rary, and Esther
ordered tea to be brought. She took off her bonnet and cloak, and threw
them on a chair. She sat down before the fire, and he stood on the
hearth-rug looking at her while she made tea in the twilight. At this
moment he was more hopelessly in love than any other Church of England
clergyman within the diocese of New York.

"What are then your plans for the future?" he asked, after they had
chatted for some time on the subject of Esther's painting. "If you will
not return to help us, what do you look forward to doing?"

"I want to take Catherine and go abroad," answered Esther. "If I can get
my uncle and aunt to go, we shall start in the spring."

At this announcement Hazard seemed to receive a shock. He turned
suddenly to her, his eyes sparkling with passion: "Take me with you!
What shall I do without you!" He seized her hand and poured out a
torrent of broken protests: "I love you with all my heart and soul!
Don't leave me alone in this horrible city! I shall die of disgust if
you desert me! You are the only woman I ever loved! Ah! You must love
me!"

Esther, trembling, bewildered, carried away by this sudden and violent
attack, made at first a feeble effort to withdraw her hand and to gasp a
protest, but the traitor within her own breast was worse than the enemy
without. For the moment all her wise resolutions were swept away in a
wave of tenderness; she seemed to come suddenly on a summer sea,
sparkling with hope and sunshine, the dreary sand-banks of her old life
vanishing like a dream. She shut her eyes and found herself in his arms.
Then in terror at what she had done, she tried again to draw back.

"No, no!" she said rapidly, trying to free herself. "You must not love
me! You must let me go!"

"I love you! I adore you! I will never let you go!"

"You must! You do not know what you are doing! Ah! Let me go!"

"Tell me first that you love me!"

"No, no! I am not good enough for you. You must love some one who has
her heart in your work."

"Tell me that you love me!" repeated Hazard.

"You do not know me! You must not love me! I shall ruin your life! I
shall never satisfy you!"

Hazard caressed her only the more tenderly as he answered with the
self-confidence which he put into all he did: "If my calling is so poor
a thing that it cannot satisfy both our lives, I will have nothing more
to do with it. I have more faith in us both. Promise to love me and I
will take care of the rest."