Isabel looked at the Colonel with shining eyes, full of gratitude. She was so glad to hear her brother encouraged. She knew, perhaps better than anyone else, the struggle the young man had had. She had seen his despair when his eyes went wrong. She had known that Miss Linkin and Mrs. Webster had added to his weight of sorrow by assuring him that his own wilfulness had brought its punishment.
“Do you really believe that Dan will become famous?” she asked the Colonel, in order to lead him on to further words of encouragement, for his opinion had been clearly enough expressed.
“I don’t think at all,” asserted the Colonel. “I am sure!”
“Dan! Dan!” cried Isabel. “Do you hear that? And it is true—I feel it is true. I wish I could see Miss Le Breton; I would give her a real hug. I feel I love her for the gift of—what she is.”
“You will see her, I hope,” said Dan. “Mrs. Barrimore is most anxious for you to go to Hawk’s Nest for your next holiday. I promised for you.”
“You must go,” put in the Colonel. “Mrs. Barrimore would give you a good time. She is the very sweetest woman on earth—isn’t she, Webster?”
“Mrs. Barrimore is goodness and sweetness personified,” assented Dan.
When Colonel Lane was walking to East Dulwich later, along the solitary road, he found himself recalling Isabel’s face and figure. He had not thought he had observed her closely, but now found that no detail had escaped him. There was nothing to suggest the school teacher in the slim, well-garbed girl. There was a freshness about her, as if she lived out of doors, and the scent of sweet meadows clung to her. Her eyes were blue as Dan’s and set far apart. Her face, broad at the forehead, narrowed to a small, pointed chin. It was almost a round face, and looked wonderfully child-like. Her brown hair was abundant, and was coiled simply upon her well-shaped head. These things he had noted, but it had been the honesty of Isabel’s eyes that had unconsciously caused him to record the rest.
“Miss Webster is a good woman,” he decided, “and she is young—but little older than Phyllis. I hope they may become friends. It might be that Phyllis would be influenceable by that girl.”
Phyllis! His thoughts darted painfully back to her. He loved her with a great love, yet he had to appear hard. Perhaps he had been too hard on her, he thought regretfully, but her motherless condition had seemed to call for greater strictness on his part.