d it.

"I am afraid I have interrupted you," said Rose.

"Oh no, it doesn't matter." Dinah's dimple showed for a second and was
gone. "I can't write any more now. There's something about this air that
makes me feel now and then that I must get up and jump. Does it affect
you that way?"

"You funny little thing!" said Rose. "Why, no!"

Dinah's chin pointed upwards. She looked for the moment almost
aggressively happy. But the next her look went beyond Rose, and she
started. Her expression altered, became suddenly tender and anxious.

"There is Mrs. Everard!" she said softly.

Rose looked round. "Ah! Captain Brent's Purple Empress!" she said. "How
haggard the poor soul looks!"

As if drawn magnetically, Dinah moved along the verandah.

Isabel was dressed in the long purple coat she had worn the previous day.
She had a cap of black fur on her head. She stood as if irresolute,
glancing up and down as though she searched for someone. There was an odd
furtiveness in her bearing that struck Dinah on the instant. It also
occurred to her as strange that though the restless eyes must have seen
her they did not seem to take her in.

The fact deterred her for a second, but only for a second. Then swiftly
she went forward and joined her.

"Are you looking for someone, dear Mrs. Everard?"

Isabel's eyes glanced at her, and instantly looked beyond. "I am looking
for my husband," she said, her voice quick and low. "He does not seem to
be here. You have not seen him, I suppose? He is tall and fair with a
boyish smile, and eyes that look straight at you. He laughs a good deal.
He is always laughing. You couldn't fail to notice him. He is one whom
the gods love."

Again her eyes roamed over Dinah, and again they passed her to scan the
mist-wreathed mountains.

Dinah slipped a loving hand through her arm. "He is not here, dear," she
said. "Come and sit down for a little! The sun won't be gone yet. We can
watch it go."

She tried to draw her gently along the verandah, but Isabel resisted.
"No--no! I am not going that way. I have to go up the mountains to meet
him. Don't keep me! Don't keep me!"

Dinah threw an anxious look around. There was no one near them. Rose had
moved away to join a group just returned from the rink. The laughter and
gay voices rose on the still air in merry chorus. No one knew or cared of
the living tragedy so near.

Pleadingly she turned to Isabel. "Darling Mrs. Everard, need you go now?
Wait till