21
Early in the autumn Iona was to go out into the world, having instructed Tacita thoroughly and lovingly in all her work, and seen with what a modest dignity the girl she had thought almost childish could preside in her place.
She was in haste to go, but solely from a conviction that she was needed elsewhere.
“Wherever I am not absolutely needed, I am lost,” she said. “My life here is, and has been for a long time, that of a Sybarite. I am terrified when I think of a longer waste.”
“Stay till after the vintage,” they all urged her.
“I will stay on one condition,” she said to Dylar. “And that is that I may plan, and help to prepare a house for you and your bride. Once outside, I may not be able to come back and see you married; and it would be cruel if I could have no part.”
“But, I
