I hope--I trust," in an anxious tone, "that your news is also good." "You may rest assured of that," he returned, with an unconscious pressure of her hand.

Dinah heaved a deep sigh of relief, and pointed silently to the chair that stood between them.

She did not speak, perhaps because she could not: her face looked as though she had passed through an illness.

Elizabeth, with her wonted quickness, answered Malcolm's unspoken question.
"Dinah has had one of her bad sick headaches, and has only just come downstairs.

All this sad business has upset her greatly, but you will be her best physician," with the old beaming smile which Malcolm dared not meet.