There were workmen in one or two of the rooms, and she stood by or wandered at will while Scott talked to the foreman.

They found themselves presently in the room that was to be Isabel’s,—­a large and sunlit apartment that had a turret window that looked to the far hills beyond the river.  Dinah stood entranced with her eyes upon the blue distance.  Finally, with a sigh, she spoke.

“How I wish I were going to live here too!”

“What!  You like it better than Willowmount?” said Scott.

She made a little gesture of the hands, as if she pleaded for understanding.  “I feel so small in big places.  This is spacious, but it’s cosy too.  I—­I should feel lost alone at Willowmount.”

“But you won’t be alone,” he pointed out, with his kindly smile.  “You will be very much the reverse, I can assure you.”

She gave that sharp, uncontrollable little shiver of hers.  “You mean Eustace—­” she said haltingly.

“Yes, Eustace, and all the people round who will want to know his bride,” said Scott.  “I don’t think you will have much time to be lonely.  If you have, you can always come along to us, you know.  We shall be only too delighted to see you.”

Dinah turned to him impulsively.  “You are good!” she said.  “I wonder you don’t look upon me as a horrid little interloper, turning you out of your home where you have always lived!  I do hate the thought of it!  Really it isn’t my fault.”

She spoke with tears in her eyes; but Scott still smiled.  “My dear child,” he said, “such an idea never entered my head.  Isabel and I have often thought we should like to make this our home.  We have always intended to as soon as Eustace married.”

“Did you never think of marrying?” Dinah asked him suddenly.

There was an instant’s pause, and then, as he was about to speak, she broke in quickly.

“Oh, please don’t tell me!  I was a pig to ask!  I didn’t mean to.  It just slipped out.  Do forgive me!”

“But why shouldn’t you ask?” said Scott gently.  “We are friends.  I don’t mind answering you.  I’ve had my dream like the rest of the world.  But it was very soon over.  I never seriously deluded myself into the belief that anyone could care to marry a shrimp like me.”

“Oh, Scott!” Almost fiercely Dinah cut him short.  “How can you—­you of all people—­say a thing like that?”

Scott looked at her quizzically for a moment.  “I should have thought I was the one person who could say it,” he observed.

Dinah turned from him sharply.  Her hands were clenched.  “Oh no!  Oh no!” she said incoherently.  “It’s not right!  It’s not fair!  You—­you—­Mr. Greatheart!” Quite suddenly, as if the utterance of the name were too much for her, she broke down, covered her face, and wept.

“Dinah!” said Scott.

He came to her and took her very gently by the arm.  Dinah’s shoulders were shaking.  She could not lift her face.