head. "Don't cry, little one!" he said softly. "Tell me what it is!"

"I can't," murmured Dinah.

"You wanted to go and dance," said Scott sympathetically. "Was it just
that?"

"Not--just--that!" she whispered forlornly.

"I thought not. You were wanting something more than that. What was it?"

She tried not to tell him. She would have given almost all she had to
keep silence on the subject; but somehow she had to speak. Under the
pressure of that kind hand, she could not maintain her silence any
longer.

"I was thinking of--of your brother," she told him with tears. "I was
wondering if--if he were dancing, and--and I not there!"

It was out at last, and she hid her face in overwhelming shame because
she had given him a glimpse of her secret heart which none had ever seen
before. She wondered with anguish what he thought of her, if she had
forfeited his good opinion of her for ever, if indeed he would ever speak
to her with kindness again.

And then very quietly he did speak, and in a moment all her anxiety was
gone. "He may have been dancing," he said. "But I believe he has been
very bored ever since the weather broke. I wonder if he might come and
see you. Would it be too much for you? Should you mind?"