Isla’s face went a little white when she saw Neil, and she stood by the tea table with her back to him for a moment. Even Sir Tom’s genial personality could not relieve the great strain. When Isla after a time, in response to a certain question in Drummond’s eyes, left the room with him, Sir Tom turned eagerly to his wife. "We must positively get away in the morning, Jean. Another day in this house would finish me. There seems to be a curse on Achree. Have you spoken to Isla, and is she going back with us?" "I don’t know. She hardly speaks at all, but of course she must go. There isn’t anything else to do, and the sooner Neil Drummond follows her and we have a quiet wedding at Barras the better it will be. It is the only solution of the problem of Isla’s life. I’m more tired of that problem than of anything else in this world, Tom." He took a turn across the floor. "The American chap was at the funeral. There’s something uncommon taking about him. He and Drummond were talking together for a good half-hour after we had left the churchyard, and, judging from their faces, I’m sure it was some matter in which they had a life-and-death interest that they were talking about. Then Drummond, looking a little white about the gills, came up to me and said he was coming over to see Isla, and asked if I would drive with him." "It was quite natural for him to come and see Isla, of course, and probably he was only discussing the situation with Mr. Rosmead. Neil will have to act for Isla now." Lady Mackinnon had very little imagination, but Sir Tom was not easy in his mind. Isla went out of doors with Neil Drummond, and they climbed up the slope to the edge of the Moor, and there they stood still. They were very near the house, but nobody could see them, and Isla waited--for what she did not know. "I’ve seen Rosmead, Isla. I suppose the thing he has told me is true?" "What did he tell you?" "That you and he--that you and he care for each other." "Yes, that is true. But I will keep my promise to you, Neil. A little suffering more or less--what does it matter? There is nothing else in the world." He smiled a little hardly. "I’ve cared a long time, and a lot, Isla. But I haven’t sunk so low----" he made answer. "I give you back your freedom." "But even if you do, it does not follow that I will marry him." "If you care about him it is what you must do," he said quietly. "Tell me, Isla--Are you sure about this? If I thought there was any chance I wouldn’t give you up. Are you sure?" She was silent for a moment, her unfathomable eyes following the flight of a wild bird on the wing until it was lost in illimitable distance.