She was silent, and he saw the hot colour spreading over her neck as she turned her face away.
"Won't you tell me?" he urged gently. "Is there some particular reason why you want to stay?"
"Oh no! I'm not going to stay." Quickly she made answer. "I am never going back. I couldn't after—after—" She broke off in quivering distress.
"I think your mother will be sorry presently," he said. "People with violent tempers generally repent very deeply afterwards."
Dinah turned upon him suddenly and hotly. "She will never repent!" she declared. "She hates me. She has always hated me. And I hate her—hate her—hate her!"
The concentrated passion of her made her vibrate from head to foot. Her eyes glittered like emeralds. She was possessed by such a fury of hatred as made her scarcely recognizable.
Scott looked at her steadily for a moment or two. Then: "But it does you more harm than good to say so," he said. "And it doesn't answer my question, does it? Dinah, if you don't feel that you can do this thing for your own sake, won't you do it for Isabel's? She is needing you badly just now."
The vindictive look went out of Dinah's face. Her eyes softened, and he saw the hopeless tears well up again. "But I couldn't help her any more," she said.
"The very fact of having you to care for would help her," Scott said.
Dinah shook her head. She was sitting on the ground with her hands clasped round her knees. As the tears splashed down again, she turned her face away.