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.
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