"There is Mrs. Everard!" she said softly.
Rose looked round. "Ah! Captain Brent's Purple Empress!" she said. "How haggard the poor soul looks!"
As if drawn magnetically, Dinah moved along the verandah.
Isabel was dressed in the long purple coat she had worn the previous day. She had a cap of black fur on her head. She stood as if irresolute, glancing up and down as though she searched for someone. There was an odd furtiveness in her bearing that struck Dinah on the instant. It also occurred to her as strange that though the restless eyes must have seen her they did not seem to take her in.
The fact deterred her for a second, but only for a second. Then swiftly she went forward and joined her.
"Are you looking for someone, dear Mrs. Everard?"
Isabel's eyes glanced at her, and instantly looked beyond. "I am looking for my husband," she said, her voice quick and low. "He does not seem to be here. You have not seen him, I suppose? He is tall and fair with a boyish smile, and eyes that look straight at you. He laughs a good deal. He is always laughing. You couldn't fail to notice him. He is one whom the gods love."
Again her eyes roamed over Dinah, and again they passed her to scan the mist-wreathed mountains.
Dinah slipped a loving hand through her arm. "He is not here, dear," she said. "Come and sit down for a little! The sun won't be gone yet. We can watch it go."
She tried to draw her gently along the verandah, but Isabel resisted. "No—no! I am not going that way. I have to go up the mountains to meet him. Don't keep me! Don't keep me!"