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                                 HESTER

                      A STORY OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE

                                   BY

                             MRS. OLIPHANT


                  "A springy motion in her gait,
                  A rising step, did indicate
                  Of pride and joy no common rate
                          That flush'd her spirit:
                  I know not by what name beside
                  I shall it call: if 'twas not pride,
                  It was a joy to that allied
                          She did inherit.

                         *    *    *    *    *

                  She was trained in Nature's school,
                          Nature had blest her.
                  A waking eye, a prying mind,
                  A heart that stirs, is hard to bind:
                  A hawk's keen sight ye cannot blind,
                          Ye could not Hester."

                                         Charles Lamb.


                            IN THREE VOLUMES
                                VOL. III

                                 London
                           MACMILLAN AND CO.
                                  1883

         The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved




                                 LONDON
                       R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor,
                           BREAD STREET HILL.




                           Table of Contents

                     CHAPTER I. BUSINESS AND LOVE.
                     CHAPTER II. A SPECULATOR.
                     CHAPTER III. A LATE VISITOR.
                     CHAPTER IV. DOUBTS AND FEARS.
                     CHAPTER V. A DISCOVERY.
                     CHAPTER VI. IN THE LABYRINTH.
                     CHAPTER VII. ALARMS.
                     CHAPTER VIII. THE CRISIS.
                     CHAPTER IX. UNDER THE HOLLY.
                     CHAPTER X. THE HOUR OF NEED.
                     CHAPTER XI. A NIGHT'S VIGIL.
                     CHAPTER XII. AFTERWARDS.
                     CHAPTER XIII. AN INTERRUPTION.
                     CHAPTER XIV. THE SETTLEMENT.
                     CHAPTER XV. THE END.




                                HESTER.




                                HESTER.




                               CHAPTER I.
                           BUSINESS AND LOVE.


Roland had but a few days to spend at Redborough, where he came on the
footing of an intimate friend and relation, sought and courted on all
hands. His time was already portioned out among the Vernons before he
came to pay his respects to Mrs. John and her daughter, though that was
on the morning after his arrival. At a still earlier hour Emma had
rushed in very tearful and dejected to beg Hester to intercede for her
that she might not go away.

"If I go now _he_ may never speak at all," Emma said. "I am sure I did
everything I could last night to bring it on. I told him Roland had come
for me, that he couldn't do without me any longer; and if you could only
have seen him, Hester! he grew quite white, poor fellow, and his eyes as
big as saucers! I don't believe it is his fault. It must be his people;
so often, when things are going just as you wish, their people will
interfere. I am sure he is quite miserable. And if he doesn't speak now,
I dare say he will never speak."

"How can you talk as if it were a matter of business?" cried Hester; "if
he cares for you he is sure to'speak,' as you call it. And as for
bringing it on----"

"But, of course, it is a matter of business," said Emma, "and very
important business too. What can be so important for a girl as settling?
It is all very well for you to talk, but I am the youngest, and I have
no fixed home, and I must think of myself. If he comes forward it makes
all the difference to me. Why, Roland and everybody will think twice as
much of me if I have an offer. Hester, there's a dear, do persuade
Roland to let me stay. He doesn't want me a bit, that's all talk; he is
just as happy without me. Perhaps he will tell you they have had enough
of me here; but they don't say so, and you're not bound to go and
inquire into people's feelings if they don't say so. I do believe
grandpapa is tired of having me, but he will never turn me out; and when
it is so essential to my best interests! Hester, I think you might have
a little fellow-feeling. There's Edward Vernon, I'm sure you would be
more comfortable if he were to----"

Hester turned upon her indiscreet companion with a blaze of indignation.
The fact that there was truth in it made it doubly odious. Her whole
frame trembled with angry shame