"Jump up!" commanded Eustace, with a curt sign to a porter to pick up his _fiancée's_ humble impediments. Dinah sprang up beside him and slipped a shy hand onto his knee. "You look more like Apollo than ever," she whispered, awe-struck, "when you frown like that. Is anything the matter?" His brow cleared magically at her action. "I began to think I should have to come down to Perrythorpe and fetch you," he said, grasping the little nervous fingers. "I thought you meant to give me the slip--if you could." "Oh no!" said Dinah, shocked at the suggestion. "I wanted to come; only--only--I couldn't be spared sooner. It wasn't my fault," she urged pleadingly. "Truly it wasn't!" He smiled upon her. "All right,--Daphne. I'll forgive you this time," he said. "But now I've got you, my nymph of the woods, I am not going to part with you again in a hurry. And if you talk of putting off the wedding again, I'll simply run away with you. So now you know what to expect." Dinah uttered her giddy little laugh. The excitement of this visit--the first she had ever paid to anyone--had turned her head. "Do you know Rose is actually going to be my chief bridesmaid?" she said. "Isn't that--magnanimous of her? She is pretending to be pleased, but I know she is frightfully jealous underneath. The other bridesmaid is the Vicar's daughter. She is quite old, nearly thirty but I couldn't think of anyone else, except the infant schoolmistress, and they wouldn't let me have her. I shall feel rather small, shan't I? Even Rose is twenty-five. I wonder if I shall feel grown up when I'm married. Do you think I shall?" "Not till you cease to be--Daphne," said Sir Eustace enigmatically. He started the car with the words, and they shot forward with a suddenness that made Dinah hold her breath. But in a few moments she was chattering again, for she was never quiet for long. How was Scott? Was he at home? And Isabel--he hadn't told her. She did hope dear Isabel was keeping better. Was she? Was she? She pressed the question as he did not seem inclined to answer it, and saw again the frown that had darkened his handsome face upon arrival. "Do tell me!" she begged. "Isn't she so well?" And at last with the curtness of speech which always denoted displeasure with him, he made reply. "No, she has gone back a good deal since she got home. She lies on a sofa and broods all day long. I am looking to you to wake her up. For heaven's sake be as lively as you can!" "Oh, poor Isabel!" Quick concern was in Dinah's voice. "What is it, do you think? Doesn't the place suit her?" "Heaven knows," he answered gloomily, "I have a house down at Heath-on-Sea where we keep the yacht, but I doubt if it would do her much good to go there this time of the year. She and Scott might try it later--after the wedding." "Couldn't we all go there?" suggested Dinah ingenuously. He gave her a keen glance. "For the honeymoon? No I don't think so," he said.