"And I of you," answered Philippa quietly, and then after a moment's pause she added, "You do not ask me what I have been doing."
"That does not mean that I do not care to know," replied Isabella gently. She was sitting looking out on the moor, leaning back in her chair with her hands folded in her lap. Something in the rigidity of her attitude told Philippa that she was listening intently.
"I have been helping to nurse Francis Heathcote."
CHAPTER XIV
ROPES OF GOSSAMER
"Deep in my heart the tender secret dwells,
Lonely and lost to light for evermore
Save when to thine my heart responsive swells,
Then trembles into silence as before."
Isabella did not move, but Philippa could see that her breath was coming fast as though she had been running; otherwise she gave no sign of having heard.
"He has been very ill," continued the girl, "but he is better now."
The older woman rose suddenly from her seat and moved a few steps forward, and stood with her back towards her companion and with one hand on the oaken pillar as though to steady herself.