"I am sure you would," she said warmly. "I only tolerated it so long because I didn't know what freedom was like. When I went to Switzerland, I found out; and when I came back, it just wasn't endurable any longer. But I wish I knew--I do wish I knew--what I were going to do." The words were out before she could stop them, but the moment they were uttered she made a sharp gesture as though she would recall them. "I'm silly to talk like this," she said. "Please forget it!" He smiled a little. "Not silly, Dinah," he said, "but mistaken. Believe me, the future is already provided for." Her brows contracted slightly. "Ah, you are good," she said. "You believe in God." "So do you," he said, with quiet conviction. Her lip quivered. "I believe He would help anyone like you, but--but He wouldn't bother Himself about me. There are too many others of the same sort." Scott looked at her in genuine astonishment. "What a curious idea!" he said. "You don't really think that, do you?" She nodded. "I can't help it. Life is such a maze of difficulties, and one has to face them all alone." "You won't face yours alone," he said quickly. She smiled rather piteously. "I've faced all the worst bits alone so far." "I know," Scott said. "But you are through the worst now." She shook her head doubtfully. "I'm afraid of life," she said. He saw that she did not wish to pursue the subject and put it gently aside. "Shall we go in?" he said. "I should like to be at hand when Isabel wakes." She turned beside him at once. Their talk went back to Isabel. They spoke of her tenderly, as one nearing the end of a long and wearisome journey, and as they approached the little white house on the heath above the sea, Dinah gave somewhat hesitating utterance to a thought that had been persistently in her mind of late. "Do you," she said, speaking with evident effort, "think that--Eustace should be sent for?" "Does she want him?" said Scott. "I don't know. She never speaks of him. But then--that may be--for my sake." Dinah's voice was very low and not wholly free from distress. "And again--it may be on my account he is keeping away. She hasn't seen him for these two months--not since we left Perrythorpe." "No," Scott said gravely. "I know." Dinah was silent for a brief space; then she braced herself for another effort. "Scott, I--don't want to be--in anyone's way. If--if she would like to see him, and if he--doesn't want to come--because of me, I--must go, that's all." She spoke with resolution, and pausing at the gate that led off the heath into the garden looked him straight in the face. "I want you," she said rather breathlessly, "to find out if--that is so. And if it is--if it is--"