Diamond stood still for a moment in the doorway, admiring the graceful figure well defined against the light.
"Come in, Sally," said Rhoda. And then she looked up from her book and saw him.
"I'm afraid I disturb you!" said Diamond. "But the maid told me to come up."
"Oh no! I was just reading——"
"Straining your eyes by this twilight! That's very wrong."
"Yes! I'm afraid it is not very wise, but I wanted to finish the chapter; and my eyes are really very strong."
"I thought you might be at church," said Diamond, seating himself on the opposite side of the bay-window, and within its recess, "so I asked the maid to get me the book I wanted. But she sent me upstairs."
"Aunt Betty is at church, and James; but father wouldn't let me go. He said it was so raw and foggy, and I had been to church this morning."
"Yes; I saw you there. But have you not been well, that your father did not wish you to go out?"
"Oh yes; I'm very well, thank you. But I had a little cold last week; and I should have had to walk to St. Chad's and back, you know. Father doesn't think it right to drive on the Lord's day, so he made me stay at home."