She shook her head instantly. "No. I never make promises. They have a way of spoiling things so."
"Exactly my own idea," he said. "Never turn a pleasure into a duty, or it becomes a burden at once. Well, I must go and make myself pretty for this evening's show. If I'm very bored, I shall come and sit out with you."
"Not to-night," said Isabel with quick decision. "Dinah is going to bed very soon."
"Really?" He stood by Dinah's couch, looking down at her with his faint supercilious smile. "Do you submit to that sort of tyranny?" he said.
She held up her hand to him. "It isn't tyranny. It is the very dearest kindness in the world. Don't you know the difference?"
He held the little, confiding hand a moment or two, and she felt his fingers close around it with a strength that seemed as if it encompassed her very soul. "There are two ways of looking at everything," he said. "But I shouldn't be too docile if I were you; not, that is, if you want to get any fun out of life. Remember, life is short."
He let her go with the words, straightened himself to his full, splendid height, and sauntered with regal arrogance to the door.
"I want you, Stumpy," he said, in passing. "There are one or two letters for you to deal with. You can come to my room while I dress."
"In that case, I had better say good night too," said Scott, rising.
"Oh no," said Dinah, with her quick smile. "You can come in and say good night to me afterwards—when I'm in bed. Can't he, Isabel?"