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.