The words were quietly spoken, so quietly that they sounded almost
matter-of-fact. But Dinah flushed with pleasure, detecting the sincerity
in his voice.

"It's very nice of you to say that," she said, "especially as I deserve
it so little. Thank you, Mr.--Scott!" She uttered the name timidly. She
had never ventured to use it before.

He held out his hand to her. "Oh, drop the prefix!" he said. "Call me
Stumpy like the rest of the world!"

But Dinah shook her head with vehemence. There were tears standing in her
eyes, but she smiled through them. "I will not call you Stumpy!" she
declared. "It doesn't suit you a bit. I never even think of you by that
name. It--it is perfectly ludicrous applied to you!"

"Some people think I am ludicrous," observed Scott.

His hand grasped hers firmly for a moment, and let it go. The steadfast
friendliness in his eyes shone out like a beacon. And there came to Dinah
a swift sense of great and uplifting pride at the thought that she
numbered this man among her friends.

The moment passed, but the warmth at her heart remained. She went back to
Isabel, and slipped down into the shelter of her arm, feeling oddly shy
and also inexplicably happy. Her disappointment had shrunk to a
negligible quantity. She even wondered at herself for having cared so
greatly about so trifling a matter.