me for your
train?"

Dinah laughed again with more assurance. "Oh no! I got there first. He
came swooping down as if he had dropped from the clouds. We had a very
quick run back, and I'm blown all to pieces." She put up impetuous hands
to thrust back the disordered clusters of dark hair.

"Take off your hat!" said Scott.

She obeyed, with shining eyes upon him. "Now, why didn't you come over
to Perrythorpe? You haven't told me yet."

"I was busy," he answered. "I had to get home."

His eyes were shining also. She did not need to be told that he was
glad to see her. He rang for tea and sat down somewhere near in his
usual unobtrusive fashion. Eustace occupied the place of honour in an
easy-chair drawn close to the end of the sofa on which Dinah sat. He
was watching her, she knew but she could not meet his look as she met
Scott's. His very nearness made her feel again the scorching of the
flame.

She slipped her hand into Isabel's as though seeking refuge and as she
did so she heard Eustace address his brother, his tone brief and
peremptory,--the voice of the employer.

"You have finished that correspondence?"

"I shall finish it in time for the post," Scott made answer.

Eustace made a sound expressive of dissatisfaction. "You'll miss it sure
as a gun!"

Scott said nothing further, but his silence was not without a certain
mastery that sent an odd little thrill of triumph through Dinah.

Eustace frowned heavily and turned from him.

The entrance of Biddy with the tea made a diversion, for her greeting of
Dinah was full of warmth.

"But sure, ye're not looking like I'd like to see ye, Miss Dinah," was
her verdict. "It's meself that'll have to feed ye up."

"But I'm always thin!" protested Dinah. "It's just the way I'm made."

Biddy pursed her lips and shook her head. "It's not the sign of a
contented mind," she commented.

"I never was contented before I went to Switzerland," said Dinah; she
turned to Isabel. "Wasn't it all lovely? It's just like a dream to me
now--all glitter and romance. I'd give anything to have it over again."

"I'll show you better things than winter in the Alps," said Eustace in
his free, imperial fashion.

Her bright eyes glanced up to his for a moment. "Do you know I don't
believe you could," she said.

He laughed. "You won't say that six months hence. The Alps will be no
more than an episode to you then."

"Rather an important episode," remarked Scott.

Her look came