"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.