I could bear, he was always there to help me. He never left me; and
gradually he became so necessary to me that I couldn't contemplate life
without him. I have been terribly selfish." A low sob checked her
utterance for a moment, and Dinah's young arms tightened. "I let my grief
take hold of me to the exclusion of everything else. I didn't see--I
didn't realize--the sacrifice he was making. For years I took it all as a
right, living in my fog of misery and blind to all beside. But now--now
at last--thanks to you, little one, whom I nearly killed--my eyes are
open once more. The fog has rolled away. No, I can never be happy. I am
of those who wait. But I will never again, God helping me, deprive others
of happiness. Scott shall live his own life now. His devotion to me must
come to an end. My greatest wish in life now is that he may meet a woman
worthy of him, who will love him as he deserves to be loved, before I
climb the peaks of Paradise and find my beloved in the dawning." Isabel's
voice sank. She pressed Dinah close against her heart. "It will not be
long," she whispered. "I have had a message that there is no mistaking, I
know it will not be long. But oh, darling, I do want to see him happy
first."

Dinah was crying softly. She could find no words to utter.

So for awhile they clung together, the woman who had suffered and come at
last through bitter tribulation into peace, and the child whose feet yet
halted on the threshold of the enchanted country that the other had long
since traversed and left behind.

Nothing further passed between them. Isabel had said her say, and for
some reason Dinah was powerless to speak. She could think of no words to
utter, and deep in her heart she was half afraid to break the silence.
That sudden agitation of hers had left her oddly confused and