How that week sped away she never afterwards fully recalled.  It passed like a fevered dream.  Two more journeys to town with Isabel, the ordeal of a dinner at the house of a neighbouring magnate, a much less formidable tea at the Vicarage, on which occasion Mr. Grey drew her aside and thanked her for using her influence over Sir Eustace in the right direction and earnestly exhorted her to maintain and develop it as far as possible when she was married, a few riding-lessons with Scott who always seemed so much more imposing in the saddle than out of it and knew so exactly how to instruct her, a few wild races in Sir Eustace’s car from which she always returned in a state of almost delirious exultation, and then night after night the sleep of utter weariness, with Isabel lying by her side.

The last night came upon her almost with a sense of shock.  It had become a custom for her to sit in the conservatory with Sir Eustace after dinner, and here with the lights turned low he was wont to pour out to her all the fiery worship which throughout the day he curbed.  No one ever disturbed them, but they were close to Isabel’s sitting-room where Scott was wont to sit and read while his sister lay on her couch resting and listening.  The murmur of his voice was audible to Dinah, and the knowledge of his close proximity gave her a courage which surely had not been hers otherwise.  She was learning how to receive her lover’s demonstrations without starting away in affright.  If he ever startled her, the sound of Scott’s voice in the adjoining room would always reassure her.  She knew that Scott was at hand and would never fail her.

But on that last night Sir Eustace was more ardent than she had ever known him.  He seemed to be almost fiercely resentful of the coming separation, brief though it was to be, and he would not suffer her out of reach of his hand.

Wedding presents had begun to arrive, and in some fashion they seemed to increase his impatience.

“I can’t think what we are waiting for,” he said, with his arm about her, drawing her close.  “All this pomp and circumstance is nothing but a hindrance.  It’s you I want, not your wedding finery.  You had better be married first and get the finery afterwards, as it isn’t to be in town.”

“Oh, but I want a big wedding,” protested Dinah.  “It’s going to be such fun.”

He laughed, holding her pointed chin between his finger and thumb.  “I believe that’s all you care about, you little heartless witch.  I don’t count at all.  You’d have enjoyed this week every bit as well if I hadn’t been here.”

She winced a little at his words, for somehow they went home.  “There hasn’t been much time for anything, has there?” she said.  “But—­but I’ve enjoyed the motor rides, and—­and I ought to thank you for being so very good to me.”

He kissed the quivering lips, and she slipped a shy arm round his neck with the feeling that she owed it to him.  But she did not return his kisses, for she was afraid to feed the flame that already leapt so high.