conscious this morning as if she were at church. Look at the
coquetry of the pretty curve where the water falls over, and the lace on
the skirt where it breaks into foam! Only a woman could do that and look
so pretty when she might just as easily be hideous."

"It is not a woman! It is a man!" broke in Esther vehemently. "No woman
ever had a voice like that!" She felt hurt that her cataract should be
treated as a self-conscious woman.

"Now, Mr. Wharton!" cried Catherine, appealing to the artist: "Now, you
see I'm right, and self-consciousness is sometimes a beauty."

Wharton answered this original observation of nature by a lecture which
may be read to more advantage in his printed works. It ended by
Catherine requiring him to draw for her the design of a dress which
should have the soul of Niagara in its folds, and while he was engaged
in this labor, which absorbed Catherine's thoughts and gave her extreme
amusement, Esther strolled on with Strong, and for nearly an hour walked
up and down the road, or leaned against the rock in sheltered places
where the sun was warm. At first they went on talking of the scenery,
then Esther wanted to know about the geology, and quickly broke in on
Strong's remarks upon this subject by questions which led further and
further away from it. The river boiled at their feet; the sun melted
the enormous icicles which hung from the precipice behind them; a mass
of frozen spray was banked up against the American fall opposite them,
making it look like an iceberg, and snow covered every thing except the
perpendicular river banks and the dark water. The rainbow hung over the
cataract, and the mist rose from the furious waters into the peace of
the quiet air.

"You know what has happened?" she asked.

Strong nodded assent. He was afraid to tell her how much he knew.

"Do you think I have done wrong?"

"How can I tell without knowing all your reasons?" he asked. "It looks
to me as though you were uncertain of yourself and cared less for him
than he for you. If I were in his place I should follow you close up,
and refuse to leave you."

Esther gave a little gasp: "You don't think he will do that? if he does,
I shall run away again."

"Why run away? if you really want to get rid of him, why not make him
run away?"

"Because I don't want to make him run away from me, and because I don't
know how. If I could only get him away from his church! All I know about
it is that I can't be a cler