n
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.

"H