"Ah!" gasped Esther, carried away by her own feelings and the vehemence
of his love: "I am getting in deeper and deeper! What shall I do? Do not
make me promise!"

"Then I will promise for both!" he said; and poor Esther ceased to
struggle.

The same evening at dinner, Mrs. Murray remarked to her husband that she
was becoming more and more uneasy about Esther's intimacy with Mr.
Hazard.

"People are talking about it," she said. "It is really becoming a matter
of public discussion."

"Do you suppose she would accept him?" asked Mr. Murray.

"How can I tell? She would say no, and then very likely do it. She is in
the worst sort of a state of mind for an offer of that kind."

"Poor Dudley will rise from his grave," said Mr. Murray.

"He warned me to prevent such a match if I saw it coming," said Mrs.
Murray; "but he did nothing to prevent it himself. He thought Esther was
going to be very unhappy, and would make some such mistake. I would
interfere, but it will only make matters worse. The thing has gone too
far now."

"Take her away," said Mr. Murray.

"Where to? If you will go to Europe in the spring, we will take her over
and leave her there with Catherine, but she may be married by that
time."

"Give her a lecture," said Mr. Murray. "Show her that she is making a
stupendous blunder!"

"Better show him!" said Mrs. Murray with a little resentment. "The
blunder will be worse for him than for her."

"Explain it to her!" said he. "She has sense. Esther is a good girl, and
I won't stand by and see her throw herself away on a church. I will
speak to her myself if you don't."

"A nice piece of work you would make of it!" rejoined his wife. "No! If
it is to be done, I suppose I must do it, but she will hate me all her
life."

"Do it at once, then," said Mr. Murray. "The longer you put it off, the
worse she will take it."

"I will talk with her to-morrow," replied Mrs. Murray; and the next
day, when she went to take Esther to drive in the afternoon, her niece
received her with an embarrassed air and a high color, and said:

"Aunt! I have something to tell you."

"Good heavens!" gasped Mrs. Murray.

"I am engaged to Mr. Hazard."

_Chapter VII_

The instant Esther felt herself really loved, she met her fate as women
will when the shock is once over. Hazard had wanted her to love him, had
pursued and caught her. Now when she turned to him and answered his
call, she seemed to take possession of hi