Part 15 (1/2)

”They didn't know what to do. The _s.h.i.+kari_ was the only one with any ideas among them, and he wasn't especially brilliant. But after another day and night he hit on the notion of sending one of the coolies back with the news while he and the other men waited and watched. They kept her supplied with food. She must have eaten almost mechanically. But she never left that ledge. And yet--and yet--she was kept from taking the one step that would have ended it all. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't have been better--more merciful--” He broke off.

”Perhaps G.o.d was watching her,” murmured Dinah shyly.

”Yes, I tell myself that. But even so, I can't help wondering sometimes.”

Scott's voice was very sad. ”She was left so terribly desolate,” he said.

”Those letters that you saw last night are all she has of him. He has gone, and taken the mainspring of her life with him. I hate to think of what followed. They sent up a doctor from the nearest station, and she was taken away,--taken by force. When I got to her three weeks later, she was mad, raving mad, with brain fever. I had the old nurse Biddy with me.

We nursed her between us. We brought her back to what she is now. Some day, please G.o.d, we shall get her quite back again; but whether it will be for her happiness He only knows.”

Scott ceased to speak. His brows were drawn as the brows of a man in pain.

Dinah's eyes were full of tears. ”Oh, thank you for telling me! Thank you!” she murmured. ”I do hope you will get her quite back, as you say.”

He looked at her, saw her tears, and put out a gentle hand that rested for a moment upon her arm. ”I am afraid I have made you unhappy. Forgive me! You are so sympathetic, and I have taken advantage of it. I think we shall get her back. She is coming very, very gradually. She has never before taken such an interest in anyone as she took in you last night.

She was talking of you again this morning. She has taken a fancy to you.

I hope you don't mind.”

”Mind!” Dinah choked a little and smiled a quivering smile. ”I am proud--very proud. I only wish I deserved it. What--what made you bring her here?”

”That was my brother's idea. Since we brought her home she has never been away, except once on the yacht; and then she was so miserable that we were afraid to keep her there. But he thought a thorough change--mountain air--might do her good. The doctor was not against it. So we came.”

”And do you never leave her?” questioned Dinah.

”Practically never. Ever since that awful time in India she has been very dependent upon me. Biddy of course is quite indispensable to her. And I am nearly so.”

”You have given yourself up to her in fact?” Quick admiration was in Dinah's tone.

He smiled. ”It didn't mean so much to me as it would have meant to some men, Miss Bathurst,--as it would have meant to Eustace, for instance. I'm not much of a man. To give up my college career and settle down at home wasn't such a great wrench. I'm not especially clever. I act as my brother's secretary, and we find it answers very well. He is a rich man, and there is a good deal of business in connection with the estate, and so on. I am a poor man. By my father's will nearly everything was left to him and to Isabel. I was something of an offence to him, being the cause of my mother's death and misshapen into the bargain.”

”What a wicked shame!” broke from Dinah.

”No, no! Some people are like that. They are made so. I don't feel in the least bitter about it. He left me enough to live upon, though as a matter of fact neither he nor anyone else expected me to grow up at the time that will was made. It was solely due to Biddy's devotion, I believe, that I managed to do so.” He uttered his quiet laugh. ”I am talking rather much about myself. It's kind of you not to be bored.”

”Bored!” echoed Dinah, with s.h.i.+ning eyes. ”I think you are simply wonderful. I hope--I hope Sir Eustace realizes it.”

”I hope he does,” agreed Scott with a twinkle. ”He has ample opportunities for doing so. Ah, there he is! He is actually skating alone. What has become of the beautiful Miss de Vigne, I wonder.”

They walked on, nearing the rink. ”I'm not going to be horrid about her any more,” said Dinah suddenly. ”You must have thought me a perfect little cat. And so I was!”

”Oh, please!” protested Scott. ”I didn't!”

She laughed. ”That just shows how kind you are. It doesn't make me feel the least bit better. I was a cat. There! Oh, your brother is calling you. I think I'll go.”

She blushed very deeply and quickened her steps. Sir Eustace had come to the edge of the rink.

”Stumpy!” he called. ”Stumpy!”