"I don't know," said Dinah, and paused. "I really don't know. But," brightening, "I'm sure the wedding will be great fun."
"I hope it will," said Scott kindly.
It was not till they were nearing Willowmount that Dinah asked him at length hesitatingly about Isabel.
"Do you mind telling me? Is she worse?"
Scott also hesitated a little before he answered. Then: "In one sense she is much better," he said. "But physically," he paused, "physically she is losing ground."
"Oh, Scott!" Dinah looked at him with swift dismay. "But why—why? Can nothing be done?"
His eyes met hers unwaveringly. "No, nothing," he said, and he spoke with that decision which she had come to know as in some fashion a part of himself. His words carried conviction, and yet by some means they quieted her dismay as well. He went on after a moment with that gentle philosophy of his that seemed to soften all he said. "She is as one nearing the end of a long journey, and she is very tired, poor girl. We can't grudge her her rest—when it comes. Eustace wants to rouse her, but I think the time for that is past. It is kinder—it is wiser—to let her alone."
Dinah drew a little nearer to him. "Do you mean—that you think she won't live very long?" she whispered.
"If you like to put it that way," Scott answered quietly.
"Oh, but what of you?" she said.