"I've faced all the worst bits alone so
far."
"I know," Scott said. "But you are through the worst now."
She shook her head doubtfully. "I'm afraid of life," she said.
He saw that she did not wish to pursue the subject and put it gently
aside. "Shall we go in?" he said. "I should like to be at hand when
Isabel wakes."
She turned beside him at once. Their talk went back to Isabel. They spoke
of her tenderly, as one nearing the end of a long and wearisome journey,
and as they approached the little white house on the heath above the sea,
Dinah gave somewhat hesitating utterance to a thought that had been
persistently in her mind of late.
"Do you," she said, speaking with evident effort, "think that--Eustace
should be sent for?"
"Does she want him?" said Scott.
"I don't know. She never speaks of him. But then--that may be--for my
sake." Dinah's voice was very low and not wholly free from distress. "And
again--it may be on my account he is keeping away. She hasn't seen him
for these two months--not since we left Perrythorpe."
"No," Scott said gravely. "I know."
Dinah was silent for a brief space; then she braced herself for another
effort. "Scott, I--don't want to be--in anyone's way. If--if she would
like to see him, and if he--doesn't want to come--because of me, I--must
go, that's all."
She spoke with resolution, and pausing at the gate that led off the heath
into the garden looked him straight in the face.
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