Sir Eustace was in her father's den. She was sure that they were getting on very well together from the occasional bursts of laughter with which their conversation was interspersed. They were not apparently sticking exclusively to business. And now that Isabel had won her mother, deeply though she rejoiced over the conquest, she felt a little--a very little--forlorn. They were all talking about her, but if Scott had been there he would have talked to her and made her feel at ease. She could not understand his going, even at his brother's behest. It seemed incredible that he should not want to see her home. She sat meekly in the background, thinking of him, while she drank her tea; and then, just as she finished, there came the sound of voices at the door, and her father and Sir Eustace came in. They were laughing still. Evidently the result of the interview was satisfactory to both. Sir Eustace greeted his hostess with lofty courtesy, and passed on straight to her side. She turned and tingled at his approach; he was looking more princely than ever. Instinctively she rose. "What do you want to get up for?" demanded her mother sharply. Sir Eustace reached his little trembling _fiancée_, and took the eager hand she stretched to him. His blue eyes flashed their fierce flame over her upturned, quivering face. "Take me into the kitchen--anywhere!" he murmured. "I want you to myself." She nodded. "Don't you want any tea? All right. Dad doesn't either. I'll clear away." "No, you don't!" her mother said. "You sit down and behave yourself! You'll clear when I tell you to; not before." Sir Eustace wheeled round to her, the flame of his look turning to ice. "With your permission, madam," he said with extreme formality, "Dinah and I are going to retire to talk things over." He had his way. It was obvious that he meant to have it. He motioned to Dinah with an imperious gesture to precede him, and she obeyed, not daring to glance in her mother's direction. Mrs. Bathurst said no more. Something in Sir Eustace's bearing seemed to quell her. She watched him go with eyes that shone with a hot resentment under drawn brows. It took Isabel's utmost effort to charm her back to a mood less hostile. As for Dinah, she led her _fiancé_ back to her father's den in considerable trepidation. To be compelled to resist her mother's will was a state of affairs that filled her with foreboding. But the moment she was alone with him she forgot all but the one tremendous fact of his presence, for with the closing of the door he had her in his arms. She clung to him desperately close, feeling as one struggling in deep waters, caught in a great current that would bear her swiftly, irresistibly,--whither? He laughed at her trembling with careless amusement. "What, still scared, my brown elf? Where is your old daring? Aren't you allowed to have any spirit at all in this house?"