How was she going to tell her of the wonderful event that had taken +place in the last half-hour? On the other hand, how could she possibly +suppress so tremendous a matter? And again, the disquieting question +arose; could she be ill--really ill? Scott had looked so troubled--so +unutterably sad. + +With an effort she summoned her courage, and softly knocked. + +Instantly a low voice answered her, bidding her enter. She opened the +door and went in, feeling as though she were treading sacred ground. + +But Isabel's voice spoke again instantly, greeting her; and +in a moment all her doubts, all her forebodings, were gone. + +"Come in, little sweetheart!" Isabel said. + +And she advanced with quickened steps to find Isabel lying propped on the +sofa, looking at her, smiling up at her, with such a glory on her wasted +face as made it "as it had been the face of an angel." + +In an instant Dinah was on her knees beside her, with loving arms +clasping her close. "Oh, darling, I've only just heard. Are you better? +Are you better?" she said yearningly. + +Isabel held her, and fondly kissed the upturned lips. "Why, I believe +Scott has been frightening you," she said. "Silly fellow! Yes, dear. I am +well--quite well." + +"You are sure?" Dinah insisted. "You are really not ill?" + +Isabel's smile had in it--had she but known it--a gleam of the Divine. +"My dearest, all is well with me," she said. "I lay down for a little to +please Scott. But I am going to get up now. Where have you been since +_dejeuner_? I missed you." + +Dinah clung closer, hiding her face. + +Instantly Isabel's arms tightened. The passionate tenderness of them +thrilled her through and through. "Why, child, what has happened?" she +whispered. "Tell me! Tell me!" + +But Dinah only hid her face a little deeper. "I don't know how," she +murmured. + +There fell a silence. Then, under her breath, Isabel spoke. "My darling, +whisper--just whisper! Who--is it?" + +And very, very faintly, at last Dinah made answer. "It--it is--Sir +Eustace." + +There fell another silence, longer, deeper, than the first. Then Isabel +uttered a short, hard sigh, and, stooping, kissed the bowed, curly head. +"God bless and keep you always, dearest!" she said. + +Something in the words--or was it the tone?--pierced Dinah. She turned +her face slightly upwards. "I--I was afraid you wouldn't be pleased," she +faltered. "Do--do forgive me--if you can!" + +"Forgive you!" All the wealth of Isabel's love was in the words. "Why, +darling, I have been wanting you for my own little sister ever since I +first saw you." + +"Oh, have you?" Eagerly Dinah lifted her head. Her eyes were shining, her +cheeks very flushed. "Then you are pleased?" she said earnestly. "You +really are pleased?" + +Isabel smiled at her very sadly, very fondly. "My darling, if you are +happy, I am more than pleased," she said. + +Yet Dinah was puzzled, not wholly satisfied. She received Isabel's kiss +with a certain wistfulness. "I feel--somehow--as if I've done wrong," she +said. "Yet--yet--Scott--" she halted over the name, uttering it +shyly--"said he was--awfully pleased." + +"Ah! You have told Scott!" There was a sharp, almost a wrung, sound in +Isabel's voice; but the next moment she controlled it, and spoke with +steady resolution. "Then, my dear, you needn't have any misgivings. If +you love Eustace and he loves you, it is the best thing possible for you +both." She held Dinah to her again and kissed her; then very tenderly +released her. "You must run and get ready, dear child. It is getting +late." + +Dinah went obediently, still with that bewildered feeling of having +somehow taken a wrong turning. She was convinced in her own mind that the +news had not been welcome to Isabel, disguise it how she would. And +suddenly through her mind there ran the memory of those words she had +uttered a few weeks before. "Never prefer the tinsel to the true gold!" +She had not fully understood their meaning then. Now very vividly it +flashed upon her. Isabel had compared her two brothers in that brief +sentence. Isabel's estimate of the one was as low as that of the other +was high. Isabel did not love Eustace--the handsome, debonair brother who +had once been all the world to her. + +A little, sick feeling of doubt went through Dinah! Had she--by any evil +chance--had she made a mistake? + +And then the man's overwhelming personality swung suddenly through her +consciousness, filling all her being, possessing her, dominating her. She +flung the doubt from her, as one flings away a poisonous insect. He was +her own--her very own; her lover, the first, the best,--Apollo the +Magnificent! + +In Isabel's room old Biddy Maloney stood, gazing down at her mistress +with eyes of burning devotion. + +"And is it yourself that's feeling better now?" she questioned fondly. + +Isabel raised herself, smiling her sad smile. "Oh, Biddy," she said, +"for myself I feel that all is well--all will be well. The dawn draws +nearer--every hour." + +Biddy shook her head with pursed lips. "Ye shouldn't talk so, mavourneen. +It's the Almighty who has the ruling. Ye wouldn't wish to go before your +time?" + +"Before my time! Oh, Biddy! When I have lingered in the prison-house so +long!" Slowly Isabel rose to her feet. She looked at Biddy almost +whimsically. "I think He will take that into the reckoning," she said. +"Do you know, Biddy, this is the second summons that has come to me? And +I think--I think," her face was glorified again as the face of one who +sees a vision--"I think the third will be the last." + +Biddy's black eyes screwed up suddenly. She turned her face away. + +"Will we be getting ready to go now, Miss Isabel?" she asked after a +moment, in a voice that shook. + +The glory died out of Isabel's face, though the reflection of it still +lingered in her eyes. "I am very selfish, Biddy," she said. "Can you +guess what Miss Dinah has just told me?" + +"Arrah thin, I can," said Biddy, with a touch of aggressiveness. "I've +seen it coming for a long time past. And ye didn't ought to allow it at +all, Miss Isabel. It's a mistake, that's what it is. It's just a bad +mistake." + +"Not if he loves her, Biddy." Isabel spoke gently, but there was a hint +of reproof in her voice. + +Biddy, however, remained quite unabashed. "He love her!" she snorted. "As +if he ever loved anybody besides himself! Talk about the lion and the +lamb, Miss Isabel! It's a cruel shame to let her go to such as him. And +what'll poor Master Scott do at all? And he worshipping the little fairy +feet of her!" + +"Hush, Biddy, hush!" Isabel spoke with decision. "I hope--I trust--that +he isn't very grievously disappointed. But if he is, it is the one thing +that neither you nor I must ever seem to suspect." + +"Ah!" grumbled Biddy mutinously. "And isn't that just like Sir Eustace, +with all the world to pick from, to choose the one thing--the one little +wild rose--as Master Scott had set his heart on? He's done it from his +cradle. Always the one thing someone else wanted he must grab for +himself. But is it too late, Miss Isabel darlint?" Sudden hope shone in +the old woman's eyes. "Is it really too late? Couldn't ye drop a hint to +the dear lamb? Sure and she's fond of Master Scott! Maybe she'd turn to +him after all if she knew." + +Isabel shook her head almost sternly. "Biddy, no! This is no affair of +ours. If Master Scott suspected for a moment what you have just said to +me, he would never forgive you." + +"May I come in?" said Scott's voice at the door. "My dear, you are +looking better. Are you well enough to start?" + +"Yes, of course." Isabel moved towards him, her hands extended in mute +affection. + +He took and held them. "Dinah has told you? I am sure you are glad. +Eustace is waiting downstairs. Come and tell him how glad you are!" + +His eyes, very straight and steadfast, met hers. + +Isabel tried to speak in answer, but caught her breath in a sudden sob. + +He waited a second. Then, "Isabel!" he said gently. + +Sharply she controlled herself. "Yes. Yes. Let us go!" she said. "I +must--congratulate Eustace." + +They went; and old Biddy was left alone. + +She looked after them with a piteous expression on her wrinkled face; +then suddenly, with a wistful gesture, she clasped her old worn hands. + +"I pray the Almighty," she said, with great earnestness, "to open the +dear young lady's eyes, before it is too late. And if He wants anyone to +help Him--sure it's meself that'll be only too pleased." + +It was the most impressive prayer that Biddy had ever uttered. + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CINDERELLA'S PRINCE + + +The early dusk of February was falling, together with a fine, drenching +rain. The trees that over-hung the muddy lane were beating their stark +branches together as though in despair over the general hopelessness of +the outlook. The west wind that raced across the brown fields had the +sharpness of snow in its train. + +"We shall catch it before we've done," said Bathurst to his hunter. + +Rupert the hunter, a dapple grey with powerful hindquarters, cocked a +knowing ear in a fashion that Dinah always described as "his smile." + +It had not been a good day for either of them. The meet had been at a +considerable distance, there had been no run worth mentioning; and now +that it was over they were returning, thoroughly tired, from the kennels. + +Bathurst's pink coat clung to him like a sack, all streaked and darkened +with rain. It had weathered a good many storms in its time, as its many +varieties of tint testified; but despite this fact, its wearer never +failed to look a sportsman and a gentleman. There was nothing of the +vagabond about Bathurst, but he had the vagabond's facility for making +himself at home wherever he went. He was never at a loss, never +embarrassed, never affronted. He took life easily, as he himself put it; +and on the whole he found it good. + +Riding home at a jog-trot in that driving rain with the prospect of +having to feed and rub down Rupert at the end of it before he could +attend to his own needs was not a particularly entrancing prospect; but +he faced it philosophically. After today the little girl would be at +home, and she could do it for him again. She loved to wait on him hand +and foot, and it really was a pleasure to let her. + +He whistled cheerily to himself as he wended his leisurely way through +the dripping lane that made the shortest cut to his home. It would be +nice to have the little girl home again. Lydia was all very well--a good +wife, as wives went--but there was no doubt about it that Dinah's +presence made a considerable difference to his comfort. The child was +quick to forestall his wants; he sometimes thought that she was even more +useful to him than a valet would have been. He had missed her more than +he would have dreamed possible. + +Lydia had missed her too; he was sure of that. She had been peculiarly +short of temper lately. Not that he ever took much notice; he was too +used to her tantrums for that. But it certainly was more comfortable when +Dinah was at home to bear the brunt of them. Yes, on the whole he was +quite pleased that the little girl was coming back. It would make a +difference to him in many ways. + +He wondered what time she would arrive. He had known, but he had +forgotten. He believed it was to be some time in the evening. Her grand +friends had arranged to stay at Great Mallowes, three miles, away for the +night, and one of them--the maid probably--was to bring Dinah home. He +had smiled over this arrangement, and Lydia had openly scoffed at it. As +if a girl of Dinah's age were not capable of travelling alone! But then +of course she had been ill, very ill according to all accounts; and it +was quite decent of them to bestow so much care upon her. + +He fell to wondering if the child had got spoilt at all during her long +absence from home and the harsh discipline thereof. If so, there was a +hard time before her; for Lydia was never one to stand any nonsense. She +had always been hard on her first-born, unreasonably hard, he sometimes +thought; though it was not his business to interfere. The task of +chastising the daughter of the family was surely the mother's exclusive +prerogative; and certainly Lydia had carried it out very thoroughly. And +if at times he thought her over-severe, he could not deny that the result +achieved was eminently satisfactory. Dinah was always docile and active +in his service--altogether a very good child; and this was presumably due +to her mother's training. No, on the whole he had not much fault to find +with either of them. Doubtless Lydia understood her own sex best. + +He was nearing the end of the long lane; it terminated close to his home. +Rupert quickened his pace. They were both splashed with mud from shoulder +to heel. They had both had more than enough of the wet and the slush. + +"That's right, Rupert, my boy!" the man murmured. "Finish in style!" + +They came out from beneath the over-arching trees, emerging upon the +high road that led from Great Mallowes to Perrythorpe. The hoot of a +motor-horn caused Rupert to prick his ears, and his master reined him +back as two great, shining head-lights appeared round a curve. They +drew swiftly near, flashed past, and were gone meteor-like into the +gloom. + +"Whose car was that, I wonder?" mused Bathurst. + +"The de Vignes's? It didn't look like one of the Court cars, but the old +bird is always buying something new. Lucky devil!" + +The thought of the Colonel renewed his thoughts of Dinah. Certain hints +the former had dropped had made him wonder a little if the child were +always as demure as she seemed. Not that Colonel de Vigne had actually +found fault with her. He was plainly fond of her. But he had not spoken +as if Dinah had effaced herself as completely abroad as she did at home. + +"Oh, yes, the little baggage enjoyed herself--was as gay as a lark--till +she got ill," he had said. "You may find her something of a handful when +she gets back, Bathurst. She's stretched her wings a bit since she left +you." + +Bathurst shrugged his shoulders with the comforting reflection that he +would not have the trouble of dealing with her. If she had been giddy, +after all, it was but natural. Her mother had not been particularly +steady in the days of her wild youth. And anyhow he was sure her mother +would speedily break her in again. She had a will of iron before which +Dinah was _always_ forced to bend. + +He rode on along the highroad. It was not more than half a mile farther +to his home on the outskirts of the village. Somewhere in the gloom ahead +of him church-bells were pealing. It was practice-night, he remembered. +Dinah loved the sound of the bells. She would feel that they were ringing +in her honour. Funny little Dinah! The child was full of fancies of that +sort. Just as well perhaps, for it was the only form of amusement that +ever came into her home life. + +The gay peal turned into a deafening clashing as at length he neared his +home. The old church stood only a stone's throw further on. They were +ringing the joy-bells with a vengeance. And then very suddenly he caught +sight of the tail-lamp of a car close to his own gate. + +Dinah had returned then. They had actually chartered that car to convey +her from Great Mallowes. He pursed his lips to a whistle. The little girl +had been in clover indeed. + +"She certainly won't think much of the home crusts after this," he +murmured to himself. + +He walked Rupert round to the tumble-down stable, and dismounted. + +For the next quarter of an hour he was busy over the animal. He thought +it a little strange that Dinah did not spy the stable-lamp from the +kitchen and come dancing out to greet him. He also wondered why the car +lingered so long. It looked as if someone other than the maid had +accompanied her, and were staying to tea. + +He never took tea after a day's hunting; hot whisky and water and a bath +formed his customary programme, and then a tasty supper and bed. + +He supposed on this occasion that he would have to go in and show +himself, though he was certainly not fit to be seen. Reluctantly he +pulled the bedraggled pink coat on again. After all, it did not greatly +matter. Hunting was its own excuse. No sportsman ever returned in the +apple-pie order in which he started. + +Carelessly he sauntered in by way of the back premises, and was instantly +struck by the sound of a man's voice, well-bred, with a slightly haughty +intonation, speaking in one of the front rooms of the little house. + +"Dinah seemed to think that she could not keep it in till to-morrow," it +said, with easy assurance. "So I thought I had better come along with her +to-night and get it over." + +The words reached Bathurst as he arrived in the small square hall, and he +stopped dead. "Hullo! Hullo!" he murmured softly to himself. + +And then came his wife's voice, a harsh, determined voice, "Do I +understand that you wish to marry my daughter?" + +"That's the idea," came the suave reply. "You don't know me, of course, +but I think I can satisfy you that I am not an undesirable _parti_. My +family is considered fairly respectable, as old families go. I am the +ninth baronet in direct succession; and I have a very fair amount of +worldly goods to offer my wife." + +Mrs. Bathurst broke in upon him, a tremor of eagerness in her hard voice. +"If that is the case, of course I have no objection," she said. "Dinah +won't do any better for herself than that. It seems to me that she will +have the best of the bargain. But that is your affair. She's full young. +I don't suppose you want to marry her yet, do you?" + +"I'd marry her to-night if I could," said Sir Eustace, with his careless +laugh. + +But Mrs. Bathurst did not laugh with him. "We'll have the banns published +and everything done proper," she said. "Hasty marriages as often as not +aren't regular. Here, Dinah! Don't stand there listening! Go and see if +the kettle boils!" + +It was at this point that Bathurst deemed that the moment had arrived to +present himself. He entered, almost running into Dinah about to hurry +out. + +"Hullo!" he said. "Hullo!" and taking her by the shoulders, kissed her. + +She clung to him for a moment, her sweet face burning. "Oh, Dad!" she +murmured in confusion, "Oh, Dad!" + +With his arm about her, he turned her back into the room. "You come back +and introduce me to your new friend!" he said. "I've got to thank him, +you know, for taking such care of you." + +She yielded, but not very willingly. She was painfully embarrassed, +almost incoherent, as she obeyed Bathurst's behest. + +"This--this is Dad," she murmured. + +Sir Eustace came forward with his leisurely air of confidence. His great +bulk seemed to fill the low room. He looked even more magnificent than +usual. + +"Ah, sir, you have just come in from hunting," he said. "I hope I don't +intrude. It's a beastly wet evening. I should think you're not sorry to +get in." + +Mrs. Bathurst, tall, bony, angular, with harsh, gipsy features that were +still in a fashion boldly handsome, broke in upon her husband's answering +greeting. + +"Ronald, this gentleman tells me he wants to marry Dinah. It is very +sudden, but these things often are. You will give your consent of course. +I have already given mine." + +"Easy, easy!" laughed Bathurst. "Why exceed the speed limit in this +reckless fashion? You are Sir Eustace Studley? I am very pleased to meet +you." + +He held out his hand to Sir Eustace, and gave him the grasp of +good-fellowship. It seemed to Dinah that the very atmosphere changed +magically with the coming of her father. No difficult situation ever +dismayed him. He and Sir Eustace were not dissimilar in this respect. +Whatever the circumstances, they both knew how to hold their own with +absolute ease. It was a faculty which she would have given much to +possess. + +Sir Eustace was laughing in his careless, well-bred way. "It's rather a +shame to spring the matter on you like this," he said. "I ought to have +waited to ask your consent to the engagement, but I am afraid I am not a +very patient person, and I wanted to make sure of your daughter before +we parted. We are staying at Great Mallowes--at the Royal Stag. May I +come over to-morrow and put things on a more business-like footing?" + +"Oh, don't hurry away!" said Bathurst easily. "Sit down and have some tea +with us! It is something of a surprise certainly but a very agreeable +one. Lydia, what about tea? Or perhaps you prefer a whisky and soda?" + +"Tea, thanks," said Sir Eustace, and seated himself with his superb air +of complete assurance. + +Mrs. Bathurst turned upon her daughter. "Dinah, how many more times am I +to tell you to go and see if the kettle boils?" + +Dinah started, as one rudely awakened from an entrancing dream. "I am +sorry," she murmured in confusion. "I forgot." + +She fled from the room with the words, and her mother, with dark brows +drawn, looked after her for a moment, then sat down facing Sir Eustace. + +"I should like to know," she said aggressively, "what you are prepared to +do for her." + +Sir Eustace smiled in his aloof, slightly supercilious fashion. He had +been more or less prepared for Dinah's mother, but the temptation to +address her as "My good woman" was almost more than he could withstand. + +"Will you not allow me," he said, icily courteous, "to settle this +important matter with Mr. Bathurst to-morrow? He will then be in a +position to explain it to you." + +Mrs. Bathurst made a movement of fierce impatience. She had been put in +her place by this stranger and furiously she resented it. But the man was +a baronet, and a marvellous catch for a son-in-law; and she did not dare +to put her resentment into words. + +She got up therefore, and flounced angrily to the door. Sir Eustace arose +without haste and with a stretch of his long arm opened it for her. + +She flung him a glance, half-hostile, half-awed, as she went through. She +had a malignant hatred for the upper class, despite the fact that her own +husband was a member thereof. And yet she held it in unwilling respect. +Sir Eustace's nonchalantly administered snub was far harder to bear than +any open rudeness from a man of her own standing would have been. + +Fiercely indignant, she entered the kitchen, and caught Dinah peeping at +herself in the shining surface of the warming-pan after having removed +her hat. + +"Ah, that's your game, my girl, is it?" she said. "You've come back the +grand lady, have you? You've no further, use for your mother, I daresay. +She may work her fingers to the bone for all you care--or ever will care +again." + +Dinah whizzed round, scarlet and crestfallen. "Oh, Mother! How you +startled me! I only wanted to see if--if my hair was tidy." + +"And that's one of your lies," said Mrs. Bathurst, with a heavy hand on +her shoulder. "They've taught you how to juggle with the truth, that's +plain. Oh yes, Lady Studley that is to be, you've learnt a lot since +you've been away, I can see--learnt to despise your mother, I'll lay a +wager. But I'll show you she's not to be despised by a prinking minx like +you. What did I send you in here for, eh?" + +"To--to see to the kettle," faltered Dinah, shrinking before the stern +regard of the black eyes that so mercilessly held her own. + +"And there it is ready to boil over, and you haven't touched it, you +worthless little hussy, you! Take that--and dare to disobey me again!" + +She dealt the girl a blow with her open hand as she spoke, a swinging, +pitiless blow, on the cheek, and pushed her fiercely from her. + +Dinah reeled momentarily. The sudden violence of the attack bewildered +her. Actually she had almost forgotten how dreadful her mother could be. +Then, recovering herself, she went to the fire and stooped over it, +without a word. She had a burning sensation at the throat, and she was on +the verge of passionate tears. The memory of Isabel's parting embrace, +the tender drawing of her arms only a brief half-hour before made this +home-coming almost intolerable. + +"What's that thing you're wearing?" demanded Mrs. Bathurst abruptly. + +Dinah lifted the kettle and turned. "It is a fur-lined coat that--that he +bought for me in Paris." + +"Then take it off!" commanded Mrs. Bathurst. "And don't you wear it again +until I give you leave! How dare you accept presents from the man before +I've even seen him?" + +"I couldn't help it," murmured Dinah, as she slipped off the luxurious +garment that Isabel had chosen for her. + +"Couldn't help it!" Bitterly Mrs. Bathurst echoed the words. "You'll say +you couldn't help him falling in love with you next! As if you didn't set +out to catch him, you little artful brown-faced monkey! Oh, I always knew +you were crafty, for all your simple ways. Mind, I don't say you haven't +done well for yourself, you have--a deal better than you deserve. But +don't ever say you couldn't help it to me again! For if you do, I'll +trounce you for it, do you hear? None of your coy airs for me! I won't +put up with 'em. You'll behave yourself as long as you're in this house, +or I'll know the reason why." + +To all of which Dinah listened in set silence, telling herself with +desperate insistence that it would not be for long. Sir Eustace did not +mean to be kept waiting, and he would deliver her finally and for all +time. + +She did not know exactly why her mother was angry. She supposed she +resented the idea of losing her slave. There seemed no other possible +reason, for love for her she had none. Dinah knew but too cruelly well +that she had been naught but an unwelcome burden from the very earliest +days of her existence. Till she met Isabel, she had never known what real +mother-love could be. + +She wondered if her _fiance_ would notice the red mark on her cheek when +she carried in the teapot; but he was holding a careless conversation +with her father, and only gave her a glance and a smile. + +During the meal that followed he scarcely addressed her or so much as +looked her way. He treated her mother with a freezing aloofness that made +her tremble inwardly. She wondered how he dared. + +When at length he rose to go, however, his attention returned to Dinah. +He laid a dominating hand upon her shoulder. "Are you coming to see me +off?" + +She glanced at her mother in involuntary appeal, but failed to catch her +eye. Silently she turned to the door. + +He took leave of her parents with the indifference of one accustomed to +popularity. "I shall be round in the morning," he said to her father. +"About twelve? That'll suit me very well; unless I wait till the +afternoon and bring my sister. I know she hopes to come over if she is +well enough. That is, of course, if you don't object to an informal +call." + +He spoke as if in his opinion the very fact of its informality conferred +a favour, and again Dinah trembled lest her mother should break forth +into open rudeness. + +But to her amazement Mrs. Bathurst seemed somewhat overawed by the +princely stranger. She even smiled in a grim way as she said, "I will be +at home to her." + +Sir Eustace made her a ceremonious bow and went out sweeping Dinah along +with him. He closed the door with a decision there was no mistaking, and +the next moment he had her in his arms. + +"You poor little frightened mouse!" he said. "No wonder--no wonder you +never knew before what life, real life, could be!" + +She clung to him with all her strength, burying her face in the fur +collar of his coat. "Oh, do marry me, quick--quick--quick!" she besought +him, in a muffled whisper. "And take me away!" + +He gathered her close in his arms, so close that she trembled again. Her +nerves were all on edge that night. + +"If they won't let me have you in a month from now," he said, in a voice +that quivered slightly, "I swear I'll run away with you." + +There was no echo of humour in his words though she tried to laugh at +them, and ever he pressed her closer and closer to his heart, till +panting she had to lift her face. And then he kissed her in his +passionate compelling way, holding her shy lips with his own till he +actually forced them to respond. She felt as if his love burned her, but, +even so, she dared not shrink from it. There was so much at stake. Her +mother's lack of love was infinitely harder to endure. + +And so she bore the fierce flame of his passion unflinching even though +her spirit clamoured wildly to be free, choosing rather to be consumed by +it than left a beaten slave in her house of bondage. + +His kisses waked in her much more of fear than rapture. That untamed +desire of his frightened her to the very depths of her being, but yet it +was infinitely preferable to the haughty indifference with which he +regarded all the rest of the world. It meant that he would not let her +go, and that in itself was comfort unspeakable to Dinah. He meant to have +her at any price, and she was very badly in need of deliverance, even +though she might have to pay for it, and pay heavily. + +It was at this point, actually while his fiery kisses were scorching her +lips, that a very strange thought crept all unawares into her +consciousness. If she ever needed help, if she ever needed escape, she +had a friend to whom she could turn--a staunch and capable friend who +would never fail her. She was sure that Scott would find a way to ease +the burden if it became too heavy. Her faith in him, his wisdom, his +strength, was unbounded. And he helped everyone--the valiant servant +Greatheart, protector of the helpless, sustainer of the vanquished. + +When her lover was gone at last, she closed the door and leaned against +it, feeling weak in every fibre. + +Bathurst, coming out a few moments later, was struck by her spent look. +"Well, Dinah lass," he said lightly, "you look as if it had cost +something of an effort to land your catch. But he's a mighty fine one, I +will say that for him." + +She went to him, twining her arm in his, forcing herself to smile. "Oh, +Dad," she said, "he is fine, isn't he?" But--but--she uttered the words +almost in spite of herself--"you should see his brother. You should +see--Scott." + +"What? Is he finer still?" laughed Bathurst, pinching her cheek. "Have +you got the whole family at your feet, you little baggage?" + +She flushed very deeply. "Oh no! Oh no! I didn't mean that. Scott--Scott +is not a bit like that. He is--he is--" And there she broke off, for who +could hope to convey any faithful impression of this good friend of hers? +There were no words that could adequately describe him. With a little +sigh she turned from the subject. "I'm glad you like Eustace," she said +shyly. + +Bathurst laughed a little, then bent unexpectedly, and kissed her. "It's +a case of Cinderella and the prince," he said lightly. "But the luck +isn't all on Cinderella's side, I'm thinking." + +She clung to him eagerly. "Oh, Daddy, thank you! Thank you! Do you +know--it's funny--Scott used to call me Cinderella!" + +Bathurst crooked his brows quizzically. "How original of him! This Scott +seems to be quite a wonderful person. And what was your pet name for him +I wonder, eh, sly-boots?" + +She laughed in evident embarrassment. There was something implied in her +father's tone that made her curiously reluctant to discuss her hero. And +yet, in justification of the man himself, she felt she must say +something. + +"His brother and sister call him--Stumpy," she said, "because he is +little and he limps. But I--" her face was as red as the hunting-coat +against which it nestled--"I called him--Mr. Greatheart. He is--just like +that." + +Mr. Bathurst laughed again, tweaking her ear. "Altogether an +extraordinary family!" he commented. "I must meet this Mr. Stumpy +Greatheart. Now suppose you run upstairs and turn on the hot water. And +when you've done that, you can take my boots down to the kitchen to dry. +And mind you don't fall foul of your mother, for she strikes me as being +a bit on the ramp tonight!" + +He kissed her again, and she clung to him very fast for a moment or two, +tasting in that casual, kindly embrace all the home joy she had ever +known. + +Then, hearing her mother's step, she swiftly and guiltily disengaged +herself and fled up the stairs like a startled bird. As she prepared his +bath for him, the wayward thought came to her that if only he and she +had lived alone together, she would never have wanted to get married at +all--even for the delight of being Lady Studley instead of "poor little +Dinah Bathurst!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WEDDING ARRANGEMENTS + + +It was certainly not love at first sight that prompted Mrs. Bathurst to +take a fancy to Isabel Everard. + +Secretly Dinah had dreaded their meeting, fearing that innate antagonism +which her mother invariably seemed to cherish against the upper class. +But within a quarter of an hour of their meeting she was aware of a +change of attitude, a quenching of the hostile element, a curious and +wholly new sensation of peace. + +For though Isabel's regal carriage and low, musical voice, marked her as +one of the hated species, her gentleness banished all impression of +pride. She treated Dinah's mother with an assumption of friendliness that +had in it no trace of condescension, and she was so obviously sincere in +her wish to establish a cordial relation that it was impossible to remain +ungracious. + +"I can't feel that we are strangers," she said, with her rare smile when +Dinah had departed to fetch the tea. "Your little Dinah has done so much +for me--more than I can ever tell you. That I am to have her for a sister +seems almost too good to be true." + +"I wonder you think she's good enough," remarked Mrs. Bathurst in her +blunt way. "She isn't much to look at. I've done my best to bring her up +well, but I never thought of her turning into a fine lady. I question if +she's fit for it." + +"If she were a fine lady, I don't think I should think so highly of her," +Isabel said gently. "But as to her being unfit to fill a high position, +she is only inexperienced and she will learn very quickly. I am willing +to teach her all in my power." + +"Aye, learn to despise her mother," commented Mrs. Bathurst, with sudden +bitterness, "after all the trouble I've taken to make her respect me." + +"I should never teach her that," Isabel answered quietly. "And I am sure +that she would be quite incapable of learning it. Mrs. Bathurst, do you +really think that worldly position is a thing that greatly matters to +anyone in the long run? I don't." + +It was then that a faint, half-grudging admiration awoke in the elder +woman's resentful soul, and she looked at Isabel with the first glimmer +of kindliness. "You're right," she said slowly, "it don't matter to those +who've got it. But to those who haven't--" her eyes glowed red for a +moment--"you don't know how it galls," she said. + +And then she flushed dully, realizing that she had made a confidante of +one of the hated breed. + +But Isabel's hand was on hers in a moment; her eyes, full of +understanding, looked earnest friendship into hers. "Oh, I know," she +said. "It is the little things that gall us all, until--until some +great--some fundamental--sorrow wrenches our very lives in twain. And +then--and then--one can almost laugh to think one ever cared about them." + +Her voice throbbed with feeling. She had lifted the veil for a moment to +salve the other woman's bitterness. + +And Mrs. Bathurst realized it, and was touched. "Ah! You've suffered," +she said. + +Isabel bent her head. "But it is over," she said. "I married a man who, +they said, was beneath me. But--God knows--he was above me--in every way. +And then--I lost him." Her voice sank. + +Mrs. Bathurst's hand came down with a clumsy movement upon hers. "He +died?" she said. + +"Yes." Almost in a whisper Isabel made answer. "For years I would not +face it--would not believe it. He went from me so suddenly--oh, God, so +suddenly--" a tremor of anguish sounded in the low words; but in a moment +she raised her head, and her eyes were shining with a brightness that no +pain could dim. "It is over," she said. "It is quite, quite over. My +night is past and can never come again. I am waiting now for the full +day. And I know that I have not very long to wait. I have not seen +him--no, I have not seen him. But--twice now--I have heard his voice." + +"Poor soul! Poor soul!" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +It was all the sympathy she could express; but it came from her heart. +She no longer regretted her own burst of confidence. The spontaneous +answer that it had evoked had had a magically softening effect upon her. +In all her life no one had ever charmed her thus. She was astonished +herself at the melting of her hardness. + +"You've suffered worse than I have," she said, "for I never cared for any +man like that. I was let down badly when I was a girl, and I've never had +any opinion of any of 'em since. My husband's all right, so far as he +goes. But he isn't the sort of man to worship. Precious few of 'em are." + +Whereat Isabel laughed, a soft, sad laugh. "That is why worldly position +matters so little," she said. "If by chance the right man really comes, +nothing else counts. He is just everything." + +"Maybe you're right," said Mrs. Bathurst, with gloomy acquiescence. +"Anyhow, it isn't for me to say you're wrong." + +And this was why when Dinah brought in the tea, she found a wholly new +element in the atmosphere, and missed the customary sharp rebuke from her +mother's lips when she had to go back for the sugar-tongs. + +She had been disappointed that her friend Scott had not been of the +party. Isabel's explanation that he had gone home at Eustace's wish to +attend to some business had not removed an odd little hurt sense of +having been defrauded. She had counted upon seeing Scott that day. It was +almost as if he had failed her when she needed him, though why she seemed +to need him she could not have said, nor could he possibly have known +that she would do so. + +Sir Eustace was in her father's den. She was sure that they were getting +on very well together from the occasional bursts of laughter with which +their conversation was interspersed. They were not apparently sticking +exclusively to business. And now that Isabel had won her mother, deeply +though she rejoiced over the conquest, she felt a little--a very +little--forlorn. They were all talking about her, but if Scott had been +there he would have talked to her and made her feel at ease. She could +not understand his going, even at his brother's behest. It seemed +incredible that he should not want to see her home. + +She sat meekly in the background, thinking of him, while she drank her +tea; and then, just as she finished, there came the sound of voices at +the door, and her father and Sir Eustace came in. They were laughing +still. Evidently the result of the interview was satisfactory to both. +Sir Eustace greeted his hostess with lofty courtesy, and passed on +straight to her side. + +She turned and tingled at his approach; he was looking more princely than +ever. Instinctively she rose. + +"What do you want to get up for?" demanded her mother sharply. + +Sir Eustace reached his little trembling _fiancee_, and took the eager +hand she stretched to him. His blue eyes flashed their fierce flame over +her upturned, quivering face. "Take me into the kitchen--anywhere!" he +murmured. "I want you to myself." + +She nodded. "Don't you want any tea? All right. Dad doesn't either. I'll +clear away." + +"No, you don't!" her mother said. "You sit down and behave yourself! +You'll clear when I tell you to; not before." + +Sir Eustace wheeled round to her, the flame of his look turning to ice. +"With your permission, madam," he said with extreme formality, "Dinah and +I are going to retire to talk things over." + +He had his way. It was obvious that he meant to have it. He motioned to +Dinah with an imperious gesture to precede him, and she obeyed, not +daring to glance in her mother's direction. + +Mrs. Bathurst said no more. Something in Sir Eustace's bearing seemed to +quell her. She watched him go with eyes that shone with a hot resentment +under drawn brows. It took Isabel's utmost effort to charm her back to a +mood less hostile. + +As for Dinah, she led her _fiance_ back to her father's den in +considerable trepidation. To be compelled to resist her mother's will was +a state of affairs that filled her with foreboding. + +But the moment she was alone with him she forgot all but the one +tremendous fact of his presence, for with the closing of the door he had +her in his arms. + +She clung to him desperately close, feeling as one struggling in deep +waters, caught in a great current that would bear her swiftly, +irresistibly,--whither? + +He laughed at her trembling with careless amusement. "What, still scared, +my brown elf? Where is your old daring? Aren't you allowed to have any +spirit at all in this house?" + +She answered him incoherently, straining to keep her face hidden out of +reach of his upturning hand. "No,--no, it's not that. You don't +understand. It's all so new--so strange. Eustace, please--please, don't +kiss me yet!" + +He laughed again, but he did not press her for the moment. "Your father +and I have had no end of a talk," he said. "Do you know what has come of +it? Would you like to know?" + +"Yes," she murmured shyly. + +He was caressing the soft dark ringlets that clustered about her neck. + +"About getting married, little sweetheart," he said. "You want to get it +over quickly and so do I. There's no reason why we shouldn't in fact. How +about the beginning of next month? How about April?" + +"Oh, Eustace!" She clung to him closer still; she had no words. But still +that sense of being caught, of being borne against her will, possessed +her, filling her with dread rather than ecstasy. Whither was she going? +Ah, whither? + +He went on with his easy self-assurance, speaking as if he held the whole +world at his disposal. "We will go South for the honeymoon. I've crowds +of things to show you--Rome, Naples, Venice. After that we'll come back +and go for that summer trip in the yacht I promised you." + +"And Isabel too--and Scott?" asked Dinah, in muffled accents. + +He laughed over her head, as at the naive prattling of a child. "What! On +our honeymoon? Oh, hardly, I think. I'll see to it that you're not bored. +And look here, my elf! I won't have you shy with me any more. Is that +understood? I'm not an ogre." + +"I think you are--rather," murmured Dinah. + +He bent over her, his lips upon her neck. "You--midget! And you +think I'm going to devour you? Well, perhaps I shall some day if you +go on running away. There's a terrible threat! Now hold up your head, +Daphne--Daphne--and let me have that kiss!" + +She hesitated a while longer, and then feeling his patience ebbing she +lifted her face impulsively to his. "You will be good to me? Promise! +Promise!" she pleaded tremulously. + +He was laughing still, but his eyes were aflame. "That depends," he +declared. "I can't answer for myself when you run away. Come! When are +you going to kiss me first? Isn't it time you began?" + +She slipped her arms about his neck. Her face was burning. "I will now," +she said. + +Yet the moment her lips touched his, the old wild fear came upon her. She +made a backward movement of shrinking. + +He caught her to him. "Daphne!" he said, and kissed her quivering throat. + +She did not resist him, but her arms fell apart, and the red blush +swiftly died. When he released her, she fell back a step with eyes fast +closed, and in a moment her hands went up as though to shield face and +neck from the scorching of a furnace. + +He watched her, a slight frown drawing his brows. The flame still +glittered in his eyes, but his mouth was hard. "Look here, child! Don't +be silly!" he said. "If you treat me like a monster, I shall behave like +one. I'm made that way." + +His voice was curt; it held displeasure. Dinah uncovered her face and +looked at him. + +"Oh, you're angry!" she said, in tragic accents. + +He laughed at that. "About as angry as I could get with a piece of +thistledown. But you know, you're not very wise, my Daphne. You've got it +in you to madden me, but it's a risky thing to do. Now see here! I've +brought you something to make those moss-agate eyes of yours shine. Can +you guess what it is?" + +His hand was held out to her. She laid her own within it with conscious +reluctance. He drew her into the circle of his arm, pressing her to him. + +She leaned her head against him with a bewildered sense of self-reproach. +"I'm sorry I'm silly, Eustace," she murmured "I expect I'm made that way +too. Don't--don't take any notice!" + +He touched her forehead lightly with his lips. "You'll get over it, +sweetheart," he said. "It won't matter so much after we're married. I can +do as I like with you then." + +"Oh, I shan't like that," said Dinah quickly. + +His arm pressed her closer. "Yes, you will. I'll give you no end of a +good time. Now, sweetheart, give me that little hand of yours again! No, +the left! There! I wonder if it's small enough. Rather a loose fit, eh? +How do you like it?" + +He was fitting a ring on to the third finger. Dinah looked and was +dazzled. "Oh, Eustace,--diamonds!" she said, in an awed whisper. + +"The best I could find," he told her, with princely arrogance. "I hunted +through Bond Street for it this morning. Will it do?" + +"You went up on purpose? Oh, Eustace!" she laid her cheek with a winning +movement against his hand. "You are too good! You are much too good!" + +He laughed carelessly. "I'm glad you're satisfied. It's a bond, remember. +You must wear it always--till I give you a wedding-ring instead." + +She lifted her face and looked at him with shining eyes. "I shall love to +wear it," she said. "But I expect I shall have to keep it for best. +Mother wouldn't let me wear it always." + +"Never mind what your mother says!" he returned. "It's what I say that +matters now. We're going to have you to stay at Willowmount in a few +days. Isabel is arranging it with your mother now." + +"Your home! Oh, how lovely!" Genuine delight was in Dinah's voice. "Scott +is there, isn't he?" + +He frowned again. "Bother Scott! You're coming to see me--no one else." + +She flushed. "Oh yes, I know. And I shall love it--I shall love it! +But--do you think I shall be allowed to come?" + +"You must come," he said imperiously. + +But Dinah looked dubious. "I expect I shall be wanted at home now. And I +don't believe we shall get married in April either. I've been away so +long." + +He laughed, flicking her cheek. "Haven't I always told you that where +there's a will there's a way? If necessary, I can run away with you." + +She shook her head. "Oh no! I'd rather not. And if--if we're really going +to be married in April, I ought to stay at home to get ready." + +"Nonsense!" he said carelessly. "You can do that from Willowmount. Isabel +will help you. It's less than an hour's run to town." + +Dinah opened her eyes wide. "But I shan't shop in town. I shall have to +make all my things. I always do." + +He laughed again easily, indulgently. "That simplifies matters. You can +do that anywhere. What are you going to be married in? White cotton?" + +She laughed with him. "I would love to have a real grand wedding," she +said, "the sort of wedding Rose de Vigne will have, with bridesmaids and +flowers and crowds and crowds of people. Of course I know it can't be +done." She gave a little sigh. "But I would love it. I would love it." + +He was laughing still. "Why can't it be done? Who's going to prevent it?" + +Dinah had become serious. "Dad hasn't money enough for one thing. And +then there's Mother. She wouldn't do it." + +"Ho! Wouldn't she? I've a notion she'd enjoy it even more than you would. +If you want a smart wedding you'd better have it in town. Then the de +Vignes and everyone else can come." + +"Oh no! I want it to be here." Dinah's eyes began to shine. "Dad knows +lots of people round about--County people too. Those are the sort of +people I'd like to come. Even Mother might like that," she added +reflectively. + +"You prefer a big splash in your own little pond to a small one in a +good-sized lake, is that it?" questioned Eustace. "Well, have it your own +way, my child! But I shouldn't make many clothes if I were you. We will +shop in Paris after we are married, and then you can get whatever you +fancy." + +Dinah's eyes fairly danced at the thought. "I shall love that. I'll tell +Daddy, shall I, to keep all his money for the wedding, and then we can +buy the clothes afterwards; that is, if you can afford it," she added +quickly. "I ought not to let you really." + +"You can't prevent me doing anything," he returned, his hand pressing her +shoulder. "No one can." + +She leaned her head momentarily against his arm. "You--you wouldn't want +to do anything that anyone didn't like," she murmured shyly. + +"Shouldn't I?" he said and for a moment his mouth was grim. "I am not +accustomed to being regarded as an amiable nonentity, I assure you. It's +settled then, is it? The first week in April? And you are to come to us +for at least a fortnight beforehand." + +Dinah nodded, her head bent. "All right,--if Mother doesn't mind." + +"What would happen if she did?" he asked curiously. + +"It just wouldn't be done," she made answer. + +"Wouldn't it? Not if you insisted?" + +"I couldn't insist," she said, her voice very low. + +"Why couldn't you? I should have thought you had a will of your own. +Don't you ever assert yourself?" + +"Against her? No, never!" Dinah gave a little shudder. "Don't let's talk +of it!" she said. "Isn't it time to go back? I believe I ought to be +clearing away." + +He detained her for a moment. "You're not going to work like a nigger +when you are married to me," he said. + +She smiled up at him, a merry, dimpling smile. "Oh no, I shall just enjoy +myself then--like Rose de Vigne. I shall be much too grand to work. +There! I really must go back. Thank you again ever so much--ever so +much--for the lovely ring. I hope you'll never find out how unworthy I am +of it." + +She drew his head down with quivering courage and bestowed a butterfly +kiss upon his cheek. And then in a second she was gone from his hold, +gone like a woodland elf with a tinkle of laughter and the skipping of +fairy feet. + +Sir Eustace followed her flight with his eyes only, but in those eyes was +the leaping fire of a passion that burned around her in an ever-narrowing +circle. She knew that it was there, but she would not look back to see +it. For deep in her heart she feared that flame as she feared nothing +else on earth. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DESPAIR + + +"If I had known that this was going to happen, I would never have +troubled to cultivate their acquaintance," said Lady Grace fretfully. "I +knew of course that that artful little minx was running after the man, +but that he could ever be foolish enough to let himself be caught in such +an obvious trap was a possibility that I never seriously contemplated." + +"It doesn't matter to me," said Rose. + +She had said it many times before with the same rather forced smile. It +was not a subject that she greatly cared to discuss. The news of Dinah's +conquest had come like a thunderbolt. In common with her mother, she had +never seriously thought that Sir Eustace could be so foolish. But since +the utterly unexpected had come to pass, it seemed to her futile to talk +about it. Dinah had secured the finest prize within reach for the moment, +and there was no disputing the fact. + +"The wedding is to take place so soon too," lamented Lady Grace. "That, I +have no doubt, is the doing of that scheming mother of hers. What shall +we do about going to it, Rose? Do you want to go, dear?" + +"Not in the least, but I am going all the same." Rose was still smiling, +and her eyes were fixed. "I think, you know, Mother," she said, "that we +might do worse than ask Sir Eustace and his party to stay here for the +event." + +"My dear Rose!" Lady Grace gazed at her in amazement. + +Rose continued to stare into space. "It would be much more convenient for +them," she said. "And really we have no reason for allowing people to +imagine that we are other than pleased over the arrangement. We shall not +be going to town before Easter, so it seems to me that it would be only +neighbourly to invite Sir Eustace to stay at the Court for the wedding. +Great Mallowes is not a particularly nice place to put up in, and this +would be far handier for him." + +Lady Grace slowly veiled her astonishment. "Of course, dear; if you think +so, it might be managed. We will talk to your father about it, and if he +approves I will write to Sir Eustace--or get him to do so. I do not +myself consider that Sir Eustace has behaved at all nicely. He was most +cavalier about the Hunt Ball. But if you wish to overlook it--well, I +shall not put any difficulty in the way." + +"I think it would be a good thing to do," said Rose somewhat +enigmatically. + +The letter that reached Sir Eustace two days later was penned by the +Colonel's hand, and contained a brief but cordial invitation to him and +his following to stay at Perrythorpe Court for the wedding. + +He read it with a careless smile and tossed it over to Scott. "Here is +magnanimity," he commented. "Shall we accept the coals of fire?" + +Scott read with all gravity and laid it down. "If you want my opinion, I +should say 'No,'" he said. + +"Why would you say No?" There was a lazy challenge in the question, a +provocative gleam in Sir Eustace's blue eyes. + +Scott smiled a little. "For one thing I shouldn't enjoy the coals of +fire. For another, I shouldn't care to be at too close quarters with the +beautiful Miss de Vigne again, if I had your very highly susceptible +temperament. And for a third, I believe Isabel would prefer to stay at +Great Mallowes." + +"You're mighty clever, my son, aren't you?" said Eustace with a +supercilious twist of the lips. "But--as it chances--not one of those +excellent reasons appeals to me." + +"Very well then," said Scott, with the utmost patience. "It is up to you +to accept." + +"Why should Isabel prefer Great Mallowes?" demanded Sir Eustace. "She +knows the de Vignes. It is far better for her to see people, and there is +more comfort in a private house than in a hotel." + +"Quite so," said Scott. "I am sure she will fall in with your wishes in +this respect, whatever they are. Will you write to Colonel de Vigne, or +shall I?" + +"You can--and accept," returned Sir Eustace imperially. + +Scott took a sheet of paper without further words. + +His brother leaned back in his chair, his black brows slightly drawn, and +contemplated him as he did it. + +"By the way, Scott," he said, after a moment, "Dinah's staying here need +not make any difference to you in any way. She can't expect to have you +at her beck and call as she had in Switzerland. You must make that clear +to her." + +"Very well, old chap." Scott spoke without raising his head. "You're +going to meet her at the station, I suppose?" + +"Almost immediately, yes." Eustace got up with a movement of suppressed +impatience. "We shall have tea in Isabel's room. You needn't turn up. +I'll tell them to send yours in here." + +"Oh, don't trouble! I'm going to turn up," very calmly Scott made +rejoinder. He had already begun to write; his hand moved steadily across +the sheet. + +Sir Eustace's frown deepened. "You won't catch the post with those +letters if you do." + +Scott looked up at last, and his eyes were as steady as his hand had +been. "That's my business, old chap," he said quietly. "Don't you worry +yourself about that!" + +There was a hint of ferocity about Sir Eustace as he met that steadfast +look. He stood motionless for a moment or two, then flung round on his +heel. Scott returned to his work with the composure characteristic of +him, and almost immediately the banging of the door told of his brother's +departure. + +Then for a second his hand paused; he passed the other across his eyes +with the old gesture of weariness, and a short, hard sigh came from him +ere he bent again to his task. + +Sir Eustace strode across the hall with the frown still drawing his +brows. An open car was waiting at the door, but ere he went to it he +turned aside and knocked peremptorily at another door. + +He opened without waiting for a reply and entered a long, low-ceiled room +through which the rays of the afternoon sun were pouring. Isabel, lying +on a couch between fire and window, turned her head towards him. + +"Haven't you started yet? Surely it is getting very late," she said in +her low, rather monotonous voice. + +He came to her. "I prefer starting a bit late," he said. "You will have +tea ready when we return?" + +"Certainly," she said. + +He stood looking down at her intently. "Are you all right today?" he +asked abruptly. + +A faint colour rose in her cheeks. "I am--as usual," she said. + +"What does that mean?" Curtly he put the question. "Why don't you go out +more? Why don't you get old Lister to make you up a tonic?" + +She smiled a little, but there was slight uneasiness behind her smile. +Her eyes had the remote look of one who watches the far horizon. "My dear +Eustace," she said, "_cui bono_?" + +He stooped suddenly over her. "It is because you won't make the effort," +he said, speaking with grim emphasis. "You're letting yourself go again, +I know; I've been watching you for the past week. And by heaven, Isabel, +you shan't do it! Scott may be fool enough to let you, but I'm not. +You've only been home a week, and you've been steadily losing ground ever +since you got back. What is it? What's the matter with you? Tell me what +is the matter!" + +So insistent was his tone, so almost menacing his attitude, that Isabel +shrank from him with a gesture too swift to repress. The old pathetic +furtive look was in her eyes as she made reply. + +"I am very sorry. I don't see how I can help it. I--I am getting old, you +know. That is the chief reason." + +"You're talking nonsense, my dear girl." Impatiently Eustace broke in. +"You are just coming into your prime. I won't have you ruin your life +like this. Do you hear me? I won't. If you don't rouse yourself I will +find a means to rouse you. You are simply drifting now--simply drifting." + +"But into my desired haven," whispered Isabel, with a piteous quiver of +the lips. + +He straightened himself with a gesture of exasperation. "You are wasting +yourself over a myth, an illusion. On my soul, Isabel, what a wicked +waste it is! Have you forgotten the days when you and I roamed over the +world together? Have you forgotten Egypt and all we did there? Life was +worth having then." + +"Ah! I thought so." She met his look with eyes that did not seem to see +him. "We were children then, Eustace," she said, "children playing on the +sands. But the great tide caught us. You breasted the waves, but I was +broken and thrown aside. I could never play on the sands again. I can +only lie and wait for the tide to come again and float me away." + +He clenched his hands. "Do you think I would let you go--like that?" he +said. + +"It is the only kindness you can do me," she answered in her low voice of +pleading. + +He swung round to go. "I curse the day," he said very bitterly, "that you +ever met Basil Everard! I curse his memory!" + +She flinched at the words as if they had been a blow. Her face turned +suddenly grey. She clasped her hands very tightly together, saying no +word. + +He went to the door and paused, his back towards her. "I came in," he +said then, "to tell you that the de Vignes have offered to put us up at +their place for the wedding. And I have accepted." + +He waited for some rejoinder but she made none. It was as if she had not +heard. Her eyes had the impotent, stricken look of one who has searched +dim distances for some beloved object--and searched in vain. + +He did not glance round. His temper was on edge. With a fierce movement +he pulled open the door and departed. And behind him like a veil there +fell the silence of a great despair. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW HOME + + +A small figure was already standing outside the station when the car Sir +Eustace drove whirled round the corner of the station yard. He was +greeted by the waving of a vigorous hand, as he dashed up, grinding on +the brakes in the last moment as was his impetuous custom. Everyone knew +him from afar by his driving, and the village children were wont to +scatter like rabbits at his approach. + +Dinah however stood her ground with a confidence which his wild +performance hardly justified, and the moment he alighted sprang to meet +him with the eagerness of a child escaped from school. + +"Oh, Eustace, it is fun coming here! I was so horribly afraid something +would stop me just at the last. But everything has turned out all right, +and we are going to have ever such a fine wedding with crowds and crowds +of people. Did you know Isabel wrote and said she would give me my +wedding dress? Isn't it dear of her? How is she now?" + +"Where is your luggage?" said Eustace. + +She pointed to a diminutive dress-basket behind her. "That's all there +is. I'm not to stay more than a week as the time is getting so short I +don't feel as if I shall ever be ready as it is. I've never been so +rushed before. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be almost better to put +it off a few weeks." + +"Jump up!" commanded Eustace, with a curt sign to a porter to pick up his +_fiancee's_ humble impediments. + +Dinah sprang up beside him and slipped a shy hand onto his knee. "You +look more like Apollo than ever," she whispered, awe-struck, "when you +frown like that. Is anything the matter?" + +His brow cleared magically at her action. "I began to think I should have +to come down to Perrythorpe and fetch you," he said, grasping the little +nervous fingers. "I thought you meant to give me the slip--if you could." + +"Oh no!" said Dinah, shocked at the suggestion. "I wanted to come; +only--only--I couldn't be spared sooner. It wasn't my fault," she urged +pleadingly. "Truly it wasn't!" + +He smiled upon her. "All right,--Daphne. I'll forgive you this time," he +said. "But now I've got you, my nymph of the woods, I am not going to +part with you again in a hurry. And if you talk of putting off the +wedding again, I'll simply run away with you. So now you know what to +expect." + +Dinah uttered her giddy little laugh. The excitement of this visit--the +first she had ever paid to anyone--had turned her head. "Do you know +Rose is actually going to be my chief bridesmaid?" she said. "Isn't +that--magnanimous of her? She is pretending to be pleased, but I know she +is frightfully jealous underneath. The other bridesmaid is the Vicar's +daughter. She is quite old, nearly thirty but I couldn't think of anyone +else, except the infant schoolmistress, and they wouldn't let me have +her. I shall feel rather small, shan't I? Even Rose is twenty-five. I +wonder if I shall feel grown up when I'm married. Do you think I shall?" + +"Not till you cease to be--Daphne," said Sir Eustace enigmatically. + +He started the car with the words, and they shot forward with a +suddenness that made Dinah hold her breath. + +But in a few moments she was chattering again, for she was never quiet +for long. How was Scott? Was he at home? And Isabel--he hadn't told her. +She did hope dear Isabel was keeping better. Was she? Was she? + +She pressed the question as he did not seem inclined to answer it, and +saw again the frown that had darkened his handsome face upon arrival. + +"Do tell me!" she begged. "Isn't she so well?" + +And at last with the curtness of speech which always denoted displeasure +with him, he made reply. + +"No, she has gone back a good deal since she got home. She lies on a sofa +and broods all day long. I am looking to you to wake her up. For heaven's +sake be as lively as you can!" + +"Oh, poor Isabel!" Quick concern was in Dinah's voice. "What is it, do +you think? Doesn't the place suit her?" + +"Heaven knows," he answered gloomily, "I have a house down at +Heath-on-Sea where we keep the yacht, but I doubt if it would do her +much good to go there this time of the year. She and Scott might try +it later--after the wedding." + +"Couldn't we all go there?" suggested Dinah ingenuously. + +He gave her a keen glance. "For the honeymoon? No I don't think so," he +said. + +"Only for the first part of it," said Dinah coaxingly; "till Isabel felt +better." + +He uttered a brief laugh. "No, thanks, Daphne. We're going to be +alone--quite alone, for the first part of our honeymoon. I am going to +take you in this car to the most out-of-the-way corner in England, +where--even, if you run away--there'll be nowhere to run to. And there +you'll stay till--" he paused a moment--"you realize that you are all +mine for ever and ever, till in fact, you've shed all your baby nonsense +and become a wise little married woman." + +Dinah gave a sudden sharp shiver, and pulled her coat closer about her. + +He glanced at her again. "You'll like it better than being a +maid-of-all-work," he said, with his swift, transforming smile. + +She smiled back at him with ready responsiveness. "Oh, I shall! I'm sure +I shall. I've always wanted to be married--always. Only--it'll seem a +little funny, just at first. You won't get impatient with me, will you, +if--if sometimes I forget how to behave?" + +He laughed and abruptly slackened speed. They were running down a narrow +lane bordered with bare trees through which the spring sunshine filtered +down. On a brown upland to one side of them a plough was being driven. +On the other the ground sloped away to deep meadows where wound a +willow-banked river. + +The car stopped. "How pretty it is!" said Dinah. + +And then very suddenly she found that it was not for the sake of the view +that he had brought her to a standstill in that secluded place. For he +caught her to him with the hot ardour she had learned to dread and kissed +with passion the burning face she sought to hide. + +She struggled for a few seconds like a captured bird, but in the end she +yielded palpitating, as she had yielded so often before, mutely bearing +that which her whole soul clamoured inarticulately to escape. When he let +her go, her cheeks were on fire. He was laughing, but she was on the +verge of tears. + +He started on again without words, and in a very brief space they were +racing forward at terrific speed, seeming scarcely to touch the ground so +rapid was their progress. + +Dinah sat with her two hands clutched upon her hat, thankful for the cold +rush of air that gave her relief after the fiery intensity of those +unsparing kisses. Her heart was beating in great thumps. Somehow the +fierceness of him always exceeded either memory or expectation. He was so +terribly strong, so disconcertingly absolute in his demands upon her. And +every time he seemed to take more. + +She hardly noticed anything further of the country through which they +passed. Her agitation possessed her overwhelmingly. She felt exhausted, +unnerved, very curiously ashamed. It was good to have so princely a +lover, but his tempestuous wooing was altogether too much for her. She +wondered how Rose, the sedate and composed beauty, would have met those +wild gusts of passion. They would not have disconcerted her; nothing ever +did. She would probably have endured all with a smile. No form of +adoration could come amiss with her. She did not fancy that Rose's heart +was capable of beating at more than the usual speed. Her very blushes +savoured of a delicate complacency that enhanced her beauty without +disturbing her serenity. A great wave of envy went through Dinah. "Ah, +why had she not been blessed with such a temperament as that?" + +His voice broke in upon her disjointed meditations. "Well, Daphne? +Feeling better?" + +She glanced at him with the confused consciousness that she dared not +meet his eyes. She was glad that he was laughing, but the turbulent +feeling of uncertainty that his nearness always brought to her was with +her still. She was as one who had passed by a raging fire, and the +scorching heat of the flame yet remained with her. Breathlessly she +spoke. "I can't think--or do anything--in this wind. Are we nearly +there?" + +"We are there," he made answer. + +And she discovered that which in her distress of mind she had failed to +notice. They were running smoothly along a private avenue of fir-trees +towards an old stone mansion that stood on a slope overlooking the long +river valley. + +She drew a hard breath. "But this is better--ever so much--than the +Court!" she said. + +"Your future home, my queen!" said Sir Eustace royally. + +She breathed again deeply, wonderingly. "Is it real?" she said. + +He laughed. "I almost think so. You see that other house right away in +the distance, across that further slope? That is the Dower House where +Isabel and Scott are to live when we are married." + +"Oh!" There was a quick note of disappointment in Dinah's voice. "I +thought they would live with us." + +"I don't know why," said Sir Eustace with a touch of sharpness, and then +softening almost immediately, "It's practically the same thing, my sprite +of the woods. But I wish you to be mistress in your own home--when we do +settle down, which won't be at present. For we're not coming back from +our honeymoon till you have learnt that I am the only person in the world +that matters." + +Again a slight shiver caught Dinah, but she repressed it instantly. "I +expect it won't take me very long to learn that, Apollo," she said, with +her shy, fleeting smile. + +And then they glided up to the wide steps of his home and the door opened +to receive them, showing Scott--Scott her friend--standing in the +opening, awaiting her. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WATCHER + + +She sprang to meet him with a cry of delight, both hands extended. + +"Oh, it is good to see you again! It is good! It is good!" she panted. +"Why didn't you come to Perrythorpe? I did want you there!" + +He grasped her hands very tightly. His pale eyes smiled their welcome, +but--it came to her afterwards--he scarcely said a word in greeting. In a +second or two he set her free. + +"Come and see Isabel!" he said. + +She went with him eagerly, forgetful of Sir Eustace striding in her wake. +As Scott opened the door of Isabel's room, she pressed forward, and the +next moment she was kneeling by Isabel's side, gathered close, close to +her breast in a silence that was deeper than any speech. + +Dinah's arms clung fast about the elder woman's neck. She was conscious +of a curious impulse to tears, but she conquered it, forcing herself +somewhat brokenly to laugh. + +"Isn't it lovely to be together again?" she whispered. "You can't think +what it means to me. I lay in bed last night and counted the hours and +then the minutes. I was so dreadfully afraid something might happen to +prevent my coming. And, oh, Isabel, I had no idea your home was so +beautiful." + +Isabel's hold slackened. "Sit on the sofa beside me, my darling!" she +said. "I am so glad you like Willowmount. Was Eustace in time for your +train?" + +Dinah laughed again with more assurance. "Oh no! I got there first. He +came swooping down as if he had dropped from the clouds. We had a very +quick run back, and I'm blown all to pieces." She put up impetuous hands +to thrust back the disordered clusters of dark hair. + +"Take off your hat!" said Scott. + +She obeyed, with shining eyes upon him. "Now, why didn't you come over +to Perrythorpe? You haven't told me yet." + +"I was busy," he answered. "I had to get home." + +His eyes were shining also. She did not need to be told that he was +glad to see her. He rang for tea and sat down somewhere near in his +usual unobtrusive fashion. Eustace occupied the place of honour in an +easy-chair drawn close to the end of the sofa on which Dinah sat. He +was watching her, she knew but she could not meet his look as she met +Scott's. His very nearness made her feel again the scorching of the +flame. + +She slipped her hand into Isabel's as though seeking refuge and as she +did so she heard Eustace address his brother, his tone brief and +peremptory,--the voice of the employer. + +"You have finished that correspondence?" + +"I shall finish it in time for the post," Scott made answer. + +Eustace made a sound expressive of dissatisfaction. "You'll miss it sure +as a gun!" + +Scott said nothing further, but his silence was not without a certain +mastery that sent an odd little thrill of triumph through Dinah. + +Eustace frowned heavily and turned from him. + +The entrance of Biddy with the tea made a diversion, for her greeting of +Dinah was full of warmth. + +"But sure, ye're not looking like I'd like to see ye, Miss Dinah," was +her verdict. "It's meself that'll have to feed ye up." + +"But I'm always thin!" protested Dinah. "It's just the way I'm made." + +Biddy pursed her lips and shook her head. "It's not the sign of a +contented mind," she commented. + +"I never was contented before I went to Switzerland," said Dinah; she +turned to Isabel. "Wasn't it all lovely? It's just like a dream to me +now--all glitter and romance. I'd give anything to have it over again." + +"I'll show you better things than winter in the Alps," said Eustace in +his free, imperial fashion. + +Her bright eyes glanced up to his for a moment. "Do you know I don't +believe you could," she said. + +He laughed. "You won't say that six months hence. The Alps will be no +more than an episode to you then." + +"Rather an important episode," remarked Scott. + +Her look came to him, settled upon him like a shy bird at rest. "Very, +very important," she said softly. "Do you remember that first day--that +first night--how you helped me dress for the ball? Eustace would never +have thought of dancing with me if it hadn't been for you." + +"I seem to have a good deal to answer for," said Scott, with his rather +tired smile. + +"I owe you--everything," said Dinah. + +"Stumpy has many debtors," said Isabel. + +Eustace uttered a brief laugh. "Stumpy scores without running," he +observed. "He always has. Saves trouble, eh, Stumpy?" + +"Quite so," said Scott with precision. "It's easy to be kind when it +costs you nothing." + +"And it pays," said Eustace. + +Dinah's green eyes went back to him with something of a flash. "Scott +would never have thought of that," she said. + +"I am sure he wouldn't," said Eustace dryly. + +Her look darted about him like an angry bird seeking some vulnerable +point whereat to strike. But before she could speak, Scott leaned forward +and intervened. + +"My thoughts are my own private property, if no one objects," he said +whimsically. "Judge me--if you must--by my actions! But I should prefer +not to be judged at all. Have you told Dinah about the invitation to the +de Vignes's, Eustace?" + +"No! They haven't asked you for the wedding surely!" Dinah's thoughts +were instantly diverted. "Have they really? I never thought they would. +Oh, that will be fun! I expect Rose is trying to pretend she isn't--" She +broke off, colouring vividly. "What a pig I am!" she said apologetically +to Scott. "Please forget I said that!" + +"But you didn't say it," said Scott. + +"A near thing!" commented Eustace. "I had no idea Miss de Vigne was so +smitten. Stumpy, you'll be best man. You'll have to console her." + +"I believe the best man has to console everybody," said Scott. + +"You are peculiarly well fitted for the task," said his brother, setting +down his cup and pulling out a cigarette-case. "Be quick and quench your +thirst, Dinah. I want to trot you round the place before dark." + +Dinah looked at Isabel. "You'll come too?" + +Isabel shook her head. "No, dear, I can't walk much. Besides, Eustace +will want you to himself." + +But a queer little spirit of perversity had entered into Dinah. She shook +her head also. "We will go round in the morning," she said, with a +resolute look at her _fiance_. "I am going to stay with Isabel to-night. +You have had quite as much of me as is good for you; now haven't you?" + +There was an instant of silence that felt ominous before somewhat curtly +Sir Eustace yielded the point. "I won't grudge you to Isabel if she wants +you. You can both of you come up to the picture-gallery when you have +done. There's a fine view of the river from there." + +He got up with the words and Scott rose also. They went away together, +and Dinah at once nestled to Isabel's side. + +"Now we can be cosy!" she said. + +Isabel put an arm about her. "You mustn't make me monopolize you, +sweetheart," she said. "I think Eustace was a little disappointed." + +"I'll be ever so nice to him presently to make up," said Dinah. "But I do +want you now, Isabel!" + +"What is it, dearest?" + +Dinah's cheek rubbed softly against her shoulder. "Isabel--darling, I +never thought that you and Scott were going to leave this place because +Eustace was marrying me." + +Isabel's arm pressed her closer. "We are not going far away, darling. It +will be better for you to be alone." + +"I don't think so," said Dinah. "We shall be alone quite long enough on +our honeymoon." She trembled a little in Isabel's hold. "I do wish you +were coming too," she whispered. + +"My dear, Eustace will take care of you," Isabel said. + +"Oh yes, I know. But he's so big. He wants such a lot," murmured Dinah in +distress. "I don't know quite how to manage him. He's never satisfied. +If--if only you were coming with us, he'd have something else to think +about." + +"Oh no, he wouldn't, dear. When you are present, he thinks of no one +else. You see," Isabel spoke with something of an effort, "he's in love +with you." + +"Yes--yes, of course. I'm very silly." Dinah dabbed her eyes and began to +smile. "But he makes me feel all the while as if--as if he wants to eat +me. I know it's all my silliness; but I wish you weren't going to the +Dower House all the same. Shall you be quite comfortable there?" + +"It is being done up, dear. You must come round with us and see it. We +shall move in directly the wedding is over, and then this place is to be +done up too, made ready for you. I believe you are to choose wall-papers +and hangings while you are here. You will enjoy that." + +"If you will help me," said Dinah. + +"Of course I will help you, dear child. I will always help you with +anything so long as it is in my power." + +Very tenderly Isabel reassured her till presently the scared feeling +subsided. + +They went up later to the picture-gallery and joined Eustace whom they +found smoking there. His mood also had changed by that time, and he +introduced his ancestors to Dinah with complete good humour. + +Isabel remained with them, but she talked very little in her brother's +presence; and when after a time Dinah turned to her she was startled by +the deadly weariness of her face. + +"Oh, I am tiring you!" she exclaimed, with swift compunction. + +But Isabel assured her with a smile that this was not so. She was a +little tired, but that was nothing new. + +"But you generally rest before dinner!" said Dinah, full of +self-reproach, "Eustace, ought she not to rest?" + +Eustace glanced at his sister half-reluctantly, and a shade of concern +crossed his face also. "Are you feeling faint?" he asked her. "Do you +want anything?" + +"No, no! Of course not!" She averted her face sharply from his look. "Go +on talking to Dinah! I am all right." + +She moved to a deep window-embrasure, and sat down on the cushioned seat. +The spring dusk was falling. She gazed forth into it with that look of +perpetual searching that Dinah had grown to know in the earliest days of +their acquaintance. She was watching, she was waiting,--for what? She +longed to draw near and comfort her, but the presence of Eustace made +that impossible. She did not know how to dismiss him. + +And then to her relief the door opened, and Scott came quietly in upon +them. He seemed to take in the situation at a glance, for after a few +words with them he passed on to Isabel, sitting aloof and silent in the +twilight. + +She greeted him with a smile, and Dinah's anxiety lifted somewhat. She +turned to Eustace. + +"Show me your den now!" she said. "I can see the rest of the house +to-morrow." + +And with a feeling that she was doing Isabel a service she went away with +him, alone. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE WRONG ROAD + + +When Dinah descended to breakfast the next morning, she encountered Scott +in the hall. He had evidently just come in from an early ride, and he was +looking younger and more animated than his wont. + +"Ah, there you are!" he said, coming to meet her. "I've got some shocking +news for you this morning. Eustace has had to go to town to see his +solicitor. An urgent telephone message came through this morning. He has +just gone up by the early train in the hope of getting back in good time. +He charged me with all sorts of messages for you, and I have promised to +take care of you in his absence, if you will allow me." + +"Oh, that will be great fun!" exclaimed Dinah ingenuously, "I hope you +are not very busy. I'd like you to show me everything." + +He laughed. "No, I can't do that. We must keep that for Eustace. But I +will take you to the Dower House, and show you that." + +"I shall love that," said Dinah. + +He took her into a room that overlooked terrace and river-valley and the +sunny southern slope that lay between. + +Breakfast was laid for two, and a cheery fire was burning. "How cosy it +looks!" said Dinah. + +"It does, doesn't it?" said Scott. "We always breakfast here in the +winter for that reason. Not that it is winter to-day. It is glorious +spring. You seem to have brought it with you. Take the coffee-pot end, +won't you? What will you have to eat?" + +He spoke with a lightness that Dinah found peculiarly exhilarating. He +was evidently determined that she should not be dull. Her spirits rose. +She suddenly felt like a child who has been granted an unexpected +holiday. + +She smiled up at him as he brought her a plate. "Isn't it a perfect +morning? I'm so glad to be here. Don't let us waste a single minute; will +we?" + +"Not one," said Scott. + +He went to his own place. He was plainly in a holiday mood also. She saw +it in his whole bearing, and her heart rejoiced. It was so good to see +him looking happy. + +"Have you seen Isabel this morning?" he asked her presently. + +"No. I went to her door, but Biddy said she was asleep, so I didn't go +in." + +"She often doesn't sleep much before morning," Scott said. "I expect she +will be down to luncheon if you can put up with me only till then." + +He evidently did not want to discuss Isabel's health just then, and Dinah +was quite willing also to let the subject pass for the time. It was a +morning for happy thoughts only. She and Scott would pretend that they +had not a care in the world. + +They breakfasted together as if it were a picnic. She had never seen him +so cheery and inconsequent. It was as if he also were engaged in some +species of make-believe. Or was it the enchantment of spring that had +fallen upon them both? Dinah could not have said. She only knew that +she had never felt so happy in all her life before. + +The walk to the Dower House was full of delight. It was all so exquisite, +the long, grassy slopes, the dark woods, the bare trees stark against the +blue. The path led through a birch copse, and here in sheltered corners +were primroses. She gathered them eagerly, and Scott helped her, even +forgetting to smoke. + +She did not remember later what they talked about, or even if they talked +at all. But the amazing gladness of her heart on that spring morning was +to be a vivid memory to her for as long as she lived. + +They reached the Dower House. Like Willowmount, it overlooked the river, +but from a different angle. Dinah was charmed with the old place. It was +full of unexpected corners and old-fashioned contrivances. Blue patches +of violets bloomed in the garden. Again with Scott's help, she gathered a +great dewy bunch. + +There were workmen in one or two of the rooms, and she stood by or +wandered at will while Scott talked to the foreman. + +They found themselves presently in the room that was to be Isabel's,--a +large and sunlit apartment that had a turret window that looked to the +far hills beyond the river. Dinah stood entranced with her eyes upon the +blue distance. Finally, with a sigh, she spoke. + +"How I wish I were going to live here too!" + +"What! You like it better than Willowmount?" said Scott. + +She made a little gesture of the hands, as if she pleaded for +understanding. "I feel so small in big places. This is spacious, but it's +cosy too. I--I should feel lost alone at Willowmount." + +"But you won't be alone," he pointed out, with his kindly smile. "You +will be very much the reverse, I can assure you." + +She gave that sharp, uncontrollable little shiver of hers. "You mean +Eustace--" she said haltingly. + +"Yes, Eustace, and all the people round who will want to know his bride," +said Scott. "I don't think you will have much time to be lonely. If you +have, you can always come along to us, you know. We shall be only too +delighted to see you." + +Dinah turned to him impulsively. "You are good!" she said. "I wonder you +don't look upon me as a horrid little interloper, turning you out of your +home where you have always lived! I do hate the thought of it! Really it +isn't my fault." + +She spoke with tears in her eyes; but Scott still smiled. "My dear +child," he said, "such an idea never entered my head. Isabel and I have +often thought we should like to make this our home. We have always +intended to as soon as Eustace married." + +"Did you never think of marrying?" Dinah asked him suddenly. + +There was an instant's pause, and then, as he was about to speak, she +broke in quickly. + +"Oh, please don't tell me! I was a pig to ask! I didn't mean to. It just +slipped out. Do forgive me!" + +"But why shouldn't you ask?" said Scott gently. "We are friends. I don't +mind answering you. I've had my dream like the rest of the world. But it +was very soon over. I never seriously deluded myself into the belief that +anyone could care to marry a shrimp like me." + +"Oh, Scott!" Almost fiercely Dinah cut him short. "How can you--you of +all people--say a thing like that?" + +Scott looked at her quizzically for a moment. "I should have thought I +was the one person who could say it," he observed. + +Dinah turned from him sharply. Her hands were clenched. "Oh no! Oh no!" +she said incoherently. "It's not right! It's not fair! You--you--Mr. +Greatheart!" Quite suddenly, as if the utterance of the name were too +much for her, she broke down, covered her face, and wept. + +"Dinah!" said Scott. + +He came to her and took her very gently by the arm. Dinah's shoulders +were shaking. She could not lift her face. + +"Why--why shouldn't your dream come true too?" she sobbed. "You--who help +everybody--to get what they want!" + +"My dear," Scott said, "my dream is over. Don't you grieve on my account! +God knows I'm not grieving for myself." His voice was low, but very +steadfast. + +"You wouldn't!" said Dinah. + +"No; because it's futile, unnecessary, a waste of time. I've other things +to do--plenty of other things." Scott braced himself with the words, as +one who manfully lifts a burden. "Cheer up, Dinah! I didn't mean to make +you sad." + +"But--but--are you sure--quite sure--she didn't care?" faltered Dinah, +rubbing her eyes woefully. + +"Quite sure," said Scott, with decision. + +Dinah threw him a sudden, flashing glance of indignation. "Then she was a +donkey, Scott, a fool--an idiot!" she declared, with trembling vehemence. +"I'd like--oh, how I'd like--to tell her so." + +Scott was smiling, his own, whimsical smile. "Yes, wouldn't you?" he +said. "And it's awfully nice of you to say so. But do you know, you're +quite wrong. She wasn't any of those things. On the other hand, I was all +three. But where's the use of talking? It's over, and a good thing too!" + +Dinah slipped a quivering hand over his. "We'll always be friends, won't +we, Scott?" she said tremulously. + +"Always," said Scott. + +She squeezed his hand hard, and in response his fingers pressed her arm. +His steady eyes looked straight into hers. + +And in the silence, there came to Dinah a queer stirring of +uncertainty,--the uncertainty of one who just begins to suspect that he +is on the wrong road. + +The moment passed, and they talked again of lighter things, but the mood +of irresponsible light-heartedness had gone. When they finally left the +Dower House, Dinah felt that she trod the earth once more. + +"I shall come and see you very often when we come back," she said rather +wistfully. "I hope Eustace won't want to be away a very long time." + +"Aren't you looking forward to your honeymoon?" asked Scott. + +"I don't know," said Dinah, and paused. "I really don't know. But," +brightening, "I'm sure the wedding will be great fun." + +"I hope it will," said Scott kindly. + +It was not till they were nearing Willowmount that Dinah asked him at +length hesitatingly about Isabel. + +"Do you mind telling me? Is she worse?" + +Scott also hesitated a little before he answered. Then: "In one sense she +is much better," he said. "But physically," he paused, "physically she is +losing ground." + +"Oh, Scott!" Dinah looked at him with swift dismay. "But why--why? Can +nothing be done?" + +His eyes met hers unwaveringly. "No, nothing," he said, and he spoke with +that decision which she had come to know as in some fashion a part of +himself. His words carried conviction, and yet by some means they quieted +her dismay as well. He went on after a moment with that gentle philosophy +of his that seemed to soften all he said. "She is as one nearing the end +of a long journey, and she is very tired, poor girl. We can't grudge her +her rest--when it comes. Eustace wants to rouse her, but I think the time +for that is past. It is kinder--it is wiser--to let her alone." + +Dinah drew a little nearer to him. "Do you mean--that you think she won't +live very long?" she whispered. + +"If you like to put it that way," Scott answered quietly. + +"Oh, but what of you?" she said. + +She uttered the words almost involuntarily, and the next moment she would +have recalled them, for she saw his face change. For a second--only a +second--she read suffering in his eyes. But he answered her without +hesitation. + +"I shall just keep on, Dinah," he said. "It's the only way. But, as I +think I've mentioned before, it's no good meeting troubles half-way. The +day's work is all that really matters." + +They walked on for a space in silence; then as they drew near the house +he changed the subject. But that brief shadow of a coming desolation +dwelt in Dinah's memory with a persistence that defied all lesser things. +He was brave enough, cheery enough, in the shouldering of his burden; but +her heart ached when she realized how heavy that burden must be. + +A message awaited her at the house that she would go to Isabel in her +sitting-room, and she went, half-eager, half-diffident. But as soon as +she was with her friend her doubts were all gone. For Isabel looked and +spoke so much as usual that it seemed impossible to believe that she was +indeed nearing the end of the journey. + +She wanted to know all that Dinah had been doing, and they sat and +discussed the decorations of the Dower House till the luncheon-hour. + +When luncheon was over they repaired to a sheltered corner of the +terrace, looking down over the garden to the river, while Scott went away +to write letters; and here they talked over the serious matter of the +trousseau with regard to which neither Dinah nor her mother had made any +very definite arrangements. + +Perhaps Mrs. Bathurst had foreseen the possibility of Isabel desiring to +undertake this responsibility. Perhaps Isabel had already dropped a hint +of her intention. In any case it seemed the most natural thing in the +world that Isabel should be the one to assist and advise, and when Dinah +demurred a little on the score of cost she found herself gently but quite +effectually silenced. Sir Eustace's bride must have a suitable outfit, +Isabel told her. The question of ways and means was not one which need +trouble her. + +So Dinah obediently put the matter from her, and entered into the +delightful discussion with keen zest. Isabel's ideas were so entrancing. +She knew exactly what she would need. Her taste also was so simple, and +so unerring. Dinah had never before pictured herself as possessing such +things as Isabel calmly proclaimed that she must have. + +"We must go up to town to-morrow," Isabel said, "and get things started. +It will mean the whole day, I am afraid. Can you bear to be parted from +Eustace for so long?" + +Dinah laughed merrily at the question. "Of course--of course! What fun it +will be! I always knew I should like to be married, but I never dreamt it +could be so exciting as this." + +Isabel smiled at her with a touch of pity in her eyes. "Marriage isn't +only new clothes and wedding presents, Dinah," she said. + +"No, no! I know!" Dinah spoke with swift compunction. "It is far more +than that. But I've never had such lovely things before. I can't help +feeling a little giddy about it. You do understand, don't you? I'm not +like that all through--really." + +"My darling!" Isabel answered fondly. "Of course I know it. I sometimes +think that it would be better for you if you were." + +"Isabel, why--why?" Dinah pressed close to her, half-curious, +half-frightened. + +But Isabel did not answer her. She only kissed the vivid, upturned face +with all a mother's tenderness, and turned back in silence, to the +fashion-book on her knee. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DOUBTING CASTLE + + +When Sir Eustace returned, he found his bride-elect awaiting him with a +radiant face. She sprang to greet him with an eagerness that outwent all +shyness. + +"Oh, Eustace, I have had such a lovely time!" she told him. "It has been +a perfect day." + +She offered him her lips with a child's simplicity, but blushed deeply +when she felt the hot pressure of his, turning her face aside the moment +he released her. + +He laughed a little, keeping his arm about her shoulders. "You haven't +missed me then?" he said. + +"Oh, not a bit," said Dinah truthfully; and then quickly, "but what a +horrid thing to say! Why did you put it like that?" + +"I wanted to know," said Sir Eustace. + +She turned back to him. "I should have missed you if I hadn't been so +busy. Isabel is going to help me with my trousseau. And oh, Eustace, I am +to have such a crowd of lovely things." + +He pinched her cheek. "What should a brown elf need beyond a shift of +thistle-down? Where is Isabel?" + +"She is resting now. She got so tired. Biddy said she must lie down, and +we mustn't disturb her for tea. I do hope it wasn't too much for her, +Eustace." + +"Too much for her! Nonsense! It does her good to think of someone else +besides herself," said Eustace. "If Biddy didn't coddle her so in the day +time, she would sleep better at night. Well, where is tea? In the +drawing-room? Come along and have it!" + +Dinah clung to his arm. "It--it's in a place called my lady's boudoir," +she told him shyly. + +He looked at her. "Where? Oh, I know. That inner sanctuary with the west +window. You've taken a fancy to it, have you? Then we will call it +Daphne's Bower." + +Dinah's laugh was not without a hint of restraint. "I haven't been in any +other room. Scott said you would show me everything. But I just wandered +in there, and he found me and showed me the dear little boudoir. He said +you were going to have it done up." + +"So I am," said Eustace. "Everything that belongs to you must be new. +Have you decided what colour will suit you best?" + +They were passing through the long drawing-room towards the curtained +doorway that led into the little boudoir. The drawing-room was a palatial +apartment with stately French furniture that Dinah surveyed with awe. She +could not picture herself as hostess in so magnificent a setting. She +could only think of Rose de Vigne. It would have suited her flawless +beauty perfectly, and she knew that Rose's self-contained heart would +have revelled in such an atmosphere. + +But it made her feel a stranger, and she hastened through it to the +cosier nest beyond. + +This was a far more homely spot. The furniture here was French also, and +exquisitely delicate; but it was designed for comfort, and the gilded +state of the outer room was wholly absent. + +A tea-table stood near a deeply-cushioned settee, and the kettle sang +merrily over a spirit-lamp. + +Eustace dropped on to the settee and drew her suddenly and wholly +unexpectedly down upon his knee. + +"Oh, Eustace!" she gasped, turning crimson. + +He wound his arms about her, holding her two hands imprisoned. "Oh, +Daphne!" he mocked softly. "I've caught you--I've caught you! Here in +your own bower with no one to look on! No, you can't even flutter your +wings now. You've got to stay still and be worshipped." + +He spoke with his face against her neck. She felt the burning of his +breath, and something;--an urgent, inner prompting--warned her to submit. +She sat there in his grasp in quivering silence. + +His arms drew her nearer, nearer. It was as if he were gradually merging +her whole being into his. In a moment, with a little gasp, she gave him +her trembling lips. + +He uttered a low laugh of mastery and gave his passion the rein, +overwhelming her with those devouring kisses that from the very outset +had always filled her with an indefinable sense of shame. She was quite +powerless to frustrate him. The delicate barrier of her reserve was +rudely torn away. The burning blush on face and neck served but to feed +the flame. He kissed the panting throat as if he would draw the very life +out of it. There was fierce possession in the holding of his arms. She +thought she would never be free again. + +The first fiery wave spent itself at last, but even then he did not let +her go. He held her pressed to him, and she lay against his breast +trembling but wholly passive, overcome by an inexplicable longing to +hide, to hide. + +After a few seconds he spoke to her, his voice oddly unsteady, very deep. +"You're driving me mad, Daphne. Do you know that?" + +"I--I'm sorry," she faltered, trying to shelter her tingling face in his +coat. + +His arms were tense about her. "I want you more and more every day," he +said. "I don't know how to wait for you. How long is it to our wedding?" + +"Three weeks and four days," she told him faintly. + +He gave his low, quivering laugh, "What! You are counting the days too! +Daphne! My Daphne! Need we wait--all that time?" + +Dinah's thumping heart gave a great start and seemed to stop. "Oh yes," +she gasped desperately. "Yes, I couldn't possibly--be ready sooner." + +He put his face down to hers, as one who breathes the essence of a +flower. "You are ready now," he said. "You will never be lovelier than +you are to-night." + +She tried to laugh, but his lips were too near. Her voice quavered +piteously. + +"Why do I wait for you?" he said, and in his words there beat a fierce +unrest. "Why am I such a fool? I lie awake night after night consumed +with the want of you. When I sleep, I am always chasing you, you +will-o'-the-wisp; and you always manage to keep just out of reach." His +arms tightened. His voice suddenly sank to a deep whisper. "Daphne! Shall +I tell you what I am going to do?" + +"What?" panted Dinah. + +"I am going to take you right away over the hills to-morrow to a place I +know of where it is as lonely as the Sahara, and we will have a picnic +there all to ourselves--all to ourselves, and make up for to-day." + +His lips pressed hers again, but she withdrew herself with a sharp +effort. There was nameless terror in her heart. + +"Oh, I can't, Eustace! I can't indeed!" she said, and now she was +striving, striving impotently, for freedom. "I'm going up to town with +Isabel." + +"Isabel can wait," he said. + +"No! No! I must go. You don't understand. There are no end of things to +be done." Dinah was as one encircled by fire, searching wildly round for +a means of escape. "I must go!" she said again. "I must go!" + +"You can go the next day," he said with arrogance. "I want you to-morrow +and I mean to have you. Look at me, Dinah!" + +She glanced at him, compelled by the command of his tone, met the fiery +intensity of his look, and sank helpless, conquered. + +He kissed her again. "There! That's settled. You silly little thing! Why +do you always beat your wings against the inevitable? Do you think you +are going to get away from me now?" + +She hid her face against his shoulder. She was almost in tears. "You--you +hurt me! You frighten me!" she whispered. + +"Do I?" he said, and still in his voice she heard that deep note that +made her whole being quiver. "It's your own fault, my Daphne. You +shouldn't run away." + +"I--I can't help it," she said tremulously. "I sometimes think--I'm +not big enough for you." + +"You'll grow," he said. + +"I don't know," she answered in distress. "I may not. And if I do, I +feel--I feel as if I shan't be myself any longer, but just--but just--a +bit of you!" + +He laughed. "Daphne,--you oddity! Don't you want to be a bit of me?" + +"I'd rather be myself," she murmured shyly. + +His hold was not so close, and she longed, but did not dare, to get off +his knee and breathe. But in that moment there came the sound of a +halting step in the drawing-room beyond, and swiftly she raised her head. + +"Oh, Eustace, let me go! Here is Scott!" + +He did not release her instantly. Scott was already in the doorway +before, like a frightened fawn, she leapt from his grasp. She heard +Eustace laugh again, and somehow his laugh had a note of insolence. + +"Come in, my good brother!" he said. "My lady is just about to make tea. +I presume that is what you have come for." + +"The presumption is correct," said Scott. + +He came forward in his quiet, unhurried fashion, and paused at the table +to open the tea-caddy for Dinah. + +She thanked him with trembling lips, her eyes cast down, her face on +fire. + +Eustace lounged back on the settee and watched her. He frowned +momentarily when Scott sat down beside him, leaving her a low chair by +the tea-tray. + +Dinah's hands fluttered among the cups. She was painfully ill at ease. +But in a second or two Scott's placid voice came into the silence, and at +once her distress began to subside. + +"Have you decided about the decoration of this room yet?" he asked. "I +always thought this dead-white rather cold." + +"Dinah is to have her own choice," said Sir Eustace. + +"I would like shell-pink," said Dinah, without looking up. "Don't you +think that would be nice with those pretty water-colour sketches?" + +She spoke diffidently. No one had ever deferred to her taste before. + +Sir Eustace laughed in his slightly supercilious way. "Do you know who is +responsible for those pretty sketches, my red, red rose?" + +She glanced up nervously. "Not--not--are they yours, Scott?" + +"They are," said Scott, with a smile. + +She met his eyes for an instant, and was surprised by their gravity. "Oh, +I do like them," she said. "I wonder I didn't guess. They are so +beautifully finished, so--complete." + +"I am glad you like them," said Scott. "I thought you might want to turn +them out as lumber." + +"As if I should!" she said. "I love them--every one of them. I shall love +them better still now I know they are yours." + +"Thank you," said Scott. + +Eustace turned his attention to him. "No one ever paid you such a +compliment as that before, my good Stumpy," he observed. "If everyone saw +you in that light, you'd be a great artist by now." + +"I wonder," said Scott. + +Dinah sent him another swift glance. She seemed on the verge of speech, +but checked herself, and there fell a brief silence. + +It was broken by the entrance of a servant. "If you please, Sir Eustace, +Mr. Grey is in the library and would be glad if you could spare him a few +minutes." + +Sir Eustace uttered an impatient exclamation. "You go and see what he +wants, Stumpy!" he said. + +But Scott remained seated. "I know what he wants, my dear chap, and it's +something that only you can give. He has come about Bob Jelf who was +caught poaching last week. He wants you to give the fellow as light a +sentence as possible on account of his wife." + +Sir Eustace frowned. "I never give a light sentence for poaching. He's +always at it, I'd give him the cat if I could." + +Scott raised his shoulders slightly. "Well, don't ask me to say that to +Mr. Grey! He's taking the whole business badly to heart, as he was +beginning to look on Jelf as a reformed character." + +"I'll reform him!" said Sir Eustace. He turned to the servant. "Ask Mr. +Grey to join us here!" + +"You had better see him alone first," said Scott. + +"Why?" His brother turned upon him almost savagely. + +Scott took up his tea-cup. "You can't refuse to give him a hearing," he +observed. "He has come up on purpose." + +Sir Eustace murmured something under his breath and rose. His look fell +upon Dinah. "It's the village padre," he said. "I shall have to bring him +in here. I hope you don't mind?" + +She gave him a quick, half-startled smile. "Of course not." + +He turned to the door which the waiting servant was holding open, and +strode out with annoyed majesty. + +Dinah watched him till the door closed; then very suddenly and urgently +she turned to Scott. + +"Oh, please, will you help me?" she said. + +He gave her a straight, keen look that seemed to penetrate to her soul. +"If it lies in my power," he said slowly. + +She caught her breath, pierced by a sharp uncertainty. "You can. I'm sure +you can," she said. + +He set down his cup. "Dinah," he said gently, "don't ask me to interfere +in your affairs if you can by any means manage without!" + +"But that's just it!" she said in distress. "I can't." + +He leaned forward. "My dear, don't be agitated!" he said. "Tell me what +is the matter!" + +Dinah leaned forward also, her hands tightly clasped, and spoke in a +rapid whisper. + +"Scott, Eustace wants me to go for an all-day picnic alone with him +to-morrow. I--don't want to go." + +He was still looking at her with that straight, almost stern regard. An +odd little quiver went through her as she met it. She felt as if she were +in a fashion on her trial. + +"Why don't you want to go?" he asked. + +She hesitated. "I was to have gone up to town with Isabel to shop," she +said. + +"No, that isn't the reason," he said. "Tell me the reason!" + +She made a quick gesture of appeal. "I--wish you wouldn't ask," she +faltered, and suddenly she could meet his eyes no longer. She lowered her +own, and sat before him in burning confusion. + +"Have you asked yourself?" he said, his voice very low. + +She was silent; the quiet question seemed to probe her through and +through. There was no evading it. + +Scott was still watching her very closely, very intently. He spoke at +length, just as she was beginning to feel his scrutiny to be more than +she could bear. + +"If you are just shy with him--as I think you are--I think you ought to +try and get over it, as much for his sake as for your own. You don't want +to hurt him, do you? You wouldn't like him to be disappointed?" + +Dinah shook her head. "If you could come too!" she suggested, in a very +small voice. + +"No, I can't," said Scott firmly. + +She sent him a darting glance. "Are you angry with me?" she said. + +"I!" said Scott in amazement. + +"You--spoke as if you were," she said. "And you looked--quite grim." + +He laughed a little. "If you are afraid of me, you must indeed be easily +frightened. No, of course I am not angry. Dinah! Dinah! Don't be silly!" + +Her lips were quivering, but in response to his admonishing tone she +forced them to smile. "I know I am silly," she said, with an effort. +"I--I'm not nearly good enough for Eustace. And I'm a dreadful little +coward, I know. But he does frighten me. When he kisses me--I always +want to run away." + +"But you wouldn't like it if he didn't," said Scott, in the voice of the +philosopher. + +"Shouldn't I?" said Dinah. "I wonder. It--wouldn't be him, would it?" + +"And what are you going to do when you are married?" said Scott, point +blank. "You'll see much more of him then." + +"Oh, I expect I shall feel different then," said Dinah. "Married people +are different, aren't they? They are not always going off by themselves +and kissing in corners." + +"Not as a rule," admitted Scott. "But I've been told that there is +usually a good deal of that sort of thing done during the honeymoon." + +"That's different too," Dinah's voice was slightly dubious +notwithstanding. "But we are not on our honeymoon yet. Scott, couldn't +you--just for once--help me to--to find an excuse not to go? It would +be--so dear of you." + +She spoke with earnest entreaty, her eyes frankly raised to his. + +Scott looked into them with steady searching before he finally responded. +"I will speak to him if you like. I don't know that I shall be +successful. But--if you wish it--I will try." + +"Oh, thank you," she said. "Thank you." And then quickly, "You're sure +you don't mind? Sure you're not afraid?" + +"Oh, quite sure of that," said Scott. + +Her eyes expressed open admiration. "I can't think how you manage not to +be," she said. + +He smiled with a touch of sadness. "Perhaps I am not so weak as I look," +he said. + +"You--weak!" said Dinah. "Why, you are the strongest man I ever met." + +Scott smothered a sudden sigh. "Which only proves how very little you +know about me," he said. + +But Dinah shook her head, wholly unconvinced. Here at least she was +absolutely sure of her ground. + +"'Mr. Greatheart was a strong man,'" she quoted, "'and he was not afraid +of a Lion.'" + +"There are sometimes worse things than lions in the path," said Scott +gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE VICTORY + + +The return of Sir Eustace, marshalling the Vicar before him, put an end +to further confidences. + +Dinah rose nervously to receive the new-comer--a tall, thin man, elderly, +with a grave, intellectual face and courteous manner, who looked at her +with a gleam of surprise as he took her shyly proffered hand. + +"It is a great privilege to meet you," he said then, and Dinah perceived +at once that he had prepared that remark for someone much more imposing +than herself, and had not time to readjust it. + +She thanked him, and he sat down at Scott's invitation and fell into a +troubled silence. + +Sir Eustace was looking decidedly formidable, and it was not difficult to +see that he had just given an unqualified refusal to his visitor's +earnest request. + +It was Scott as usual who came to the rescue, breaking through the +Vicar's abstraction to ask for details concerning certain additions that +were being made to the Cottage Hospital. He drew Dinah also into the +conversation, taking it for granted that she would be interested; and +presently Mr. Grey brightened somewhat, launching into what was evidently +a favourite topic. + +"We are hoping," he said, "that the new wing will be completed by the end +of June, and it is expected that the Parish Council will request Lady +Studley to be good enough to declare it open." + +He looked at Dinah with the words, and she realized their significance +with a sharp shock. "Oh, do you mean me?" she said. "I don't think I +could." + +"It wouldn't be a very difficult business," said Scott reassuringly. + +"Oh, I couldn't!" she said. "Why--why, there would be crowds of people, +wouldn't there?" + +"I hope to get a few of the County," said Mr. Grey, "to support you." + +"That makes it worse," said Dinah. + +Scott laughed. "Eustace and I will come too and take care of you. You +see, the Lady of the Manor has to do these tiresome things." + +"Oh! I'll come if you want me," said Dinah. "But I've never done anything +like that before and I can't think what the County will say. You see, I +don't belong." + +"Snap your fingers in its face, and it won't bite you!" said Eustace. +"You will belong by that time." + +Mr. Grey smiled a very kindly smile that had in it a touch of compassion. +He said nothing, but in a few minutes he rose to take his leave, and +then, with Dinah's hand held for a moment in his, he said in a low voice, +"I wish I might enlist your sympathy on behalf of one of my parishioners. +His wife is dying of cancer, and he is to be sent to gaol for poaching." + +"Oh!" Dinah exclaimed in distress. + +She looked quickly across at her _fiance_, and saw that his brow was +dark. + +He said nothing whatever, and she went to him impulsively. "Eustace, must +you send him to prison?" + +He looked at her for a second, then turned, without responding, to the +Vicar. "That was a very unnecessary move on your part, sir," he said +icily. "I have told you my decision in the matter, and there it must +rest. Justice is justice." + +Dinah was looking at him very pleadingly; he laid his hand upon her arm, +and she felt his fingers close with a strong, restraining pressure. + +Mr. Grey turned to go. "I make no excuse, Sir Eustace," he said. "I am +begging for mercy, not justice. My cause is urgent. If one weapon fails, +I must employ another." + +He went out with Scott, and Dinah was left alone with Sir Eustace. + +He spoke at once, sternly and briefly, before she had time to open her +lips. "Dinah, this is no matter for your interference. I forbid you to +pursue it any further." + +His tone was crushingly absolute; she saw that he was white with anger. + +She felt the colour die out of her own cheeks as she faced him. But the +Vicar's few words had made a deep impression upon her; she forced back +her fear. + +"But, Eustace, is it true?" she said. "Is the man's wife really dying? If +so--if so--surely you will let him off!" + +His grasp upon her arm tightened. "Are you going to disobey me?" he said +warningly. + +His look was terrible, but she braved it. "Yes--yes, I am," she said, +with desperate courage. "Eustace, I've never asked you to do anything +before. Couldn't you--can't you--do this one thing?" + +She met the blazing wrath of his eyes though her heart felt stiff with +fear. It had come so suddenly, this ordeal, but she braced herself to +meet it. Horrible though it was to withstand him, the thought came to her +that if she did not make the effort just once she would never have the +strength again. + +"You think me very impertinent," she said, speaking quickly through +quivering lips. "But--but--I have a right to speak. If I am to be--your +wife, you must not treat me as--a servant." + +She saw his look change. The anger went out of it, but something that was +more terrible to her took its place, something that she could not meet. + +She flinched involuntarily, and in the same moment he drew her close to +him. "Ah, Daphne, the adorable!" he said. "I've never seen you at bay +before! You claim your privileges, do you? You think I can refuse you +nothing?" + +She shrank at his tone--the mastery of it, the confidence, the caress. + +"You needn't be afraid," he said, and bent his face to hers. "Whatever +you wish is law. But don't forget one thing! If I refuse you nothing, I +must have everything in exchange. 'Love the gift is Love the debt,' my +Daphne. You must give me freely all that you have in return." + +She trembled in his embrace. Those passionate words of his +frightened her anew. Was it possible--would it ever be possible--to +give him--freely--all that she had? + +The doubt shot through her like the stab of a dagger even while she gave +him the kiss he demanded for her audacity. Her victory over him amazed +her, so appalling had seemed the odds. But in a fashion it dismayed her +too. He was too mighty a giant to kneel at her feet for long. He would +exact payment in full, she was sure, she was sure, for all that he gave +her now. + +She was thankful when a ceremonious knock at the door compelled him to +release her. Biddy presented herself very upright, primly correct. + +"If ye please, Miss Dinah, Mrs. Everard is awake and will be pleased to +see ye whenever it suits ye to go to her at all." + +"Oh, I'll go now," said Dinah with relief. She glanced at Eustace. "You +don't mind? You don't want me?" + +"No, I have some business to discuss with Stumpy," he said. "Perhaps I +will join you presently." + +He took out a cigarette and lighted it, and Dinah turned; and went away +with the old woman. + +"And it's to be hoped he'll do nothing of the kind," remarked Biddy, as +they walked through the long drawing-room. "For the very thought of him +is enough to drive poor Miss Isabel scranny, specially in the evening." + +"Is--is Miss Isabel so afraid of him?" asked Dinah under her breath. + +Biddy nodded darkly. "She is that, Miss Dinah, and small blame to her." + +Dinah pressed suddenly close. "Biddy, why?" + +Biddy pursed her lips. "Faith, and it's meself that's afraid, ye'll find +the answer to that only too soon, Miss Dinah dear!" she said solemnly. "I +can't tell ye the straight truth. Ye wouldn't believe me if I did. Ye +must watch for yourself, me jewel. Ye've got a woman's intelligence. +Don't ye be afraid to use it!" + +It was the soundest piece of advice that she had ever heard from +Biddy's lips, and Dinah accepted it in silence. She had known for some +time that Biddy had small love for Sir Eustace, but it was evident that +the precise reason for this was not to be conveyed in words. She wished +she could have persuaded her to be more explicit, but something held her +back from attempting to gain the information that Biddy withheld. It was +better--surely it was sometimes better--not to know too much. + +They met Scott as they turned out of the drawing-room, and Biddy's grim +old face softened at the sight of him. + +He paused: "Hullo! Going to Isabel? Has she had a good rest, Biddy?" + +"Glory to goodness, Master Scott, she has!" said Biddy fervently. + +"That's all right." Scott prepared to pass on. "Eustace hasn't gone, I +suppose?" + +"No, he is in there, waiting for you." Dinah detained him for a moment. +"Scott, he--I think he is going to--to let that man off with a light +sentence." + +"What?" said Scott. "Dinah, you witch! How on earth did you do it?" + +He looked so pleased that her heart gave a throb of triumph. It had been +well worth while just to win that look from him. + +She smiled back at him. "I don't know. I really don't know. +But,--Scott"--she became a little breathless--"if--if he really wants +me to-morrow, I think--p'raps--I'd better go." + +Scott gave her his straight, level look. There was a moment's pause +before he said, "Wait till to-morrow comes anyway!" and with that he was +gone, limping through the great room with that steady but unobtrusive +purpose that ever, to Dinah's mind, redeemed him from insignificance. + +"Ah! He's the gentleman is Master Scott," said Biddy's voice at her side. +"Ye'll never meet his like in all the world. It's a sad life he leads, +poor young gentleman, but he keeps a brave heart though never a single +joy comes his way. May the Almighty reward him and give him his desire +before it's too late." + +"What desire?" asked Dinah. + +Biddy shot her a lightning glance from her beady eyes ere again +mysteriously she shook her head. + +"And it's the innocent lamb that ye are entirely, Miss Dinah dear," she +said. + +With which enigmatical answer Dinah was forced to be content. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BURDEN + + +Sir Eustace was standing by the window of the little boudoir when his +brother entered, and Scott joined him there. He also lighted a cigarette, +and they smoked together in silence for several seconds. + +Finally Eustace turned with his faint, supercilious smile. "What's the +matter, Stumpy? Something on your mind?" + +Scott met his look. "Something I've got to say to you anyway, old chap, +that rather sticks in my gullet." + +Sir Eustace laughed. "You carry conscience enough for the two of us. What +is it? Fire away!" + +Scott puffed at his cigarette. "You won't like it," he observed. "But +it's got to be said. Look here, Eustace! It's all very well to be in +love. But you're carrying it too far. The child's downright afraid of +you." + +"Has she told you so?" demanded Eustace. A hot gleam suddenly shone in +his blue eyes. He looked down at Scott with a frown. + +Scott shook his head. "If she had, I shouldn't tell you so. But the fact +remains. You're a bit of an ogre, you know, always have been. Slack off a +bit, there's a good fellow! You'll find it's worth it." + +He spoke with the utmost gentleness, but there was determination in his +quiet eyes. Having spoken, he turned them upon the garden again and +resumed his cigarette. + +There fell a brief silence between them. Sir Eustace was no longer +smoking. His frown had deepened. Suddenly he laid his hand upon Scott's +shoulder. + +"It's my turn now," he said. "I've something to say to you." + +"Well?" said Scott. He stiffened a little at the hold upon him, but he +did not attempt to frustrate it. + +"Only this." Eustace pressed upon him as one who would convey a warning. +"You've interfered with me more than once lately, and I've borne with +it--more or less patiently. But I'm not going to bear with it much +longer. You may be useful to me, but--you're not indispensable. Remember +that!" + +Scott started at the words, as a well-bred horse starts at the flicker of +the whip. He controlled himself instantly, but his eyelids quivered a +little as he answered, "I will remember it." + +Sir Eustace's hand fell. "I think that is all that need be said," he +observed. "We will get to business." + +He turned from the window, but in the same moment Scott wheeled also and +took him by the arm. "One moment!" he said. "Eustace, we are not going to +quarrel over this. You don't imagine, do you, that I interfere with you +in this way for my own pleasure?" + +He spoke urgently, an odd wistfulness in voice and gesture. + +Sir Eustace paused. The sternness still lingered in his eyes though his +face softened somewhat as he said, "I haven't gone into the question of +motives, Stumpy. I have no doubt they are--like yourself--very worthy, +though it might not soothe me greatly to know what they are." + +Scott still held his arm. "Oh, man," he said very earnestly, "don't miss +the best thing in life for want of a little patience! She's such a child. +She doesn't understand. For your own sake give her time!" + +There was that in his tone that somehow made further offence impossible. +A faint, half-grudging smile took the place of the grimness on his +brother's face. + +"You take things so mighty seriously," he said. "What's the matter? What +has she been saying?" + +Scott hesitated. "I can't tell you that. I imagine it is more what she +doesn't say that makes me realize the state of her mind. I can tell you +one thing. She would rather go shopping with Isabel to-morrow than +picnicking in the wilderness with you, and if you're wise, you'll give in +and let her go. You'll run a very grave risk of losing her altogether +if you ask too much." + +"What do you mean?" Eustace's voice was short and stern; the question was +like a sword thrust. + +Again Scott hesitated. Then very steadily he made reply. "I mean +that--with or without reason, you know best--she is beginning not to +trust you. It is more than mere shyness with her. She is genuinely +frightened." + +His words went into silence, and in the silence he took out his +handkerchief and wiped his forehead. It had been a more difficult +interview for him than Eustace would ever realize. His powers of +endurance were considerable, but he had an almost desperate desire now to +escape. + +But some instinct kept him where he was. To fail at the last moment for +lack of perseverance would have been utterly uncharacteristic of him. It +was his custom to stand his ground to the last, whatever the cost. + +And so he forced himself to wait while his brother contemplated the +unpleasant truth that he had imparted. He knew that it was not in his +nature to spend long over the process, but he was still by no means sure +of the final result. + +Eustace spoke at length very suddenly. "See here, Stumpy!" he said. +"There may be something in what you say, and there may not. But in any +case, you and Dinah are getting altogether too intimate and confidential +to please me. It's up to you to put the brake on a bit. Understand?" + +He smiled as he said it, but there was a gleam as of cold steel behind +his smile. + +Scott straightened himself. It was as if something within him leapt to +meet the steel. Spent though he was, this was a matter no man could +shirk. + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," he said. "Do you think I'd destroy her +trust in me too? I'd sell my soul sooner." + +The words were passionate, and the man as he uttered them seemed suddenly +galvanized with a new force, a force irresistible, elemental, even +sublime. The elder brother's brows went up in amazement. He did not know +Stumpy in that mood. He found himself confronted with a power colossal +manifested in the meagre frame, and before that power instinctively, +wholly involuntarily, he gave ground. + +"I see you mean to please yourself," he said, and turned to go with a +sub-conscious feeling that if he lingered he would have the worst of it. +"But I warn you if you get in my way, you'll be kicked. So look out!" + +It was not a conciliatory speech, but it was the outcome of undoubted +discomfiture. He was so accustomed to submission from Scott that he had +come to look upon it as inevitable. His sudden self-assertion was oddly +disconcerting. + +So also was the laugh that followed his threat, a careless laugh wholly +devoid of bitterness which yet in some fashion inexplicable pierced his +armour, making him feel ashamed. + +"You know exactly what I think of that sort of thing, don't you?" Scott +said. "That's the best of having no special physical attractions. One +doesn't need to think of appearances." + +Sir Eustace made no rejoinder. He could think of nothing to say; for he +knew that Scott's attitude was absolutely sincere. For physical suffering +he cared not one jot. The indomitable spirit of the man lifted him above +it. He was fashioned upon the same lines as the men who faced the lions +of Rome. No bodily pain could ever daunt him. + +He went from the room haughtily but in his heart he carried an odd +misgiving that burned and spread like a slow fire, consuming his pride. +Scott had withstood him, Scott the weakling, and in so doing had made him +aware of a strength that exceeded his own. + +As for Scott, the moment he was alone he drew a great breath of relief, +and almost immediately after opened the French window and passed quietly +out into the garden. + +The dusk was falling, and the air smote chill; yet he moved slowly forth, +closing the window behind him and so down into the desolate shrubberies +where he paced for a long, long time.... + +When he went to Isabel's room more than an hour later, his eyes were +heavy with weariness, and he moved like a man who bears a burden. + +She was alone, and looked up at his entrance with a smile of welcome. +"Come and sit down, Stumpy! I've seen nothing of you. Dinah has only just +left me. She tells me Eustace is talking of a picnic for to-morrow, but +really she ought to give her mind to her trousseau if she is ever to be +ready in time. Do you think Eustace can be induced to see reason?" + +"I don't know," Scott said. He seated himself by Isabel's side and leaned +back against the cushions, closing his eyes. + +"You are tired," she said gently. + +"Oh, only a little, Isabel!" He spoke without moving, making no effort to +veil his weariness from her. + +"What is it, dear?" she said. + +"I am very anxious about Dinah." He spoke the words deliberately; his +face remained absolutely still and expressionless. + +"Anxious, Stumpy!" Isabel echoed the word quickly, almost as though it +gave her relief to speak. "Oh, so am I--terribly anxious. She is so +young, so utterly unprepared for marriage. I believe she is frightened to +death when she lets herself stop to think." + +"I blame myself," Scott said heavily. + +"My dear, why?" Isabel's hand sought and held his. "How could you be to +blame?" + +"I forced it on," he said. "I--in a way--compelled Eustace to propose. He +wasn't serious till then. I made him serious." + +"Oh, Stumpy, you!" Incredulity and reproach mingled in Isabel's tone. + +She would have withdrawn her hand, but his fingers closed upon it. "I +made a mistake," he said, with dreary conviction, "a great mistake, +though God knows I meant well; and now it is out of my power to set it +right. I thought her heart was involved. I know now it was not. It's hard +on him too in a way, because he is very much in earnest now, whatever he +was before. I was a fool--I was a fool--not to let things take their +course. She would have suffered, but it would have been soon over. +Whereas now--" He stopped himself abruptly. "It's no good talking. +There's nothing to be done. He may--after marriage--break her in to +loving him, but if he does--if he does--" his hand clenched with sudden +force upon Isabel's--"it won't be Dinah any more," he said. "It'll +be--another woman; one who is satisfied with--a very little." + +His hand relaxed as suddenly as it had closed. He lay still with a face +like marble. + +Isabel sat motionless by his side for several seconds. She was gazing +straight before her with eyes that seemed to read the future. + +"How did you compel him to propose?" she asked presently. + +He shrugged his narrow shoulders slightly. "I can do these things, +Isabel, if I try. But I wish I'd killed myself now before I interfered. +As I tell you, I was a fool--a fool." + +He ceased to speak and sat in the silence of a great despair. + +Isabel said nought to comfort him. Her tragic eyes still seemed to be +gazing into the future. + +After many minutes Scott turned his head and looked at her. "Isabel, I +wish you would try to keep her with you as much as possible. Tell Eustace +what you have just told me! There is certainly no time to lose if she is +really to be married in three weeks from now!" + +"I suppose he would never consent to put it off," Isabel said slowly. + +"He certainly would not." Scott rose with a restless movement that said +more than words. "He is on fire for her. Can't you see it? There is +nothing to be done unless she herself wishes to be released. And I don't +think that is very likely to happen." + +"He would never give her up," Isabel said with conviction. + +"If she desired it, he would," Scott's reply held an even more absolute +finality. + +Isabel looked at him for a moment; then: "Yes, but the poor little thing +would never dare," she said. "Besides--besides--there is the glamour of +it all." + +"Yes, there is the glamour." Scott spoke with a kind of grim compassion. +"The glamour may carry her through. If so, then--possibly--it may soften +life for her afterwards. It may even turn into romance. Who knows? +But--in any case--there will probably be--compensations." + +"Ah!" Isabel said. A wonderful light shone for a moment in her eyes and +died; she turned her face aside. "Compensations don't come to everyone, +Stumpy," she said. "What if the glamour fades and they don't come to take +its place?" + +Scott was standing before the fire, his eyes fixed upon its red depths. +His shoulders were still bent, as though they bore a burden well-nigh +overwhelming. An odd little spasm went over his face at her words. + +"Then--God help my Dinah!" he said almost under his breath. + +In the silence that followed the words, Isabel rose impulsively, came to +him, and slipped her hand through his arm. + +She neither looked at him nor spoke, and in silence the matter passed. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE HOURS OF DARKNESS + + +Dinah could not sleep that night. For the first time in all her healthy +young life she lay awake with grim care for a bed-fellow. When in trouble +she had always wept herself to sleep before, but to-night she did not +weep. She lay wide-eyed, feeling hot and cold by turns as the memory of +her lover's devouring passion and Biddy's sinister words alternated in +her brain. What was the warning that Biddy had meant to convey? And +how--oh, how--would she ever face the morrow and its fierce, prolonged +courtship, from the bare thought of which every fibre of her being shrank +in shamed dismay? + +"There won't be any of me left by night," she told herself, as she sought +to cool her burning face against the pillow. "Oh, I wish he didn't love +me quite so terribly." + +It was no good attempting to bridle wish or fears. They were far too +insistent. She was immured in the very dungeons of Doubting Castle, and +no star shone in her darkness. + +Towards morning her restlessness became unendurable. She arose and +tremblingly paced the room, sick with a nameless apprehension that seemed +to deprive her alike of the strength to walk or to be still. + +Her whole body was in a fever as though it had been scourged with thongs; +in fact, she still seemed to feel the scourge, goading her on. + +To and fro, to and fro, she wandered, scarcely knowing what she wanted, +only urged by that unbearable restlessness that gave her no respite. Of +the future ahead of her she did not definitely think. Her marriage still +seemed too intangible a matter for serious contemplation. She still in +her child's heart believed that marriage would make a difference. He +would not make such ardent love to her when they were married. They would +both have so many other things to think about. It was the present that so +weighed upon her, her lover's almost appalling intensity of worship and +her own utter inadequacy and futility. + +Again, as often before, the question arose within her, How would Rose +have met the situation? Would she have been dismayed? Would she have +shrunk from those fiery kisses? Or could she--could she possibly--have +remained calm and complacent and dignified in the midst of those surging +tempests of love? But yet again she failed completely to picture Rose so +mastered, so possessed, by any man; Rose the queen whom all men +worshipped with reverence from afar. She wondered again how Sir Eustace +had managed to elude the subtle charm she cast upon all about her. He had +actually declared that her perfection bored him. It was evident that she +left him cold. Dinah marvelled at the fact, so certain was she that had +he humbled himself to ask for Rose's favour it would have been instantly +and graciously accorded to him. + +It would have saved a lot of trouble if he had fallen in love with Rose, +she reflected; and then the old thrill of triumph went through her, +temporarily buoying her up. She had been preferred to Rose. She had +beaten Rose on her own ground, she the little, insignificant adjunct of +the de Vigne party! She was glad--oh, she was very glad!--that Rose was +to have so close a view of her final conquest. + +She began to take comfort in the thought of her approaching wedding and +all its attendant glories, picturing every detail with girlish zest. To +be the queen of such a brilliant ceremony as that! To be received into +the County as one entering a new world! To belong to that Society from +which her mother had been excluded! To be in short--her ladyship. + +A new excitement began to urge Dinah. She picked up a towel and draped it +about her head and shoulders like a bridal veil. Her mother would have +rated her for such vanity, but for the moment vanity was her only +comfort, and the thought of her mother did not trouble her. This was +how she would look on her wedding-day. There would be a wreath of +orange-blossoms of course; Isabel would see to that. And--yes, Isabel had +said that her bouquet should be composed of lilies-of-the-valley. She +even began to wish it were her wedding morning. + +The glamour spread like a rosy dawning; she forgot the clouds that loomed +immediately ahead. Standing there in her night attire, poised like a +brown wood-nymph on the edge of a pool, she asked herself for the first +time if it were possible that she could have any pretensions to beauty. +It was not in the least likely, of course. Her mother had always railed +at her for the plainness of her looks. Did Eustace--did Scott--think her +plain? She wondered. She wondered. + +A slight sound, the opening of a window, in the room next to hers, made +her start. That was Isabel's room. What was happening? It was three +o'clock in the morning. Could Isabel be ill? + +Very softly she opened her own window and leaned forth. It was one of +those warm spring nights that come in the midst of March gales. There was +a scent of violets on the air. She thought again for a fleeting second of +Scott and their walk through fairyland that morning. And then she heard a +voice, pitched very low but throbbing with an eagerness unutterable, and +at once her thoughts were centred upon Isabel. + +"Did you call me, my beloved? I am waiting! I am waiting!" said the +voice. + +It went forth into the sighing darkness of the night, and Dinah held her +breath to listen, almost as if she expected to hear an answer. + +There fell a long, long silence, and then there came a sound that struck +straight to her warm heart. It seemed to her that Isabel was weeping. + +She left her window with the impetuosity of one actuated by an impulse +irresistible; she crossed her own room, and slipped out into the dark +passage just as she was. A moment or two she fumbled feeling her way; and +then her hand found Isabel's door. Softly she turned the handle, opened, +and peeped in. + +Isabel was on her knees by the low window-sill. Her head with its crown +of silver hair was bowed upon her arm and they rested upon the bundle of +letters which Dinah had seen on the very first night that she had seen +Isabel. Old Biddy hovered shadow-like in the background. She made a sign +to Dinah as she entered, but Dinah was too intent upon her friend to +notice. + +Fleet-footed she drew near, and as she approached a long bitter sigh +broke from Isabel and, following it, low-toned entreaties that pierced +her anew with the utter abandonment of their supplication. + +"Oh God," she prayed brokenly. "I am so tired--so tired--of waiting. Open +the door for me! Let me out of my prison! Let me find my beloved in the +dawning--in the dawning!" + +Her voice sank, went into piteous sobbing. She crouched lower in the +depth of her woe. + +Dinah stooped over her with a little crooning murmur of pity, and +gathered her close in her arms. + +Isabel gave a great start. "Child!" she said, and then she clasped Dinah +to her, leaning her face against her bosom. + +Dinah was crying softly, but she saw that Isabel had no tears. That +sobbing came from her broken heart, but it brought no relief. The dark +eyes burned with a misery that found no vent, save possibly in the +passionate holding of her arms. + +"My darling," she whispered presently, "did I wake you?" + +"No, dearest, no!" Dinah was tenderly caressing the snowy hair; she spoke +with an almost motherly fondness. "I happened to be awake, and I heard +you at the window." + +"Why were you awake, darling? Aren't you happy?" + +Quick anxiety was in the words. Dinah flushed with a sense of guilt. + +"Of course I am happy," she made answer. "What more could I have to wish +for? But, Isabel, you--you!" + +"Ah, never mind me!" Isabel said. She rose with the movement of one who +would shield another from harm. "You ought to be in bed, sweetheart. +Shall I come and tuck you up?" + +"Come and finish the night with me!" whispered Dinah. "We shall both be +happy then." + +She scarcely expected that Isabel would accede to her desire, but it +seemed that Isabel could refuse her nothing. She turned, holding Dinah +closely to her. + +"My good angel!" she murmured tenderly. "What should I do without you? It +is always you who come to lift me out of my inferno." + +She left the letters forgotten on the window-sill. By the simple +outpouring of her love, Dinah had drawn her out of her place of torment; +and she led her now, leaning heavily upon her, through the passage to her +own room. + +Biddy crept after them like a wise old cat alert for danger. "She'll +sleep now, Miss Dinah darlint," she murmured. "Ye won't be anxious at +all, at all? It's meself that'll be within call." + +"No, no! Go to your own room and sleep, Biddy!" Isabel said. "We are both +going to do the same." + +She sank into the great double bed that Dinah had found almost alarmingly +capacious, with a sigh of exhaustion, and Dinah slipped in beside her. +They clasped each other, each with a separate sense of comfort. + +Biddy tucked up first one side, then the other, with a whispered blessing +for each. + +"Ah, the poor lambs!" she murmured, as she went away. + +But Isabel's voice had reassured her; she did not linger even outside the +door. + +Mumbling still below her breath her inarticulate benisons, Biddy passed +through her mistress's room into her own. She was very tired, for she had +been watching without intermission for nearly five hours. She almost +dropped on to her bed and lay as she fell, deeply sleeping. + +The letters on the window-sill were forgotten for the rest of that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE NET + + +When Dinah met her lover in the morning she found him in a surprisingly +indulgent mood. The day was showery, and he announced his intention of +accompanying them in the car up to town. + +"An excellent opportunity for selecting the wedding-ring," he told her +lightly. "You will like that better than a picnic." + +And Dinah in her relief admitted that this was the case. + +Up to the last moment she hoped that Scott would accompany them also, but +when she came down dressed for the expedition she found that he had gone +to the library to write letters. She pursued him thither, but he would +not be persuaded to leave his work. + +"Besides, I should only be in the way," he said. And when she vehemently +negatived this, he smiled and fell back upon the plea that he was busy. + +Just at the last she tried to murmur a word of thanks to him for +intervening on her behalf to induce Eustace to abandon the picnic, but he +gently checked her. + +"Oh, please don't thank me!" he said. "I am not a very good meddler, I +assure you. I hope you are going to have a good day. Take care of +Isabel!" + +Dinah would have lingered to tell him of the night's happening, but Sir +Eustace called her and with a smile of farewell she hastened away. + +She enjoyed that day with a zest that banished all misgivings. Sir +Eustace insisted upon the purchase of the ring at the outset, and then +she and Isabel went their way alone, and shopped in a fashion that raised +Dinah's spirits to giddy heights. She had never seen or imagined such +exquisite things as Isabel ordered on her behalf. The hours slipped away +in one long dream of delight. Sir Eustace had desired them to join him at +luncheon, but Isabel had gravely refused. There would not be time, she +said. They would meet for tea. And somewhat to Dinah's surprise he had +yielded the point. + +They met for tea in a Bond Street restaurant and here Sir Eustace took +away his _fiancee's_ breath by presenting her with a pearl necklace to +wear at her wedding. + +She was almost too overwhelmed by the gift to thank him. "Oh, it's too +good--it's too good!" she said, awestruck by its splendour. + +"Nothing is too good for my wife," he said in his imperial fashion. + +Isabel smiled the smile that never reached her shadowed eyes. "A chain of +pearls to bind a bride!" she said. + +And the thought flashed upon Dinah that there was truth in her words. +Whether with intention or not, by every gift he gave her he bound her the +more closely to him. An odd little sensation of dismay accompanied it, +but she put it resolutely from her. Bound or not, what did it +matter--since she had no desire to escape? + +She thanked him again very earnestly that night in the conservatory, and +he pressed her to him and kissed the neck on which his pearls rested with +the hot lips of a thirsty man. But he had himself under control, and when +she sought to draw herself away he let her go. She wondered at his +forbearance and was mutely grateful for it. + +At Isabel's suggestion she went up to her room early. She was certainly +weary, but she was radiantly happy. It had been a wonderful day. The +beauty of the pearls dazzled her. She kissed them ere she laid them out +of sight. He was good to her. He was much too good. + +There came a knock at the door just as she was getting into bed, and +Biddy came softly in, her brown face full of mystery and, Dinah saw at a +glance, of anxiety also. + +She put up a warning finger as she advanced. "Whisht, Miss Dinah darlint! +For the love of heaven, don't ye make a noise! I just came in to ask ye a +question, for it's worried to death I am." + +"Why what's the matter, Biddy?" Dinah questioned in surprise. + +"And ye may well ask, Miss Dinah dear!" Tragedy made itself heard in +Biddy's rejoinder. "Sure it's them letters of Miss Isabel's that's +disappeared entirely, and left no trace. And what'll I do at all when she +comes to ask for them? It's not meself that'll dare to tell her as +they've gone, and she setting such store by them. She'll go clean out of +her mind, Miss Dinah, for sure, they've been her only comfort, poor lamb, +these seven years." + +"But, Biddy!" Impulsively Dinah broke in upon her, her eyes round with +surprise and consternation. "They can't be--gone! They must be somewhere! +Have you hunted for them? She left them on the window-sill, didn't she? +They must have got put away." + +"That they have not!" declared Biddy solemnly. "It's my belief that the +old gentleman himself must have spirited them away. The window was left +open, ye know, Miss Dinah, and it was a dark night." + +"Oh, Biddy, nonsense, nonsense! One of the servants must have moved them +when she was doing the room. Have you asked everyone?" + +"That couldn't have happened, Miss Dinah dear." Unshakable conviction was +in Biddy's voice. "I got up late, and I had to get Miss Isabel up in a +hurry to go off in the motor. But I missed the letters directly after she +was gone, and I hadn't left the room--except to call her. No one had been +in--not unless they slipped in in those few minutes while me back was +turned. And for what should anyone take such a thing as them letters, +Miss Dinah? There are no thieves in the house. And them love-letters were +worth nothing to nobody saving to Miss Isabel, and they were the very +breath of life to her when the black mood was on her. Whatever she'll +say--whatever she'll do--I don't dare to think." + +Poor Biddy flourished her apron as though she would throw it over her +head. Her parchment face was working painfully. + +Dinah sat on the edge of her bed and watched her, not knowing what to +say. + +"Where is Miss Isabel?" she asked at last. + +"She's still downstairs with Master Scott, and I'm expecting her up every +minute. It's herself that ought to be in bed by now, for she's tired out +after her long day; but he'll be bringing her up directly and then she'll +ask for her love-letters. There's never a night goes by but what she +kisses them before she lies down. When ye were ill, Miss Dinah dear, +she'd forget sometimes, but ever since she's been alone again she's never +missed, not once." + +"Have you told Master Scott?" asked Dinah. + +Biddy shook her head. "Would I add to his burdens, poor young gentleman? +He'll know soon enough." + +"And are you sure you've looked everywhere--everywhere?" insisted Dinah. +"If no one has taken them--" + +"Miss Dinah, I've turned the whole room upside down and shaken it," +declared Biddy. "I'll take my dying oath that them letters have gone." + +"Could they--could they possibly have fallen out of the window?" hazarded +Dinah. + +"Miss Dinah dear, no!" A hint of impatience born of her distress was +perceptible in the old woman's tone; she turned to the door. "Well, well, +it's no good talking. Don't ye fret yourself! What must be, will be." + +"But I think Scott ought to know," said Dinah. + +"No, no, Miss Dinah! We'll not tell him before we need. He's got his own +troubles. But I wonder--I wonder--" Biddy paused with the door-handle in +her bony old fingers--"how would it be now," she said slowly, "if ye was +to get Miss Isabel to sleep with ye again? She forgot last night. It's +likely she may forget again--unless he calls her." + +"Biddy!" exclaimed Dinah, startled. + +Biddy's beady eyes gleamed mysteriously. "Arrah, but it's the truth I'm +telling ye, Miss Dinah. He does call her. I've known him call her when +she's been lying in a deep sleep, and she'll rise up with her arms +stretched out and that look in her eyes!" Biddy's face crumpled +momentarily, but was swiftly straightened again. "Will ye do it then, +Miss Dinah? Ye needn't be afraid. I'll be within call. But when she's got +you, she don't seem to be craving for anyone else. What was it she called +ye only last night? Her good angel! And so ye be, me jewel; so ye be!" + +Dinah stood debating the matter. Biddy's expedient was of too temporary +an order to recommend itself to her. She wondered why Scott should not be +consulted, and it was with some vague intention of laying the matter +before him if an opportunity should occur that she finally gave her +somewhat hesitating consent. + +"I will do it of course, Biddy. I love her to sleep with me. But, you +know, it is bound to come out some time, unless you manage to find the +letters again. They must be somewhere." + +Biddy shook her head. "We must just leave that to the Almighty, Miss +Dinah dear," she said piously. "There's nothing else we can do at all. +I'll get back to her room now, and when she comes up, I'll tell her ye're +feeling lonely, and will she please to sleep with ye again. She won't +think of anything else then ye may be sure. Why, she worships the very +ground under your feet, mavourneen, like--like someone else I know." + +She was gone with the words, leaving upon Dinah a dim impression that her +last words were intended to convey something which she would have +translated into simpler language had she been at liberty to do so. + +She did not pay much attention to them. She was too troubled over her +former revelation to think seriously of anything else. Into her mind, +all unbidden, had flashed a sudden memory, and it held her like a +nightmare-vision. She saw Sir Eustace with that imperious frown on his +face holding out Isabel's treasure with a curt, "Take this thing away!" +She saw herself leap up and seize it from his intolerant grasp. She saw +Isabel's outstretched, pleading hands, and the piteous hunger in her +eyes.... + +When Isabel came to her that night, her face was all softened with +mother-love. She drew Dinah to her breast, kissing her very tenderly. + +"Did you want me to come and take care of you, my darling?" + +Dinah's heart smote her for the deception, but she answered bravely +enough, "Oh, Isabel, yes, yes! You are so good to me, I want you always." + +"Dear heart!" Isabel said, with a sigh, and folded her closer as though +she would guard her against all the world. + +She was the first to fall asleep notwithstanding, while Dinah lay +motionless and troubled far into the night. She wished that Biddy would +give her permission to tell Scott, for without that permission such a +step seemed like a betrayal of confidence. But for some reason Biddy +evidently thought that Scott had enough on his shoulders just then. And +so it seemed, she could only wait--only wait. + +She did not want to burden Scott unduly either, and there was something +about him just now, something of a repressing nature, that held her back +from confiding in him too freely. He seemed to have raised a barrier +between them since their return to England which no intimacy ever quite +succeeded in scaling. Full of brotherly kindness though he was, the old +frank fellowship was gone. It was as though he had realized her +dependence upon him, and were trying with the utmost gentleness to make +her stand alone. + +Dinah slept at last from sheer weariness, and forgot her troubles. She +must not tell Scott, she could not tell Eustace, and so there was no +other course but silence. But the anxiety of it weighed upon her even +through her slumber. Life was far more interesting than of yore. But +never, never before had it been so full of doubts and fears. The +complexity of it all was like an endless net, enmeshing her however +warily she stepped. + +And always, and always, at the back of her mind there lurked the dread +conviction that one day the net would be drawn close, and she would find +herself a helpless prisoner in the grip of a giant. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DIVINE SPARK + + +With the morning Dinah found her anxieties less oppressive. Isabel was +becoming so much more like herself that she was able to put the matter +from her and in a measure forget it. Like Biddy, she began to hope that +by postponing the evil hour they might possibly evade it altogether. For +there was nothing abnormal about Isabel during that day or those that +succeeded it. The time passed quickly. There was much to be done, much +to be discussed and decided, and their thoughts were fully occupied. +Dinah felt as one whirled in a torrent. She could not think of the great +undercurrent. She could deal only with the things on the surface. + +How that week sped away she never afterwards fully recalled. It passed +like a fevered dream. Two more journeys to town with Isabel, the ordeal +of a dinner at the house of a neighbouring magnate, a much less +formidable tea at the Vicarage, on which occasion Mr. Grey drew her aside +and thanked her for using her influence over Sir Eustace in the right +direction and earnestly exhorted her to maintain and develop it as far as +possible when she was married, a few riding-lessons with Scott who always +seemed so much more imposing in the saddle than out of it and knew so +exactly how to instruct her, a few wild races in Sir Eustace's car from +which she always returned in a state of almost delirious exultation, and +then night after night the sleep of utter weariness, with Isabel lying by +her side. + +The last night came upon her almost with a sense of shock. It had become +a custom for her to sit in the conservatory with Sir Eustace after +dinner, and here with the lights turned low he was wont to pour out to +her all the fiery worship which throughout the day he curbed. No one ever +disturbed them, but they were close to Isabel's sitting-room where Scott +was wont to sit and read while his sister lay on her couch resting and +listening. The murmur of his voice was audible to Dinah, and the +knowledge of his close proximity gave her a courage which surely had not +been hers otherwise. She was learning how to receive her lover's +demonstrations without starting away in affright. If he ever startled +her, the sound of Scott's voice in the adjoining room would always +reassure her. She knew that Scott was at hand and would never fail her. + +But on that last night Sir Eustace was more ardent than she had ever +known him. He seemed to be almost fiercely resentful of the coming +separation, brief though it was to be, and he would not suffer her out of +reach of his hand. + +Wedding presents had begun to arrive, and in some fashion they seemed to +increase his impatience. + +"I can't think what we are waiting for," he said, with his arm about her, +drawing her close. "All this pomp and circumstance is nothing but a +hindrance. It's you I want, not your wedding finery. You had better be +married first and get the finery afterwards, as it isn't to be in town." + +"Oh, but I want a big wedding," protested Dinah. "It's going to be such +fun." + +He laughed, holding her pointed chin between his finger and thumb. "I +believe that's all you care about, you little heartless witch. I don't +count at all. You'd have enjoyed this week every bit as well if I hadn't +been here." + +She winced a little at his words, for somehow they went home. "There +hasn't been much time for anything, has there?" she said. "But--but I've +enjoyed the motor rides, and--and I ought to thank you for being so very +good to me." + +He kissed the quivering lips, and she slipped a shy arm round his neck +with the feeling that she owed it to him. But she did not return his +kisses, for she was afraid to feed the flame that already leapt so high. + +"You've nothing to thank me for," he said presently, when she turned her +face at last abashed into his shoulder. "I may be giving more than you at +this stage, but it won't be so later. You shall have the opportunity of +paying me back in full. How does that appeal to you, Daphne the demure? +Are you going to be a good little wife to me?" + +"I'll try," she whispered. + +"And give me all I ask--always?" + +"I'll try," she whispered again more faintly, conscious of that +terrifying sense of being so merged into his overwhelming personality +that the very breath she drew seemed not her own. + +He lifted her into his arms, holding her hard pressed against the +throbbing of his heart. "You wisp of thistledown!" he said. "You feather! +How have you managed to set me on fire like this? I think of nothing but +you--the fairy wonder of you--day and night. If you were to slip out of +my reach now, I believe I should follow and kill you." + +Dinah lay across his breast in palpitating submission to his will. She +could hear his heart beating like a rising tempest, and the force of his +passion overcame her like a tornado. His kisses were like the flames of a +fiery furnace. She felt stifled, shattered by his violence. But in the +room beyond she still heard that steady voice reading aloud, and it kept +her from panic. She knew that she had only to raise her own voice, and he +would be with her,--Greatheart of the golden armour, strong and fearless +in her defence. + +Sir Eustace heard that quiet voice also, as one hears the warning of +conscience. He slackened his hold upon her, with a quivering, half-shamed +laugh. + +"Only another fortnight," he said, "and I shall have you to myself--all +day and all night too." He looked at her with sudden critical attention. +"You had better go to bed, child. You look like a little tired ghost." + +She did not feel like a ghost, for she was burning from head to foot. But +as she slipped from his arms the ground seemed to be rocking all around +her. She stretched out her hands blindly, gasping, feeling for support. + +He was up in a moment, holding her. "What is it? Aren't you well?" + +She sank against him for she could not stand. He held her with a +tenderness that was new to her. + +"My darling, have I tired you out? What a thoughtless brute I am!" + +It was the first time she had ever heard a word of self-reproach upon his +lips; the first time, though she knew it not, that actual love inspired +him, entering as it were through that breach in the wall of overbearing +pride that girt him round. + +She leaned against him with more confidence than she had ever before +known, dizzy still, and conscious of a rush of tears behind her closed +lids. For that sudden compunction of his hurt her oddly. She did not know +how to meet it. + +He bent over her. "Getting better, little sweetheart? Oh, don't cry! What +happened? Did I hurt you--frighten you?" + +He was stroking her hair soothingly, persuasively, his dark face so close +to hers that when she opened her eyes they looked up straight into his. +But she saw nought to frighten her there, and after a moment she reached +up and kissed him apologetically. + +"I'm only silly--only silly," she murmured confusedly. "Good night--good +night--Apollo!" + +And with the words she stood up, summoning her strength, smiled upon him, +and slipped free from his encircling arm. + +He did not seek to detain her. She flitted from his presence like a +fluttering white moth, and he was left alone. He stood quite motionless +in the semi-darkness, breathing deeply, his clenched hands pressed +against his sides. + +That moment had been a revelation to him also. He was abruptly conscious +of the spirit so dominating the body that the fierce, ungoverned heart of +him drew back ashamed as a beast will shrink from the flare of a torch, +and he felt strangely conquered, almost cowed, as though an angel with a +flaming sword had suddenly intervened between him and his desire. + +The madness of his passion was yet beating in his veins, but this--this +was another and a stronger element before which all else became +contemptible. The soul of the man had sprung from sleep like an awaking +giant. Half in wonder and half in awe, he watched the kindling of the +Divine Spark that outshineth every earthly fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BROKEN HEART + + +The return home was to Dinah like a sudden plunge into icy depths after a +brief sojourn in the tropics. The change of atmosphere was such that she +seemed actually to feel it in her bones, and her whole being, physical +and mental contracted in consequence. Her mother treated her with all her +customary harshness, and Dinah, grown sensitive by reason of much +petting, shrank almost with horror whenever she came in contact with the +iron will that had subjugated her from babyhood. + +Before the first week was over, she was counting the days to her +deliverance; but of this fact she hinted nothing in her letters to her +lover. These were carefully worded, demure little epistles that gave him +not the smallest inkling of her state of mind. She was far too much +afraid of him to betray that. + +Had she been writing to Scott she could scarcely have repressed it. In +one letter to Isabel indeed something of her yearning for the vanished +sunshine leaked out; but very strangely Isabel did not respond to the +pathetic little confidence, and Dinah did not venture to repeat it. +Perhaps Isabel was shocked. + +The last week came, and with it the arrival of wedding-presents from her +father and friends that lifted Dinah out of her depression and even +softened her mother into occasional good-humour. Preparations for the +wedding began in earnest. Billy, released somewhat before the holidays +for the occasion, returned home, and everything took a more cheerful +aspect. + +Dinah could not feel that her mother's attitude towards herself had +materially altered. It was sullen and threatening at times, almost as if +she resented her daughter's good fortune, and she lived in continual +dread of an outbreak of the cruel temper that had so embittered her home +life. But Billy's presence made a difference even to that. His influence +was entirely wholesome, and he feared no one. + +"Why don't you stand up to her?" he said to his sister on one occasion +when he found her weeping after an overwhelming brow-beating over some +failure in the kitchen. "She'd think something of you then." + +Dinah had no answer. She could not convince him that her spirit had been +broken for such encounters long ago. Billy had never been tied up to a +bed-post and whipped till limp with exhaustion, but such treatment had +been her portion more times than she could number. + +But every hour brought her deliverance nearer, and so far she had managed +to avoid physical violence though the dread of it always menaced her. + +"Why does she hate me so?" Over and over again she asked herself the +question, but she never found any answer thereto; and she was fain to +believe her father's easy-going verdict: "There's no accounting for your +mother's tantrums; they've got to be visited on somebody." + +She wondered what would happen when she was no longer at hand to act as +scapegoat, and yet it seemed to her that her mother longed to be rid of +her. + +"I'll get things into good order when you're out of the way," she said +to her on the last evening but one before the wedding-day, the evening +on which the Studleys were to arrive at the Court. "You're just a born +muddler, and you'll never be anything else, Lady Studley or no Lady +Studley. Get along upstairs and dress yourself for your precious +dinner-party, or your father will be ready first! Oh, it'll be a good +thing when it's all over and done with, but if you think you'll ever get +treated as a grand lady here, you're very much mistaken. Home broth is +all you'll ever get from me, so you needn't expect anything different. +If you don't like it, you can stop away." + +Dinah escaped from the rating tongue as swiftly as she dared. She knew +that her mother had been asked to dine at the Court also--for the first +time in her life--and had tersely refused. She wasn't going to be +condescended to by anybody, she had told her husband in Dinah's hearing, +and he had merely shrugged his shoulders and advised her to please +herself. + +Billy had not been asked, somewhat to his disgust; but he looked forward +to seeing Scott again in the morning and ordered Dinah to ask him to +lunch with them. + +So finally Dinah and her father set forth alone in one of the motors from +the Court to attend the gathering of County magnates that the de Vignes +had summoned in honour of Sir Eustace Studley and his chosen bride. + +She wore one of her trousseau gowns for the occasion, a pale green +gossamer-like garment that made her look more nymph-like than ever. Her +mother had surveyed it with narrowed eyes and a bitter sneer. + +"Ok yes, you'll pass for one of the quality," she had said. "No one would +take you for a child of mine any way." + +"That's no fault of the child's, Lydia," her father had rejoined +good-humouredly, and in the car he had taken her little cold hand into +his and asked her kindly enough if she were happy. + +She answered him tremulously in the affirmative, the dread of her mother +still so strong upon her that she could think of nothing but the relief +of escape. And then before she had time to prepare herself in any way for +the sudden transition she found herself back in that tropical, brilliant +atmosphere in which thenceforth she was to move and have her being. + +She could not feel that she would ever shine there. There were so many +bright lights, and though her father was instantly and completely at home +she felt dazzled and strange, till all-unexpectedly someone came to her +through the great lamp-lit hall, haltingly yet with purpose, and held her +hand and asked her how she was. + +The quiet grasp steadied her, and in a moment she was radiantly happy, +all her troubles and anxieties swept from her path. "Oh, Scott!" she +said, and her eyes beamed upon him the greeting her lips somehow refused +to utter. + +He was laughing a little; his look was quizzical. "I have been on the +look-out for you," he told her. "It's the best man's privilege, isn't it? +Won't you introduce me to your father?" + +She did so, and then Rose glided forward, exquisite in maize satin and +pearls, and smilingly detached her from the two men and led her upstairs. + +"We are to have a little informal dance presently," she said. "Did I tell +you in my note? No? Oh, well, no doubt it will be a pleasant little +surprise for you. How very charming you are looking, my dear! I didn't +know you had it in you. Did you choose that pretty frock yourself?" + +Dinah, with something of her mother's bluntness of speech, explained that +the creation in question had been Isabel's choice, and Rose smiled as one +who fully understood the situation. + +"She has been very good to you, poor soul, has she not?" she said. "She +is not coming down to-night. The journey has fatigued her terribly. That +funny, old-fashioned nurse of hers has asked very particularly that she +may not be disturbed, except to see you for a few minutes later." + +"Is she worse?" asked Dinah, startled. + +Whereat Rose shook her dainty head. "Has she ever been better? No, poor +thing, I am afraid her days are numbered, nor could one in kindness wish +it otherwise. Still, I mustn't sadden you, dear. You have got to look +your very best to-night, or Sir Eustace will be disappointed. There are +quite a lot of pretty girls coming, and you know what he is." Rose +uttered a little self-conscious laugh. "Put on a tinge of colour, dear!" +she said, as Dinah stood before the mirror in her room. "You look such a +little brown thing; just a faint glow on your cheeks would be such an +improvement." + +"No, thank you," said Dinah, and flushed suddenly and hotly at the +thought of what she had once endured at her mother's hands for daring to +pencil the shadows under her eyes. It had been no more than a girlish +trick--an experiment to pass an idle moment. But it had been treated as +an offence of immeasurable enormity, and she winced still at the memory +of all that that moment's vanity had entailed. + +Rose looked at her appraisingly. "No, perhaps you don't need it after +all, not anyhow when you blush like that. You have quite a pretty blush, +Dinah, and you are wise to make the most of it. Are you ready, dear? Then +we will go down." + +She rustled forth with Dinah beside her, shedding a soft fragrance of +some Indian scent as she moved that somehow filled Dinah with +indignation, like a resentful butterfly in search of more wholesome +delights. + +Eustace was in the hall when they descended. He came forward to meet his +_fiancee_, and her heart throbbed fast and hard at the sight of him. But +his manner was so strictly casual and impersonal that her agitation +speedily passed, and by the time they were seated side by side at +dinner--for the last time in their lives, as the Colonel jocosely +remarked--she could not feel that she had ever been anything nearer to +him than a passing acquaintance. + +She was shy and very quiet. The hubbub of voices, the brilliance of it +all, overwhelmed her. If Scott had been on her other side, she would have +been much happier, but he was far away making courteous conversation for +the benefit of a deaf old lady whom no one else made the smallest effort +to entertain. + +Suddenly Sir Eustace disengaged himself from the general talk and turned +to her. "Dinah!" he said. + +Her heart leapt again. She glanced at him and caught the gleam of the +hunter in those rapier-bright eyes of his. + +He leaned slightly towards her, his smile like a shining cloak, hiding +his soul. "Daphne," he said, and his voice came to her subtle, caressing, +commanding, through the gay tumult all about them, "there is going to be +dancing presently. Did you hear?" + +"Yes," she whispered with lowered eyes. + +"You will dance with only one to-night," he said. "That is understood, is +it?" + +"Yes," she whispered again. + +"Good!" he said. And then imperiously, "Why don't you drink some wine?" + +She made a slight, startled movement. "I never do, I don't like it." + +"You need it," he said, and made a curt sign to one of the servants. + +Wine was poured into her glass, and she drank submissively. The +discipline of the past two weeks had made her wholly docile. And the wine +warmed and cheered her in a fashion that made her think that perhaps he +was right and she had needed it. + +When the dinner came to an end she was feeling far less scared and +strange. Guests were beginning to assemble for the dance, and as they +passed out people whom she knew by sight but to whom she had never spoken +came up and talked with her as though they were old friends. Several men +asked her to dance, but she steadily refused them all. Her turn would +come later. + +"I am going up to see Mrs. Everard," was her excuse. "She is expecting +me." + +And then Scott came, and she turned to him with eager welcome. "Oh, +please, will you take me to see Isabel?" + +He gave her a straight, intent look, and led her out of the throng. + +His hand rested upon her arm as they mounted the stairs and she thought +he moved with deliberate slowness. At the top he spoke. + +"Dinah, before you see her I ought to prepare you for a change. She has +been losing ground lately. She is not--what she was." + +Dinah stopped short. "Oh, Scott!" She said in breathless dismay. + +His hand pressed upon her, but it seemed to be imparting strength rather +than seeking it. "I think I told you that day at the Dower House that she +was nearing the end of her journey. I don't want to sadden you. You +mustn't be sad. But you couldn't see her without knowing. It won't be +quite yet; but it will be--soon." + +He spoke with the utmost quietness; his face never varied. His eyes with +their steady comradeship looked straight into hers, stilling her +distress. + +"She is so tired," he said gently. "I don't think it ought to grieve us +that her rest is drawing near at last. She has so longed for it, poor +girl." + +"Oh, Scott!" Dinah said again, but she said it this time without +consternation. His steadfast strength had given her confidence. + +"Shall we go to her?" he said. "At least, I think it would be better if +you went alone. She is quite determined that nothing shall interfere with +your coming happiness, so you mustn't let her think you shocked or +grieved. I thought it best to prepare you, that's all." + +He led her gravely along the passage, and presently stopped outside a +closed door. He knocked three times as of old, and Dinah stood waiting as +one on the threshold of a holy place. + +The door, was opened by Biddy, and he pressed her forward. "Don't stay +long!" he said. "She is very tired to-night, and Eustace will be wanting +you." + +She squeezed his hand in answer and passed within. + +Biddy's wrinkled brown face smiled a brief welcome under its snowy cap. +She motioned her to approach. "Ye'll not stay long, Miss Dinah dear," she +whispered. "The poor lamb's very tired to-night." + +Dinah went forward. + +The window was wide open, and the rush of the west wind filled the room. +Isabel was lying in bed with her face to the night, wide-eyed, intent, +still as death. + +Noiselessly Dinah drew near. There was something in the atmosphere--a +ghostly, hovering presence--that awed her. In the sound of that racing +wind she seemed to hear the beat of mighty wings. + +She uttered no word, she was almost afraid to speak. But when she reached +the bed, when she bent and looked into Isabel's face, she caught her +breath in a gasping cry. For she was shocked--shocked unutterably--by +what she saw. Shrivelled as the face of one who had come through fiery +tortures, ashen-grey, with eyes in which the anguish of the burnt-out +flame still lingered, eyes that were dead to hope, eyes that were open +only to the darkness, such was the face upon which she looked. + +Biddy was by her side in a moment, speaking in a rapid whisper. "Arrah +thin, Miss Dinah darlint, don't ye be scared at all! She'll speak to ye +in a minute, sure. It's only that she's tired to-night. She'll be more +herself like in the morning." + +Dinah hung over the still figure. Biddy's whispering was as the buzzing +of a fly. She heard it with the outer sense alone. + +"Isabel!" she said; and again with a passionate earnestness, +"Isabel--darling--my darling--what has happened to you?" + +At the sound of that pleading voice Isabel moved, seeming as it were to +return slowly from afar. + +"Why, Dinah dear!" she said. + +Her dark eyes smiled up at her in welcome, but it was a smile that cut +her to the heart with its aloofness, its total lack of gladness. + +Dinah stooped to kiss her. "Are you so tired, dearest? Perhaps I had +better go away." + +But Isabel put up a trembling, skeleton hand and detained her. "No, dear, +no! I am not so tired as that. I can't talk much; but I can listen. Sit +down and tell me about yourself!" + +Dinah sat down, but she could think of nothing but the piteous, lined +face upon the pillow and the hopeless suffering of the eyes that looked +forth from it. + +She held Isabel's hand very tightly, though its terrible emaciation +shocked her anew, and so for a time they were silent while Isabel seemed +to drift back again into the limitless spaces out of which Dinah's coming +had for a moment called her. + +It was Biddy who broke the silence at last, laying a gnarled and +quivering hand upon Dinah as she sat. + +"Ye'd better come again in the morning, mavourneen," she said. "She's too +far off to-night to heed ye." + +Dinah started. Her eyes were full of tears as she bent and kissed the +poor, wasted fingers she held, realizing with poignant certainty as she +did it the truth of the old woman's statement. Isabel was too far off to +heed. + +Then, as she rose to go, a strange thing happened. The tender strains of +a waltz, _Simple Aveu_, floated softly in broken snatches in on the west +wind, and again--as one who hears a voice that calls--Isabel came back. +She raised herself suddenly. Her face was alight, transfigured--the face +of a woman on the threshold of Love's sanctuary. + +"Oh, my dearest!" she said, and her voice thrilled as never Dinah had +heard it thrill before. "How I have waited for this! How I have waited!" + +She stretched out her arms in one second of rapture unutterable; and then +almost in the same moment they fell. The youth went out of her, she +crumpled like a withered flower. + +"Biddy!" she said. "Oh, Biddy, tell them to stop! I can't bear it! I +can't bear it!" + +Dinah went to the window and closed it, shutting out the haunting +strains. That waltz meant something to her also, something with which for +the moment she felt she could not cope. + +Turning, she saw that Isabel was clinging convulsively to the old nurse, +and she was crying, crying, crying, as one who has lost all hope. + +"But it's too late to do her any good," mourned Biddy over the bowed +head. "It's the tears of a broken heart." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WRATH OF THE GODS + + +The paroxysm did not last long, and in that fact most poignantly did +Dinah realize the waning strength. + +Dumbly she stood and watched Biddy lay the inanimate figure back upon the +pillows. Isabel had sunk into a state of exhaustion that was almost +torpor. + +"She'll sleep now, dear lamb," said Biddy, and tenderly covered her over +as though she had been a child. + +She turned round to Dinah, looking at her with shrewd darting eyes. "Ye'd +better be getting along to your lover, Miss Dinah," she said. "He'll be +wanting ye to dance with him." + +But Dinah stood her ground with a little shiver. The bare thought of +dancing at that moment made her feel physically sick. "Biddy! Biddy!" she +whispered, "what has happened to make her--like this?" + +"And ye may well ask!" said Biddy darkly. "But it's not for me to tell +ye. Ye'd best run along, Miss Dinah dear, and be happy while ye can." + +"But I'm not happy!" broke from Dinah. "How can I be? Biddy, what has +happened? You must tell me if you can. She wasn't like this a fortnight +ago. She has never been--quite like this--before." + +Biddy pursed her lips. "Sure, we none of us travel the same road twice, +Miss Dinah," she said. + +But Dinah would not be satisfied with so vague an axiom. + +"Something has happened," she said. "Come into the next room and tell me +all about it! Please, Biddy!" + +Biddy glanced at the bed. "She'll not hear ye in here, Miss Dinah," she +said. "And what for should I be telling ye at all? Ye'll be Sir Eustace's +bride in less than forty-eight hours from now, so it's maybe better ye +shouldn't know." + +"I must know," Dinah said, and with the words a great wave of resolution +went through her, uplifting her, inspiring her. "I've got to know," she +said. "Whatever happens, I've got to know." + +Biddy left the bedside and came close to her. "If ye insist, Miss +Dinah--" she said. + +"I do--I do insist." Never in her life before had Dinah spoken with such +authority, but a force within was urging her--a force irresistible; she +spoke as one compelled. + +Biddy came closer still. "Ye'll not tell Master Scott--nor any of 'em--if +I tell ye?" she whispered. + +"No, no; of course--no!" Dinah's voice came breathlessly; she had not the +power to draw back. + +"Ye promise, Miss Dinah?" Biddy could be insistent too; her eyes burned +like live coals. + +"I promise, yes." Dinah held out an impulsive hand. "You can trust me," +she said. + +Biddy's fingers closed claw-like upon it. "Whist now, Miss Dinah!" she +said. "If Sir Eustace was to hear me, sure, he'd wring the neck on me +like as if I was an old fowl. But ye've asked me what's happened, +mavourneen, and sure, I'll tell ye. For it's the pretty young lady that +ye are and a cruel shame that ye should ever belong to the likes of him. +It's his doing, Miss Dinah, every bit of it, and it's the truth I'm +speaking, as the Almighty Himself could tell ye if He'd a mind to. The +poor lamb was fading away aisy like, but he came along and broke her +heart. It was them letters, Miss Dinah. He took 'em. And he burned 'em, +my dear, he burned 'em, and when ye were gone she missed 'em, and then he +told her what he'd done, told her brutal-like that it was time she'd done +with such litter. He said it was all damn' nonsense that she was wasting +her life over 'em and over the dead. Oh, it was wicked, it was cruel. And +she--poor innocent--she locked herself up when he'd gone and cried and +cried and cried till the poor heart of her was broke entirely. She said +she'd lost touch with her darling husband and he'd never come back to her +again." + +"Biddy!" Horror undisguised sounded in Dinah's low voice. "He never did +such a thing as that!" + +"He did that!" A queer species of triumph was apparent in Biddy's +rejoinder; malice twinkled for a second in her eyes. "I've told ye! I've +told ye!" she said. And then, with sharp anxiety. "But ye'll not tell +anyone as ye know, Miss Dinah. Ye promised, now didn't ye? Miss Isabel +wouldn't that any should know--not even Master Scott. He was away when it +happened, dining down at the Vicarage he was. And Miss Isabel she says to +me, 'For the life of ye, don't tell Master Scott! He'd be that angry,' +she says, 'and Sir Eustace would murder him entirely if it came to a +quarrel.' She was that insistent, Miss Dinah, and I knew there was truth +in what she said. Master Scott has the heart of a lion. He never knew the +meaning of fear from his babyhood. And Sir Eustace is a monster of +destruction when once his blood's up. And he minds what Master Scott says +more than anyone. So I promised, Miss Dinah dear, the same as you have. +And so he doesn't know to this day. Sir Eustace, ye see, has been in a +touchy mood all along, ever since ye left. Like gunpowder he's been, and +Master Scott has had a difficult enough time with him; and Miss Isabel +has kept it from him so that he thinks it was just your going again that +made her fret so. There, now ye know all, Miss Dinah dear, and don't ye +for the love of heaven tell a soul what I've told ye! Miss Isabel would +never forgive me if she came to know. Ah, the saints preserve us, what's +that?" + +A brisk tap at the door had made her jump with violence. She went to +parley with a guilty air. + +In a moment or two she shut the door and came back. "It's that flighty +young French hussy, Miss Dinah; her they call Yvonne. She says Sir +Eustace is waiting for ye downstairs." + +A great revulsion of feeling went through Dinah. It shook her like an +overwhelming tempest and passed, leaving her deadly cold. She turned +white to the lips. + +"I can't go to him, Biddy," she said. "I can't dance to-night. Yvonne +must tell him." + +Biddy gave her a searching look. "Ye won't let him find out, Miss Dinah?" +she urged. "Won't he guess now if ye stay up here?" + +The earnest entreaty of the old bright eyes moved her. She turned to the +door. "Oh, very well. I'll go myself and tell him." + +"Ye won't let him suspect, mavourneen--mavourneen?" pleaded Biddy +desperately. + +"No, Biddy, no! Haven't I sworn it a dozen times already?" Dinah had +reached the door; she looked back for a moment and her look was steadfast +notwithstanding the deathly pallor of her face. Then she passed slowly +forth, and heard old Biddy softly turn the key behind her, making +assurance doubly sure. + +Slowly she moved along the passage. It was deserted, but the sound of +laughing voices and the tuning of violins floated up from below. Again +that feeling that was akin to physical sickness assailed Dinah. Down +there he was waiting for her, waiting to be intoxicated into headlong, +devouring passion by her dancing. She seemed to feel his arms already +holding her, straining her to him, so that the warmth of him was as a +fiery atmosphere all about her, encompassing her, possessing her. Her +whole body burned at the thought, and then again was cold--cold as though +she had drunk a draught of poison. She stood still, feeling too sick to +go on. + +And then, while she waited, she heard a step. Her heart seemed to spring +into her throat, throbbing wildly like a caged bird seeking freedom. She +drew back against the wall, trembling from head to foot. + +He came along the passage, magnificent, princely, confident, swinging his +shoulders with that semi-conscious swagger she knew so well. He spied her +where she stood, and she heard his brief, half-mocking laugh as he strode +to her. + +"Ah, Daphne! Hiding as usual!" he said. + +He took her between his hands, and she felt the mastery of him in that +free hold. She stood as a prisoner in his grasp. Her new-found resolution +was gone at the first contact with that overwhelming personality of his. +She hung her head in quivering distress. + +He bent down, bringing his face close to hers. He tried to look into the +eyes that she kept downcast. + +And suddenly he spoke again, softly into her ear. "Why so shy, little +sweetheart? Are you getting frightened now the time is so near?" + +Her breathing quickened at his tone. Possessive though it was, it held +that tender note that was harder to bear than all his fiercest passion. +She could not speak in answer. No words would come. + +He put his arm around her and held her close. "But you mustn't be afraid +of me," he said. "Don't you know I love you? Don't you know I am going to +make you the happiest little woman in the world?" + +Dinah choked down some scalding tears. She longed to escape from the +holding of his arm, and yet her torn spirit felt the comfort of it. She +stood silent, shaken, unnerved, piteously conscious of her utter +weakness--the weakness wrought by that iron discipline that had never +suffered her to have any will of her own. + +He put up a hand and pressed her drooping head against his shoulder. +"There's nothing very dreadful in being married, dear," he told her. "I'm +not such a devouring monster as I may seem. Why, I wouldn't hurt a hair +of your head. They are all precious to me." + +She quivered at his use of the word that Biddy had employed with such +venom only a few minutes before; but still she said nothing. What could +she say? Against this new weapon of his she was more helpless than ever. +She hid her face against him and strove for self-control. + +He kissed her temple and the clustering hair above it. "There now! You +are not going to be a silly little scared fawn any more. Come along and +dance it off!" + +His arm encircled her shoulders; he began to lead her to the stairs. + +And Dinah went, slave-like in her submission, but hating herself the more +for every step she took. + +They went to the ballroom, and presently they danced. But the old subtle +charm was absent. Her feet moved to the rhythm of the music, her body +swayed and pulsed to the behest of his; but her spirit stood apart, +bruised and downcast and very much alone. Her gilded palace had fallen +all about her in ruins. The deliverance to which she had looked forward +so eagerly was but another bondage that would prove more cruel and more +enslaving than the first. She longed with all her quivering heart to run +away and hide. + +He was very kind to her, more considerate than she had ever known him. +Perhaps he missed the fairy abandonment which had so delighted him in her +dancing of old; but he found no fault; and when the dance was over he did +not lead her away to some private corner as she had dreaded, but took her +instead to her father and stood with him for some time in talk. + +She saw Scott in the distance, but he did not approach her while Eustace +was with them, and when her _fiance_ turned away at length he had +disappeared. + +They were left comparatively alone, and Dinah slipped an urgent hand into +her father's. "I want to go home, Daddy. I'm so tired." + +He looked at her in surprise, but she managed to muster a smile in reply, +and he was not observant enough to note the distress that lay behind it. + +"Had enough of it, eh?" he questioned. "Well, I think you're wise. You'll +be busy to-morrow. By all means, let's go!" + +It was not till the very last moment that she saw Scott again. He came +forward just as she was passing through the hall to the front door. + +He took the hand she held out to him, looking at her with those straight, +steady eyes of his that there was no evading, but he made no comment of +any sort. + +"Mr. Grey is coming by a morning train to-morrow," he said. "May I bring +him to call upon you in the afternoon? I believe he wants to run through +the wedding-service with you beforehand." + +He smiled as he said it, but Dinah could not smile in answer. There was +something ominous to her in that last sentence, something that made her +think of the clanking of chains. She was relieved to hear her father +answer for her. + +"Come by all means! Nothing like a dress rehearsal to make things go +smoothly. I'll tell my wife to expect you." + +Scott's hand relinquished hers, and she felt suddenly cold. She murmured +a barely audible "Good night!" and turned away. + +From the portico she glanced back and saw Sir Eustace leading Rose de +Vigne to the ballroom. The light shone full upon them. They made a +splendid couple. And a sudden bizarre thought smote her. This was what +the gods had willed. This had been the weaving of destiny; and +she--she--had dared to intervene, frustrating, tearing the gilded, +smooth-wrought threads apart. + +Ah well! It was done now. It was too late to draw back. But the wrath of +the gods remained to be faced. Already it was upon her, and there was no +escape. + +As one who hears a voice speaking from a far distance, she heard herself +telling her father that all was well with her and she had spent an +enjoyable evening. + +Then she lay back in the car with clenched hands, and listened trembling +to the thundering wheels of Destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SAPPHIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP + + +No girl ever worked harder in preparation for her own wedding than did +Dinah on the following day. + +That she had scarcely slept all night was a fact that no one suspected. +Work-a-day Dinah, as her father was wont to call her, was not an object +of great solicitude to any in her home-circle, and for the first time in +her life she was thankful that such was the case. + +Her mother's hard gipsy eyes watched only for delinquencies, and her +rating tongue was actually a relief to Dinah after the dread solitude of +those long hours. She was like a prisoner awaiting execution, and even +that harsh companionship was in a measure helpful to her. + +The time passed with appalling swiftness. When the luncheon hour arrived +she was horrified to find that the morning had gone. She could eat +nothing, a fact which raised a jeering laugh from her mother and a +chaffing remonstrance from her father. Billy had gone riding on Rupert +and had not returned. Billy always came and went exactly as he pleased. + +One or two more presents from friends of her father's had arrived by the +midday post. Mrs. Bathurst unpacked them, admiring them with more than a +touch of envy, assuring Dinah that she was a very lucky girl, luckier +than she deserved to be; but Dinah, though she acquiesced, had no heart +for presents. She could only see--as she had seen all through the +night--the piteous, marred face of a woman who had passed through such an +intensity of suffering as she could only dimly guess at into the dark of +utter despair. She could only hear, whichever way she turned, the +clanking of the chains that in so brief a time were to be welded +irrevocably about herself. + +Luncheon over, she went up to dress and to finish the packing of the new +trunks which were to accompany her upon her honeymoon. She had not even +yet begun to realize these strange belongings of hers. She could no +longer visualize herself as a bride. She looked upon all the finery as +destined for another, possibly Rose de Vigne, but emphatically not for +herself. + +The wedding-dress and veil lying in their box, swathed in tissue-paper, +had a gossamer unreality about them that even the sense of touch could +not dispel. No--no! The bride of to-morrow was surely, surely, not +herself! + +They were to spend the first part of their honeymoon at a little +place on the Cornish coast, very far from everywhere, as Sir Eustace +said. She thought of that little place with a vague wonder. It was the +stepping-stone between the life she now knew and that new unknown life +that awaited her. She would go there just Dinah--work-a-day Dinah--her +own ordinary self. She would leave a fortnight after, possibly less, a +totally different being--a married woman, Lady Studley, part and parcel +of Sir Eustace's train, his most intimate belonging, most exclusively his +own. + +She trembled afresh as this thought came home to her. Despite his +assurances, marriage seemed to her a terrible thing. It was like parting, +not only with the old life, but with herself. + +She dressed mechanically, scarcely thinking of her appearance, roused +only at length from her pre-occupation by the tread of hoofs under her +window. She leaned forth quickly and discerned Scott on horseback,--a +trim, upright figure, very confident in the saddle--and with him Billy +still mounted on Rupert and evidently in the highest spirits. + +The latter spied her at once and accosted her in his cracked, cheerful +voice. "Hi, Dinah! Come down! We're going to tea at the Court. Scott will +walk with you, and I'm going to ride his gee." + +He rolled off Rupert with the words. Scott looked up at her, faintly +smiling as he lifted his hat. "I hope that plan will suit you," he said. +"The fact is the padre has been detained and can't get here before +tea-time. So we thought--Eustace thought--you wouldn't mind coming up to +the Court to tea instead of waiting to see him here." + +It crossed her mind to wonder why Eustace had not come himself to fetch +her, but she was conscious of a deep, unreasoning thankfulness that he +had not. Then, before she could reply, she heard her father's voice in +the porch, inviting Scott to enter. + +Scott accepted the invitation, and Dinah turned back into the room to +prepare for the walk. + +Her hands were trembling so much that they could scarcely serve her. She +was in a state of violent and uncontrollable agitation, longing one +moment to be gone, and the next desiring desperately to remain where she +was. The thought of facing the crowd at the Court filled her with a +positive tumult of apprehension, but breathlessly she kept telling +herself that Scott would be there--Scott would be there. His sheltering +presence would be her protection. + +And then, still trembling, still unnerved, she descended to meet him. + +He was with her father in the drawing-room. The place was littered with +wedding-presents. + +As she entered, he came towards her, and in a moment his quiet hand +closed upon hers. Her father went out in search of her mother and they +were alone. + +"What a collection of beautiful things you have here!" he said. + +She looked at him, met his steady eyes, and suddenly some force of speech +broke loose within her; she uttered words wild and passionate, such as +she had never till that moment dreamed of uttering. + +"Oh, don't talk of them! Don't think of them! They suffocate me!" + +She saw his face change, but she could not have analysed the expression +it took. He was silent for a moment, and in that moment his fingers +tightened hard and close upon her hand. + +Then, "I have brought you a small offering on my own account," he said in +his courteous, rather tired voice. "May I present it? Or would you rather +I waited a little?" + +She felt the tears welling up, swiftly, swiftly, and clasped her throat +to stay them. "Of course I would like it," she murmured almost +inarticulately. "That--that is different." + +He took a small, white packet from his pocket and put it into the hand he +had been holding, without a word. + +Dumbly, with quivering fingers, she opened it. There was something of +tragedy in the silence, something of despair. + +The paper fluttered to the ground, leaving a leather case in her grasp. +She glanced up at him. + +"Won't you look inside?" he said gently. + +She did so, in her eyes those burning tears she could not check. And +there, gleaming on its bed of white velvet, she saw a wonderful jewel--a +great star-shaped sapphire, deep as the heart of a fathomless pool, edged +with diamonds that flashed like the sun upon the ripples of its shores. +She gazed and gazed in silence. It was the loveliest thing she had ever +seen. + +Scott was watching her, his eyes very still, unchangeably steadfast. "The +sapphire for friendship," he said. + +She started as one awaking from a dream. In the passage outside the +half-open door she heard the sound of her mother's voice approaching. +With a swift movement she closed the case and hid it in her dress. + +"I can't show it to anyone yet," she said hurriedly. + +Her tone appealed. He answered her immediately. "It is for you and no one +else." + +His voice held nought but kindness, comprehension, comfort. + +He turned from her the next moment to meet her mother, and she heard him +speaking in his easy, leisured tones, gaining time for her, making her +path easy, as had ever been his custom. + +And again unbidden, unavoidable, there came to her the vision of +Greatheart--Greatheart the valiant--her knight of the golden armour, +going before her, strong to defend,--invincible, unafraid, sure by means +of that sureness which is given only to those who draw upon a Higher +Power than their own, given only to the serving-men of God. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE OPEN DOOR + + +Billy had already departed upon Scott's mount era he and Dinah set forth +to walk to the Court. It was threatening to rain, and the ground beneath +their feet was sodden and heavy. + +"It is rather a shame to ask you to walk," said Scott, as they turned up +the muddy road. "They would have sent a car for you if I had thought." + +"I would much rather walk," said Dinah. Her face was very pale. She +looked years older than she had looked at Willowmount. After a moment she +added, "We shall pass the church. Perhaps you would like to see it. They +were going to decorate it this morning." + +"I should," said Scott. + +He limped beside her, and she curbed her pace to his though the fever of +unrest that surged within her urged her forward. They went up the lane +that led to the church in almost unbroken silence. + +At the churchyard gate she paused. "I hope there is no one here," she +said uneasily. + +"We need not go in unless you wish," he answered. + +But when they reached the porch, they found that the church was empty, +and so they entered. + +A heavy scent of lilies pervaded the place. There was a wonderful white +arch of flowers at the top of the aisle, and the chancel was decked with +them. The space above the altar was a mass of white, perfumed splendour. +They had been sent down from the Court that morning. + +Slowly Scott passed up the nave with the bride-elect by his side, +straight to the chancel-steps, and there he paused. His pale face with +its light eyes was absolutely composed and calm. He looked straight up to +the dim richness of the stained-glass window above him as though he saw +beyond the flowers. + +For many seconds Dinah stood beside him, awed, waiting as it were for the +coming of a revelation. Whatever it might be she knew already that she +would not leave that holy place in the state of hopeless turmoil in which +she had entered. Something was coming to her, some new thing, that might +serve as an anchor in her distress even though it might not bring her +ultimate deliverance. + +Or stay! Was it a new thing? Was it not rather the unveiling of something +which had always been? Her heart quickened and became audible in the +stillness. She clasped her hands tightly together. And in that moment +Scott turned his head and looked at her. + +No word did he speak; only that straight, calm look--as of a man clean of +soul and fearless of evil. It told her nothing, that look, it opened to +her no secret chamber; neither did it probe her own quivering heart. It +was the kindly, reassuring look of a friend ready to stand by, ready to +lend a sure hand if such were needed. + +But by that look Dinah's revelation burst upon her. In that moment she +saw her own soul as never before had she seen it; and all the little +things, the shallow things, the earthly things, faded quite away. With a +deep, deep breath she opened her eyes upon the Vision of Love.... + +"Shall we go?" murmured Scott. + +She looked at him vaguely for a second, feeling stunned and blinded by +the radiance of that revelation. A black veil seemed to be descending +upon her; she put out a groping hand. + +He took it, and his hold was sustaining. He led her in silence down the +long, shadowy building to the porch. + +He would have led her further, but a sudden, heavy shower was falling, +and he had to pause. She sank down trembling upon the stone seat. + +"Scott! Oh, Scott!" she said. "Help me!" + +He made a slight, involuntary movement that passed unexplained. "I am +here to help you, my dear," he said, his voice very quiet and even. "You +mustn't be scared, you know. You'll get through it all right." + +She wrung her hands together in her extremity. "It isn't that," +she told him. "I--I suppose I've got to go through it--as you say so. +But--but--you'll think me very wicked, yet I must tell you--I've made--a +dreadful mistake. I'm marrying for money, for position, to get away from +home,--anything but love. I don't love him. I know now that I never +shall--never can! And I'd give anything--anything--anything to escape!" + +It was spoken. All the long-pent misgivings that had culminated in awful +certainty the night before had so wrought in her that now--now that the +revelation had come--she could no longer keep silence. But of that +revelation she would sooner have died than speak. + +Scott heard that wrung confession, standing before her with a stillness +that gave him a look of sternness. He spoke as she ended, possibly +because he realized that she would not be able to endure the briefest +silence at that moment, possibly because he dreamed of filling up the gap +ere it widened to an irreparable breach. + +"But, Dinah," he said, "don't you know he loves you?" + +She flung her hands wide in a gesture of the most utter despair. "That's +just the very worst part of it," she said. "That's just why there is no +getting away." + +"You don't want his love?" Scott questioned, his voice very low. + +She shook her head in instant negation. "Oh no, no, no!" + +He bent slightly towards her, looking into her face of quivering +agitation. "Dinah, are you sure it isn't all this pomp and circumstance +that is frightening you? Are you sure you have no love at all in your +heart for him?" + +She did not shrink from his look. Though she thought his eyes were stern, +she met them with the courage of desperation. "I am quite--quite--sure," +she told him brokenly. "I never loved him. I was dazzled, that's all. +But now--but now--the glamour is all gone. I would give anything--oh, +anything in the world--if only he would marry Rose de Vigne instead!" + +Her voice failed and with it her strength. She covered her face and wept +hopelessly, tragically. + +Scott stood motionless by her side. His brows were drawn as the brows of +a man in pain, but the eyes below them had the brightness of unwavering +resolution. There was something rocklike about his pose. + +The pattering of the rain mingled with the sound of Dinah's anguished +sobbing; there seemed to be no other sound in all the world. + +He moved at last, and into his eyes there came a very human look, +dispelling all hardness. He bent to her again, his hand upon her +shoulder. "My child," he said gently, "don't be so distressed! It isn't +too late--even now." + +He felt her respond to his touch, but she could not lift her head. "I can +never face him," she sobbed hopelessly. "I shall never, never dare!" + +"You must face him," Scott said quietly but very firmly. "You owe it to +him. Do you consider that you would be acting fairly by him if you +married him solely for the reasons you have just given to me?" + +She shrank at his words, trembling all over like a frightened child. But +his hand was still upon her, restraining panic. + +"He will be so angry--so furious," she faltered. + +"I will help you," Scott said steadily. + +"Ah!" she caught at the promise with an eagerness that was piteous. +"You won't leave me? You won't let me be alone with him? He can make +me do anything--anything--when I am alone with him. Oh, he is terrible +enough--even when he is not angry. He told me once that--that--if I were +to slip out of his reach, he would follow--and kill me!" + +The brightness returned to Scott's eyes; they shone with an almost steely +gleam. "You needn't be afraid of that," he said quietly. "Now tell me, +Dinah, for I want to know; how long have you known that you didn't want +to marry him?" + +But Dinah shrank at the question, as though he had probed a wound. +"Oh, I can't tell you that! As long as I have realized that I was bound +to him--I have been afraid! And now--now that it has come so close--" She +broke off. "Oh, but I can't draw back now," she said hopelessly. +"Think--only think--what it will mean!" + +Scott was silent for a few seconds, then: "If it would be easier for you +to go on," he said slowly, "perhaps--in the end--it may be better for +you; because he honestly loves you, and I think his love may make a +difference--in the end. Possibly you are nearer to loving him even now +than you imagine. If it is the dread of hurting him--not angering +him--that holds you back, then I do not think you would be doing wrong to +marry him. If you are just scared by the thought of to-morrow and +possibly the day after--" + +"Oh, but it isn't that! It isn't that!" Dinah cried the words out +passionately like a prisoner who sees the door of his cell closing +finally upon him. "It's because I'm not his! I don't belong to +him! I don't want to belong to him! The very thought makes me +feel--almost--sick!" + +"Then there is someone else," Scott said, with grave conviction. + +"Ah!" It was not so much a word as the sharp intake of breath that +follows the last and keenest thrust of the probe that has reached the +object of its search. Dinah suddenly became rigid and yet vibrant as +stretched wire. Her silence was the silence of the victim who dreads so +unspeakably the suffering to come as to be scarcely aware of present +anguish. + +But Scott was merciful. He withdrew the probe and very pitifully he +closed the wound that he had opened. "No, no!" he said. "That has nothing +to do with me--or with Eustace either. But it makes your case absolutely +plain. Come with me now--before you feel any worse about it--and ask him +to give you your release!" + +"Oh, Scott!" She looked up at him at last, and though there was a measure +of relief in her eyes, her face was deathly. "Oh, Scott,--dare I do +that?" + +"I shall be there," he said. + +"Yes,--yes, you will be there! You won't leave me? Promise!" She clasped +his arm in entreaty. + +He looked into her eyes, and there was a great kindness in his own---the +kindness of Greatheart arming himself to defend his pilgrims. "Yes, I +promise that," he said, adding, "unless I leave you at your own desire." + +"You will never do that," Dinah said and smiled with quivering lips. "You +are good to me. Oh, you are good! But--but--" + +"But what?" he questioned gently. + +"He may refuse to set me free," she said desperately. "What then?" + +"My dear, no one is married by force now-a-days," he said. + +Her face changed as a sudden memory swept across her. "And my mother! My +mother!" she said. + +"Don't you think we had better deal with one difficulty at a time?" +suggested Scott. + +His hand sought hers, he drew her to her feet. + +And, as one having no choice, she submitted and went with him. + +It was still raining, but the heaviest of the shower was over. A gleam of +sunshine lit the distance as they went, and a faint, faint ray of hope +dawned in Dinah's heart at the sight. Though her deliverance was yet to +be achieved, though she dreaded unspeakably that which lay before her, at +least the door was open, could she but reach it to pass through. She +breathed a purer air already. And beside her stood Greatheart the +valiant, covering her with his shield of gold. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LION IN THE PATH + + +A large and merry party of guests were congregated in the great hall at +Perrythorpe Court, having tea. One of them--a young soldier-cousin of the +Studleys--was singing a sentimental ditty at a piano to which no one was +listening; and the hubbub was considerable. + +Dinah, admitted into the outer hall that was curtained off from the gay +crowd, shrank nearer to Scott as the cheery tumult reached her. + +"Need we--must we--go in that way?" she whispered. + +There was a door on the right of the porch. Scott turned towards it. + +"I suppose we can go in there?" he said to the man who had admitted them. + +"The gun-room, sir? Yes, if you wish, sir. Shall I bring tea?" + +"No," Scott said quietly. "Find Sir Eustace Studley if you can, and ask +him to join us there! Come along, Dinah!" + +His hand touched her arm. She entered the little room as one seeking +refuge. It led into a conservatory, and thence to the garden. The +apartment itself was given up entirely to weapons or instruments of +sport. Guns, fishing-rods, hunting-stocks, golf-clubs, tennis-rackets, +were stored in various racks and stands. A smell of stale cigar-smoke +pervaded it. Colonel de Vigne was wont to retire hither at night in +preference to the less cosy and intimate smoking-room. + +But there was no one here now, and Scott laid hat and riding-whip upon +the table and drew forward a chair for his companion. + +She looked at him and tried to thank him, but she was voiceless. Her pale +lips moved without sound. + +Scott's eyes were very kindly. "Don't be so frightened, child!" he said; +and then, a sudden thought striking him, "Look here! You go and wait in +the conservatory and let me speak to him first! Yes, that will be the +best way. Come!" + +His hand touched her again. She turned as one compelled. But as he opened +the glass door, she found her voice. + +"Oh, I ought not to--to let you face him alone. I must be brave. I must." + +"Yes, you must," Scott answered. "But I will see him alone first. It will +make it easier for everyone." + +Yet for a moment she halted still. "You really mean it? You wish it?" + +"Yes, I wish it," he said. "Wait in here till I call you!" + +She took him at his word. There was no other course. He closed the door +upon her and turned back alone. + +He sat down in the chair that he had placed for her and became motionless +as a figure carved in bronze. His pale face and trim, colourless beard +were in shadow, his eyes were lowered. There was scarcely an inanimate +object in the room as insignificant and unimposing as he, and yet in his +stillness, in his utter unobtrusiveness, there lay a strength such as the +strongest knight who ever rode in armour might have envied. + +There came a careless step without, a hand upon the door. It opened, and +Sir Eustace, handsome, self-assured, slightly haughty, strode into the +room. + +"Hullo, Stumpy! What do you want? I can't stop. I am booked to play +billiards with Miss de Vigne. A test match to demonstrate the steadiness +of my nerves!" + +Scott stood up. "I have a bigger test for you than that, old chap," he +said. "Shut the door if you don't mind!" + +Sir Eustace sent him a swift, edged glance. "I can't stop," he said +again. "What is it? Some mare's nest about Isabel?" + +"No, nothing whatever to do with Isabel. Shut the door, man! I must be +alone with you for a few minutes." Scott spoke with unwonted vehemence. +The careless notes of the piano, the merry tumult of chattering voices, +seemed to affect him oddly, almost to exasperate him. + +Sir Eustace turned and swung the door shut; then with less than his +customary arrogance he came to Scott. "What's the matter?" he said. "Out +with it! Don't break the news if you can help it!" + +His eyes belied the banter of his words. They shone as the eyes of a +fighter meeting odds. There was something leonine about him at the +moment, something of the primitive animal roused from its lair and +scenting danger. + +He looked into Scott's pale face with the dawning of a threatening +expression upon his own. + +And Scott met the threat full and square and unflinching. "I've come to +tell you," he said, "about the hardest thing one man can tell another. +Dinah wishes to be released from her engagement." + +His words were brief but very distinct. He stiffened as he uttered them, +almost as if he expected a blow. + +But Sir Eustace stood silent and still, with only the growing menace in +his eyes to show that he had heard. + +Several seconds dragged away ere he made either sound or movement. Then, +with a sudden, fierce gesture, he gripped Scott by the shoulder. "And you +have the damnable impertinence to come and tell me!" he said. + +There was violence barely restrained in voice and action. He held Scott +as if he would fling him against the wall. + +But Scott remained absolutely passive, enduring the savage grip with no +sign of resentment. Only into his steady eyes there came that gleam as of +steel that leaps to steel. + +"I have told you," he said, "because I have no choice. She wishes to be +set free, and--she fears you too much to tell you so herself." + +Sir Eustace broke in upon him with a furious laugh that was in some +fashion more insulting than a blow on the mouth. "And she has deputed you +to do so on her behalf! Highly suitable! Or did you volunteer for the +job, most fearless knight?" + +"I offered to help her--certainly." Scott's voice was as free from +agitation as his pose. "I would help any woman under such circumstances. +It's no easy thing for her to break off her engagement at this stage. And +she is such a child. She needs help." + +"She shall have it," said Eustace grimly. "But--since you are here--I +will deal with you first. Do you think I am going to endure any +interference in this matter from you? Think it over calmly. Do you?" + +His hold upon Scott had become an open threat. His eyes were a red blaze +of anger. In that moment the animal in him was predominant, overwhelming. +He was furious with the fury of the wounded beast that is beyond all +control. + +Scott realized the fact, and grasped his own self-control with a firmer +hand. "It's no good my telling you that I hate my job," he said. "You'll +hardly believe me if I do. But I've got to stick to it, beastly as it is. +I can't stand by and see her married against her will. For that is what +it amounts to. She would give anything she has to be free. She told me +so. I'm infernally sorry. Perhaps you won't believe that either. But I've +got to see this thing through now." + +"Have you?" said Eustace, and suddenly his words came clipped and harsh +from between set teeth. "And you think I'm going to endure it--stand +aside tamely--while you turn an attack of stage-fright into a just cause +and impediment to prevent my marriage! I should have thought you would +have known me better by this time. But if you don't, you shall learn. Now +listen! I am in dead earnest. If you don't drop this foolery, give me +your word of honour here and now to leave this matter in my hands +alone,--I'll thrash you to a pulp!" + +He spoke with terrible intention. His whole being pulsated behind the +words. And Scott's slight frame stiffened to rigidity in answer. + +"You may grind me to powder!" he flung back, and in his voice there +sounded a curiously vibrant quality as of finely-tempered steel that will +bend but never break. "But you can't--and you shan't--force that child +into marrying you against her will! That I swear--by God in Heaven!" + +There was amazing force in the utterance, he also had thrown off the +shackles. But his strength had about it nothing of the brute. Stripped to +the soul, he stood up a man. + +And against his will Eustace recognized the fact, realized the Invincible +manifest in the clay, and in spite of himself was influenced thereby. The +savage in him drew back abashed, aware of mastery. + +Abruptly he released him and turned away. "You're a fool to tempt me," he +said. "And a still greater fool to take her seriously. As I tell you, +it's nothing but stage-fright. She had a touch of it yesterday. I'll come +round presently and make it all right." + +"You can only make it right by setting her free," Scott made answer. +"There is no other course. Do you suppose I should have come to you in +this way if there had been?" + +Sir Eustace was moving to the door by which he had entered. He flung a +backward look that was intensely evil over his shoulder at the puny +figure of the man behind him. + +"I can imagine you playing any damned trick under the sun to serve your +own interests," he said, his lip curling in in an intolerable sneer. "But +the deepest strategy fails occasionally. You haven't been quite subtle +enough this time." + +He was at the door as he uttered the last biting sentence, but so also +was Scott. With a movement of incredible swiftness and impetuosity he +flung himself forward. Their hands met upon the handle, and his remained +in possession, for in sheer astonishment Eustace drew back. + +They faced one another in the evening light, Scott pale to the lips, in +his eyes an electric blaze that made them almost unbearably bright, +Eustace, heavy-browed, lowering, the red glare of savagery gleaming like +a smouldering flame, ready to leap forth in devastating fury to meet the +fierce white heat that confronted him. + +An awful silence hung between them--a silence of unutterable emotions, +more poignant with passion than any strife or clash of weapons. And +through it like a mocking under-current there ran the distant tinkle of +the piano, the echoes of careless laughter beyond the closed door. + +Then at last--it seemed with difficulty--Scott spoke, his voice very low, +oddly jerky. "What do you mean by that? Tell me what you mean!" + +Sir Eustace made an abrupt gesture,--the gesture of the swordsman on +guard. He met the attack instantly and unwaveringly, but his look was +wary. He did not seek to throw the lesser man from his path. As it were +instinctively, though possibly for the first time in his life, he treated +him as an equal. + +"You know what I mean!" he made fierce rejoinder. "Even you can hardly +pretend ignorance on that point." + +"Even I!" Scott uttered a short, hard laugh that seemed to escape him +against his will. "All the same, I will have an explanation," he said. +"I prefer a straight charge, notwithstanding my damned subtlety. You will +either explain or withdraw." + +"As you like," Sir Eustace yielded the point, and again he acted +instinctively, not realizing that he had no choice. "I mean that from the +very beginning of things you have been influencing her against me, trying +to win her from me. You never intended me to propose to her in the first +place. You never imagined that I would do such a thing. You only thought +of driving me off the ground and clearing it for yourself. I saw your +game long ago. When you lost one trick, you tried for another. I knew--I +knew all along. But the game is up now, and you've lost." A very bitter +smile curved his mouth with the words. "There is your explanation," he +said. "I hope you are satisfied." + +"But I am not satisfied!" Quick as lightning came the _riposte_. Scott +stood upright against the closed door. His eyes, unflickering, dazzlingly +bright, were fixed upon his brother's face. "I am not satisfied," he +repeated, and his words were as sternly direct as his look; he spoke as +one compelled by some inner, driving force, "because what you have just +said to me--this foul thing you believe of me--is utterly and absolutely +without foundation. I have never tried--or dreamed of trying--to win her +from you. I speak as before God. In this matter I have never been other +than loyal either to you or to my own honour. If any other man insulted +me in this fashion," his face worked a little, but he controlled it +sharply, "I wouldn't have stooped to answer him. But you--I suppose I +must allow you the--privilege of brotherhood. And so I ask you to +believe--at least to make an effort to believe--that you have made a +mistake." + +His voice was absolutely quiet as he ended. The dignity of his utterance +had in it even a touch of the sublime, and the elder man was aware of it, +felt the force of it, was humbled by it. He stood a moment or two as one +irresolute, halting at a difficult choice. Then, with an abrupt lift of +the head as though his pride made fierce resistance, he gave ground. + +"If I have wronged you, I apologize," he said with brevity. + +Scott smiled faintly, wryly. "If--" he said. + +"Very well, I withdraw the 'if.'" Sir Eustace spoke impatiently, not as +one desiring reconciliation. "You laid yourself open to it by accepting +the position of ambassador. I don't know how you could seriously imagine +that I would treat with you in that capacity. If Dinah has anything to +say to me, she must say it herself." + +"She will do so," Scott spoke with steady assurance. "But before you see +her, I think I ought to tell you that her reason for wishing to be set +free is not stage-fright or any childish nonsense of that kind; but +simply the plain fact that her heart is not in the compact. She has found +out that she doesn't love you enough." + +"She told you so?" demanded Sir Eustace. + +Scott bent his head, for the first time averting his eyes from his +brother's face. "Yes." + +"And she wished you to tell me?" There was a metallic ring in Sir +Eustace's voice; the red glare was gone from his eyes, they were cold and +hard as a winter sky. + +"Yes," Scott said again, still not looking at him. + +"And why?" The words fell brief and imperious, compelling in their +incisiveness. + +Scott's eyes returned to his, almost in protest. "I told her you ought to +know," he said. + +"Then she would not have told me otherwise?" + +"Possibly not." + +There fell another silence. Sir Eustace looked hard and straight into the +pale eyes, as though he would pierce to the soul behind. But though Scott +met the look unwavering, his soul was beyond all scrutiny. There was +something about him that baffled all search, something colossal that +barred the way. For the second time Sir Eustace realized himself to be at +a disadvantage; haughtily he passed the matter by. + +"In that case there is nothing further to be said. You have fulfilled +your somewhat rash undertaking, and that you have come out of the +business with a whole skin is a bigger piece of luck than you deserved. +If Dinah wishes this matter to go any further, she must come to me +herself." + +"Otherwise you will take no action?" Scott's voice had its old somewhat +weary intonation. The animation seemed to have died out of him. + +"Exactly." Sir Eustace answered him with equal deliberation. "So far as +you are concerned the incident is now closed." + +Scott took his hand from the door and moved slowly away. "I have put the +whole case before you," he said. "I think you clearly understand that if +you are going to try and use force, I am bound--as a friend--to take her +part against you. She relies upon me for that, and--I shall not +disappoint her. You see," a hint of compassion sounded in his voice, "she +has always been afraid of you; and she knows that I am not." + +Sir Eustace smiled cynically. "Oh, you have always been ready to rush +in!" he said. "Doubtless your weakness is your strength." + +Scott met the gibe with tightened lips. He made no attempt to reply to +it. "The only thing left," he said quietly, "is for you to see her and +hear what she has to say. She is waiting in the conservatory." + +"She is waiting?" Eustace wheeled swiftly. + +Scott was already half-way across the room. He strode forward, and +intercepted him. + +"You can go," he said curtly. "You have done your part. This business is +mine, not yours." + +Scott stood still. "I have promised to see her through," he said. "I must +keep my promise." + +Sir Eustace looked for a single instant as if he would strike him down; +and then abruptly, inexplicably he gave way. + +"Very well," he said. "Fetch her in!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TRUTH + + +At Scott's quiet summons Dinah entered. What she had passed through +during those minutes of waiting was written in her face. She looked +deathly. + +Sir Eustace did not move to meet her. He stood by the table, very +upright, very stern, uncompromisingly silent. + +Dinah gave him one quivering glance, and turned appealingly to Scott. + +"Don't be nervous!" he said gently. "There is no need. I have told him +your wish." + +She was terrified, but the ordeal had to be faced. She summoned all her +strength, and went forward. + +"Oh, Eustace," she said piteously, "I am so dreadfully sorry." + +He looked down at her, his face like a marble mask. "So," he said, "you +want to throw me over!" + +She clasped her hands very tightly before her. "Oh, I know it's hateful +of me," she said. + +He made a slight, disdainful gesture. "Did you make up your mind or did +Scott make it up for you?" + +"No, no!" she cried in distress. "It was not his doing. I--I just told +him, that was all." + +"And you now desire him for a witness," suggested Sir Eustace cynically. + +Dinah looked again towards Scott. He stood against the mantelpiece, as +grimly upright as his brother and again oddly she was struck by the +similarity between them. She could not have said wherein it lay, but she +had never seen it more marked. + +He spoke very quietly in answer to her look. "I have promised to stay for +as long as you want me, but if you wish to be alone with Eustace for a +few minutes, I will wait in the conservatory." + +"Yes, let him do that!" Imperiously Eustace accepted the suggestion. "We +shall not keep him long." + +Dinah stood hesitating. Scott was looking at her very steadily and +reassuringly. His eyes seemed to be telling her that she had nothing to +fear. But he would not move without her word, and in the end reluctantly +she gave in. + +"Very well," she said, in a low voice. "If--if you will wait!" + +"I will," Scott said. + +He limped across the room to the open door, passed through, closed it +softly behind him. And Dinah was left to face her monster alone. + +She did not look at Sir Eustace in the first dreadful moments that +followed Scott's exit. She was horribly afraid. There was to her +something inexpressibly ruthless in his very silence. She longed yet +dreaded to hear him speak. + +He did not do so for many seconds, and she thought by his utter stillness +that he must be listening to the wild throbbing of her heart. + +Then at last, just as the tension of waiting was becoming unbearable and +she was on the verge of piteous entreaty, he seated himself on the edge +of the table and spoke. + +"Well," he said, "we have got to get at the root of this trouble somehow. +You don't propose to throw me over without telling me why, I suppose?" + +His voice was perfectly calm. She even fancied that he was faintly +smiling as he uttered the words, but she could not look at him to see. +She found it difficult enough to speak in answer. + +"I know I am treating you very badly," she said, wringing her clasped +hands in her agitation. "You--of course you can make me marry you. +I've promised myself to you. You have the right. But if you will +only--only let me go, I am sure it will be much better for you too. +Because--because--I've found out--I've found out--that I don't love you." + +It was the greatest effort she had ever made in her life. She wondered +afterwards how she had ever brought herself to accomplish it. It was so +hard--so hideously hard--to face him, this man who loved her so +overwhelmingly, and tell him that he had failed to win her love in +return. And at the eleventh hour--to treat him thus! If he had taken her +by the throat and wrung her neck, she would have considered him justified +and herself but righteously punished. + +But he did nothing of a violent nature. He only sat there looking at her, +and though she could not bring herself to meet his look she knew that it +held no anger. + +He did not speak, and she went on with a species of desperate pleading, +because silence was so intolerable. "It wouldn't be right of me to--to +marry you and not tell you, would it? It wouldn't be fair. It would be +like marrying you under false pretences. I only wish--oh, I do wish--that +I had known sooner, when you first asked me. I might have known. I ought +to have known! But--but--somehow--" she began to falter badly and finally +concluded in a piteous whisper--"I didn't." + +"How did you find out?" he said. His tone was still perfectly quiet; but +he spoke judicially, as one who meant to have an answer. + +But Dinah had no answer for him. It was the very question to which there +could be no reply. Her fingers interlaced and strained against each +other. She stood mute. + +"I think you can tell me that," Eustace said. + +She made a small but vehement gesture of negation. "I can't!" she said. +"It's--it's--private." + +"You mean you won't?" he questioned. + +She nodded silently, too distressed for speech. + +He got to his feet with finality. "That ends the case then," he said. +"The appeal is dismissed. You can give me no adequate reason for +releasing you. Therefore, I keep you to your engagement." + +Dinah uttered a gasp. She had not expected this. For the first time she +met his look fully, met the blue, dominant eyes, the faint, supercilious +smile. And dismay struck through and through her as she realized that he +had made her captive again with scarcely a struggle. + +"Oh, but you can't--you can't!" she said. + +He raised his brows. "We shall see," he said. "Mean-time--" He paused, +looking at her, and suddenly the old hot glitter flashed forth, dazzling +her, hypnotizing her; he uttered a low laugh and took her in his arms. +"Daphne, you will-o'-the-wisp, you witch, how dare you?" + +She made no outcry or resistance, realizing in a single stunning second +the mastery that would not be denied; only ere his lips reached her, she +sank down in his hold, hiding her face and praying him brokenly, +imploringly, to let her go. + +"Oh, please--oh, please--if you love me--do be kind--do be generous! I +can't go on--indeed--indeed! Oh, Eustace,--Eustace--do forgive me--and +let me go!" + +"I will not!" he said. "I will not!" + +She heard the rising passion in his voice, and her heart died within her; +she sank lower, till but for his upholding arms she would have been +kneeling at his feet. And then quite suddenly her strength went from her; +she hung powerless, almost fainting in his grasp. + +She scarcely knew what happened next, save that the fierceness went out +of his hold like the passing of an evil dream. He lifted and held her +while the darkness surged around.... And then presently she heard his +voice, very low, amazingly tender, speaking into her ear. "Dinah! Dinah! +What has come to you? Don't you know that I love you? Didn't I tell you +so only last night?" + +She leaned against him palpitating, unstrung, piteously distressed. +"That's what makes it--so dreadful," she whispered. "I wish I were dead! +Oh, I do wish I were dead!" + +"Nonsense!" he said. "Nonsense!" He put his hand upon her head, pressing +it against his breast. "Little sweetheart, what has happened to you? Tell +me what is the matter!" + +That was the hardest to face of all, that he should subdue himself, +restrain his passion to pour out to her that which was infinitely greater +than passion; she made a little sound that seemed to come straight from +her heart. + +"Oh, I can't tell you!" she sobbed into his shoulder. "I can't think how +I ever made such a terrible mistake. But if only--oh, if only--you could +marry Rose instead! It would be so very much better for everybody." + +"Marry Rose!" he said. "What on earth made you think of that at this +stage?" + +"I always thought you would--in Switzerland," she explained rather +incoherently. "I--never really thought--I could cut her out." + +"Is that what you did it for?" An odd note sounded in Sir Eustace's +voice, as though some irony of circumstance had forced his sense of +humour. + +"Just at first," whispered Dinah. "Oh, don't be angry! Please don't be +angry! You--you weren't in earnest either just at first." + +He considered the matter in silence for a few moments. Then +half-quizzically, "I don't see that that is any reason for throwing me +over now," he said. "If you don't love me to-day, you will to-morrow." + +She shook her head. + +"Quite sure?" he said. + +"Quite," she answered faintly. + +His hand was still upon her head, and it remained there. He held her +closely pressed to him. + +For a space again he was silent, his dark face bent over her, his lips +actually touching her hair. Of what was passing in his mind she had no +notion, and she dared not lift her head to look. She dreaded each moment +a return of that tornado-like passion that had so often appalled her. +But it did not come. His arms held her indeed, but without violence, and +in his stillness there was no tension to denote its presence. + +He spoke at length, almost whispering. "Dinah, who is the lucky fellow? +Tell me!" + +She started away from him. She almost cried out in her dismay. But he +stopped her. He took her face between his hands with an insistence that +would not be denied. He looked closely, searchingly, into her eyes. + +"Is it Scott?" he said. + +She did not answer him. She stood as one paralysed, and up over face and +neck and all her trembling body, enwrapping her like a flame, there rose +a scorching, agonizing blush. + +He held her there before him and watched it, and she saw that his eyes +were piercingly bright, with the brightness of burnished steel. She could +not turn her own away from them, though her whole soul shrank from that +stark scrutiny. In anguish of mind she faced him, helpless, unutterably +ashamed, while that burning blush throbbed fiercely through every vein +and gradually died away. + +He let her go at last very slowly. "I--see," he said. + +She put her hands up over her face with a childish, piteous gesture. She +felt as if he had ruthlessly torn from her the one secret treasure that +she cherished. She was free--she knew she was free. But at what a cost! + +"So," Eustace said, "that's it, is it? We've got at the truth at last!" + +She quivered at the words. Her whole being seemed to be shrivelled as +though it had passed through the fire. He had wrenched her secret from +her, and she had nothing more to hide. + +Sir Eustace walked to the end of the room and back. He halted close to +her, but he did not touch her. He spoke, briefly and sternly. + +"How long has this been going on?" + +She looked up at him, her face pathetically pinched and small. "It hasn't +been going on. I--only realized it to-day. He doesn't know. He never must +know!" A sudden sharp note of anxiety sounded in her voice. "He never +must know!" she reiterated with emphasis. + +"He hasn't made love to you then?" Sir Eustace spoke in the same curt +tone; his mouth was merciless. + +She started as if stung. "Oh no! Oh no! Of course he hasn't! He--he +doesn't care for me--like that. Why should he?" + +Eustace's grim lips twitched a little. "Why indeed? Well, it's lucky for +him he hasn't. If he had, I'd have half killed him for it!" + +There was concentrated savagery in his tone. His eyes shone with a fire +that made her shrink. And then very suddenly he put his hand upon her +shoulder. + +"Do you mean to tell me that you want to throw me over solely because you +imagine you care for a man who doesn't care for you?" he asked. + +She looked up at him piteously, "Oh, please don't ask me any more!" she +said. + +"But I want to know," he said stubbornly. "Is that your only reason?" + +With difficulty she answered him. "No." + +"Then what more?" he demanded. + +It was inevitable. She made a desperate effort to be brave. "I couldn't +be happy with you. I am afraid of you. And--and--you are not kind to--to +Isabel." + +"Who says I am not kind to Isabel?" His hand pressed upon her ominously; +his look was implacably stern. + +But the effort to be brave had given her strength. She stiffened in his +hold. "I know it," she said. "I have seen it. She is always miserable +when you are there." + +He frowned upon her heavily. "You don't understand. Isabel is very +hysterical. She needs a firm hand." + +"You are more than firm," Dinah said. "You are--cruel." + +Never in her wildest moments had she imagined herself making such an +indictment. She marvelled at herself even as it left her lips. But +something seemed to have entered into her, taking away her fear. Not till +long afterwards did she realize that it was her new-found womanhood that +had come upon her all unawares during that poignant interview. + +She faced him without a tremor as she uttered the words, and he received +them in a silence so absolute that she went on with scarcely a pause. +"Not only to Isabel, but to everyone; to Scott, to that poor poacher, to +me. You don't believe it, because it is your nature. But it is true all +the same. And I think cruelty is a most dreadful thing. It's a vice that +not all the virtues put together could counter-balance." + +"When have I been cruel to you?" he said. + +His tone was quiet, his face mask-like; but she thought that fury raged +behind his calm. And still she knew no fear, felt no faintest dread of +consequence. + +"All your love-making has been cruel," she said. "Only once--no, twice +now--have you been the least bit kind to me. It's no good talking. You'd +never understand. I've lain awake often in the night with the dread of +you. But"--her voice shook slightly--"I didn't know what I wanted, so +I kept on. Now that I do know--though I shall never have it--it's made a +difference, and I can't go on. You don't want me any more now I've told +you, so it won't hurt you so very badly to let me go." + +"You are wrong," he said, and suddenly she knew that out of his silence +or her speech had developed something that was strange and new. His voice +was quick and low, utterly devoid of its customary arrogance. "I want you +more than ever! Dinah--Dinah, I may have been a brute to you. You're +right. I often am a brute. But marry me--only marry me--and I swear to +you that I will be kind!" + +His calm was gone. He leaned towards her urgently, his dark face aglow +with a light that was not passion. She had deemed him furious, and +behold, she had him at her feet! Her ogre was gone for ever. He had +crumbled at a touch. She saw before her a man, a man who loved her, a +man whom she might eventually have come to love but for-- + +She caught her breath in a sharp sob, and put forth a hand in pleading. +"Eustace, don't! Please don't! I can't bear it. You--you must set me +free!" + +"You are free as air," he said. + +"Am I? Then don't--don't ask me to bind myself again! For I can't--I +can't. I want to go away. I want to be quiet." She broke down suddenly. +The strain was past, the battle over. She had vanquished him, how she +scarcely knew; but her own brief strength was tottering now. "Let me go +home!" she begged. "Tell Scott I've gone! Tell everyone there won't be a +wedding after all! Say I'm dreadfully sorry! It's my fault--all my fault! +I ought to have known!" Her tears blinded her, silenced her. She turned +towards the door. + +"Won't you say good-bye to me?" Eustace said. + +Her voice was low and very steady. The glow was gone. He was calm again, +absolutely calm. With the failure of that one urgent appeal, he seemed to +have withdrawn his forces, accepting defeat. + +She turned back gropingly. "Good-bye--good-bye--" she +whispered, "and--thank you!" + +He put his arm around her, and bending kissed her forehead. "Don't cry, +dear!" he said. + +His manner was perfectly kind, supremely gentle. She hardly knew him +thus. Again her heart smote her in overwhelming self-reproach. "Oh, +Eustace, forgive me for hurting you so--forgive me--for all I've said!" + +"For telling me the truth?" he said. "No, I don't forgive you for that." + +She broke down utterly and sobbed aloud. "I wish--I wish I hadn't! How +could I do it? I hate myself!" + +"No--no," he said. "It's all right. You've done nothing wrong. Run home, +child! Don't cry! Don't cry!" + +His hand touched her hair under the soft cap, touched and lingered. But +he did not hold her to him. + +"Run home!" he said again. + +"And--and--you won't--won't--tell--Scott?" she whispered through her +tears. + +"But I don't think even I am such a bounder as that!" he said gently. "Do +you?" + +She lifted her face impulsively. She kissed him with quivering lips. +"No--no. I didn't mean it. Good-bye Oh, good-bye!" + +He kissed her in return. "Good-bye!" he said. + +And so they parted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE FURNACE + + +The bridal dress with its filmy veil still lay in its white box--a fairy +garment that had survived the catastrophe. Dinah sat and looked at it +dully. The light of her single candle shimmered upon the soft folds. How +beautiful it was! + +She had been sitting there for hours, after a terrible scene with her +mother downstairs, and from acute distress she had passed into a state of +torpid misery that enveloped her like a black cloud. She felt almost too +exhausted, too numbed, to think. Her thoughts wandered drearily back and +forth. She was sure she had been very greatly to blame, yet she could not +fix upon any definite juncture at which she had begun to go wrong. Her +engagement had been such a whirlwind of Fate. She had been carried off +her feet from the very beginning. And the deliverance from the home +bondage had seemed so fair a prospect. Now she was plunged, back again +into that bondage, and she was firmly convinced that no chance of freedom +would ever be offered to her again. Yet she knew that she had done right +to draw back. Regret it though she might again and again in the bitter +days to come, she knew--and she would always know--that at the eleventh +hour she had done right. + +She had been true to the greatest impulse that had ever stirred +her soul. It had been at a frightful cost. She had sacrificed +everything--everything--to a vision that she might never realize. She +had cast away all the glitter and the wealth for this far greater thing +which yet could never be more to her than a golden dream. She had even +cast away love, and her heart still bled at the memory. But she had been +true--she had been true. + +Not yet was the sacrifice ended. She knew that a cruel ordeal yet awaited +her. There was the morrow to be faced, the morrow with its renewal of +disgrace and punishment. Her mother was furious with her, so furious that +for the first time in her life her father had intervened on her behalf +and temporarily restrained the flow of wrath. Perhaps he had seen her +utter weariness, for he had advised her, not unkindly, to go to bed. She +had gone to her room, thankful to escape, but neither tea nor supper had +followed her thither. Billy had come to bid her good night long ago, but, +though he had not said so, he also, it seemed, was secretly disgusted +with her, and he had not lingered. It would be the same with everyone, +she thought to herself wearily. No one would ever realize how terribly +hard it had all been. No one would dream of extending any pity to her. +And of course she had done wrong. She knew it, was quite ready to admit +it. But the wrong had lain in accepting that overweaning lover of hers, +not in giving him up. Also, she ought to have found out long ago. She +wondered how it was she hadn't. It had never been a happy engagement. + +Again her eyes wandered to the exquisite folds of that dress which she +was never to wear. How she had loved the thought of it and all the lovely +things that Isabel had procured for her! What would become of them all, +she wondered? All the presents downstairs would have to go back. Yes, and +Eustace's ring! She had forgotten that. She slipped it off her finger +with a little dry sob, and put it aside. And the necklace of pearls that +she had always thought so much too good for her, but which would have +looked so beautiful on the wedding-dress; that must be returned. Very +strangely that thought pierced the dull ache of her heart with a mere +poignant pain. And following it came another, stabbing her like a knife. +The sapphire for friendship--his sapphire--that would have to go too. +There would be nothing left when it was all over. + +And she would never see any of them any more. She would drop out of their +lives and be forgotten. Even Isabel would not want her now that she had +behaved so badly. She had made Sir Eustace the talk of the County. So +long as they remembered her they would never forgive her for that. + +Sir Eustace might forgive. He had been extraordinarily generous. A lump +rose in her throat as she thought of him. But the de Vignes, all those +wedding guests who were to have honoured the occasion, they would all +look upon her with contumely for evermore. No wonder her mother was +enraged against her! No wonder! No wonder! She would never have another +chance of holding up her head in such society again. + +A great sigh escaped her. What was the good of sitting there thinking? +She had undressed long ago, and she was cold from head to foot. Yet +somehow she had forgotten or been too miserable to go to bed. She +supposed she had been waiting for the soothing tears that did not come. +Or had she meant to pray? She could not remember, and in any case prayer +seemed out of the question. Her life had been filled with delight for a +few delirious weeks, but it had all drained away. She did not want it +back again. She scarcely knew what she wanted, save the great Impossible +for which she lacked the heart to pray. And no doubt God was angry with +her too, or she could not feel like this! So what was the good of +attempting it? + +Wearily she turned to put out her candle. But ere her hand reached it, +she paused in swift apprehension. + +The next instant sharply she started round to see the door open, and her +mother entered the room. + +Gaunt, forbidding, full of purpose, she walked in, and set her candle +down beside the one that Dinah had been about to extinguish. + +"Get up!" she said to the startled girl. "Don't sit there gaping at me! +I've come here to give you a lesson, and it will be a pretty severe one I +can tell you if you attempt to disobey me." + +"What do you want me to do?" breathed Dinah. + +She stood up at the harsh behest, but she was trembling so much that her +knees would scarcely support her. Her heart was throbbing violently, and +each throb seemed as if it would choke her. She had seen that inflexibly +grim look often before upon her mother's face, and she knew from bitter +experience that it portended merciless treatment. + +Mrs. Bathurst did not reply immediately. She went to a little table in a +corner which Dinah used for writing purposes, and opened a blotter that +lay upon it. From this she took a sheet of note-paper and laid it in +readiness, found Dinah's pen, opened the ink-pot. Then, over her +shoulder, she flung a curt command: "Come here!" + +Dinah went, every nerve in her body tingling, her face and hands cold as +ice. + +Mrs. Bathurst glanced at her with a contemptuous smile. "Sit down, you +little fool!" she said. "Now, you take that pen and write at my +dictation!" + +Dinah shrank at the rough words. She felt like a child about to receive +corporal punishment. The vindictive force of the woman seemed to beat her +down. Writhe and strain as she might, she was bound to suffer both the +pain and the indignity to the uttermost limit; for she lacked the +strength to break free. + +She did not sit down however. She remained standing by the little table. + +"Mother," she said through her white lips, "what do you want me to do?" + +She could scarcely keep her teeth from chattering, and Mrs. Bathurst +noted the fact with another grim smile. + +"What am I going to make you do would be more to the purpose, my girl, +wouldn't it?" she said. "Sit down there, and you'll find out!" + +Dinah leaned upon the little table to steady herself. "Tell me what it is +I am to do!" she said. + +"Ah! That's better." A note of bitter humour sounded in Mrs. Bathurst's +voice. "Sit down!" + +She thrust out a bony hand, and gripped her by the shoulder, forcing her +downwards. + +Dinah dropped into the chair, and sat motionless. + +"Take your pen!" Mrs. Bathurst commanded. + +She hesitated; and instantly, with a violent movement, her mother +snatched it up and held it in front of her. + +"Take it!" + +Dinah took it with fingers so numb that they were almost powerless. + +"Now," said Mrs. Bathurst, "I will tell you what you are going to do. You +are going to write to Sir Eustace at my dictation, and tell him that you +are very sorry, you have made a mistake, and beg him to forget it and +marry you to-morrow as arranged." + +"Mother! No!" Dinah started as if at a blow; the pen dropped from her +fingers. "Oh no! I can't indeed--indeed!" + +"You will!" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +Her hand gripped the slender shoulder with cruel force. She bent, +bringing her harsh features close to her daughter's blanched face. + +"Just you remember one thing!" she said, her voice low and menacing. +"You've never succeeded in defying me yet, and you won't do it now. I'll +conquer you--I'll break you--if it takes me all night to do it!" + +Dinah recoiled before the unshackled fury that suddenly blazed in the +gipsy eyes that looked into hers. Sheer horror sprang into her own. + +"Oh, but I can't--I can't!" she reiterated in an agony. "I don't love +him. He knows it. I ought to have found out before, but I didn't. +Mother--Mother--" piteously she began to plead--"you--you can't want to +make me marry a man I don't love? You--you would never--surely--have done +such a thing yourself!" + +Mrs. Bathurst made a sharp gesture as if something had pierced her. She +shook the shoulder she grasped. "Love!" she said. "Oh, don't talk to me +of love! Do you imagine--have you ever imagined--that I married that +fox-hunting booby--for love?" + +A great and terrible bitterness that was like the hunger of a famished +animal looked out of her eyes. Dinah gazed at her aghast. What new and +horrible revelation was this? She felt suddenly sick and giddy. + +Her mother shook her again roughly, savagely. "None of that!" she said. +"Don't think I'll put up with it, my fine lady, for I won't! What has +love to do with such a chance as this? Tell me that, you little fool! Do +you suppose that either you or I have ever been in a position to +marry--for love?" + +Her face was darkly passionate. Dinah felt as if she were in the clutches +of a tigress. "What--what do you mean?" she faltered through her +quivering lips. + +"What do I mean?" Mrs. Bathurst broke into a sudden brutal laugh. "Ha! +What do I mean?" she said. "I'll tell you, shall I? Yes, I'll tell you! +I'll show you the shame that I've covered all these years. I mean that I +married because of you--for no other reason. I married because I'd been +betrayed--and left. Now do you understand why it isn't for you to pick +and choose--you who have been the plague-spot of my life, the thorn in my +side ever since you first stirred there--a perpetual reminder of what I +would have given my very soul to forget? Do you understand, I say? Do you +understand? Or must I put it plainer still? You--the child of my +shame--to dare to set yourself up against me!" + +She ended upon what was almost a note of loathing, and Dinah shuddered +from head to foot. It was to her as if she had been rolled in pitch. She +felt overwhelmed with the cruel degradation of it, the unspeakable shame. + +Mrs. Bathurst watched her anguished distress with a species of bitter +satisfaction. "That'll take the fight out of you, my girl," she said. "Or +if it doesn't, I've another sort of remedy yet to try. Now, you start on +that letter, do you hear? It'll be a bit shaky, but none the worse for +that. Write and tell him you've changed your mind! Beg him humble-like to +take you back!" + +But Dinah only bowed her head upon her hands and sat crushed. + +Mrs. Bathurst gave her a few seconds to recover her balance. Then again +mercilessly she shook her by the shoulder. + +"Come, Dinah! I'm not going to be defied. Are you going to write that +letter at once? Or must I take stronger measures?" + +And then a species of wild courage entered into Dinah. She turned at last +at bay. "I will not write it! I would sooner die! If--if this thing is +true, it would be far easier to die! I couldn't marry any man now who had +any pride of birth." + +She was terribly white, but she faced her tormentor unflinching, her eyes +like stars. And it came to Mrs. Bathurst with unpleasant force that she +had taken a false step which it was impossible to retrace. It was then +that the evil spirit that had been goading her entered in and took full +possession. + +She gripped Dinah's shoulder till she winced with pain. "Mother, you--you +are hurting me!" + +"Yes, and I will hurt you," she made answer. "I'll hurt you as I've never +hurt you yet if you dare to disobey me! I'll crush you to the earth +before I will endure that from you. Now! For the last time! Will you +write that letter? Think well before you refuse again!" + +She towered over Dinah with awful determination, wrought up to a pitch of +fury by her resistance that almost bordered upon insanity. + +Dinah's boldness waned swiftly before the iron force that countered it. +But her resolution remained unshaken, a resolution from which no power on +earth could move her. + +"I can't do it--possibly," she said. + +"You mean you won't?" said Mrs. Bathurst. + +Dinah nodded, and gripped the table hard to endure what should follow. + +"You--mean--you won't?" Mrs. Bathurst said again very slowly. + +"I will not." The white lips spoke the words, and closed upon them. Dinah +sat rigid with apprehension. + +Mrs. Bathurst took her hand from her shoulder and turned from her. The +candle that had been burning all the evening was low in its socket. She +lifted it out and went to the fireplace. There were some shavings in the +grate. She pushed the lighted candle end in among them; then, as the fire +roared up the chimney, she turned. + +An open trunk was close to her with the dainty pale green dress that +Dinah had worn the previous evening lying on the top. She took it up, and +bundled the soft folds together. Then violently she flung it on to the +flames. + +Dinah gave a cry of dismay, and started to her feet. "Mother! What are +you doing? Mother! Are you mad?" + +Mrs. Bathurst looked at her with eyes of blazing vindictiveness. "If you +are not going to be married, you won't need a trousseau," she said +grimly. "These things are quite unfit for a girl in your station. For +Lady Studley they would of course have been suitable, but not for such as +you." + +She turned back to the open trunk with the words, and began to sweep +together every article of clothing it contained. Dinah watched her in +horror-stricken silence. She remembered with odd irrelevance how once in +her childhood for some petty offence her mother had burnt a favourite +doll, and then had whipped her soundly for crying over her loss. + +She did not cry now. Her tears seemed frozen. She did not feel as if she +could ever cry again. The cold that enwrapped her was beginning to reach +her heart. She thought she was getting past all feeling. + +So in mute despair she watched the sacrifice of all that Isabel's loving +care had provided. So much thought had been spent upon the delicate +finery. They had discussed and settled each dainty garment together. She +had revelled in the thought of all the good things which she was to +wear--she who had never worn anything that was beautiful before. And +now--and now--they shrivelled in the roaring flame and dropped into grey +ash in the fender. + +It was over at last. Only the wedding-dress remained. But as Mrs. +Bathurst laid merciless hands upon this also, Dinah uttered a bitter cry. + +"Oh, not that! Not that!" + +Her mother paused. "Will you wear it to-morrow if Sir Eustace will have +you?" she demanded. + +"No! Oh no!" Dinah tottered back against her bed and covered her eyes. + +She could not watch the destruction of that fairy thing. But it went so +quickly, so quickly. When she looked up again, it had crumbled away like +the rest, and the shimmering veil with it. Nothing, nothing was left of +all the splendour that had been hers. + +She sank down on the foot of the bed. Surely her mother would be +satisfied now! Surely her lust for vengeance could devise no further +punishment! + +She was nearing the end of her strength, and she was beginning to know +it. The room swam before her dizzy sight. Her mother's figure loomed +gigantic, scarcely human. + +She saw her poke down the last of the cinders and turn to the door. There +was a pungent smell of smoke in the room. She wondered if she would ever +be able to cross that swaying, seething floor to open the window. She +closed her eyes and listened with straining ears for the closing of the +door. + +It came, and following it, a sharp click as of the turning of a key. She +looked up at the sound, and saw her mother come back to her. She was +carrying something in one hand, something that dangled and east a +snake-like shadow. + +She came to the cowering girl and caught her by the arm. "Now get up!" +she ordered brutally. "And take the rest of your punishment!" + +Truly Dinah drank the cup of bitterness to the dregs that night. Mentally +she had suffered till she had almost ceased to feel. But physically her +powers of endurance had not been so sorely tried. But her nerves were +strung to a pitch when even a sudden movement made her tingle, and upon +this highly-tempered sensitiveness the punishment now inflicted upon her +was acute agony. It broke her even more completely than it had broken her +in childhood. Before many seconds had passed the last shred of her +self-control was gone. + +Guy Bathurst, lying comfortably in bed, was aroused from his first +slumber by a succession of sharp sounds like the lashing of a loosened +creeper against the window, but each sound was followed by an anguished +cry that sank and rose again like the wailing of a hurt child. + +He turned his head and listened. "By Jove! That's too bad of Lydia," he +said. "I suppose she won't be satisfied till she's had her turn, but I +shall have to interfere if it goes on." + +It did not go on for long; quite suddenly the cries ceased. The other +sounds continued for a few seconds more, then ceased also, and he turned +upon his pillow with a sigh of relief. + +A minute later he was roused again by the somewhat abrupt entrance of his +wife. She did not speak to him, but stood by the door and rummaged in the +pockets of his shooting-coat that hung there. + +Bathurst endured in silence for a few moments; then, "Oh, what on earth +are you looking for?" he said with sleepy irritation. "I wish you'd go." + +"I want your brandy flask," she said, and her words came clipped and +sharp. "Where is it?" + +"On the dressing-table," he said. "What have you been doing to the +child?" + +"I've given her as much as she can stand," his wife retorted grimly. "But +you leave her to me! I'll manage her." + +She departed with a haste that seemed to denote a certain anxiety +notwithstanding her words. + +She left the door ajar, and the man turned again on his pillow and +listened uneasily. He was afraid Lydia had gone too far. + +For a space he heard nothing. Then came the splashing of water, and again +that piteous, gasping cry. He caught the sound of his wife's voice, but +what she said he could not hear. Then there were movements, and Dinah +spoke in broken supplication that went into hysterical sobbing. Finally +he heard his wife come out of the room and close the door behind her. + +She came back again with the brandy flask. "She's had a lesson," she +observed, "that I rather fancy she'll never forget as long as she lives." + +"Then I hope you're satisfied," said Bathurst, and turned upon his side. + +Yes, Dinah had had a lesson. She had passed through a sevenfold furnace +that had melted the frozen fountain of her tears till it seemed that +their flow would never be stayed again. She wept for hours, wept till she +was sick and blind with weeping, and still she wept on. And bitter shame +and humiliation watched beside her all through that dreadful night, +giving her no rest. + +For she had gone through this fiery torture, this cruel chastisement of +mind and body, all for what? For love of a man who felt nought but +kindness for her,--for the dear memory of a golden vision that would +never be hers again. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE COMING OF GREATHEART + + +It was soon after nine on the following morning that Scott presented +himself on horseback at the gate of Dinah's home. It had been his +intention to tie up his animal and enter, but he was met in the entrance +by Billy coming out on a bicycle, and the boy at once frustrated his +intention. + +"Good morning, sir! Pleased to see you, but it's no good your coming in. +The pater's still in bed, and the mater's doing the house-work." + +"And Dinah?" said Scott. The question leapt from him almost +involuntarily. He had not meant to display any eagerness, and he sought +to cover it by his next words which were uttered with his usual careful +deliberation. "It's Dinah I have come to see. I have a message for her +from my sister." + +Billy's freckled face crumpled into troubled lines. "Dinah has cleared +out," he said briefly. "I'm just off to the station to try and get news +of her." + +"What?" Scott said, startled. + +The boy looked at him, his green eyes shrewdly confiding. "There's been +the devil of a row," he said. "The mater is furious with her. She gave +her a fearful licking last night to judge by the sounds. Dinah was +squealing like a rat. Of course girls always do squeal when they're hurt, +but I fancy the mater must have hit a bit harder than usual. And she's +burnt the whole of the trousseau too. Dinah was so mighty proud of all +her fine things. She'd feel that, you know, pretty badly." + +"Damnation!" Scott said, and for the second time he spoke without his own +volition. He looked at Billy with that intense hot light in his eyes that +had in it the whiteness of molten metal. "Do you mean that?" he said. +"Do you actually mean that your mother flogged her--flogged Dinah?" + +Billy nodded. "It's just her way," he explained half-apologetically. +"The mater is like that. She's rough and ready. She's always done it to +Dinah, had a sort of down on her for some reason. I guessed she meant +business last night when I saw the dog-whip had gone out of the hall. I +wished afterwards I'd thought to hide it, for it's rather a beastly +implement. But the mater's a difficult woman to baulk. And when she's in +that mood, it's almost better to let her have her own way. She's sure to +get it sooner or later, and a thing of that sort doesn't improve with +keeping." + +So spoke Billy with the philosophy of middle-aged youth, while the man +beside him sat with clenched hands and faced the hateful vision of Dinah, +the fairy-footed and gay of heart, writhing under that horrible and +humiliating punishment. + +He spoke at length, and some electricity within him made the animal under +him fidget and prance, for he stirred neither hand nor foot. "And you +tell me Dinah has run away?" + +"Yes, cleared out," said Billy tersely. "It was an idiotic thing to do, +for the mater is downright savage this morning, and she'll only give her +another hiding for her pains. She stayed away all day once before, years +ago when she was a little kid, and, my eye, didn't she catch it when she +came back! She never did it again--till now." + +"And you are going to the station to look for her?" Scott's voice was +dead level. He calmed the restive horse with a firm hand. + +"Yes; just to find out if she's gone by train. I don't believe she has, +you know. She's nowhere to go to. I expect she's hiding up in the woods +somewhere. I shall scour the country afterwards; for the longer she stays +away the worse it'll be for her. I'm sure of that," said Billy uneasily. +"When the mater lays hands on her again, she'll simply flay her." + +"She will not do anything of the sort," said Scott, and turned his +horse's head with resolution. "Come along and find her first! I will deal +with your mother afterwards." + +Billy mounted his bicycle and accompanied him. Though he did not see how +Scott was to prevent any further vengeance on his mother's part, it was a +considerable relief to feel that he had enlisted a champion on his +sister's behalf. For he was genuinely troubled about her, although the +cruel discipline to which she had been subjected all her life had so +accustomed him to seeing her in trouble that it affected him less than if +it had been a matter of less frequent occurrence. + +Scott's reception of his information had somewhat awed him. Like Dinah, +he had long ceased to look upon this man as insignificant. He rode beside +him in respectful silence. + +The country lane they followed crossed the railway by a bridge ere it ran +into the station road. There was a steep embankment on each side of the +line surmounted by woods, and as they reached the bridge Billy dismounted +to gaze searchingly into the trees. + +"She might be anywhere" he said. "This is a favourite place of hers +because the wind-flowers grow here. Somehow I've got a sort of +feeling--" He stopped short. "Why, there she is!" he exclaimed. + +Scott looked sharply in the same direction. Had he been alone, he would +not have perceived her, for she was crouched low against a thicket of +brambles and stunted trees midway down the embankment. She was clad in an +old brown mackintosh that so toned with her surroundings as to render her +almost invisible. Her chin was resting on her knees, and her face was +turned from them. She seemed to be gazing up the line. + +As they watched her, a signal near the bridge went down with a thud, and +it seemed to Scott that the little huddled figure started and stiffened +like a frightened doe. But she did not change her position, and she +continued to gaze up the long stretch of line as though waiting for +something. + +"What on earth is she doing?" whispered Billy. "There are no wind-flowers +there." + +Scott slipped quietly to the ground. "You wait here!" he said. "Hold my +animal, will you?" + +He left the bridge, retracing his steps, and climbed a railing that +fenced the wood. In a moment he disappeared among the trees, and Billy +was left to watch and listen in unaccountable suspense. + +The morning was dull, and a desolate wind moaned among the bare +tree-tops. He shivered a little. There was something uncanny in the +atmosphere, something that was evil. He kept his eyes upon Dinah, but she +was a considerable distance away, and he could not see that she stirred +so much as a finger. He wondered how long it would take Scott to reach +her, and began to wish ardently that he had been allowed to go instead. +The man was lame and he was sure that he could have covered the distance +in half the time. + +And then while he waited and watched, suddenly there came a distant +drumming that told of an approaching train. + +"The Northern express!" he said aloud. + +Many a time had he stood on the bridge to see it flash and thunder below +him. The sound of its approach had always filled him with a kind of +ecstasy before, but now--to-day--it sent another feeling through him,--a +sudden, wild dart of unutterable dread. + +"What rot!" he told himself, with an angry shake. "Oh, what rot!" + +But the dread remained coiled like a snake about his heart. + +The animal he held became restless, and he backed it off the bridge, but +he could not bring himself to go out of sight of that small, tragic +figure in the old mackintosh that sat so still, so still, there upon the +grassy slope. He watched it with a terrible fascination. Would Scott +never make his appearance? + +A white tuft of smoke showed against the grey of the sky. The throbbing +of the engine grew louder, grew insistent. A couple of seconds more and +it was within sight, still far away but rapidly drawing near. Where on +earth was Scott? Did he realize the danger? Ought he to shout? But +something seemed to grip his throat, holding him silent. He was powerless +to do anything but watch. + +Nearer came the train and nearer. Billy's eyes were starting out of his +head. He had never been so scared in all his life before. There was +something fateful in the pose of that waiting figure. + +The rush of the oncoming express dinned in his ears. It was close now, +and suddenly--suddenly as a darting bird--Dinah was on her feet. Billy +found his voice in a hoarse, croaking cry, but almost ere it left his +lips he saw Scott leap into view and run down the bank. + +By what force of will he made his presence known Billy never afterwards +could conjecture. No sound could have been audible above the clamour of +the train. Yet by some means--some electric battery of the mind--he made +the girl below aware of him. On the very verge of the precipice she +stopped, stood poised for a moment, then turned herself back and saw +him.... + +The train thundered by, shaking the ground beneath their feet, and rushed +under the bridge. The whole embankment was blotted out in white smoke, +and Billy reeled back against the horse he held. + +"By Jove!" he whispered shakily. "By--Jove! What a ghastly fright!" + +He wiped his forehead with a trembling hand, and led the animal away from +the bridge. Somehow he was feeling very sick--too sick to look any +longer, albeit the danger was past. + +The smoke cleared from the embankment, and two figures were left facing +one another on the grassy slope. Neither of them spoke a word. It was as +if they were waiting for some sign. Scott was panting, but Dinah did not +seem to be breathing at all. She stood there tense and silent, terribly +white, her eyes burning like stars. + +The last sound of the train died away in the distance, and then, such was +their utter stillness, from the thorn-bush close to them a thrush +suddenly thrilled into song. The soft notes fell balmlike into that awful +silence and turned it into sweetest music. + +Scott moved at last, and at once the bird ceased. It was as if an angel +had flown across the heaven with a silver flute of purest melody and +passed again into the unknown. + +He came to Dinah. "My dear," he said, and his voice was slightly shaky, +"you shouldn't be here." + +She stood before him, pillar-like, her two hands clenched against her +sides. Her lips were quite livid. They moved soundlessly for several +seconds before she spoke. "I--was waiting--for the express." + +Her voice was flat and emotionless. It sounded almost as if she were +talking in her sleep. And strangely it was that that shocked Scott even +more than her appearance. Dinah's voice had always held countless +inflections, little notes gay or sad like the trill of a robin. This was +the voice of a woman in whom the very last spark of hope was quenched. + +It pierced him with an intolerable pain. "Dinah--Dinah!" he said. "For +God's sake, child, you don't mean--that!" + +Her white, pinched face twisted in a dreadful smile. "Why not?" she said. +"There was no other way." And then a sudden quiver as of returning life +went through her. "Why did you stop me?" she said. "If you hadn't, it +would have been--all over by now." + +He put out a quick hand. "Don't say it,--in heaven's name! You are not +yourself. Come--come into the wood, and we will talk!" + +She did not take his hand. "Can't we talk here?" she said. + +He composed himself with an effort. "No, certainly not. Come into the +wood!" + +He spoke with quiet insistence. She gave him an inscrutable look. + +"You think you are going to help me,--Mr. Greatheart," she said, "but I +am past help. Nothing you can do will make any difference to me now." + +"Come with me nevertheless!" he said. + +He laid a gentle hand upon her shoulder, and she winced with a sharpness +that tore his heart. But in a moment she turned beside him and began the +ascent, slowly, labouringly, as if every step gave her pain. He moved +beside her, supporting her elbow when she faltered, steadily helping her +on. + +They entered the wood, and the desolate sighing of the wind encompassed +them. Dinah looked at her companion with the first sign of feeling she +had shown. + +"I must sit down," she said. + +"There is a fallen tree over there," he said, and guided her towards it. + +She leaned upon him, very near to collapse. He spread his coat upon the +tree and helped her down. + +"Now how long is it since you had anything to eat?" he said. + +She shook her head slightly. "I don't remember. But it doesn't matter. +I'm not hungry." + +He took one of her icy hands and began to rub it. "Poor child!" he said. +"You ought to be given some hot bread and milk and tucked up in bed with +hot bottles." + +Her face began to work. "That," she said, "is the last thing that will +happen to me." + +"Haven't you been to bed at all?" he questioned. + +Her throat was moving spasmodically; she bowed her head to hide her face +from him. "Yes," she said in a whisper. "My mother--my mother put me +there." And then as if the words burst from her against her will, "She +thrashed me first with a dog-whip; but dogs have got hair to protect +them, and I--had nothing. She only stopped because--I fainted. She hasn't +finished with me now. When I go back--when I go back--" She broke off. +"But I'm not going," she said, and her voice was flat and hard again. +"Even you can't make me do that. There'll be another express this +afternoon." + +Scott knelt down beside her, and took her bowed head on to his shoulder. +"Listen to me, Dinah!" he said. "I am going to help you, and you mustn't +try to prevent me. If you had only allowed me, I would have gone home +again with you yesterday, and this might have been avoided. My dear, +don't draw yourself away from me! Don't you know I am a friend you can +trust?" + +The pitiful tenderness of his voice reached her, overwhelming her first +instinctive effort to draw back. She leaned against him with painful, +long-drawn sobs. + +He held her closely to him with all a woman's understanding. "Oh, don't +cry any more, child!" he said. "You're worn out with crying." + +"I feel--so bad--so bad!" sobbed Dinah. + +"Yes, yes. I know. Of course you do. But it's over, it's over. No one +shall hurt you any more." + +"You don't--understand," breathed Dinah. "It never will be over--while I +live. I'm hurt inside--inside." + +"I know," he said again. "But it will get better presently. Isabel and I +are going to take you away from it all." + +"Oh no!" she said quickly. "No--no--no!" She lifted her head from his +shoulder and turned her poor, stained face upwards. "I couldn't do that!" +she said. "I couldn't! I couldn't!" + +"Wait!" he said gently. "Let me do what I can to help you now--before we +talk of that! Will you sit here quietly for a little, while I go and get +you some milk from that farm down the road?" + +"I don't want it," she said. + +"But I want you to have it," he made grave reply. "You will stay here? +Promise me!" + +"Very well," she assented miserably. + +He got up. "I shan't be gone long. Sit quite still till I come back!" + +He touched her dark head comfortingly and turned away. + +When he had gone a little distance he looked back, and saw that she was +crouched upon the ground again and crying with bitter, straining sobs +that convulsed her as though they would rend her from head to foot. With +tightened lips he hastened on his way. + +She had suffered a cruel punishment it was evident, and she was utterly +worn out in body and spirit. But was it only the ordeal of yesterday and +the physical penalty that she had been made to pay that had broken her +thus? + +He could not tell, but his heart bled for her misery and desolation. + +"Who is the other fellow?" he asked himself. "I wonder if Billy knows." + +He found Billy awaiting him in the road, anxious and somewhat +reproachful. "You've been such a deuce of a time," he said. "Is she all +right?" + +"She is very upset," he made answer. "And she is faint too for want of +food." + +"That's not surprising," commented Billy. "She can't have had anything +since lunch yesterday. What shall I do? Run home and get something? The +mater can't want her to starve." + +"No." Scott's voice rang on a hard note. "She probably doesn't. But you +needn't go home for it. Run back to that farm we passed just now, and see +if you can get some hot milk! Be quick like a good chap! Here's the +money! I'll wait here." + +Billy seized his bicycle and departed on his errand. + +Scott began to walk his horse up and down, for inactivity was unbearable. +Every moment he spent away from poor, broken Dinah was torturing. Those +dreadful, hopeless tears of hers filled him with foreboding. He yearned +to return. + +Billy's absence lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour, and he was +beginning to get desperate over the delay when at last the boy returned +carrying a can of milk and a mug. + +"I had rather a bother to get it," he explained. "People are so mighty +difficult to stir, and I didn't want to tell 'em too much. I've promised +to take these things back again. I say, can't I come along with you now?" + +"I'd rather you didn't," Scott said. "I can manage best alone. Besides, +I'm going to ask you to do something more." + +"Anything!" said Billy readily. + +"Thanks. Well, will you ride this animal into Great Mallowes, hire a +closed car, and send it to the bridge here to pick me up? Then take him +back to the Court, and if anyone asks any questions, say I've met a +friend and I'm coming back on foot, but I may not be in to luncheon. Yes, +that'll do, I think. I'll see about returning these things. Much obliged, +Billy. Good-bye!" + +Billy looked somewhat disappointed at this dismissal, but the prospect of +a ride was dear to his boyish heart, and in a moment he nodded cheerily. +"All right, I'll do that. I'll hide my bicycle in the wood and fetch it +afterwards. But where are you going to take her to?" + +Scott smiled also faintly and enigmatically. "Leave that to me, my good +fellow! I shan't run away with her." + +"But I shall see her again some time?" urged Billy, as he dumped his +long-suffering machine over the railing and propped it out of sight +behind the hedge. + +"No doubt you will." Scott's tone was kindly and reassuring. "But I think +I can help her better just now than you can, so I'll be getting back to +her. Good-bye, boy! And thanks again!" + +"So long!" said Billy, vaulting back and thrusting his foot into the +stirrup. "You might let me hear how you get on." + +"I will," promised Scott. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION + + +When Scott reached the fallen tree again, Dinah's fit of weeping was +over. She was lying exhausted and barely conscious against his coat. + +She opened her eyes as he knelt down beside her. "You are--good," she +whispered faintly. + +He poured out some milk and held it to her. "Try to drink some!" he said +gently. + +She put out a trembling hand. + +"No; let me!" he said. + +She submitted in silence, and he lifted the glass to her lips and held it +very steadily while slowly she drank. + +Her eyes were swollen and burning with the shedding of many scalding +tears. Now and then a sharp sob rose in her throat so that she could not +swallow. + +"Take your time!" he said. "Don't hurry it!" + +But ere she finished, the tears were running down her face again. He set +down the glass, and with his own handkerchief he wiped them away. Then he +sat upon the low tree-trunk, and drew her to lean against him. + +"When you're feeling better, we'll have a talk," he said. + +She hid her face with a piteous gesture against his knee. "I don't +see--the good of talking," she said, in muffled accents. "It can't make +things--any better." + +"I'm not so sure of that," he said. "Anyhow we can't leave things as they +are. You will admit that." + +Dinah was silent. + +He went on with the utmost gentleness. "I want to get you away from here. +Isabel is going down to Heath-on-Sea and she wants you to come too. It's +a tiny place. We have a cottage there with the most wonderful garden for +flowers you ever saw. It isn't more than thirty yards square, and there +is a cliff path down to the beach. Isabel loves the place. The yacht is +there too, and we go for cruises on calm days. I am hoping Isabel may +pick up a little there, and she is always more herself when you are with +her. You won't disappoint her, will you?" + +A great-shiver went through Dinah. "I can't come," she said, almost under +her breath. "It just--isn't possible." + +"What is there to prevent?" he asked. + +She moved a little, and lifted her head from its resting-place. "Ever so +many things," she said. + +"You are thinking of Eustace?" he questioned. "He has gone already--gone +to town. He will probably go abroad; but in any case he will not get in +your way." + +"I wasn't thinking of him," Dinah said. + +"Then of what?" he questioned. "Your mother? I will see her, and make +that all right." + +She started and lifted her face. "Oh no! Oh no! You must never dream of +doing that!" she declared, with sudden fevered urgency. "I couldn't bear +you to see her. You mustn't think of it, indeed--indeed! Why I would +even--even sooner go back myself." + +"Then I must write to her," he said, gently ceding the point. "It is not +essential that I should see her. Possibly even, a letter would be +preferable." + +Dinah's face had flushed fiery red. She did not meet his eyes. "I don't +see why you should have anything to do with her," she said. "You would +never get her to consent." + +"Then I propose that we act first," said Scott. "Isabel is leaving +to-day. You can join her at Great Mallowes and go on together. I shall +follow in a couple of days. There are several matters to be attended to +first. But Isabel and Biddy will take care of you. Come, my dear, you +won't dislike that so very badly!" + +"Dislike it!" Dinah caught back another sob. "I should love it above all +things if it were possible. But it isn't--it isn't." + +"Why not?" he questioned. "Surely your father would not raise any +objection?" + +She shook her head. "No--no! He doesn't care what happens to me. I used +to think he did; but he doesn't--he doesn't." + +"Then what is the difficulty?" asked Scott. + +She was silent, and he saw the hot colour spreading over her neck as she +turned her face away. + +"Won't you tell me?" he urged gently. "Is there some particular reason +why you want to stay?" + +"Oh no! I'm not going to stay." Quickly she made answer. "I am never +going back. I couldn't after--after--" She broke off in quivering +distress. + +"I think your mother will be sorry presently," he said. "People with +violent tempers generally repent very deeply afterwards." + +Dinah turned upon him suddenly and hotly. "She will never repent!" she +declared. "She hates me. She has always hated me. And I hate her--hate +her--hate her!" + +The concentrated passion of her made her vibrate from head to foot. Her +eyes glittered like emeralds. She was possessed by such a fury of hatred +as made her scarcely recognizable. + +Scott looked at her steadily for a moment or two. Then: "But it does you +more harm than good to say so," he said. "And it doesn't answer my +question, does it? Dinah, if you don't feel that you can do this thing +for your own sake, won't you do it for Isabel's? She is needing you badly +just now." + +The vindictive look went out of Dinah's face. Her eyes softened, and he +saw the hopeless tears well up again. "But I couldn't help her any more," +she said. + +"The very fact of having you to care for would help her," Scott said. + +Dinah shook her head. She was sitting on the ground with her hands +clasped round her knees. As the tears splashed down again, she turned her +face away. + +"It wouldn't help her, it wouldn't help anybody, to have me as I am now," +she said. "I can't tell you--I can't explain. But--I am not fit to +associate with anyone good." + +Scott leaned towards her. "Dinah, my dear, you are torturing yourself," +he said. "It's natural, I know. You have had no sleep, and you have cried +yourself ill. But I am not going to give in to you. I am not going to +take No for an answer. You have no plans for yourself, and I doubt if in +your present state you are capable of forming any. Isabel wants you, and +it would be cruel to disappoint her. So you and I will join her at Great +Mallowes this afternoon. I will deal with your people in the matter, but +I do not anticipate any great difficulty in that direction. Now that is +settled, and you need not weary yourself with any further discussion. I +am responsible, and I will bear my responsibility." + +His tone was kind but it held unmistakable finality. + +Dinah uttered a heavy sigh, and said no more. She lacked the strength for +prolonged opposition. + +He persuaded her to drink some more of the milk, and made a cushion of +his coat for her against the tree. + +"Perhaps you will get a little sleep," he said, as she suffered herself +to relax somewhat. "Will it disturb you if I smoke?" + +"No," she said. + +He took out his case. "Shut your eyes!" he said practically. + +But Dinah's eyes remained open, watching him. He began to smoke as if +unaware of her scrutiny. + +After several moments she spoke. "Scott!" + +He turned to her. "Yes? What is it?" + +The piteous, shamed colour rose up under his eyes. Again she turned her +face away. "That--that sapphire pendant!" she murmured. "I brought it +with me. Of course--I know--the presents will have to be returned. I +didn't mean to--to run away with it. But--but--I loved it so. I couldn't +have borne my mother to touch it. Shall I--shall I give it you now?" + +"No, dear," he answered firmly. "Neither now nor at any time. I gave it +to you as a token of friendship, and I would like you to keep it always +for that reason." + +"Always?" questioned Dinah. "Even if--if I never marry at all?" + +"Certainly," he said. + +"Because I never shall marry now," she said, speaking with difficulty. +"I--have quite given up that idea." + +"I should like you to keep it in any case," Scott said. + +"You are very good," she said earnestly. "I--I wonder you will have +anything to do with me now that you know how--how wicked I am." + +"I don't think you wicked," he said. + +"Don't you?" She opened her heavy eyes a little. "You don't blame me +for--for--" She broke off shuddering, and as she did so, there came again +the rumble and roar of a distant train. "Then why did you stop me?" she +whispered tensely. + +Scott was silent for a moment or two. He was gazing straight before him. +At length, "I stopped you," he said, "because I had to. It doesn't matter +why. You would have done the same in my place. But I don't blame you, +partly because it is not my business, and partly because I know quite +well that you didn't realize what you were doing." + +"I did realize," Dinah said. "If it weren't for you--because you are so +good--nothing would have stopped me. Even now--even now--" again the hot +tears came--"I've nothing to live for, and--and--God--doesn't--care." +She turned her face into her arm and wept silently. + +Scott made a sudden movement, and threw his cigarette away. Then swiftly +he bent over her. + +"Dinah," he said, "stop crying! You're making a big mistake." + +His tone was arresting, imperative. She looked up at him almost in spite +of herself. His eyes gazed straight into hers, and it seemed to her that +there was something magnetic, something that was even unearthly, in their +close regard. + +"You are making a mistake," he repeated. "God always cares. He cared +enough to send a friend to look after you. Do you want any stronger proof +than that?" + +"I--don't--know," Dinah said, awe-struck. + +"Think about it!" Scott insisted. "Do you seriously imagine that it was +just chance that brought me along at that particular moment? Do you think +it was chance that made you draw back yesterday from giving yourself to a +man you don't love? Was it chance that sent you to Switzerland in the +first place? Don't you know in your heart that God has been guiding you +all through?" + +"I don't know," Dinah said again, but there was less of hopelessness in +her voice. The shining certainty in Scott's eyes was warring with her +doubt. "But then, why has He let me suffer so?" + +"Why did He suffer so Himself?" Scott said. "Except that He might learn +obedience? It's a bitter lesson to all of us, Dinah; but it's got to be +learnt." + +"You have learnt it!" she said, with a touch of her own impulsiveness. + +He smiled a little--smiled and sighed. "I wonder. I've learnt anyhow to +believe in the goodness of God, and to know that though we can't see Him +in all things, it's not because He isn't there. Even those who know Him +best can't realize Him always." + +"But still you are sure He is there?" Dinah questioned. + +"I am quite sure," he said, with a conviction so absolute that it placed +further questioning beyond the bounds of possibility. "Life is full of +problems which it is out of any man's power to solve. But to anyone who +will take the trouble to see them the signs are unmistakable. There is +not a single soul that is left unaccounted for in the reckoning of God. +He cares for all." + +There was no contradicting him; Dinah was too weary for discussion in any +case. But he had successfully checked her tears at last; he had even in a +measure managed to comfort her torn soul. She lay for a space pondering +the matter. + +"I am afraid I am one of those who don't take the trouble," she said at +length. "But I shall try to now. Thank you for all your goodness to me, +Mr. Greatheart." She smiled at him wanly. "I don't deserve it--not a +quarter of it. But I'm grateful all the same. Please won't you have your +smoke now, and forget me and my troubles?" + +That smile cheered Scott more than any words. He recognized moreover that +the delicate touch of reserve that characterized her speech was the first +evidence of returning self-control that she had manifested. + +He took out his cigarette-case again. "I hope you haven't found me +over-presumptuous," he said. + +Dinah reached up a trembling hand. "Presumptuous for helping me in the +Valley of Humiliation?" she said. + +He took the hand and held it firmly. "I am so used to it myself," he +said, in a low voice. "I ought to know a little about it." + +"Perhaps," said Dinah thoughtfully, "that is what makes you great." + +He raised his shoulders slightly. "You have always seen me through a +magnifying-glass," he said whimsically. "Some day the fates will reverse +that glass and then you will be unutterably shocked." + +Dinah smiled again and shook her head. "I know you," she said. + +He lighted his cigarette, and then brought out a pocket-book. "I want to +write a note to Isabel," he said. "You don't mind?" + +"About me?" questioned Dinah. + +"About the arrangements I am making. She is motoring to Great Mallowes in +any case to catch the afternoon express." + +"Oh!" said Dinah, and coloured vividly, painfully. + +Scott did not see. "I can get someone at the farm to take the message," +he said. "And when once you are with Isabel I shall feel easy about you." + +"And--and--my--mother?" faltered Dinah. + +"I shall write to her this afternoon while we are waiting for Isabel," +said Scott quietly. + +"What--shall you say?" whispered Dinah. + +"Do you mind leaving that entirely to me?" he said. + +"She will be--furious," she murmured. "She might--out of revenge come +after us. What then?" + +"She will certainly not do that," said Scott, "as she will not know your +address. Besides, people do not remain furious, you know. They cool down, +and then they are generally ashamed of themselves. Don't let us talk +about your mother!" + +"The de Vignes then," said Dinah, turning from the subject with relief. +"Tell me what happened! Was the Colonel very angry?" + +Scott's mouth twitched slightly. "Not in the least," he said. + +"Not really!" Dinah looked incredulous for a moment; then: "Perhaps he +thinks there is a fresh chance for Rose," she said. + +"Perhaps he does," agreed Scott dryly. "In any case, he is more disposed +to smile than frown, and as Eustace wasn't there to see it, it didn't +greatly matter." + +"Oh, poor Eustace!" she whispered. "It--was dreadful to hurt him so." + +"I think he will get over it," Scott said. + +"He was much--kinder--than--than I deserved," she murmured. + +Scott's faint smile reappeared. "Perhaps he found it difficult to be +anything else," he said. + +She shook her head. "I wonder--how I came to make--such a dreadful +mistake." + +"It wasn't your fault," said Scott. + +She looked at him quickly. "What makes you say that?" + +He met her look gravely. "Because I know just how it happened," he said. +"You were neither of you in earnest in the first place. I am afraid I had +a hand in making Eustace propose to you. I was afraid--and so was +Isabel--you would be hurt by his trifling." + +"And you interfered?" breathed Dinah. + +He nodded. "Yes, I told him it must be one thing or the other. I wanted +you to be happy. But instead of helping you, I landed you in this mess." + +Something in his tone touched her. She laid a small shy hand upon his +knee. "It was--dear of you, Scott," she said very earnestly. "Thank +you--ever so much--for what you did." + +He put his hand on hers. "My dear, I would have given all I had to have +undone it afterwards. It is very generous of you to take it like that. I +have often wanted to kick myself since." + +"Then you must never want to again," she said. "Do you know I'm so glad +you've told me? It was so--fine of you--to do that for me. I'm sure you +couldn't have wanted me for a sister-in-law even then." + +"I wanted you to be happy," Scott reiterated. + +She uttered a quick sigh. "Happiness isn't everything, is it?" + +"Not everything, no," he said. + +She grasped his hand hard. "I'm going to try to be good instead," she +said. "Will you help me?" + +He smiled at her somewhat sadly. "If you think my help worth having," he +said. + +"But of course it is," she made warm answer. "You are the strong man who +helps everyone. You are--Greatheart." + +He looked at her still smiling and slowly shook his head. "Now, if you +don't mind," he said, "I will write my note to Isabel." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SPOKEN IN JEST + + +The afternoon was well advanced when Scott returned to Perrythorpe Court. +No sounds of revelry greeted him as he entered. A blazing fire was +burning in the hall, but no one was there to enjoy the warmth. The gay +crowd that had clustered before the great hearth only yesterday had all +dispersed. The place was empty. + +"Can I get you anything, sir?" enquired the man who admitted him. + +His voice was sepulchral. Scott smiled a little. "Yes, please. A whisky +and soda. Where is everybody?" + +"The Colonel and Miss Rose went out riding, sir, after the guests had all +gone, and they have not yet returned. Her ladyship is resting in her +room." + +"Everyone gone but me?" questioned Scott, with a whimsical lift of the +eyebrows. + +The man bent his head decorously. "I believe so, sir. There was a general +feeling that it would be more fitting as the marriage was not to take +place as arranged. I understand, sir, that the family will shortly +migrate to town." + +"Really?" said Scott. + +He bent over the fire, for the evening was chilly, and he was tired to +the soul. The man coughed and withdrew. Again the silence fell. + +A face he knew began to look up at Scott out of the leaping +flames--a face that was laughing and provocative one moment, wistful +and tear-stained the next. + +He heaved a sigh as he followed the fleeting vision. "Will she ever be +happy again?" he asked himself. + +The last sight he had had of her had cut him to the heart. She had +conquered her tears at last, but her smile was the saddest thing he had +ever seen. It was as though her vanished childhood had suddenly looked +forth at him and bidden him farewell. He felt that he would never see +the child Dinah again. + +The return of the servant with his drink brought him back to his +immediate surroundings. He sat down in an easy-chair before the fire to +mix it. + +The man turned to go, but he had not reached the end of the hall when the +front-door bell rang again. He went soft-footed to answer it. + +Scott glanced over his shoulder as the door opened, and heard his own +name. + +"Is Mr. Studley here?" a man's voice asked. + +"Yes, sir. Just here, sir," came the answer, and Scott rose with a weary +gesture. + +"Oh, here you are!" Airily Guy Bathurst advanced to meet him. "Don't let +me interrupt your drink! I only want a few words with you." + +"I'll fetch another glass, sir" murmured the discreet man-servant, and +vanished. + +Scott stood, stiff and uncompromising, by his chair. There was a hint of +hostility in his bearing. "What can I do for you?" he asked. + +Bathurst ignored his attitude with that ease of manner of which he was a +past-master. "Well I thought perhaps you could give me news of Dinah" he +said. "Billy tells me he left you with her this morning." + +"I see" said Scott. He looked at the other man with level, unblinking +eyes. "You are beginning to feel a little anxious about her?" he +questioned. + +"Well, I think it's about time she came home," said Bathurst. He took out +a cigarette and lighted it. "Her mother is wondering what has become of +her," he added, between the puffs. + +"I posted a letter to Mrs. Bathurst about an hour ago," said Scott. "She +will get it in the morning." + +"Indeed!" Bathurst glanced at him. "And is her whereabouts to remain a +mystery until then?" + +"That letter will reassure you as to her safety," Scott returned quietly. +"But it will not enlighten you as to her whereabouts. She is in good +hands, and it is not her intention to return home--at least for the +present. Under the circumstances you could scarcely compel her to do so." + +"I never compel her to do anything," said Bathurst comfortably. "Her +mother keeps her in order, I have nothing to do with it." + +"Evidently not." A sudden sharp quiver of scorn ran through Scott's +words. "Her mother may make her life a positive hell, but it's no +business of yours!" + +A flicker of temper shone for a second in Bathurst's eyes. The scorn had +penetrated even his thick skin. "None whatever," he said deliberately. +"Nor of yours either, so far as I can see." + +"There you are wrong." Hotly Scott took him up. "It is the duty of every +man to prevent cruelty. Dinah has been treated like a bond-slave all her +life. What were you about to allow it?" + +He flung the question fiercely. The man's careless repudiation of all +responsibility aroused in him a perfect storm of indignation. He was +probably more angry at that moment than he had ever been before. + +Guy Bathurst stared at him for a second or two, his own resentment +quenched in amazement. Finally he laughed. + +"If you were married to my wife, you'd know," he said. "Personally I like +a quiet life. Besides, discipline is good for youngsters. I think Lydia +is disposed to carry it rather far, I admit. But after all, a woman can't +do much damage to her own daughter. And anyhow it isn't a man's business +to interfere." + +He broke off as the servant reappeared, and seated himself in a chair on +the other side of the fire. He drank some whisky and water in large, +appreciative gulps, and resumed his cigarette. + +"If Dinah had seriously wanted to get away from it, she should have +married your brother," he said then. "It was her own doing entirely, this +last affair. A girl shouldn't jilt her lover at the last moment if she +isn't prepared to face the consequences. She knows her mother's temper by +this time, I should imagine. She might have guessed what was in store for +her." He looked across at Scott as one seeking sympathy. "You'll admit it +was a tomfool thing to do," he said. "I don't wonder at her mother +wanting to make her smart for it. I really don't. Dinah ought to have +known her own mind." + +"She knows it now," said Scott grimly. + +"Yes. So it appears. By the way, have you any idea what induced her to +throw your brother over in that way just at the last minute? It would be +interesting to know." + +"Did she give you no reason?" said Scott. He hated parleying with the +man, but something impelled him thereto. + +Guy Bathurst leaning back at his ease with his cigarette between his +lips, uttered a careless laugh. "She seemed to think she wasn't in love +with him. We couldn't get any more out of her than that. As a matter of +fact her mother was too furious to attempt it. But there must have been +some other reason. I wondered if you knew what it was." + +"I shouldn't have thought it essential that there should have been any +other reason," Scott said deliberately. "If there is--I am not in her +confidence." + +He was still on his feet as if he wished it to be clearly understood that +he did not intend their conversation to develop into anything of the +nature of friendly intercourse. + +Bathurst continued to smoke, but a faint air of insolence was apparent in +his attitude. He was not accustomed to being treated with contempt, and +the desire awoke within him to find some means of disconcerting this +undersized whippersnapper who had almost succeeded in making him feel +cheap. + +"You haven't been making love to her on your own account by any chance, I +suppose?" he enquired lazily. + +Scott's eyes flashed upon him a swift and hawk-like regard, and the +hauteur that so often characterized his brother suddenly descended upon +him and clothed him as a mantle. + +"I have not," he said. + +"Quite sure?" persisted Bathurst, still amiably smiling. "It's my belief +she's smitten with you, you know. I've thought so all along. Funny idea, +isn't it? Never occurred to you of course?" + +Scott made no reply, but his silence was more scathing than speech. It +served to arouse all the rancour of which Bathurst's indolent nature was +capable. + +"No accounting for women's preference, is there?" he said. "You ought to +feel vastly flattered, my good sir. It isn't many women would put you +before that handsome brother of yours. How did you work it, eh? Come, +you're caught! So you may as well own up." + +Scott shrugged his shoulders abruptly, disdainfully, and turned from him. +"If you choose to amuse yourself at your daughter's expense, I cannot +prevent you," he said. "But there is not a grain of truth in your +insinuation. I repudiate it absolutely." + +"My dear fellow, that's a bit thick," laughed Bathurst; he had found +the vulnerable spot, and he meant to make the most of it. "Do you +actually expect me to believe that you won her away from your brother +without knowing it? That's rather a tough proposition, too tough for my +middle-aged digestion. You've been trifling with her young affections, +but you are not man enough to own it." + +"You are wrong, utterly wrong," Scott said. He restrained himself with +difficulty; for still something was at work within him urging him to be +temperate. "Dinah has never dreamed of falling in love with me. As you +say, the bare idea is manifestly absurd." + +"Then who is she in love with?" demanded Bathurst, with lazy insistence. +"You're the only other man she knows, and there's certainly someone. No +girl would throw up such a catch as your brother for the mere sentiment +of the thing. It stands to reason there must be someone else. And there +is no one but you. She doesn't know anyone else, I tell you. She has no +opportunities. Her mother sees to that." + +Scott was bending over the fire, his face to the flame. His indignation +had died down. He was very still, as one deep in thought. Could it be the +true word spoken in ill-timed jest which he had just heard? He wondered; +he wondered. + +A golden radiance was spreading forth to him from the heart of those +leaping flames, like the coming of the dawnlight over the dark earth. He +watched it spell-bound, utterly unmindful of the man behind him. If this +thing were true! Ah, if this thing were true! + +A sudden sound made him turn to see Colonel de Vigne and his daughter +enter. + +They came forward to greet him and Bathurst. Rose was smiling; her eyes +were softly bright. + +"How happy she looks!" was the thought that occurred to him, but it was +only a passing thought. It vanished in a moment as he heard her accost +Bathurst. + +"How is our poor little Dinah by this time?" + +"You had better ask this gentleman," airily responded Bathurst. "He has +elected to make himself responsible for her welfare." + +Rose's delicate brows went up, but very strangely Scott no longer felt in +the least disconcerted. He replied to her unspoken query without +difficulty. + +"Dinah felt that she could not face the gossips," he said, "and as Isabel +was badly wanting her, they have gone away together. Except for old +Biddy, they will be quite alone, and it will do them both all the good in +the world." + +Rose's brow cleared. "What an excellent arrangement!" she murmured +sympathetically. "And--your brother?" + +Scott smiled. "Needless to say, he is not of the party. His plans are +somewhat uncertain. He may go abroad for a time, but I doubt if he +banishes himself for long when the London season is in full swing." + +Rose's smile answered his. "I think he is very wise," she said. "When +Easter is over, we shall probably follow his example. I hope we shall +have the pleasure of meeting you when we are all in town." + +"Ha! So do I," said the Colonel. "You must look me up at the Club--any +time. I shall be delighted." + +"You are very kind," Scott said. "But I go to town very rarely, and I +never stay there. My brother is far more of a society man than I am." + +"You will have to come out of your shell," smiled Rose. + +"Quite so--quite so," agreed the Colonel. "It isn't fair to cheat +society, you know. If we can't dance at your brother's wedding, you might +give us the pleasure of dancing at yours." + +Bathurst uttered a careless laugh. "I've just been accusing him of +cutting his brother out," he said lightly. "But he denies all knowledge +of the transaction." + +"Oh, but what a shame!" interposed Rose quickly. "Mr. Studley, we won't +listen to this gossip. Will you come up to my sitting-room, and show me +that new game of Patience you were talking about yesterday? Bring your +drink with you!" + +He went with her almost in silence. + +In her own room she turned upon him with a wonderful, illumined smile, +and held out her hand. + +"I won't have you badgered," she said. "But--it is true, is it not?" + +He took her hand, looking straight into her beautiful eyes. There was +more life in her face at that moment than he had ever seen before. She +was as one suddenly awakened. "What is true, Miss de Vigne?" he +questioned. + +"That you care for her," she answered, "that she cares for you." + +His look remained full upon her. "In a friendly sense, yes," he said. + +"In no other sense?" she insisted. Her eyes were shining, as if her whole +soul were suddenly alight with animation. "Tell me," she said, as he did +not speak immediately, "have you ever cared for her merely as a friend?" + +There was no evading the question, neither for some reason could he +resent it. He hesitated for a second or two; then, "You have guessed +right," he said quietly. "But she has never suspected it, and--she never +will." + +To his surprise Rose frowned. "But why not tell her?" she said. "Surely +she has a right to know!" + +He smiled and shook his head. "Pardon me! No one has the smallest right +to know. Would you say that of yourself if you cared for someone who did +not care for you?" + +She blushed under his eyes suddenly and very vividly, and in a moment +turned from him. "Ah, but that is different!" she said. "A woman is +different! If she gives her heart where it is not wanted, that is her +affair alone." + +He did not pursue his advantage; he liked her for the blush. + +"Isn't it rather an unprofitable discussion?" he said gently. "Suppose we +get to our game of Patience!" + +And Rose acquiesced in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE KNIGHT IN DISGUISE + + +A long, curling wave ran up the shingle and broke in a snow-white sheet +of foam just below Dinah's feet. She was perched on a higher ridge of +shingle, bareheaded, full in the glare of the mid-June sunlight. Her +brown hands were locked tightly around her knees. Her small, pointed face +looked wistfully over the sea. + +She had been sitting in that position for a long time, her green eyes +unblinking but swimming in the heat and glare. The dark ringlets on her +forehead danced in the soft breeze that came over the water. There was +tension in her attitude, the tension of deep and concentrated thought. + +Into the midst of her meditations, there came a slow, halting step. It +fell on the shingle behind her, reaching her above the roar of the +breakers, and instantly a flood of colour rushed up over her face and +neck. + +Sharply she turned. "Scott!" + +She was on her feet in a second with hand outstretched in welcome. + +"Oh, how you startled me! How good of you to come so soon! I--shouldn't +have left the house if I had known." + +"I came at once," he said simply. "But I have only just got here. I saw +you sitting on the shore and came straight to you. What news?" + +His quiet, deliberate voice was in striking contrast to her agitated +utterance. The hand that held hers was absolutely steady. + +She met his look with confidence. "Scott, she is going. You knew +it--didn't you?--when you were here last Sunday? She knew it too. She +didn't want you to go really. And so--directly I realized she was +worse--I sent for you. But--they say--even now she may linger for a +little. But you'll stay, won't you? You won't go again?" + +His grave eyes looked into hers. "Of course I will stay," he said. + +She drew a quick sigh of relief. "She scarcely slept last night. Her +breathing was so bad. It was very hot, you know. The nurse or I were +fanning her nearly all the time, till the morning breeze came at last. +And then she got quieter. She is asleep now. They say she will sleep +for hours. And so I slipped out just for a little, so as to be quite +fresh again when she wakes." + +"Don't you sleep at all?" Scott asked gently. + +The colour was fading from her face; it returned at his question. "Oh +yes, any time. It doesn't matter for me. I am so strong. And I can +sleep--afterwards." + +He looked down at the thin little hand he still held. "You mustn't wear +yourself out, Dinah," he said. + +Her lip quivered suddenly, "What does it matter?" she said. "I've nothing +else to live for." + +"I don't think we can any of us say that," he answered. "There is always +something left." + +She turned her face and looked over the sea. "I'm sure I don't know +what," she said, with a catch in her voice. "If--Isabel--were going to +live, if--if I could only have her always, I should be quite happy. I +shouldn't want anything else. But without her--life without her--after +these two months,--" her voice broke and ceased. + +"I know," Scott said. "I should have felt the same myself not so long +ago. I have let you slip into my place, you see; and it comes hard on you +now. But don't forget our friendship, Dinah! Don't forget I'm here!" + +She turned back, swallowing her tears with difficulty and gave him a +quivering smile. "Oh, I know. You are so good. And it was dear of you +to--to let me take your place with her. None but you would have done such +a thing." + +"My dear, it was far better for her, and she wished it," he interposed. +"Besides, with Eustace away, I had plenty to do. You mustn't twist that +into a virtue. It was the only course open to me. I knew that it would +lift her out of misery to have you, and--naturally--I wished it too." + +She nodded. "It was just like you. And I--I ought to have remembered that +it couldn't last. It has been such a comfort to--to have my darling to +love and care for. But oh, the blank when she is gone!" + +Scott was silent. + +"It's wrong to want to keep her, I know," Dinah went on wistfully. "She +has got so wonderfully happy of late; and I know it is the thought of +nearing the end of the journey that makes her so. And when I am with her, +I feel happy too for her sake. But when I am away from her--it--it's +all so dreary. I--feel so frightened and--alone." + +"Don't be frightened!" Scott said gently. "You never are alone." + +"Ah, but life is so difficult," she whispered. + +"It would be," he answered, "if we had to face it all at once. But, thank +God, that is not so. We can only see a little way ahead. We can only do a +little at a time." + +"Do you think that is a help?" she said. "I would give +anything--sometimes--to look into the future." + +"I think the burden would be greater than we could bear," Scott said. + +"Oh, do you? I think it would be such a relief to know." Dinah uttered a +sharp sigh. "It's no good talking," she said. "Only one thing is certain. +I'm not going to break with Billy of course, but I'll never go back to +Perrythorpe again, never as long as I live!" + +There was a quiver of passion in her voice. She looked at Scott with what +was almost a challenge in her eyes. + +He did not answer it. His face wore a look of perplexity. But, "If I were +in your place," he said quietly, "I think I should say the same." + +"I am sure you would," she said warmly. "I only tolerated it so long +because I didn't know what freedom was like. When I went to Switzerland, +I found out; and when I came back, it just wasn't endurable any longer. +But I wish I knew--I do wish I knew--what I were going to do." + +The words were out before she could stop them, but the moment they were +uttered she made a sharp gesture as though she would recall them. + +"I'm silly to talk like this," she said. "Please forget it!" + +He smiled a little. "Not silly, Dinah," he said, "but mistaken. Believe +me, the future is already provided for." + +Her brows contracted slightly. "Ah, you are good," she said. "You believe +in God." + +"So do you," he said, with quiet conviction. + +Her lip quivered. "I believe He would help anyone like you, but--but He +wouldn't bother Himself about me. There are too many others of the same +sort." + +Scott looked at her in genuine astonishment. "What a curious idea!" he +said. "You don't really think that, do you?" + +She nodded. "I can't help it. Life is such a maze of difficulties, and +one has to face them all alone." + +"You won't face yours alone," he said quickly. + +She smiled rather piteously. "I've faced all the worst bits alone so +far." + +"I know," Scott said. "But you are through the worst now." + +She shook her head doubtfully. "I'm afraid of life," she said. + +He saw that she did not wish to pursue the subject and put it gently +aside. "Shall we go in?" he said. "I should like to be at hand when +Isabel wakes." + +She turned beside him at once. Their talk went back to Isabel. They spoke +of her tenderly, as one nearing the end of a long and wearisome journey, +and as they approached the little white house on the heath above the sea, +Dinah gave somewhat hesitating utterance to a thought that had been +persistently in her mind of late. + +"Do you," she said, speaking with evident effort, "think that--Eustace +should be sent for?" + +"Does she want him?" said Scott. + +"I don't know. She never speaks of him. But then--that may be--for my +sake." Dinah's voice was very low and not wholly free from distress. "And +again--it may be on my account he is keeping away. She hasn't seen him +for these two months--not since we left Perrythorpe." + +"No," Scott said gravely. "I know." + +Dinah was silent for a brief space; then she braced herself for another +effort. "Scott, I--don't want to be--in anyone's way. If--if she would +like to see him, and if he--doesn't want to come--because of me, I--must +go, that's all." + +She spoke with resolution, and pausing at the gate that led off the heath +into the garden looked him straight in the face. + +"I want you," she said rather breathlessly, "to find out if--that is so. +And if it is--if it is--" + +"My dear, you needn't be afraid," Scott said. "I am quite sure that +Eustace wouldn't wish to drive you away. He might be doubtful as to +whether you would care to meet him again so soon, but if you had no +objection to his coming, he wouldn't deliberately stay away on his own +account. You know--I don't think you've ever realized it--he loves +Isabel." + +"Then he must want to come," she said quickly. "Oh, Scott, do you know--I +said a dreadful--a cruel--thing to him--that last day. If he really loves +her, it must have hurt him--terribly." + +"What did you say?" Scott asked. + +"I said--" the quick tears sprang to her eyes--"I said that he was unkind +to her, and that--that she was always miserable when he was there. Scott, +what made me say it? It was hateful of me! It was hateful!" + +"It was the truth," Scott said. He looked at her thoughtfully for a few +seconds, then very kindly he patted her hand as it rested on the gate. +"Don't be so distressed!" he said. "It probably did him good--even if it +did hurt. But I think you are right. If Isabel has the smallest wish to +see him, he must come. I will see what I can do." + +Dinah gave him a difficult smile. "You always put things right," she +said. + +He lifted his shoulders with a whimsical expression. "The +magnifying-glass again!" he said. + +"No," she protested. "No. I see you as you are." + +"Then you see a very ordinary citizen," he said. + +But Dinah shook her head. "A knight in disguise," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MOUNTAIN SIDE + + +When Isabel opened her eyes after a slumber that had lasted for the +greater part of the day, it was to find Scott seated beside her quietly +watching her. + +She reached a feeble hand to him with a smile of welcome. "Dear Stumpy, +when did you come?" + +"An hour or two ago," he said, and put the weak hand to his lips. "You +have had a good sleep, dear?" + +"Yes," she said. "Yes. It has done me good." She lay looking at him with +a smile still in her eyes. "I hope little Dinah is resting," she said. +"She was with me nearly all night. I didn't wish it, Stumpy, but the dear +child wouldn't leave till I was more comfortable." + +"She is resting for a little now," he said. "I am so sorry you had a bad +time last night." + +"Oh, don't be sorry for me!" she said softly. "My bad times are so nearly +over now. It is a waste of time to talk about them. She sent for you, did +she?" + +He bent his head. "She knew I would wish to be sent for. She fancied you +might be wanting me." + +"I do want you," she said, and into her wasted face there came a look of +unutterable tenderness. "Oh, Stumpy darling, need you leave me again?" + +He was still holding her hand; his fingers closed upon it at her words. + +"I think the last part may be--a little steep," she said wistfully. "I +would like to feel that you are near at hand. You have helped me so +often--so often. And then too--there is--my little Dinah. I want you to +help her too." + +"God knows I will do my best, dear," he said. + +Her fingers returned his pressure. "She has been so much to me--so much +to me," she whispered. "When I came here, I had no hope. But the care of +her, the comforting of her, opened the dungeon-door for me. And now no +Giant Despair will ever hold me captive again. But I am anxious about +her, Stumpy. There is some trouble in the background of which she has +never spoken--of which she can never bear to speak. Have you any idea +what it is?" + +He moved with an unwonted touch of restlessness. "I think she worries +about the future," he said. + +"That isn't all," Isabel said with conviction. "There is more than that. +It hangs over her like a cloud. It weighs her down." + +"She hasn't confided in me," he said. + +"Ah! But perhaps she will," Isabel's eyes still dwelt upon him with a +great tenderness. "Stumpy," she murmured under her breath, "forgive me +for asking! I must ask! Stumpy, why don't you win her for yourself, dear? +The way is open. I know--I know you can." + +He moved again, moved with a gesture of protest. "You are mistaken, +Isabel," he said. "The way is not open." He spoke wearily. He was looking +straight before him. "If I were to attempt what you suggest," he said +slowly, "I should deprive her of the only friend to whom she can turn +with any confidence besides yourself. She trusts me now implicitly. She +believes my friendship for her to be absolutely simple and disinterested. +And I would rather die than fail her." + +"Then you think she doesn't care?" Isabel said. + +Scott turned his eyes upon her. "Personally, I came to that conclusion +long ago," he said. "No woman could ever hang a serious romance around +me, Isabel. I am not the right sort. If Dinah imagined for a moment that +I were capable of making love in the ordinary way, our friendship would +go to the bottom forthwith. No, my dear; put the thought out of your +mind! The Stumpys of this world must be resigned to go unpaired. They +must content themselves with the outer husk. It's that or nothing." + +Isabel's smile was full of tenderness. "You talk as one who knows," she +said. "But I wonder if you do." + +"Oh yes," Scott said. "I've learned my lesson. I've been given an +ordinary soul in an extraordinary body, and I've got to make the best of +it. You can't ignore the body, you know, Isabel. It plays a mighty big +part in this mortal life. The idea of any woman falling in love with me +in my present human tenement is ridiculous, and I have put it out of my +mind for good." + +Isabel's eyes were shining. She clasped his hand closer. "I think you are +quite wrong, Stumpy dear," she said. "If your soul matched your body, +then there might be something in your argument. But it doesn't. And--if +you don't mind my saying so--your soul is far the most extraordinary +part of your personality. Little Dinah found out long ago that you +were--greathearted." + +Scott smiled a little. "Oh yes, I know she views me through a +magnifying-glass and reveres me accordingly. Hence our friendship. But, +my dear, that isn't being in love. I believe that somewhere there is a +shadowy person whom she cherishes in the very inner secrecy of her heart. +Who he is or what he is, I don't know. He is probably something very +different from the dream-being she worships. We all are. But I feel that +he is there. Probably I have never met the actual man. I have only seen +his shadow and that by inadvertence. I once penetrated the secret chamber +for one moment only, and then I was driven forth and the door securely +locked. I am not good at trespassing, you know, for all my greatness. I +have never been near the secret chamber since." + +"Do you mean that she admitted to you that--she cared for someone?" +Isabel asked. + +Scott's pale eyes had a quizzical look. "I had the consideration to back +out before she had time to do anything so unmaidenly," he said. "Possibly +the shadowman may never materialize. In fact it seems more than possible. +In which case the least said is soonest mended." + +"That may be what is troubling her," Isabel said thoughtfully. + +She lay still for a while, and Scott leaned back in his chair and watched +the little pleasure-boats that skimmed the waters of the bay. The merry +cries of bathers came up to the quiet room. The world was full to the +brim of gaiety and sunshine on that hot June day. + +"Stumpy," gently his sister's voice recalled him, "do you never mean to +marry, dear? I wish you would. You will be so lonely." + +He lifted his shoulders. "What can I say Isabel? If the right woman comes +along and proposes, I will marry her with pleasure. I would never dare to +propose on my own,--being what I am." + +"Being a very perfect knight whom any woman might be proud to marry," +Isabel said. "That is only a pose of yours, Stumpy, and it doesn't become +you. I wonder--how I wonder!--if you are right about Dinah." + +"Yes, I am right," he said with conviction. "But Isabel, you will +remember--it was spoken in confidence." + +She gave a sharp sigh. "I shall remember dear," she said. + +Again a brief silence fell between them; but Scott's eye no longer sought +the sparkling water. They dwelt upon his sister's face. Pale as +alabaster, clear-cut as though carven with a chisel, it rested upon the +white pillow, and the stamp of a great peace lay upon the calm forehead +and in the quiet of the deeply-sunken eyes. There were lines of suffering +that yet lingered about the mouth, lines of weariness and of sorrow, but +the old piteous look of craving had faded quite away. The bitter despair +that had so haunted Dinah had passed into the stillness of a great +patience. There was about her at that time the sacred hush that falls +before the dawn. + +After a little she became aware of his quiet regard, and turned her head +with a smile. "Well, Stumpy? What is it?" + +"I was just wondering what had happened to you," he made answer. + +Her smile deepened. "I will tell you, dear," she said. "I have come +within sight of the mountain-top at last." + +"And you are satisfied?" he said, in a low voice. + +Her eyes shone with a soft brightness that seemed to illumine her whole +face. "Satisfied that my beloved is waiting for me and that I shall meet +him in the dawning?" she said. "Oh yes, I have known that in my heart for +a long time. It troubled me terribly when I lost his letters. They had +been such a link, and for a while I was in outer darkness. And then--by +degrees, after little Dinah came back to me--I began to find that after +all there were other links. Helping her in her trouble helped me to bear +my own. And I came to see that ministering to a need outside one's own is +the surest means of finding comfort in sorrow for oneself. I have been +very selfish Stumpy. I have been gradually waking to that fact for a long +while. I used to immerse myself in those letters to try and get the +feeling of his dear presence. Very, very often I didn't succeed. And I +know now that it was because I was forcing myself to look back and not +forward. I think material things are apt to make one do that. But when +material things are taken quite away, then one is forced upon the +spiritual. And that is what has happened to me. No one can take anything +from me now because what I possess is laid up in store for me. I am +moving forward towards it every day." + +She ceased to speak, and again for the space of seconds the silence fell. + +Scott broke it, speaking slowly, as if not wholly certain of the wisdom +of speech. "I did not know," he said, "that you had lost those letters." + +Her face contracted momentarily with the memory of a past pain. "Eustace +destroyed them," she stated simply. + +His brows drew sharply together. "Isabel! Do you mean that?" + +She pressed his hand. "Yes, dear. I knew you would feel it badly so I +didn't tell you before. He acted for the best. I see that quite clearly +now. And--in a sense--the best has come of it." + +Scott got to his feet with the gesture of a man who can barely restrain +himself. "He did--that?" he said. + +She reached up a soothing hand. "My dear, it doesn't matter now. Don't be +angry with him. I know that he meant well." + +Scott's eyes looked down into hers, intensely bright, burningly alive. +"No wonder," he said, breathing deeply, "that you never want to see him +again!" + +"No, Stumpy; that is not so." Gently she made answer; her hand held his +almost pleadingly. "For a long time I felt like that, it is true. But now +it is all over. There is no bitterness left in my heart at all. We have +grown away from each other, he and I. But we were very close friends +once, and because of that I would give much--oh, very much--to be friends +with him again. It was in a very great measure my selfishness that came +between us, my pride too. I had influence with him, Stumpy, and I didn't +try to use it. I simply threw him off because he disapproved of my +husband. I might have won him, I feel that I could have won him if I had +tried. But I wouldn't. And afterwards, when my mind was clouded, my +influence was all gone. I wish I could get it back again. I feel as if I +might. But he is keeping away now because of Dinah. And I am afraid too +that he feels I do not want him--" her eyes were suddenly dim with tears. +"That is not so, Stumpy. I do want him. Sometimes--in the night--I long +for him. But, for little Dinah's sake--" + +She paused, for Scott had suddenly turned and was pacing the room +rapidly, unevenly, as if inaction had become unendurable. + +She lay and watched him while the great tears gathered and ran down her +wasted face. + +He came back to her at length and saw them. He stood a moment looking +downwards, then knelt beside her and very tenderly wiped them away. + +"My dear," he said softly, "you mustn't ever cry again. It breaks my +heart to see you. If you want Eustace, he shall come to you. Dinah was +speaking to me about it only a short time ago. She will not stand in the +way of his coming. In fact, I gathered that if you wish it, she wishes it +also." + +"That is so like little Dinah," whispered Isabel. "But, Stumpy, do you +think we ought to let her face that?" + +"I shall be here," he said. + +"Oh, yes, dear. You will be here." She regarded him wistfully. "Stumpy, +don't'--don't let yourself get bitter against Eustace!" she pleaded. "You +have always been so splendid, so forbearing, till now." + +Scott's lips were stern. "Some things are hard to forgive, Isabel," he +said. + +"But if I forgive--" she said. + +His face changed; he bowed his head suddenly down upon her pillow. +"Nothing will give you back to me--when you are gone," he whispered. + +Her hand was on his head in a moment. "Oh, my dear, are you grieving +because of that? And I have been such a burden to you!" + +"A burden beloved," he said, speaking with difficulty. "And you were +getting better. You were better. He--threw you back again. He brought +you--to this." + +Her fingers pressed his forehead. "Not entirely, Stumpy. Be generous, +dear! It may have hastened matters a little--only a very little. And even +so, what of it, if the journey has been shortened? Perhaps the way has +been a little steeper, but it has brought me more quickly to my goal. +Stumpy, Stumpy, if it weren't for leaving you, I would go as gladly--as +gladly--as a happy bride--to her wedding." + +She broke off, breathing fast. + +He lifted his head swiftly, and saw the shadow of mortal pain gathering +in her eyes. He commanded himself on the instant and rose. Self-contained +and steady, he found and administered the remedy that was always kept at +hand. + +Then, as the spasm passed, he stooped and quietly kissed the white +forehead. "Don't trouble about me, dear!" he said. "God knows I would not +keep you from your rest." + +And with that calmly he turned and left her. + +But Biddy, whom he sought a few moments later to send her to her +mistress, saw in him notwithstanding his composure, an intensity of +suffering that struck dismay to her honest heart. "The Lord preserve us!" +she said. "But Master Scott has the look of a man with a sword in his +soul!" She wiped her own tears away with a trembling hand. "And what'll +he do at all when Miss Isabel's gone," she said, "unless Miss Dinah does +the comforting of him?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE TRUSTY FRIEND + + +The trains from the junction to Heath-on-Sea were few and invariably +late. Scott had been pacing the platform for half an hour on the evening +of the day that followed his own arrival ere a line of distant smoke told +of the coming of the train he was awaiting. + +His movements were slow and weary, but there was about him the strained +look of a man who cannot rest. There was no gladness of welcome in his +eyes as the train drew near. It was rather as if he braced himself for a +coming ordeal. + +He searched the carriages intently as they ran past him, and a flicker of +recognition came into his face at the sight of a tall figure leaning from +one of them. He lifted a hand in salutation, and limped along the +platform to meet the newcomer. + +Sir Eustace was out of the train before anyone else. He met his brother +with the impetuosity of one who cannot stop for greeting. + +"Ah, Stumpy! I'm not too late?" + +There was strain upon his face also as he flung the question, and in an +instant Scott's look had changed. He grasped the outflung hand. + +"No, no, old fellow! It's all right. She is looking forward to seeing +you." + +Sir Eustace drew a sharp breath. His dark face relaxed a little. "I've +had a hell of a time," he said. + +"My dear chap, I'm sorry," impulsively Scott made answer. "I'd have met +you at the junction, only it was difficult to get away for so long. Do +you mind walking up? They'll see to fetching your traps along presently." + +"Oh, all right. Yes, let us walk by all means!" Eustace expanded his +chest, and breathed again, deeply. He put his hand on Scott's shoulder as +they passed through the barrier. "What's the matter with you, my lad?" he +said. + +Scott glanced up at him--a swift, surprised glance. "With me? Nothing. I +am--as usual." + +Eustace's hawk-eyes scanned him closely. "I've never seen you look +worse," he said. + +Scott raised his shoulder slightly under his hand, and said nothing. The +first involuntary kindliness of greeting passed wholly away, as if it had +not been. + +Eustace linked the hand in his arm as they walked. "Tell me about her!" +he said. + +"About Isabel?" Scott spoke with very obvious constraint. "There isn't +much to tell. She is just--going. These breathless attacks come very +frequently, and she is weaker after each one. The doctor says it would +not be surprising if she went in her sleep, or in fact at any time." + +"And she asked for me?" The question fell curtly; Eustace was looking +straight ahead up the white, dusty road as he uttered it. + +"Yes; she wanted you." Equally curtly came Scott's reply. He ignored the +hand on his arm, limping forward at his own pace and leaving his brother +to accommodate himself to it as best he could. + +Sir Eustace sauntered beside him in silence for a space. They were +approaching the heath-clad common that gave the place its name, when he +spoke again. + +"And Dinah?" he said then. + +Again Scott glanced upwards, his pale eyes very resolute. "Yes, Dinah is +still here. Her people seem quite indifferent as to what becomes of her, +and Isabel wishes to keep her with her. I hope--" he hesitated +momentarily--"I hope you will bear in mind the extreme difficulty of her +situation." + +Sir Eustace passed over the low words. "And what is going to happen to +her--afterwards?" he said. + +"Heaven knows!" Scott spoke as one compelled. + +Sir Eustace continued to gaze straight before him. "Haven't you thought +of any solution to the difficulty?" he asked. + +"What do you mean?" Scott's voice rang suddenly stern. + +A faint smile touched his brother's face; it was like the shadow of his +old, supercilious sneer. "It occurred to me that you, being a chivalrous +knight, might be moved to offer her your protection," he explained +coolly. "You are quite at liberty to do so, so far as I am concerned. I +give you my free consent." + +Scott started, as if he had been stung. "Man, don't sneer at me!" he said +in a voice that quivered. "I've a good many things against you, and I'm +damned if I can stand any more!" + +There was desperation in his words. Sir Eustace's brows went up, and his +smile departed. But there came no answering anger in his eyes. + +He was silent for several moments, pacing forward, his hand no longer +linked in Scott's arm. Then at last very quietly he spoke. "You're right. +You have a good many things against me. But this is not one of them. I +was not sneering at you." + +There was a note of most unwonted sincerity in his voice that gave +conviction to his words. Scott turned and regarded him in open amazement. + +The steel-blue eyes met his with an odd, half-shamed expression. "You +mustn't bully me, you know, Stumpy!" he said. "Remember, I can't hit +back." + +Scott stood still. He had never in his life been more astounded. Even +then, with the direct evidence before him, he could hardly believe that +the old haughty dominance had given place to something different. + +"Why--can't you--hit back?" he said, almost stammering in his +uncertainty. + +Sir Eustace smiled again with rueful irony. "Because I've nothing to hit +with, my son. Because you can break through my defence every time. If I +were to kick you from here to the sea, you'd still have the best of me. +Haven't you realized that yet?" + +"I hadn't--no!" Scott's eyes still regarded him with a puzzled, +half-suspicious expression. + +Sir Eustace turned from their scrutiny, and began to walk on. "You will +presently," he said. "The man who masters himself is always the man to +master the rest of the world in the end. I never thought I should live to +envy you, my boy. But I do." + +"Envy me! Why? Why on earth?" Embarrassment mingled with the curiosity in +Scott's voice. His hostility had gone down utterly before the +unaccustomed humility of his brother's attitude. + +Sir Eustace glanced at him sideways. "I'll tell you another time," he +said. "Now look here, Stumpy! You're in command, and I shan't interfere +with you so long as you take reasonable care of yourself. But you must do +that. It is the one thing I am going to insist upon. That's understood, +is it?" + +Scott smiled, his tired, gentle smile. "Oh, certainly, my dear chap. +Don't you worry yourself about that! It isn't of the first importance in +any case." + +"It's got to be done," Sir Eustace insisted. "So keep it in mind!" + +"I haven't been doing anything, you know," Scott protested mildly. "I +only came down yesterday." + +"That may be. But you haven't been sleeping for some time. You needn't +trouble to deny it. I know the signs. What have you been doing at +Willowmount?" + +It was a welcome change of subject, and Scott was not slow to avail +himself of it. They began to talk upon matters connected with the estate, +and the personal element passed completely out of the conversation. + +When they reached the white house on the cliff they almost seemed to have +slipped into the old casual relations; but the younger brother was well +aware that this was not so. The change that had so amazed him was +apparent to him at every turn. The overbearing mastery to which he had +been accustomed all his life had turned in some miraculous fashion into +something that was oddly like deference. It was fully evident that +Eustace meant to keep his word and leave him in command. + +Dinah met them in the rose-twined portico. There was a deep flush in her +cheeks; her eyes were very bright, resolutely unafraid. She shook hands +with Eustace, and he alone was aware of the tremor that ran through her +whole being as she did so. + +"Isabel is asleep," she said. "She often gets a sleep in the afternoon, +and she is always the stronger for it when she wakes. Will you have some +tea before you go to her?" + +They had tea in the sunny verandah overlooking the sea. Sir Eustace was +very quiet and grave, and it was Scott who gently conversed with the +girl, smoothing away all difficulties. She was plainly determined to +conquer her nervousness, and she succeeded to a great extent before the +ordeal was over. But there was obvious relief in her eyes when Sir +Eustace set down his cup and rose to go. + +"I think I will go to her now," he said. "I shall not wake her." + +He went, and a great stillness fell behind him. Scott dropped into +silence, and they sat together, he smoking, she leaning back in her chair +idle, with wistful eyes upon the silvery sea. + +Up in Isabel's room overhead there was neither sound nor movement, but +presently there fell a soft footfall upon the stairs and the nurse came +quietly through and spoke to Dinah. + +"Mrs. Everard is still asleep. Her brother is watching her and Biddy is +within call. I thought I would take a little walk on the shore, as I +shall not be wanted just at present." + +"Oh, of course," Dinah said. "Don't hurry back!" + +The nurse smiled and flitted away into the golden evening sunlight. + +Dinah turned her head towards her silent companion. "I wonder," she said, +"if I could learn to be a nurse." + +He blew a cloud of smoke into the air. "Are you still worrying about the +future?" he said. + +"I don't know that I am exactly worrying," she made low reply. "But I +shall have to decide about it very soon." + +Scott was silent for a space while he finished his cigarette. Then at +last slowly, haltingly, he spoke. "Dinah,--I have been thinking about the +future too. If I touch upon anything that hurts you, you must stop me, +and I will not say another word. But, child, it seems to me that we shall +both be--rather lost--when Isabel is gone. I wonder--would it shock you +very much--if I suggested to you--as a solution of the difficulty--that +we should some day in the future enter into partnership together?" + +He spoke with obvious effort; his hands were gripped upon the arms of his +chair. The wicker creaked in the strain of his grasp, but he himself +remained lying back with eyes half-closed in compulsory inaction. + +Dinah also sat absolutely still. If his words amazed her, she gave no +sign. Only the wistfulness about her mouth deepened as she made answer +below her breath. "It--is just like you to suggest such a thing; +but--it is quite impossible." + +He opened his eyes and looked at her very steadily and kindly. "Quite?" +he said. + +She bent her head, swiftly lowering her own. "Yes--thank you a million +times--quite." + +"Even if I promise never to make love to you?" he said, his voice +half-quizzical, half-tender. + +She put out a trembling hand and laid it on his arm. "Oh, +Scott,--it--isn't that!" + +He took the hand and held it. "My dear, don't cry!" he urged gently. "I +knew you wouldn't have me really. I only thought I would just place +myself completely at your disposal in case--some day--you might be +willing to give me the chance to serve you in any capacity whatever. +There! It is over. We are as we were--friends." + +He smiled at her with the words, and after a moment stooped and lightly +touched her fingers with his lips. + +"Come!" he said gently. "I haven't frightened you anyway. Have I?" + +"No," she whispered. + +His hand clasped hers for a second or two longer, then quietly let it go. +"Don't be distressed!" he said, "I will never do it again. I am now--and +always--your trusty friend." + +And with that he rose in his slow way, paused to light another cigarette, +smiled again upon her, and softly went indoors. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE LAST SUMMONS + + +There is nought in life more solemn than the waiting hush that falls +before the coming of that great Change which men call Death. And it is to +the watchers rather than to the passing soul itself that the wonder seems +to draw most close. To stand before the veil, to know that very soon it +must be lifted for the loved one to pass beyond, to wait for the glimpse +of that spirit-world from which only the frail wall of mortality divides +even the least spiritual, to watch as it were for the Gate of Death to +open and the great Revelation to flash for one blinding moment upon the +dazzled eyes that may not grasp the meaning of what they see; this is to +stand for a space within the very Sanctuary of God. + +The awe of it and the wonder hung night and day over the little +rose-covered house on the heath above the sea where Isabel was breathing +forth the last of her broken earthly life. Dinah moved in that strange +atmosphere as one in a dream. She spent most of her time with Scott in a +silent companionship in which no worldly thoughts seemed to have any +part. The things of earth, all worry, all distress, were in abeyance, had +sunk to such infinitesimal proportions that she was scarcely aware of +them at all. It was as though they had climbed the steep mountain with +Isabel, and not till they turned again to descend could they be aware of +those things which lay so far below. + +Without Scott, both doubts and fears would have been her portion, but +with him all terrors fell shadow-like away before her. She hardly +realized all that his presence meant to her during those days of waiting, +but she leaned upon him instinctively as upon a sure support. He never +failed her. + +Of Eustace she saw but little. From the very first it was evident that +his place was nearer to Isabel than Scott's had ever been. He did not +shoulder Scott aside, but somehow as a matter of course he occupied the +position that the younger brother had sought to fill for the past seven +years. It was natural, it was inevitable. Dinah could have resented this +superseding at the outset had she not seen how gladly Scott gave place. +Later she realized that the ground on which they stood was too holy for +such considerations to have any weight with either brother. They were +united in the one supreme effort to make the way smooth for the sister +who meant so much to them both; and during all those days of waiting +Dinah never heard a harsh or impatient word upon the elder's lips. All +arrogance, all hardness, seemed to have fallen away from him as he trod +with them that mountain-path. Even old Biddy realized the change and +relented somewhat towards him though she never wholly brought herself to +look upon him as an ally. + +It was on a stormy evening at the beginning of July that Dinah was +sitting alone in the little creeper-grown verandah watching the wonderful +greens and purples of the sea when Eustace came soft-footed through the +window behind her and sat down in a chair close by, which Scott had +vacated a few minutes before. + +Scott had just gone to the village post-office with some letters, +but she had refused to accompany him, for it was the hour when she +usually sat with Isabel. She glanced at Eustace swiftly as he sat down, +half-expecting a message from the sick-room. But he said nothing, merely +leaning back in the wicker-chair, and fixing his eyes upon the sombre +splendour of endless waters upon which hers had been resting. There was a +massive look about him, as of a strong man deliberately bent to some +gigantic task. A little tremor went through her as furtively she watched +him. His silence, unlike the silences of Scott, was disquieting. She +could never feel wholly at ease in his presence. + +He turned his head towards her after a few seconds of absolute stillness, +and in a moment her eyes sank. She sat in palpitating silence, as one +caught in some disgraceful act. + +But still he did not speak, and the painful colour flooded her face under +his mute scrutiny till in sheer distress she found herself forced to take +the initiative. + +"Is--Isabel expecting me?" she faltered. "Ought I to go?" + +"No," he said quietly. "She is dozing. Old Biddy is with her." + +It seemed as if the intolerable silence were about to fall again. She +cast about desperately for a means of escape. "Biddy was up and down +during the night. I think I will relieve her for a little while and let +her rest." + +She would have risen with the words, but unexpectedly he reached forth a +detaining hand. "Do you mind waiting a minute?" he said. "I will not +say--or do--anything to frighten you." + +He spoke with a faint smile that somehow hurt her almost unbearably. She +remained as she was, leaning forward in her chair. "I--am not afraid," +she murmured almost inaudibly. + +His hand seemed to plead for hers, and in a moment she laid her own +within it. "That's right," he said. "Dinah, will you try and treat me as +if I were a friend--just for a few minutes?" + +The tone of his voice--like his smile--pierced her with a poignancy that +sent the quick tears to her eyes. She forced them back with all her +strength. + +"I would like to--always," she whispered. + +"Thank you," he said. "You are kinder than I deserve. I have done nothing +to win your confidence, so it is all the more generous of you to bestow +it. On the strength of your generosity I am going to ask you a question +which only a friend could ask. Dinah, is there any understanding of any +sort--apart from friendship--between you and Scott?" + +She started slightly at the question, and in a moment firmly, with a +certain authority, his hand closed upon hers. + +"You needn't be afraid to speak on Scott's account," he said, with that +rather grim humility that seemed so foreign to his proud nature that +every sign of it stabbed her afresh. "I am not such a dog in the manger +as that and he knows it." + +"Oh no!" Dinah said, and her words came with a rush. "But--I told you +before, didn't I?--he doesn't care for me like that. He never has--never +will." + +"I wonder why you say that," Eustace said. + +"Because it's true!" With a species of feverish insistence she answered +him. "How could I help knowing? Of course I know! Oh, please don't let us +talk about it! It--it hurts me." + +"I want you to bear with me," he said gently, "just for a few minutes. +Dinah, what if you are making a mistake? Mistakes happen, you know. Scott +is a shy sort of chap, and immensely reserved. Doesn't it occur to you +that he may care for you and yet be afraid--just as you are afraid--to +let you know?" + +"No," Dinah said. "He doesn't. I know he doesn't!" + +She spoke with her eyes upon the ground, her voice sunk very low. She +felt as if she were being drawn down from the heights she desired to +tread. She did not want to contemplate the problems that she knew very +surely awaited her upon the lower level. She did not want to quit her +sanctuary before the time. + +Sir Eustace received her assurance in silence, but he kept her hand in +his, and the power of his personality seemed to penetrate to the very +centre of her being. + +He spoke at last almost under his breath, still closely watching her +downcast face. "Are you quite sure you still care for him--in that way?" + +She made a quick, appealing gesture. "Oh, need I answer that? I feel +so--ashamed." + +"No, you needn't answer," he made steady reply. "But you've nothing to be +ashamed about. Stumpy's an awful ass, you know,--always has been. He's +been head over heels in love with you ever since he met you. No, you +needn't let that shock you. He's such a bashful knight he'll never tell +you so. You'll have to do that part of it." He smiled with faint irony. +"But you may take my word for it, it is so. He has thought of nothing but +you and your happiness from the very beginning of things. And--unlike +someone else we know--he has had the decency always to put your happiness +first." + +He paused. Dinah's eyes had flashed up to his, green, eager, intensely +alive, and behind those eyes her soul seemed to be straining like a thing +in leash. "Oh, I knew he had cared for someone," she breathed, "But it +couldn't--it couldn't have been me!" + +"Yes," Sir Eustace said slowly. "You and none other. You wonder if it's +true--how I know. He's an awful ass, as I said before, one of the few +supreme fools who never think of themselves. I knew that he was caught +all right ages back in Switzerland, and--being a low hound of mean +instincts--I set to work to cut him out." + +"Oh!" murmured Dinah. "That was just what I did with Rose de Vigne." + +His mouth twisted a little. "It's a funny world, Dinah," he said. "Our +little game has cost us both something. I got too near the candle myself, +and the scorch was pretty sharp while it lasted. Well, to get back to my +story. Scott saw that I was beginning to give you indigestion, and--being +as I mentioned before several sorts of a fool--he tackled me upon the +subject and swore that if I didn't put an end to the game, he would put +you on your guard against me, tell you in fact the precise species of +rotter that I chanced to be. I was naturally annoyed by his interference. +Anyone would have been. I gave him the kicking he deserved. That was low +of me, wasn't it?" as she made a quick movement of shrinking. "You won't +forgive me for that, or for what came after. The very next day--to spite +the little beast--I proposed to you." + +Dinah's eyes were fiercely bright. "I wish I'd known!" she said. + +"I wish to heaven you had, my dear," Eustace spoke with a grim hint of +humour. "It would have saved us both a good deal of unnecessary trouble +and humiliation. However, Scott was too big a fool to tell you. There is +a martyrlike sort of cussedness about him that is several degrees worse +than any pride. So he let things be, still cheating himself into the +belief that the arrangement was for your happiness, till, as you are +aware, it turned out so manifestly otherwise that he found himself +obliged once more to come to the rescue of his lady love. But his +exasperating humility was such that he never suspected the real reason +for your change of mind, and when I accused him of cutting me out, he was +as scandalized as only a righteous man knows how to be. You can't do much +with a fellow like that, you know,--a fool who won't believe the evidence +of his own senses. Besides, it was not for me to enlighten him, +particularly as you didn't want him to know the real state of things just +then. So I left him alone. The next day--only the next day, mind you--the +silent knight opened his heart; to whom, do you think? You'll be horribly +furious when I tell you." + +He looked into the hot eyes with an expression half-tender in his own. + +"Tell me!" breathed Dinah. + +"Really? Well, prepare for a nasty shock! To Rose de Vigne!" + +"To Rose!" Indignation gave place to bewilderment in Dinah's eyes. + +"Even so; to Rose. She guessed the truth, and he frankly admitted she was +right, but gave her to understand that as he hadn't a chance in the +world, you were never to know. I am telling you the truth, Dinah. You +needn't look so incredulous. She naturally considered that he was not +treating you very fairly and said so. But--" he raised his shoulders +slightly--"you know Scott. Mules can't compete with him when he has made +up his mind to a thing. He gracefully put an end to the discussion and +doubtless he has buried the whole subject in a neat little corner of his +heart where no one can ever tumble over it, and resigned himself to a +lonely old age. Now, Dinah, I am going to give you the soundest piece of +advice I have ever given anyone. If you are wise, you will dig it up +before the moss grows, bring it into the air and call it back to life. It +is the greatest desire of Isabel's heart to see you two happy together. +She told me so only to-day. And I am beginning to think that I wish it +too." + +His look was wholly kind as he uttered the last words. He held her hand +in the close grip of a friend. + +"Don't let that insane humility of his be his ruin!" he urged. "He's a +fool. I've always said so. But his foolishness is the sort that attacks +only the great. Once let him know you care, and he'll be falling over +himself to propose." + +"Oh, don't!" Dinah begged, and her voice sounded chill and yet somehow +piteous. "I couldn't--ever--marry him. I told him so--only the other +day." + +"What? He proposed, did he?" Sheer amazement sounded in Eustace's voice. + +Dinah was not looking at him any longer. She sat rather huddled in her +chair, as if a cold wind had caught her. + +"Yes," she said in the same small, uneven voice. "He proposed. He didn't +make love to me. In fact he--promised that he never would. But he +thought--yes, that was it--he thought that presently I should be lonely, +and he wanted me to know that he was willing to protect me." + +"What a fool!" Eustace said. "And so you refused him! I don't wonder. I +should have pitched something at him if I'd been you." + +"Oh no! That wasn't why I refused. I had another reason." Dinah's head +was bent low; he saw the hot colour she sought to hide. "I didn't know he +cared," she whispered. "But even if--if I had known, I couldn't have said +Yes. I never can say Yes now." + +"Good heavens above!" he said. "Why not?" + +"It's a reason I can't tell anyone," faltered Dinah. + +"Nonsense!" he said, with a quick touch of his old imperiousness. "You +can tell me." + +She shook her head. "No. Not you. Not anyone." + +"That is absurd," he said, with brief decision. "What is the reason? Out +with it--quick, like a good child! If you could marry me, you can marry +him." + +"But I couldn't have married you," she protested, "if I'd known." + +"It's something that's cropped up lately, is it?" He bent towards her, +watching her keenly. "It can't be so very terrible." + +"It is," she told him in distress. + +He was silent a moment; then very suddenly he moved, put his arm around +her, drew her close. "What is it, my elf? Tell me!" he whispered. + +She hid her face against him with a little sob. It was odd, but at that +moment she felt no fear of the man. He, whose fiery caresses had once +appalled her, had by some means unknown possessed himself of her +confidence so that she could not keep him at a distance. She did not even +wish to do so. + +After a few seconds, quiveringly she began to speak. "I don't know how to +tell you. It's an awful thing to tell. You know, I--I've never been happy +at home. My mother never liked me,--was often cruel to me." She shuddered +suddenly and violently. "I never knew why--till that awful night--the +last time I saw her. And then--and then she told me." She drew a little +closer to him like a frightened child. + +He held her against his breast. She was trembling all over. "Well?" he +said gently. + +Desperately she forced herself to continue. "I don't belong to--to my +father--at all; only--only--to her." + +"What?" he said. + +She buried her shamed face a little deeper. "That was why--she married," +she whispered. + +"Your mother herself told you that?" Sir Eustace's voice was very low, +but there was in it a danger-note that made her quail. + +Someone was coming along the garden-path, but neither of them heard. +Dinah was crying with piteous, long-drawn sobs. The telling of that +tragic secret had wrung her very soul. + +"Oh, don't be angry! You won't be angry?" she pleaded brokenly. + +His hand was on her head. "My child, I am not angry with you," he said. +"You were not to blame. There, dear! There! Don't cry! Isabel will be +distressed if she finds out. We mustn't let her know of this." + +"Or Scott either!" She lifted her face appealingly. "Eustace, +please--please--you won't tell Scott? I--I couldn't bear him to know." + +He looked into her beseeching eyes, and his own softened. "It may be he +will have to know some day," he said. "But--not yet." + +The halting steps drew nearer, uneven, yet somehow purposeful. + +Abruptly Eustace became aware of them. He looked up sharply. "You had +better go, dear," he whispered to the girl in his arms. "Isabel may be +wanting you at any time. We must think of her first now. Run in quickly +and dry your eyes before anyone sees! Come along!" + +He rose, supporting her, turned her towards the window, and gently but +urgently pushed her within. + +She went swiftly, enough as he released her, went with her hands over her +face and not a backward glance. And Eustace wheeled back with a movement +that was almost fierce and met his brother as he set foot upon the +verandah. + +Scott's face was pale as death, and there was that in his eyes that could +not be ignored. Eustace answered it on the instant, briefly, with a +restraint that obviously cost him an effort. "It's all right, Dinah is a +bit upset this evening. But she will be all right directly if we leave +her alone." + +Scott did not so much as pause. "Let me pass!" he said. + +His voice was perfectly quiet, but the command of it was such that +Eustace, taken unawares, gave ground as it were instinctively. But the +next moment impulsively he caught Scott's arm. + +"I say,--Stumpy!" An odd embarrassment possessed him; he shook it off +half-angrily. "You needn't go making mistakes--jumping to idiotic +conclusions. I'm not cutting you out this time." + +Scott looked at him. His light eyes held contempt. "Oh, I know that," he +said, and there was in his slow voice a note of bitter humour that cut +like a whip. "You are never in earnest. You were always the sort to make +sport for yourself out of suffering, and then to toss the dregs of your +amusement to those who are not--sportsmen." + +Eustace was as white as he was himself. He held him in a grip of iron. +"What the--devil do you mean?" he said, his voice husky with the strong +effort he made to control it. + +The younger brother was absolutely controlled, but his eyes shone like a +dazzling white flame. "Ask yourself that question!" he said, and his +words, though low, had a burning quality, almost as if some force apart +from the man himself inspired them. "You know the answer as well as I do. +You have studied the damnable game so long, offered so many victims upon +the altar of your accursed sport. There is nothing to prevent your going +on with it. You will go on no doubt till you tire of the chase. And then +your turn will come. You will find yourself alone among the ruins, and +you will pay the price. You may repent then--but repentance sometimes +comes too late." + +He was gone with the words, gone as if an inner force compelled, shaking +off the hand that had detained him, and passing scatheless within. + +He went up the stairs as calmly as if he had entered the house without +interruption. Someone was sobbing piteously behind a closed door, but he +did not turn in that direction. He moved straight to the door of Isabel's +room, as if a voice had called him. + +And on the threshold Biddy met him, her black eyes darkly mysterious, her +wrinkled face drawn with awe rather than grief. + +"Ah, Master Scott, and is it yourself?" she whispered. "I was coming to +fetch ye--coming to tell ye. It's the call; she's had her last summons. +Faith, and I almost heard it meself. She'll be gone by morning, the +blessed lamb. There'll be no holding her after this." + +Scott passed her by without a word. He went straight to his sister's +bedside. + +She was lying with her face turned up to the evening sky, but on the +instant her eyes met his, and in them was that look of a great +expectation which many term the Shadow of Death. + +"Oh, Stumpy, is it you?" she said. Her breathing was quick and irregular, +but it did not seem to hurt her. "I've had--such a wonderful--dream. Or +could it have been--a vision?" + +He bent and took her hand in his. His eyes were infinitely tender. All +the passion had been wiped out of his face. + +"It may have been a vision, dear," he said. + +Her look brightened; she smiled. "He was here--in this room--with me," +she said. "He was standing there--at the foot of the bed. And--and--I +held out my arms to him. Oh, Stumpy, I almost thought--I was going with +him then. But--I think he heard you coming, for he laughed and drew back. +'We shall meet in the morning,' he said. And while I was still looking, +he was gone." + +She began to pant. He stooped and raised her. She clung to him with all +her waning strength. "Stumpy! Stumpy! You will help me--through the +night?" + +"My darling, yes," he said. + +She clung to him still. "It won't be--good-bye," she urged softly. "You +will be coming too--very soon." + +"God grant it!" he said, under his breath. + +Her look dwelt upon him. Again faintly she smiled. "Ah, Stumpy," she +said, "but you are going to be very happy first, my dear,--my dear." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE MOUNTAIN-TOP + + +The night fell like a black veil, starless and still. Up in Isabel's room +the watchers came and went, dividing the hours. Only the nurse and old +Biddy remained always at their posts, the one seated near one of the +wide-flung windows, the other crouched on an ottoman at the foot of the +bed, her beady eyes perpetually fixed upon the white, motionless face +upon the pillow. + +Only by the irregular and sometimes difficult breathing did they know +that Isabel still lived, for she gave no sign of consciousness, uttered +no word, made no voluntary movement of any sort. Like those who watched +about her, she seemed to be waiting, waiting for the amazing revelation +of the Dawn. + +They had propped her high with pillows; her pale hands lay outside the +coverlet. Her eyes were closed. She did not seem to notice who came or +went. + +"She may slip away without waking," the nurse whispered once to Dinah who +had crept to her side. "Or she may be conscious just at the last. There +is no telling." + +Dinah did not think that she was asleep, but yet during all her vigil the +white lids had not stirred, no spark of vitality had touched the marble +face. She was possessed by a great longing to speak to her, to call her +out of that trance-like silence; but she did not dare. She was as one +bound by a spell. The great stillness was too holy to break. All her +own troubles were sunk in oblivion. She felt as if she moved in a +shadow-world where no troubles could penetrate, where no voice was +ever lifted above a whisper. + +As she crept from the room, she met Eustace entering. He looked gaunt and +haggard in the dim light. Nothing seemed natural on that night of +waiting. + +He paused a moment, touched her shoulder. "Go and rest, child!" he +muttered. "I will call you if she wakes." + +She sent him a faint smile and flitted by him into the passage. How +could she rest on a night like this, with the vague whisperings of the +spirit-world all about her? Besides, in another hour the darkness would +be over--the Dawn would come! Not for all the world would she miss that +wonderful coming of a new day--the day which Isabel was awaiting in that +dumb passivity of unquestioning patience. They had come so far up the +mountain-track together; she must be with her when the morning found +them on the summit. + +But it was Eustace's turn to watch, and she moved towards her +own room, through the open windows of which the vague murmur and +splash of the sleeping sea drifted like the accompaniment of far-off +music--undreamed-of Alleluias. + +The dim glow of a lamp lay across her path, like a barrier staying her +feet. Almost involuntarily she paused before a half-open door. It was as +though some unseen force compelled her. And, so pausing, there came to +her a sound that gripped her like a hand upon her heart--it was the +broken whispering of a man in an agony of prayer. + +It was not by her own desire that she stood to listen. The anguish of +that voice held her, so that she was powerless to move. + +"O God! O God!" The words pierced her with their entreaty; it was a cry +from the very depths. "The mistake was mine. Let me bear the +consequences! But save her--O save her--from further suffering!" A +momentary silence, and then, more desperately still: "O God--if Thou art +anywhere--hear--and help! Let me bear whatever Thou wilt! But spare +her--spare her! She has borne so much!" + +A terrible sob choked the gasping utterance. There fell a silence so +tense, so poignant with pain, that the girl upon the threshold trembled +as one physically afraid. Yet she could not turn and flee. She felt as if +it were laid upon her to stand and witness this awful struggle of a soul +in torment. But that it should be Scott--the wise, the confident, the +unafraid--passing alone through this place of desolation, sent the blood +to her heart in a great wave of consternation. If Scott failed--if the +sword of Greatheart were broken--it seemed to her that nothing could be +left in all the world, as if even the coming Dawn must be buried in +darkness. + +Was it for Isabel he was praying thus? She supposed it must be, though +she had felt all through this night of waiting that no prayer was needed. +Isabel was so near the mountain-top that surely she was safe--nearer +already to God than any of their prayers could bring her. + +And yet Scott was wrestling here as one overwhelmed with evil. Wherefore? +Wherefore? The steady faith of this good friend of hers had never to her +knowledge flickered before. What had happened to shake him thus? + +He was praying again, more coherently but in words so low that they were +scarcely audible. She crept a little nearer, and now she could see him, +kneeling at the table, his head sunk upon it, his arms flung wide with +clenched fists that seemed impotently to beat the air. + +"I'm praying all wrong," he whispered. "Forgive me, but I'm all in the +dark to-night. Thou knowest, Lord, how awful the dark can be. I'm not +asking for an answer. Only guide our feet! Deliver us from evil--deliver +her--O God--deliver my Dinah--by that love which is of Thee and which +nothing will ever alter! If I may not help her, give me strength--to +stand aside!" + +A great shiver went through him; he gripped his hands together suddenly +and passionately. + +"O my God," he groaned, "it's the hardest thing on earth--to stand and do +nothing--when I love her so." + +Something seemed to give way within him with the words. His shoulders +shook convulsively. He buried his face in his arms. + +And in that moment the power that had stayed Dinah upon the threshold +suddenly urged her forward. + +Almost before she realized it, she was there at his side, stooping over +him, holding him--holding him fast in a clasp that was free from any +hesitation or fear, a clasp in which all her pulsing womanhood rushed +forth to him, exulting, glorying in its self-betrayal. + +"My dear! Oh, my dear!" she said. "Are you praying for me?" + +"Dinah!" he said. + +Just her name, no more; but spoken in a tone that thrilled her through +and through! He leaned against her for a few moments, almost as if he +feared to move. Then, as one gathering strength, he uttered a great sigh +and slowly got to his feet. + +"You mustn't bother about me," he said, and the sudden rapture had all +gone out of his voice; it had the flatness of utter weariness. "I shall +be all right." + +But Dinah's hands yet clung to his shoulders. Those moments of yielding +had revealed to her more than any subsequent word or action could belie. +Her eyes, shining with a great light, looked straight into his. + +"Dear Scott! Dear Greatheart!" she said, and her voice trembled over the +tender utterance of the name. "Are you in trouble? Can't I help?" + +He took her face between his hands, looking straight back into the +shining eyes. "You are the trouble, Dinah," he told her simply. "And I'd +give all I have--I'd give my soul--to make life easier for you." + +She leaned towards him, and suddenly those shining eyes were blurred +with a glimmer of tears. "Life is dreadfully difficult," she said. "But +you have never done anything but help me. And, oh, Scott, I--don't know +if I ought to tell you--forgive me if it's wrong--but--but I feel I +must--" her breath came so quickly that she could hardly utter the +words--"I love you--I love you--better than anyone else in the world!" + +"Dinah!" he said, as one incredulous. + +"It's true!" she panted. "It's true! Eustace knows it--has known it +almost as long as I have. It isn't the only thing I have to tell you, +but it's the first--and biggest. And even though--even though--I shall +never be anything more to you than I am now--I'm glad--I'm proud--for +you to know. There's nothing else that counts in the same way. And +though--though I refused you the other day--I wanted you--dreadfully, +dreadfully. If--if I had only been good enough for you--But--but--I'm +not!" She broke off, battling with herself. + +He was still holding her face between his hands, and there was something +of insistence, something that even bordered upon ruthlessness, in his +hold. Though the tears were running down her face, he would not let her +go. + +"Will you tell me what you mean by that?" he said, his voice very low. +"Or--must I ask Eustace?" + +She started. There was that in his tone that made her wince inexplicably. +"Oh no," she said, "no! I'll tell you myself--if--if you must know." + +"I am afraid I must," he said, and for all their resolution, the words +had a sound of deadly weariness. He let her go slowly as he uttered them. +"Sit down!" he said gently. "And please don't tremble! There is nothing +to make you afraid." + +She dropped into the chair he indicated, and made a desperate effort to +calm herself. He stood beside her with the absolute patience of one +accustomed to long waiting. + +After a few moments, she put up a quivering hand, seeking his. He took it +instantly, and as his fingers closed firmly upon her own, she found +courage. + +"I didn't want you to know," she whispered. "But I--I see now--it's +better that you should. There's no other way--of making you understand. +It's just this--just this!" She swallowed hard, striving to control the +piteous trembling of her voice. "I am--one of those people--that--that +never ought to have been born. I don't belong--anywhere--except +to--my mother who--who--who has no use for me,--hated me before ever I +came into the world. You see, she--married because--because--another +man--my real father--had played her false. Oh, do you wonder--do you +wonder--" she bowed her forehead upon his hand with a rush of +tears--"that--that when I knew--I--I felt as if--I couldn't--go on +with life?" + +Her weeping was piteous; it shook her from head to foot. + +But--in the very midst of her distress--there came to her a wonder so +great that it checked her tears at the height of their flow. For very +suddenly it dawned upon her that Scott--Scott, her knight of the golden +armour--was kneeling at her feet. + +Half in wonder and half in awe, she lifted her head and looked at him. +And in that moment he took her two hands and kissed them, tenderly, +reverently, lingeringly. + +"Was this what you and Eustace were talking about this afternoon?" he +said. + +She nodded. "I had to tell him--why--I couldn't marry you. He--he had +been--so kind." + +"But, my own Dinah," he said, and in his voice was a quiver +half-quizzical yet strangely charged with emotion, "did you ever +seriously imagine that I should allow a sordid little detail like +that to come between us? Surely Eustace knew better than that!" + +She heard him in amazement, scarcely believing that she heard. "Do +you--can you mean--" she faltered, "that--it really--doesn't count?" + +"I mean that it is less than nothing to me," he made answer, and in his +eyes as they looked into hers was that glory of worship that she had once +seen in a dream. "I mean, my darling, that since you want me as I want +you, nothing--nothing in the world--can ever come between us any more. +Oh, my dear, my dear, I wish you'd told me sooner." + +"I knew I ought to," she murmured, still hardly believing. "And +yet--somehow--I couldn't bear the thought of your knowing,--particularly +as--as--till Eustace told me--I never dreamed you--cared. You are +so--great. You ought to have someone so much--better than I. I'm not +nearly good enough--not nearly." + +He was drawing her to him, and she went with a little sob into his arms; +but she turned her face away over his shoulder, avoiding his. + +"I ought not--to have told you--I loved you," she said brokenly. +"It wasn't right of me. Only--when I saw you so unhappy--I +couldn't--somehow--keep it in any longer. Dear Scott, don't you +think--before--before we go any further--you had better--forget it +and--give me up?" + +"No, I don't think so." Scott spoke very softly, with the utmost +tenderness, into her ear. "Don't you realize," he said, "that we belong +to each other? Could there possibly be anyone else for either you or me?" + +She did not answer him; only she clung a little closer. And, after a +moment, as she felt the drawing of his hold, "Don't kiss me---yet!" she +begged him tremulously. "Let us wait till--the morning!" + +His arms relaxed, "It is very near the morning now," he said. "Shall we +go and watch for it?" + +They rose together. Dinah's eyes sought his for one shy, fleeting second, +falling instantly as if half-dazzled, half-afraid. He took her hand and +led her quietly from the room. + +It was no longer dark in the passage outside. A pearly light was growing. +The splash of the sea sounded very far below them, as the dim surging of +a world unseen might rise to the watchers on the mountain-top. + +They moved to an open window at the end of the passage. No sound came +from Isabel's room close by, and after a few seconds Scott turned +noiselessly aside and entered. + +Dinah remained at the open window waiting with a throbbing heart in the +great silence that wrapped the world. She was not afraid, but she longed +for Scott to come back; she was conscious of an urgent need of him. + +Several moments passed, and then softly he returned. "No change!" he +whispered. "Eustace will call us--when it comes." + +She slipped her hand back into his, without speaking. He made her sit +upon the window-seat, and knelt himself upon it, his arm about her +shoulders, his fingers clasping hers. + +She could see his face but vaguely in the dimness, but many times during +that holy hour before the dawn, though he spoke no word, she felt that he +was praying or giving thanks. + +Slowly the twilight turned into a velvet dusk. The great Change was +drawing near. The silence lay like a thinning veil of mist upon the +mountain-top. The clouds were parting in the East, all tinged with gold, +like burnished gates flung back for the royal coming of the sun-god. The +stillness that lay upon all the waiting earth was sacred as the hush of +prayer. + +Their faces were turned towards the spreading glow. It shone upon them as +it shone upon all beside, widening, intensifying, till the whole earth +lay wrapped in solemn splendour--and then at last, through the open +gates, red, royal, triumphant, the sun-god came. + +There came a moment in which all things were touched with the glory, all +things were made new. And in that moment, sudden as a flash of light, a +bird of pure white plumage appeared before their eyes, hovered an +instant; then flew, mounting on wide, gleaming wings, straight into the +dawn.... + +Even while they watched, it vanished through the gates of gold. And only +the gracious sunshine of a new day remained.... + +A low voice spoke from the chamber of Death. They turned from the vision +and saw Eustace standing in the doorway. + +He was very white, but absolutely calm. There was a nobility about him at +that moment that sent a queer little throb to Dinah's heart. He held out +his hand, not to her, but to Scott. "She is gone," he said. + +Scott went to him; she saw their hands meet. There was no agitation about +either of them. + +"In her sleep?" Scott said. + +"Yes. We didn't even know--till it was over." + +They turned into the room, still hand grasping hand. + +And Dinah knelt up and stretched out her arms to the shining morning sky. +Something within her was whispering that she and Scott had seen more of +the passing of Isabel than any of those who had watched beside her bed. +And in the quiet of that wonderful morning, she offered her quivering +thanks to God. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CONSOLATION + + +Of the long hours that followed that wonderful dawning Dinah never had +any very distinct recollection. Even Scott seemed to forget her for a +while, and it was old Biddy who presently found her curled up on the +window-seat with her head upon the sill asleep--Biddy with her eyes very +bright and alert, albeit deeply rimmed with red. + +She came to the childish, drooping figure, murmuring tender words. She +put wiry arms about her and lifted her to her feet. + +"There! Come to your own room and rest, my lamb!" she said. "Old Biddy'll +take care of ye, aroon." + +Dinah submitted with the vague docility of a brain but half-awakened. To +be cared for and petted by Biddy was no new thing in her experience. She +even felt as if the old crystal Alpine days had returned, as Biddy +undressed her and presently tucked her into bed. Later, still in +semi-consciousness, she drank the hot milk that the old woman brought +her, and then sank into a deep, deep sleep. + +She awakened from that sleep with a sense of well-being such as she had +never known before, a feeling of complete security and rest. The house +was very quiet, and through the curtained window there came to her the +soft, slumberous splash of the waves. + +She lay very still, listening to the soothing murmur, gradually focusing +her mind again after its long oblivion. The memory of the previous night +and of the coming of the dawn came back to her, and with it the thought +of Isabel; but without grief and without regret. They had left her on the +mountain-top, and she knew that all must be well. + +A great peace seemed to have fallen like a veil upon the whole house. +Surely no one could be mourning over that glad release! She saw again the +flashing of those free wings in the dawn-light, and her heart thrilled +afresh. She remembered too the close, strong clasp of Scott's hand as +he had watched with her. + +Where was Scott now? The wonder darted suddenly through her brain, and +with it, swift as a flying cloud-shadow, came the want of him, the +longing for the quiet voice, the quivering delight of his near presence. +She half-raised herself, and then, caught by another thought, sank down +again to hide her burning face in the pillow. It would be a little +difficult to meet him again. On the old easy terms of friendship it +could not be, and they had hardly begun to be lovers yet. He--had not +even--kissed her! + +Another thought came to her--of an even more disturbing nature. Save for +old Biddy and the nurse, she was alone with the two brothers now. Would +they--would they insist upon sending her home until--until Scott was +ready to come and take her away? Oh, surely--surely Scott would never ask +that of her! + +Nevertheless the thought tormented her. She did not see any way out of +the difficulty, and she was terribly afraid that Scott would be equally +at a loss. + +"I don't think I could bear it," she whispered to herself. "And yet--if +he says so--if he says so--I suppose I must. I couldn't refuse--if he +said so." + +The soft opening of the door recalled her to the immediate present. She +saw old Biddy's face with its watchful, guardian look peep stealthily in +upon her. + +"Ah, mavourneen!" she whispered fondly, coming forward. "And is it awake +ye are? I've peeped round at ye this five times, and ye were sleeping +like a new-born babe. Lie still, darlint, while I fetch ye a cup o' tay +then!" + +She was gone with the words, but in a very little she was back again with +her own especial brew. She set her tray down by Dinah's side, but Dinah +did not even look at it. She raised herself instead, and threw warm arms +around the old woman's neck. "Oh, Biddy," she said, "Biddy, darling, I +can't think what ever I'd do without you!" + +Biddy uttered a sharp sob, and gathered her close. But in a moment, +half-angrily, "And what is it that I'd be crying for at all?" she said. +"Isn't my dear Miss Isabel safer with the Almighty than ever she was with +me? Isn't she gone to the blessed saints in Paradise? And would I have +her back? No, no! I'm not that selfish, Miss Dinah. I'm an old woman +moreover, and be the same token me own time can't be so far off now." + +But Dinah clung faster to her. "Please, Biddy, please--don't talk like +that! I want you," she said. + +"Ah, bless the dear lamb!" said Biddy, and tenderly kissed the upturned, +pleading face. "Miss Isabel said ye would now. But when ye've got Master +Scott to take care of ye, it's not old Biddy that ye'll be wanting any +longer." + +"I shall," Dinah vowed. "I shall. I shall always want my Biddy." + +"And may the Lord Almighty bless ye for the word!" said Biddy. + +When Dinah was dressed, a great shyness fell upon her, born partly of the +still mystery of the presence of Death that wrapped the little house. +She stood by the window of her room, looking forth, irresolute, over the +evening sea. + +The blinds were drawn only in the room of Death, for Scott had so +decreed, and the air blew in sweet and fresh from the rippling water. + +After a few minutes, Biddy came softly up behind her. "And is it himself +ye're looking for, mavourneen?" she murmured at Dinah's shoulder. + +Dinah started a little and flushed. She wondered if Biddy knew all or +only guessed. "I don't know--what to do," she said rather confusedly. + +Biddy gave her a quick, wise look. "Will I tell ye a secret, Miss Dinah +dear?" she whispered. + +Dinah looked at her. The old woman's face was full of shrewd +understanding. "Yes, tell me!" she said somewhat breathlessly. + +Biddy's brown hand grasped her arm. "Master Scott went to town this +morning," she said. "He'll be back any minute now. Sir Eustace is +downstairs. He wants to see ye--to tell ye something--before Master Scott +gets back." + +"Oh, what--what?" gasped Dinah. + +"There, now, there! Don't ye be afraid!" said Biddy, her beady eyes +softening. "It's something ye'll like. Master Scott--he's not the +gentleman to make ye do anything ye don't want to do. Don't ye trust him, +Miss Dinah?" + +"Of course--of course," Dinah said, with trembling lips. + +"Then ye've nothing to be afraid of," said Biddy wisely. "Faith, it's +only the marriage-licence he's been to fetch!" + +"Oh--Biddy!" Dinah wheeled from the window, with both her hands over her +heart. + +Biddy nodded with grave triumph. "It was Sir Eustace made him go. Master +Scott--he didn't think it would be dacent, not at first. But, as Sir +Eustace said, there's more ways than one of being ondacent, and after all +it was the dearest wish of Miss Isabel's heart. 'Don't you be a +conventional fool!' he said. And for once I agreed with him," said Biddy +naively, "though I think he needn't have used bad language over it." + +"Oh--Biddy!" Dinah said again, and then very oddly she began to smile, +and the tension went out of her attitude. She kissed the wrinkled cheek, +and turned. "I think perhaps I will go down and speak to Sir Eustace," +she said. + +She went quickly, aware that if she suffered herself to pause, that +overpowering shyness would seize upon her again. + +Guided by the scent of cigarette-smoke, she entered the dining-room. Sir +Eustace was seated at a writing-table near the window. He looked up +swiftly at her entrance. + +"Awake at last!" he said, and would have risen with the words, but she +reached him first and checked him. + +"Eustace! Oh, Eustace!" she said. "I--I--Biddy has just told me--" + +He frowned, as she stopped in confusion, steadying herself rather +piteously against his shoulder. But in a moment, seeing her agitation, he +put a kindly arm around her. + +"Biddy is an old fool--always was. Don't take any notice of her! What a +ferment you're in, child! What's the matter? There, sit down!" + +He drew her down on to the arm of his chair, and she leaned against him, +striving for self-control. + +"You--you are so--so much too good," she murmured. + +He smiled rather grimly. "No one ever accused me of that before! Was that +the staggering piece of information that Biddy has imparted to you?" + +"No," she said, a fleeting smile upon her awn face. "It was--it +was--about Scott. It took my breath away,--that's all." + +"That all?" said Eustace with a faintly wry lift of one eyebrow. + +She slipped a shy arm around his neck. "Eustace, do you--do you think +I--ought to let Scott marry me?" + +"I'm quite sure you'll break his heart if you don't," responded Eustace. + +"Oh, I couldn't do that!" she said quickly. + +"No. I shouldn't if I were you. It isn't a very amusing game for anyone +concerned." Sir Eustace took up his pen with his free hand. "He's rather +a good chap, you know," he said, "beastly good sometimes. He'll take a +little living up to. But you'll manage that, I daresay. When he told me +how things stood between you, I saw directly that there was only one +thing to be done, and I made him do it. The idea is to get you married +before the nurse goes, and she is off to-morrow." He paused, looking at +her critically, and again half-cynically, half-sadly, smiled. "You took +that well," he said. "If it had been to me, you'd have jumped sky-high. +You're a wise little creature, Dinah. You've chosen the best man, and +you'll never be sorry. I congratulate you on your choice." + +He turned his face fully to her, and she stooped swiftly and kissed him. +"I'm--dreadfully sorry I--treated you so badly first," she whispered. + +"You needn't be," he said. "It did me good. You showed me myself from a +point of view that I had never taken before. You taught me to be human. I +told Isabel so. She--poor girl--" he stopped a second, and she saw that +momentarily he was moved; but he continued almost at once--"she was +grateful to you too," he said. "You removed the outer crust at a single +stroke--just in time to prevent atrophy. Of course," he glanced down at +the letter under his hand, "it was a more or less painful process, but it +may comfort you to know that it didn't go quite so deep with me as I +thought it had at the time. There's no sense in crying over spilt milk +anyhow. I never was that sort of ass. You may--or may not--be pleased to +hear that I am already well on the way to consolation." He lifted his +eyes suddenly with an expression in them that completely baffled her. It +was almost as if he had detached himself for the moment from all +participation in his own doings, contemplating them with a half-pathetic +irony. "Shall I tell you what I was doing when you came in just now?" he +said. "I was writing to the girl you nearly sacrificed your happiness to +cut out." + +"Rose de Vigne?" she said quickly. + +He nodded. "Yes, Rose de Vigne" He paused for a second, just a second; +then: "The girl I am going to marry," he said quietly. + +"Oh, Eustace!" There was no mistaking the gladness in Dinah's tone. "I am +pleased!" she said earnestly. "I know you will be happy together. You +were simply made for each other." + +He smiled, still in that strange, half-rueful fashion. "I am doing the +best I can under the circumstances. It is kind of you to be pleased. But +now once more to your affairs. They are more pressing than mine just now. +It may interest you to know that Scott--although under Isabel's will he +is made absolutely independent of me--is willing to live at the Dower +House, if that arrangement meets with your approval." + +"Of course--I shall love it," Dinah said. + +"I am glad of that, for it will be a great help to me to have him there. +You will be able to have Billy to stay with you in the holidays and roam +about as you like. Scott is making all sorts of plans. I am going to +settle the place on him as a wedding-present." + +"Oh, Eustace! How kind! What a lovely gift!" + +Sir Eustace smiled at her. "I am giving him more than that, Dinah. I am +giving him his wife and--the wedding-ring." The irony was uppermost +again, but it held no sting. "It will fit no other hand but yours, and it +will serve to keep you in constant remembrance of your good luck. I can +hear him coming up the path. Aren't you going to meet him?" + +She sprang up like a startled fawn. "Oh, I can't--I can't meet him yet," +she said desperately. + +There was a curious glint in Eustace's eyes as he watched her, a flash of +mockery that came and went. + +"What?" he said. "Do you want me to help you to run away from him now?" + +She looked at him quickly, and in a moment her hesitation was gone. + +"Oh, no!" she said. "No!" and with a little breathless sound that might +have been a tremor of laughter, she fled away from him out into the +evening sunshine to meet her lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE SEVENTH HEAVEN + + +They were married in the early morning at the little old church that had +nestled for centuries among its trees in the village on the cliff. The +absolute simplicity of the service deprived it of all terrors for Dinah. +Standing with Scott in the glow of sunlight that smote full upon them +through the mellow east window, she could not feel afraid. The whole +world was so bright, so full of joy. + +"Do you think Isabel can see us now?" she whispered to him, as they rose +together from kneeling before the altar. + +He did not answer her in words, but his pale eyes were shining with that +steadfast light of the spirit which she had come to know. She wished she +could have knelt there by his side a little longer. They seemed to be so +near to the Gates of Heaven. + +But they were not alone, and they could not linger. Sir Eustace who had +given her away, Biddy who had tenderly supported her, the nurse who +carried the fragrant bouquet of honeysuckle--the bond of love--which she +had herself gathered for the bride, all were waiting to draw them back +to earth again; and with Scott's hand clasping hers she turned +regretfully and left the holy place. + +Later, when Sir Eustace kissed her with the careless observation that he +always kissed a bride, she had a moment of burning shyness, and she would +gladly have hidden her face. But Scott did not kiss her. He had not +offered to do so since that wonderful moment when he had first held her +against his heart. He had not attempted to make love to her, and she had +not felt the need of it. Grave and practical, he had laid his plans +before her, and with the supreme confidence that he had always inspired +in her she had acquiesced to all. + +At his desire she had refrained from entering Isabel's death-chamber. At +his desire she was to leave that day for the Dower House that was to be +their home. Biddy would accompany her thither. The place was ready for +occupation, for by Isabel's wish the work had gone on, though both she +and Scott had known that they would never share a home there. It almost +seemed as if she had foreseen the fulfilment of her earnest wish. And +here Dinah was to await her husband. + +"I won't come to you till the funeral is over," he said to her. "I must +be with Eustace. You won't be unhappy?" + +No, she would not be unhappy. She had never been so near to Death before, +but she was neither frightened nor dismayed. She stood in the shadow +indeed, but she looked forth from it over a world of such sunshine as +filled her heart with quivering gladness. + +He did not want her to attend the funeral at Willowmount, would not, if +he could help it, suffer her so much as to see the trappings of woe; and +in this Dinah acquiesced also, comprehending fully the motive that +underlay his wish. She knew that the earthly formalities, though they +had to be faced, were to Scott something of the nature of a grim farce in +which, while he could not escape it himself, he was determined that she +should take no part. He was not mourning for Isabel. He would not pretend +to mourn. Her death was to him but as the opening wide of a prison-door +to one who had long lain captive, pining for liberty. He would follow the +poor worn body to its grave rather with thanksgiving than with grief. And +realizing so well that this was his inevitable feeling, even as in a +smaller degree it had become her own, Dinah agreed without demur to his +wish to spare her all the jarring details, the travesty of mourning, that +could not fail to strike a false chord in her soul. + +It was well for her that she had Biddy to think of. The old woman was +pathetically eager to serve her. She had in fact attached herself to +Dinah in a fashion that went to her heart. It was Miss Isabel's wish that +she should take care of her, she told her tremulously, and Dinah, knew +that it had been equally her friend's wish that she should care for +Biddy. + +And Biddy was very good. Probably in accordance with Scott's desire, she +made a great effort to throw off all gloom, and undoubtedly her own sense +of loss and bereavement was greatly lessened by the consciousness of +Dinah's need of her. + +"Time enough to weep later," she told herself, as she lay down in the +room adjoining Dinah's on that first night in the Dower House. "She'll +not be wanting old Biddy when Master Scott comes to her." + +The two days that followed were very fully occupied. There were curtains +and pictures to hang, furniture to be arranged, and many things to be +unpacked. Dinah went to the work with zest. She did not know when Scott +would come. But it would be soon, she knew it would be soon; and she +thrilled to the thought. Everything must be ready for him. She wanted him +to feel that it was home from the moment he crossed the threshold. + +So, with Biddy's help, she went about her preparations, enlisting the old +nurse's sympathies till at last she succeeded in arousing her enthusiasm +also. There was certainly no time to weep. + +That second day after her arrival was the day of the funeral. It was +a beautiful still day of summer, and in the afternoon Dinah and Biddy +sat in the garden overlooking the winding river, and read the Burial +Service together. It was Dinah's suggestion, somewhat shyly proffered, +and--though she knew it not--from that time forward Biddy's heart was +at her feet. Whatever tears there might be yet to shed had lost all +bitterness from that hour. + +"I'll never be lonely so long as there's you to love, Miss Dinah +darlint," Biddy murmured, when the young arms closed about her neck for a +moment ere they went back to their work. "Ye've warmed and comforted me +all through." + +It was late in the evening when dusk was falling that there came the +sound of an uneven tread on the gravel path before the Dower House. + +Dinah was the first to hear it. Dinah wearing one of Biddy's voluminous +aprons and mounted on a pair of steps, arranging china on a high shelf +that ran round the old square hall. + +The front-door was open, and the birds were singing in the gloaming. She +had been listening to them while she worked, when suddenly this new sound +came. Her heart gave a wild leap and stood still. She had not expected +him to-night. + +She sat down on the top of the steps with a swift, indescribable rush of +feeling that seemed to deprive her of all her strength. She could not +have said for the moment if she were glad or dismayed at the sound of +that quiet footfall. But she was quite powerless to go and meet him. A +great wave of shyness engulfed her, possessing her, overwhelming her. + +He entered. He came straight to her. She wondered afterwards what he must +have thought of her, sitting there on her perch in burning embarrassment +with no word or sign of welcome. But whatever he thought, he dealt with +the situation with unerring instinct. + +He mounted a couple of steps with hands stretched up to hers. "Why, my +Dinah!" he said. "How busy you are! Let me help!" + +Her heart throbbed on again, fast and hard. But still for a few seconds +she could not speak. She stooped with a soft endearing sound and laid her +face upon the hands that had clasped her own. + +He suffered her for a moment or two in silence; she thought his hands +trembled slightly. Then: "Let's get finished, little wife!" he said +gently. "Isn't the day's work nearly over? Can't we take off our +sandals--and rest?" + +"I have just done," she said, finding her voice. "Biddy and I have got +through such a lot. Oh, Scott," as the light fell upon his face, "how +tired you look!" + +"It has been rather a tiring day," he made answer. "I didn't think I +could get over here to-night; but Eustace insisted." + +"How good of him!" she said, with quick gratitude. + +"Yes, he is good," Scott's voice was tender. "I couldn't sleep last +night, and he came into my room, and we had a long talk. He is one of the +best, Dinah; one of the best. I'm afraid you've made--rather a poor +exchange." + +Something in his tone banished the last of Dinah's shyness. She gave him +her basket of china and prepared to descend. He stretched up a courteous +hand to help her, but she would have none of it. "You are never to say +that--or anything like it--again," she said severely. "If--if you weren't +so dreadfully tired, I believe I'd be really angry. As it is--" she +reached the ground and stood there before him, a small, purposeful figure +clad in the great apron that wrapped about her like a garment. + +"As it is--" he suggested meekly, setting the basket on a chair and +turning back to face her. + +Two quivering hands came out to him in the gloaming, and fastened +resolutely on his coat. "Oh, Greatheart," whispered a tremulous voice, "I +love you so much--so much--I want--to kiss you!" + +"My darling," answered Greatheart softly, "you can't want it--more than I +do." + +His arms closed about her; he drew her to his breast. + + * * * * * + +"Arrah thin, what would I cry for at all?" said Biddy, as she lay +down that night. "I've got herself and Master Scott to care for, and +maybe--some day--the Almighty will remember old Biddy for good, and give +another little one into her care." + + * * * * * + +"And you left them quite happy?" smiled Rose to her lover two days later. +"It's a very suitable arrangement, isn't it? I always used to think that +Dinah and your brother should make a match." + +"Oh, quite suitable," agreed Eustace lazily, an odd blend of irony and +satisfaction in his tone. "They will be happy enough. Stumpy, you know, +is just the sort of chivalrous ass that a child like Dinah can +appreciate. They'll probably live in the seventh heaven, and fancy that +no one else has ever been within a million miles of it." + +"Poor little Dinah!" murmured Rose. "She will never know what she has +missed." + +And, "Just as well perhaps," said Sir Eustace, with his faintly cynical +smile. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREATHEART*** + + +******* This file should be named 13497.txt or 13497.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/4/9/13497 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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