Biddy's expedient was of too temporary
an order to recommend itself to her. She wondered why Scott should not be
consulted, and it was with some vague intention of laying the matter
before him if an opportunity should occur that she finally gave her
somewhat hesitating consent.
"I will do it of course, Biddy. I love her to sleep with me. But, you
know, it is bound to come out some time, unless you manage to find the
letters again. They must be somewhere."
Biddy shook her head. "We must just leave that to the Almighty, Miss
Dinah dear," she said piously. "There's nothing else we can do at all.
I'll get back to her room now, and when she comes up, I'll tell her ye're
feeling lonely, and will she please to sleep with ye again. She won't
think of anything else then ye may be sure. Why, she worships the very
ground under your feet, mavourneen, like--like someone else I know."
She was gone with the words, leaving upon Dinah a dim impression that her
last words were intended to convey something which she would have
translated into simpler language had she been at liberty to do so.
She did not pay much attention to them. She was too troubled over her
former revelation to think seriously of anything else. Into her mind,
all unbidden, had flashed a sudden memory, and it held her like a
nightmare-vision. She saw Sir Eustace with that imperious frown on his
face holding out Isabel's treasure with a curt, "Take this thing away!"
She saw herself leap up and seize it from his intolerant grasp.
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