Dinah stood on the little wooden verandah of the _chalet_ and gazed and gazed till the splendour nearly blinded her.

"Still watching the Delectable Mountains?" said Scott's voice at her shoulder.

She made a little gesture in response. She could not take her eyes off the wonder.

He came and stood beside her in mute sympathy while he finished his cigarette. There was a certain depression in his att.i.tude of which presently she became aware. She summoned her resolution and turned herself from the great vision that so drew her.

He was leaning against a post of the verandah, and she read again in his att.i.tude the weariness that she had marked earlier in the afternoon.

"Are you--troubled about your sister?" she asked him diffidently.

He threw away the end of his cigarette and straightened himself. "Yes, I am troubled," he said, in a low voice. "I am afraid it was a mistake to bring her here."

"I thought her looking better this morning," Dinah ventured.

His grey eyes met hers. "Did you? I thought it a good sign that she should make the effort to speak to strangers. But I am not certain now that it has done her any good. We brought her here to wake her from her lethargy. Eustace thought the air would work wonders, but--I am not sure.

It is certainly waking her up. But--to what?"

His eyelids drooped heavily, and he pa.s.sed his hand across his forehead with a gesture that went to her heart.

"It's rather soon to judge, isn't it?" she said.

"Yes," he admitted. "But there is a change in her; there is an undoubted change. She gets hardly any rest, and the usual draught at night scarcely takes effect. Of course the place is noisy. That may have something to do with it. My brother is very anxious to put a stop to the sleeping-draught altogether. But I can't agree to that. She has never slept naturally since her loss--never slept and never wept. Biddy--the old nurse--declares if she could only cry, all would come right. But I don't know--I don't know."

He uttered a deep sigh, and leaned once more upon the bal.u.s.trade.

Dinah came close to him, her sweet face full of concern. "Mr. Studley,"

she murmured, "you--you don't think I do her any harm, do you?"

"You!" He gave a start and looked at her with that in his eyes that rea.s.sured her in a moment. "My dear child, no! You are a perfect G.o.dsend to her--and to me also, if you don't mind my saying so. No--no! The mischief that I fear will probably develop after you have gone. As long as you are here, I am not afraid for her. Yours is just the sort of influence that she needs."

"Oh, thank you!" Dinah said gratefully. "I was afraid just for a moment, because I know I have been silly and flighty. I try to be sober when I am with her, but--"

"Don't try to be anything but yourself, Miss Bathurst!" he said. "I have confided in you just because you are yourself; and I wouldn't have you any different for the world. You help her just by being yourself."

Dinah laughed while she shook her head. "I wish I were as nice as you seem to think I am."

He laughed also. "Perhaps you have never realized how nice you really are," he returned with a simplicity equal to her own. "Ah! Here comes Isabel! I expect she is ready. We had better go in."

They met her as they turned inwards. The reflection of the sunset glory was in her face recalling some of its faded beauty. She took Dinah's arm, looking at her with a strangely wistful smile.

"I want you now, sweetheart," she said. "Scott can have his turn--afterwards."

"I want you too," said Dinah instantly, squeezing her hand very closely.

"Come and look at the mountains! They are so glorious now that the sun is setting."

They turned back for a few moments and Isabel's eyes went to that far and wonderful mountain crest. The gold was turning to rose. The glory deepened even as they watched.

"The peaks of Paradise," breathed Dinah softly.

Isabel was silent for a s.p.a.ce, her eyes fixed and yearning. Then at length in a low voice that thrilled with an emotion beyond words she spoke.

"I know now where to look. That is where he is waiting for me. That is where I shall find him."

And then swiftly she turned, aware of her brother close behind her.

He looked at her with eyes of deep compa.s.sion. "Some day, Isabel!" he said gently.

She made a swift gesture as of one who brushes aside every hindrance.

"Soon!" she said. "Very soon!"

Scott's eyes met Dinah's for a single instant, and she thought they held suffering as well as weariness. But they fell immediately. He stood back in silence for them to pa.s.s.

CHAPTER XVI

THE SECOND DRAUGHT

They returned to the hotel by a circuitous route that brought them by a mountain-road into the village just below the hotel. The moon was rising as they ascended the final slope. The chill of mist was in the air.

Sir Eustace was waiting for them in the porch. He helped his sister to alight, but she went by him at once with a rapt look as though she had not seen him. She had sat in almost unbroken silence throughout the homeward drive.

Dinah would have followed her in, but Sir Eustace held her back a moment.

"There is to be a dance to-night," he murmured in her ear. "May I count on you?"

She looked at him, the ecstasy of the mountains still shining in her starry eyes. "Yes--yes! If I am allowed!" And then, with a sudden memory of her promise to the Colonel, "But I don't suppose I shall be. And I haven't anything to wear except my fancy dress."

"What of that?" he said lightly. "Call the fairies in to help!"

She laughed, and ran in.

Not for a moment did she suppose that she would be allowed to dance that night; but it seemed that luck was with her, for the first person she met was the Colonel, and he was looking so particularly well pleased with himself and affairs in general that she stopped to tell him of her drive.

"It's been so perfect," she said. "I have enjoyed it! Thank you ever so many times for letting me go!"

Her flushed and happy face was very fair to see, and the Colonel smiled upon her with fatherly kindness. He could not help liking the child. She was such a taking imp!

"Glad you've had a good time," he said. "I hope you thanked your friends for taking you."

"I should think I did!" laughed Dinah; and then seeing that his expression was so benignant she slipped an ingratiating hand through his arm. "Colonel, please--please--may I dance to-night?"

"What?" He looked at her searchingly, with a somewhat laboured attempt to be severe. "Now--now--who do you want to dance with?"

"Anyone or no one," said Dinah boldly. "I feel happy enough to dance by myself."

"That means you're in a mischievous mood," said the Colonel.