ns.

'You know very well'--he said vehemently--'that if anything less had
been done for her, she would have died!'

Would she? It was the lavishness and costliness of Farrell's giving
which had shocked Hester's sense of delicacy, and had given rise--she
was certain--to gossip among the Farrell friends and kindred that could
easily have been avoided. She looked at her companion steadily.

'Suppose we grant it, Willy. But now she's convalescent, she's going to
get strong. Let her live her own life. You can't marry her--and'--she
added it deliberately--'she is as much in love with her poor George as
she ever was!'

Farrell moved restlessly in his chair. She saw him wince--and she had
intended the blow.

'I can't marry her--yet--perhaps for years. But why can't I be her
friend? Why can't I share with her the things that give me
pleasure--books--art--and all the rest? Why should you condemn me to see
her living on a pittance, with nobody but a sister who is as hard as
nails to look after her?--lonely, and unhappy, and dull--when I know
that I could help her, turn her mind away from her trouble--make her
take some pleasure in life again? You talk, Hester, as though we had a
dozen lives to play with, instead of this one rickety business!'

His resentment grew with the expression of it. But Hester met him
unflinchingly.

'I'm anxious--because human nature is human nature--and risk is risk,'
she said slowly.

He bent forward, his hands on his knees.

'I swear to you I will be honestly her friend! What do you take me for,
Hester? You know very well that--I have had my adventures, and they're
over. I'm not a boy. I can answer for myself.'

'All very well!--but suppose--_suppose_--before she felt herself
free--and against her conscience--_she_ were to fall in love with
_you_?'

Farrell could not conceal the flash that the mere words, reluctantly as
they were spoken, sent through his blue eyes. He laughed.

'Well--you're there! Act watch-dog as much as you please. Besides--we
all know--you have just said so--that she does not believe in Sarratt's
death, that she feels herself still his wife, and not his widow. That
fact establishes the relation between her and me. And if the outlook
changes--'

His voice dropped to a note of pleading--

'Let me, Hester!--let me!'

'As if I could prevent you!' said Hester, rather bitterly, bending again
over her work.

'Yes, you could. You have such influence with her now, that