Part 37 (1/2)
”But we'll pull her through, please G.o.d! We must pull her through.”
”If anyone can, you will,” said Billy with conviction.
Like Dinah, he had caught a glimpse in that brief conversation of the soul that inhabited that weak and puny form.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE WAY BACK
It was three days later that Dinah began at last the long and weary pilgrimage back again. Almost against her will she turned her faltering steps up the steep ascent; for she was too tired for any sustained effort. Only that something seemed to be perpetually drawing her she would not have been moved to make the effort at all. For she was so piteously weak that the bare exertion of opening her eyes was almost more than she could accomplish. But ever the unknown influence urged her, very gently but very persistently, never pa.s.sive, never dormant, but always drawing her as by an invisible cord back to the world of suns.h.i.+ne and tears that seemed so very far away from the land of shadows in which she wandered.
All active suffering had left her, and she would fain have been at peace; but the hand that clasped hers would not be denied. The motherly voice that had calmed the wildest fantasies of her fevered brain spoke now to her with tenderest encouragement; the love that surrounded her drew her, uplifted her, sustained her. And gradually, as she crept back from the shadows, she came to lean upon this love as upon a sure support, to count upon it as her own exclusive possession--a wonderful new gift that had come to her out of the darkness.
She still welcomed her friend Scott at her bedside, but very curiously she had grown a little shy in his presence. She could not forget that dream of hers, and for a long time she was haunted by the dread that he had in some way come to know of it. Though the steady eyes never held anything but the utmost kindness and sympathy, she was half afraid to meet them lest they should look into her heart and see the vision she had seen. She never called him Mr. Greatheart now.
With Isabel, beloved nurse and companion, she was completely at her ease.
A great change had come over Isabel--such a change as turns the bare earth into a garden of spring when the bitter winter is past at last. All the ice-bound bitterness had been swept utterly away, and in its place there blossomed such a wealth of mother-love as transformed her completely.
She spent herself with the most lavish devotion in Dinah's service. There was not a wish that she expressed that was not swiftly and abundantly satisfied. Night and day she was near her, ignoring all Biddy's injunctions to rest, till the old woman, seeing the light that had dawned in the shadowed eyes, left her to take her own way in peace. She hovered in the background, always ready in case her mistress's new-found strength should fail. But Isabel did not need her care. All her being was concentrated upon the task of bringing Dinah back to life, and she thought of nothing else, meeting the strain with that strength which comes in great emergencies to all.
And as she gradually succeeded in her task, a great peace descended upon her, such as she had never known before. Biddy sometimes gazed in amazement at the smooth brow and placid countenance at Dinah's bedside.
”Sure, the young lady's been a blessing straight from the Almighty,” she said to Scott.
”I think so too, Biddy,” he made quiet answer.
He was much less in the sick-room now that Dinah's need of him had pa.s.sed. He sometimes wondered if she even knew how many hours he had formerly spent there. He visited her every day, and it was to him that the task fell of telling her that the de Vignes had arranged to leave her in their charge.
”We have your father's permission,” he said, when her brows drew together with a troubled expression. ”You see, it is quite impossible to move you at present, and they must be getting home. Billy is to go with them if you think you can be happy alone with us.”
She put out her little wasted hand. ”I could be happy with you anywhere,”
she said simply. ”But it doesn't seem right.”
”Of course it is right,” he made quiet reply. ”In fact, if you ask me, I think it is our business rather than anyone else's to get you well again.”
She flushed in quick embarra.s.sment. ”Oh, please, you mustn't put it like that. And I have been such a trouble to everyone ever since.”
He smiled at her very kindly. ”Biddy says you are a blessing from the Almighty, and I quite agree with her. It is settled then? You are content to stay with us until we take you home?”
Her hand was clasped in his, but she did not meet his look. ”Oh, much more than content,” she said, her voice very low. ”Only--”
”Only?” he said gently.
She made an effort to lift her eyes, but dropped them again instantly.
”It will make it much harder to go home,” she said.
She thought he sounded somewhat grim as he said, ”There is no need to meet troubles half-way, you know. You won't be strong enough for the journey for some time to come.”