Save for a certain steeliness in his pale eyes, his
habitually placid expression remained unaltered.
He walked in silence for a few moments, then without effort began to talk
in a general strain of their journey of the previous day. Had Isabel
cared about the sleigh-ride? If so, they would go again one day.
She lighted up in response with an animation which she had not displayed
during the whole walk. Her eyes shone a little, as with a far-off fire of
gratitude.
"I should like it if you would, Stumpy," she said.
"Then we will certainly go," he said. "I should enjoy it very much."
Eustace came out of a somewhat sullen silence to throw a glance of
half-reluctant approval towards his brother. He plainly regarded Scott's
move as an achievement of some importance.
"Yes, go by all means!" he said. "Enjoy yourselves. That's all I ask."
Isabel's faint smile flitted across her tired face, but she said nothing.
Only as they reached and entered the hotel, she pressed Scott's hand for
a moment in both her own.
CHAPTER IV
THE MAGICIAN
"Well, Dinah, my dear, are you ready?"
Rose de Vigne, very slim and graceful, with her beautiful hair mounted
high above her white forehead and falling in a shower of golden ringlets
behind after the style of a hundred years ago, stood on the threshold of
Dinah's room, awaiting permission to enter. Her dress was of palest green
satin brocade, a genuine Court dress of a century old.
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