She went forward impetuously, and in a moment Isabel's cold hands were clasped upon her warm ones.
"I have been waiting for you, dear child," the low voice said.

"What have you been doing ?" Dinah suddenly felt as if she were standing in the presence of a princess.

Isabel in public bore herself with a haughtiness fully equal to that displayed by Sir Eustace, and she knew that Lady Grace was impressed by it.
"I would have come back sooner if I had known," she said, closely holding the long, slender fingers.
"My dear, you are woefully untidy now you have come," murmured Lady Grace.
But Isabel gently freed one hand to put her arm about the girl.

"To me she is--just right," she said, and in her voice there sounded the music of a great tenderness.

"Youth is never tidy, Lady Grace; but there is nothing in the world like it." Lady Grace's eyes went to her daughter whose faultless apparel and perfection of line were in vivid contrast to Dinah's harum-scarum appearance.
"I do not altogether agree with you in that respect, Mrs.Everard," she said, with a smile.