it matter?" she said. "I've nothing
else to live for."

"I don't think we can any of us say that," he answered. "There is always
something left."

She turned her face and looked over the sea. "I'm sure I don't know
what," she said, with a catch in her voice. "If--Isabel--were going to
live, if--if I could only have her always, I should be quite happy. I
shouldn't want anything else. But without her--life without her--after
these two months,--" her voice broke and ceased.

"I know," Scott said. "I should have felt the same myself not so long
ago. I have let you slip into my place, you see; and it comes hard on you
now. But don't forget our friendship, Dinah! Don't forget I'm here!"

She turned back, swallowing her tears with difficulty and gave him a
quivering smile. "Oh, I know. You are so good. And it was dear of you
to--to let me take your place with her. None but you would have done such
a thing."

"My dear, it was far better for her, and she wished it," he interposed.
"Besides, with Eustace away, I had plenty to do. You mustn't twist that
into a virtue. It was the only course open to me. I knew that it would
lift her out of misery to have you, and--naturally--I wished it too."

She nodded. "It was just like you. And I--I ought to have remembered that
it couldn't last. It has been such a comfort to--to have my darling to
love and care for. But oh, the blank when she is gone!"

Scott was silent.

"It's wrong to want to keep her, I know," Dinah went on wistfully. "She
has got so wonderfully happy of late; and I know it is the thought of
nearing the end of the journey that makes her so. And when I am with her,
I feel happy too for her sake. But when I am away from her--it--it's
all so dreary. I--feel so frightened and--alone."

"Don't be frightened!" Scott said gently. "You never are alone."

"Ah, but life is so difficult," she whispered.

"It would be," he answered, "if we had to face it all at once. But, thank
God, that is not so. We can only see a little way ahead. We can only do a
little at a time."

"Do you think that is a help?" she said. "I would give
anything--sometimes--to look into the future."

"I think the burden would be greater than we could bear," Scott said.

"Oh, do you? I think it would be such a relief to know." Dinah uttered a
sharp sigh. "It's no good talking," she said. "Only one thing is certain.
I'm not going to break with Billy of course, but I'll never go back to
Perrythorpe a