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.