Of the rest of the world--save for a passing disapproval--she was scarcely aware.

Nothing else mattered in the same way.

In fact nothing else really mattered at all.
Ah! A movement from the bed at last! Her quick ears, ever on the alert, warned her on the instant.

She turned from the window with such mother-love shining in her old brown face under its severe white cap as made it as beautiful in its way as the paradise without.
"Why, Miss Isabel darlint, how you've slept then!" she said, in the soft, crooning voice which was kept for this one beloved being alone.
Two white arms were stretched wide outside the bed.

Two dark eyes, mysteriously shadowed and sunken, looked up to hers.
"Has he gone already, Biddy ?" a low voice asked.
"Only a little way, darlint.