"I hope you
are not very busy. I'd like you to show me everything."

He laughed. "No, I can't do that. We must keep that for Eustace. But I
will take you to the Dower House, and show you that."

"I shall love that," said Dinah.

He took her into a room that overlooked terrace and river-valley and the
sunny southern slope that lay between.

Breakfast was laid for two, and a cheery fire was burning. "How cosy it
looks!" said Dinah.

"It does, doesn't it?" said Scott. "We always breakfast here in the
winter for that reason. Not that it is winter to-day. It is glorious
spring. You seem to have brought it with you. Take the coffee-pot end,
won't you? What will you have to eat?"

He spoke with a lightness that Dinah found peculiarly exhilarating. He
was evidently determined that she should not be dull. Her spirits rose.
She suddenly felt like a child who has been granted an unexpected
holiday.

She smiled up at him as he brought her a plate. "Isn't it a perfect
morning? I'm so glad to be here. Don't let us waste a single minute; will
we?"

"Not one," said Scott.

He went to his own place. He was plainly in a holiday mood also. She saw
it in his whole bearing, and her heart rejoiced. It was so good to see
him looking happy.

"Have you seen Isabel this morning?" he asked her presently.

"No. I went to her door, but Biddy said she was asleep, so I didn't go
in."

"She often doesn't sleep much before morning," Scott said. "I expect she
will be down to luncheon if you can put up with me only till then."

He evidently did not want to discuss Isabel's health just then, and Dinah
was quite willing also to let the subject pass for the time. It was a
morning for happy thoughts only. She and Scott would pretend that they
had not a care in the world.

They breakfasted together as if it were a picnic. She had never seen him
so cheery and inconsequent. It was as if he also were engaged in some
species of make-believe. Or was it the enchantment of spring that had
fallen upon them both? Dinah could not have said. She only knew that
she had never felt so happy in all her life before.

The walk to the Dower House was full of delight. It was all so exquisite,
the long, grassy slopes, the dark woods, the bare trees stark against the
blue. The path led through a birch copse, and here in sheltered corners
were primroses. She gathered them eagerly, and Scott helped her, even
forgetting to smoke.

She did not remember later wh