"Do you sleep better now?" Dinah asked, detaining her.
Isabel hesitated for a second. "Oh yes, I sleep," she said then. "I am
able to sleep now that you are safe, my darling."
Dinah clung to her. "I can't think what I would do without you," she
murmured. "No one was ever so good to me before."
Isabel held her closely. "Don't you realize," she said fondly, "that you
have been my salvation."
"Not--not really?" faltered Dinah.
"Yes, really." There was a throb of passion in Isabel's voice. "I have
been a prisoner for years, but you--you, little Dinah,--have set me free.
I am travelling forward again now--like the rest of the world." She
paused a moment, and her arms clasped Dinah more closely still. "I do not
think I have very far to go," she said, speaking very softly. "My night
has been so long that I think the dawn cannot be far off now. God knows
how I am longing for it."
"Oh, darling, don't--don't!" whispered Dinah piteously.
"I won't, dearest." Very tenderly Isabel kissed her again. "I didn't mean
to distress you. Only I want you to know that you are just all the world
to me--the main-spring of what life there is left to me. I shall never
forgive myself for leading you away on that terrible Sunday, and causing
you all this suffering."
"Oh, but I should have been home again by now if that hadn't happened,"
said Dinah quickly. "See what I should have missed! I'd far, far rather
be ill with you than well at home.
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