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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