"Not to-night," said Isabel with quick decision. "Dinah is going to bed
very soon."

"Really?" He stood by Dinah's couch, looking down at her with his faint
supercilious smile. "Do you submit to that sort of tyranny?" he said.

She held up her hand to him. "It isn't tyranny. It is the very dearest
kindness in the world. Don't you know the difference?"

He held the little, confiding hand a moment or two, and she felt his
fingers close around it with a strength that seemed as if it encompassed
her very soul. "There are two ways of looking at everything," he said.
"But I shouldn't be too docile if I were you; not, that is, if you want
to get any fun out of life. Remember, life is short."

He let her go with the words, straightened himself to his full, splendid
height, and sauntered with regal arrogance to the door.

"I want you, Stumpy," he said, in passing. "There are one or two letters
for you to deal with. You can come to my room while I dress."

"In that case, I had better say good night too," said Scott, rising.

"Oh no," said Dinah, with her quick smile. "You can come in and say good
night to me afterwards--when I'm in bed. Can't he, Isabel?"

She had fallen into the habit of calling Isabel by her Christian name
from hearing Scott use it. It had begun almost in delirium, and now it
came so naturally that she never dreamed of reverting to the more formal
mode of address.