n may never materialize. In fact it seems more than possible.
In which case the least said is soonest mended."

"That may be what is troubling her," Isabel said thoughtfully.

She lay still for a while, and Scott leaned back in his chair and watched
the little pleasure-boats that skimmed the waters of the bay. The merry
cries of bathers came up to the quiet room. The world was full to the
brim of gaiety and sunshine on that hot June day.

"Stumpy," gently his sister's voice recalled him, "do you never mean to
marry, dear? I wish you would. You will be so lonely."

He lifted his shoulders. "What can I say Isabel? If the right woman comes
along and proposes, I will marry her with pleasure. I would never dare to
propose on my own,--being what I am."

"Being a very perfect knight whom any woman might be proud to marry,"
Isabel said. "That is only a pose of yours, Stumpy, and it doesn't become
you. I wonder--how I wonder!--if you are right about Dinah."

"Yes, I am right," he said with conviction. "But Isabel, you will
remember--it was spoken in confidence."

She gave a sharp sigh. "I shall remember dear," she said.

Again a brief silence fell between them; but Scott's eye no longer sought
the sparkling water. They dwelt upon his sister's face. Pale as
alabaster, clear-cut as though carven with a chisel, it rested upon the
white pillow, and the stamp of a great peace lay upon the calm forehead
and in the quiet of the deeply-sunken eyes. There were lines of suffering
that yet lingered about the mouth, lines of weariness and of sorrow, but
the old piteous look of craving had faded quite away. The bitter despair
that had so haunted Dinah had passed into the stillness of a great
patience. There was about her at that time the sacred hush that falls
before the dawn.

After a little she became aware of his quiet regard, and turned her head
with a smile. "Well, Stumpy? What is it?"

"I was just wondering what had happened to you," he made answer.

Her smile deepened. "I will tell you, dear," she said. "I have come
within sight of the mountain-top at last."

"And you are satisfied?" he said, in a low voice.

Her eyes shone with a soft brightness that seemed to illumine her whole
face. "Satisfied that my beloved is waiting for me and that I shall meet
him in the dawning?" she said. "Oh yes, I have known that in my heart for
a long time. It troubled me terribly when I lost his letters. They had
been such a link, and for a