A good part of the morning passed without any sign, and Dolly's languor could not but be noticed. Nothing would induce her to leave the house, and she seemed unable to settle to any occupation.
"I don't suppose the pond is safe yet," Isabel said repeatedly. "Emmeline would be sure to send us word. She always does."
Dorothea had already been for a brisk turn with her father and Colonel Erskine. She now sat contentedly near a window, work in hand, ready for talk or silence as others might wish. There were no signs about Dorothea of a mind ill at ease: yet she had fought a fight in the past night, and had come off conqueror. Whatever pain might be involved to herself in the resolution, she was utterly determined not to stand in the way of Dolly's happiness. If Dolly cared for Mervyn Claughton, the less Dorothea had to do with him, the better. She was not without a certain consciousness of power over him; and a young man hovering between two girls is often easily swayed by a touch either way. Dorothea would not, if she might, give that touch.
The resolution was not taken without a sigh, perhaps not without a tear; for Dorothea liked Mervyn. She was conscious that she could have liked him very much indeed. But if Dolly's happiness were at stake,—"No, no, no!" Dorothea cried in her heart twenty times that morning. "After what we owe to Dolly's father—oh, no, never! I will never be the one to come between."
Nobody looking at Dorothea's placid face would have dreamt of any such thoughts below. She did not hang about listlessly, like Dolly, or change colour at the sound of every bell.
Suddenly a boy passed the window, and the hitherto inert Dolly darted from the room. She came back brilliant.
"It's all right,—all right, Issy! Ice as hard as possible. We are to go directly after lunch, as many as like. Emmeline particularly asks Colonel Tracy and Dorothea. Do you skate?"—to Dorothea.
"Yes; only I have no skates here."
"Oh, that doesn't matter. We'll fit you with a pair. Past twelve,—nearly an hour to lunch. Where is father? I must tell him."
Dolly flitted off, and Isabel stood gazing after her.