esson days.

Richard Ashton took these from her.

"I beg your pardon, Esther. I did not know that you were going in on the
early train or of course I should have waited. What is taking you in so
soon? Have you a special appointment?"

And Esther could only blush and stammer nervously. For intimately as she
had known Dick Ashton, living in the same house with him for several
years in a curious position as though she were a member of his family
yet without any real bond of relationship between them, she could not
now quietly tell him that she was taking this train into town because
she wished to accompany him. At one time in their acquaintance this
would have been a simple and natural enough confession, but recently
Dick Ashton had been so unlike his former self. Or at least if he had
not changed personally, his manner toward her was different. And in
these weeks in the country when Esther had been pondering over the
change it had seemed to her that she could almost remember the day and
hour when the transformation began.

Now as Esther made no reply to his question Richard Ashton looked at her
more steadily. He was a physician and the girl's pallor and weariness
were more conspicuous to him than to other people, although he was not
alone in noticing it.

"There isn't any point in your going into the city at daybreak for these
singing lessons of yours," the young man protested in a friendly tone.
"I should think that your wretched old Professor would have brains
enough to know that you won't do him or yourself half as much credit if
he wears you out completely before the date of his concert. When does it
take place?"

"In October," Esther returned, apparently with little interest. However,
Dick was walking her toward the station with such rapidity that she had
little breath for any other exertion. And yet they had plenty of time,
there was no reason for such hurry. The young man himself did not seem
to be aware of their haste.

"Look here, Esther," he began a little later, "I am glad of this chance
for our having a talk together. There is something that I have had on my
mind to say for some time without having had the courage or the
opportunity."

Just for the moment Esther's pallor left her, a slight flush coming into
her cheeks and her lips parting.

"You see, I think it will be better for you to break the news to mother
and Betty than for me to speak of it first," he continued. "But I--I
have got to go back