“Miss Dinah dear, no!” A hint of impatience born of her distress was perceptible in the old woman’s tone; she turned to the door.  “Well, well, it’s no good talking.  Don’t ye fret yourself!  What must be, will be.”

“But I think Scott ought to know,” said Dinah.

“No, no, Miss Dinah!  We’ll not tell him before we need.  He’s got his own troubles.  But I wonder—­I wonder—­” Biddy paused with the door-handle in her bony old fingers—­“how would it be now,” she said slowly, “if ye was to get Miss Isabel to sleep with ye again?  She forgot last night.  It’s likely she may forget again—­unless he calls her.”

“Biddy!” exclaimed Dinah, startled.

Biddy’s beady eyes gleamed mysteriously.  “Arrah, but it’s the truth I’m telling ye, Miss Dinah.  He does call her.  I’ve known him call her when she’s been lying in a deep sleep, and she’ll rise up with her arms stretched out and that look in her eyes!” Biddy’s face crumpled momentarily, but was swiftly straightened again.  “Will ye do it then, Miss Dinah?  Ye needn’t be afraid.  I’ll be within call.  But when she’s got you, she don’t seem to be craving for anyone else.  What was it she called ye only last night?  Her good angel!  And so ye be, me jewel; so ye be!”

Dinah stood debating the matter.  Biddy’s expedient was of too temporary an order to recommend itself to her.  She wondered why Scott should not be consulted, and it was with some vague intention of laying the matter before him if an opportunity should occur that she finally gave her somewhat hesitating consent.

“I will do it of course, Biddy.  I love her to sleep with me.  But, you know, it is bound to come out some time, unless you manage to find the letters again.  They must be somewhere.”

Biddy shook her head.  “We must just leave that to the Almighty, Miss Dinah dear,” she said piously.  “There’s nothing else we can do at all.  I’ll get back to her room now, and when she comes up, I’ll tell her ye’re feeling lonely, and will she please to sleep with ye again.  She won’t think of anything else then ye may be sure.  Why, she worships the very ground under your feet, mavourneen, like—­like someone else I know.”

She was gone with the words, leaving upon Dinah a dim impression that her last words were intended to convey something which she would have translated into simpler language had she been at liberty to do so.

She did not pay much attention to them.  She was too troubled over her former revelation to think seriously of anything else.  Into her mind, all unbidden, had flashed a sudden memory, and it held her like a nightmare-vision.  She saw Sir Eustace with that imperious frown on his face holding out Isabel’s treasure with a curt, “Take this thing away!” She saw herself leap up and seize it from his intolerant grasp.  She saw Isabel’s outstretched, pleading hands, and the piteous hunger in her eyes....

When Isabel came to her that night, her face was all softened with mother-love.  She drew Dinah to her breast, kissing her very tenderly.