"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.




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