oice with a foreign
accent. "I saw you, and I wondered if you had lost your way. It is not
often we see strangers here, we are so far away from other houses."

"No-o, thank you," stammered Esther shyly. "I--I don't think I have lost
my way. I was out for a walk, and had never been this way before.
I have come from Dorsham."

"Dorrsham, oh!" the lady rolled her r's, and poke in the prettiest way
imaginable. "It is rather a long walk home for a young lady when the
light is beginning to fail. Have you no one with you?"

"No," said Esther, suddenly realising her disobedience in not having
brought Guard. "I am not afraid; at least--I--I shall be home before it
is dark."

"I do not feel so sure of that."

Neither did Esther as she looked about her, and saw how quickly twilight
had fallen since the sun had gone.

"I hardly like to let you go, my child, by yourself only, over the moor.
You could so easily miss your way, and get into the river, or fall over a
boulder and injure yourself. Will you come into my house and rest; and
after you have had some tea--"

"Oh, thank you, no," cried Esther, overcome with shyness at the thought of
giving so much trouble. "I am sure I shall get back all right."

"Will you not do it to oblige me?" And the lady, who was very pretty and
graceful and charming, spoke so coaxingly, so prettily, Esther could not
refuse her.

"I--I--but it would make me later," she began.

"Ah, but I was going to say, Anne is going to Dorsham presently, and he
shall conduct you safely home."

"Who?" breathed Esther, puzzled beyond politeness.

"Anne. He--well, he is not exactly my servant--he is my friend and
factotum; he and his wife live in the cottage at the back," explained the
little lady. "His wife is ill, unfortunately, and he is going to get some
mustard for poultices for us to apply, and he will see you home."

"Oh, thank you," stammered Esther, interested but uneasy. She was
beginning to feel uncomfortable about Cousin Charlotte, and the anxiety
she might be causing her; but she really did shrink from the long walk
home in the gathering darkness, and, too, she did not know how to refuse
the kind stranger's request. So she stepped in at the open gate, and put
her hand in the one outstretched to welcome her.

"My name is Esther Carroll," she said, feeling some introduction was
necessary, "and I and my sisters live with Miss Ashe at Moor Cottage."

"Oh," said the lady vaguely. E