other,
and
I
trust
shall
have
much
profitable
communing
.
You
will
stay
and
have
a
dish
of
tea
with
us
:
we
take
the
meal
late
on
Thursdays
,
because
my
daughter
is
detained
by
giving
a
lesson
in
the
French
tongue
.
But
she
is
doubtless
returned
now
,
and
will
presently
come
and
pour
out
tea
for
us
.
"
"
Thank
you
;
I
'll
stay
,
"
said
Felix
,
not
from
any
curiosity
to
see
the
minister
's
daughter
,
but
from
a
liking
for
the
society
of
the
minister
himself
—
for
his
quaint
looks
and
ways
,
and
the
transparency
of
his
talk
,
which
gave
a
charm
even
to
his
weaknesses
.
The
daughter
was
probably
some
prim
Miss
,
neat
,
sensible
,
pious
,
but
all
in
a
small
feminine
way
,
in
which
Felix
was
no
more
interested
than
in
Dorcas
meetings
,
biographies
of
devout
women
,
and
that
amount
of
ornamental
knitting
which
was
not
inconsistent
with
Nonconforming
seriousness
.
"
I
'm
perhaps
a
little
too
fond
of
banging
and
smashing
,
"
he
went
on
;
"
a
phrenologist
at
Glasgow
told
me
I
had
large
veneration
;
another
man
there
,
who
knew
me
,
laughed
out
and
said
I
was
the
most
blasphemous
iconoclast
living
.
'
That
,
'
says
my
phrenologist
,
'
is
because
of
his
large
Ideality
,
which
prevents
him
from
finding
anything
perfect
enough
to
be
venerated
.
'
Of
course
I
put
my
ears
down
and
wagged
my
tail
at
that
stroking
.
"
"
Yes
,
yes
;
I
have
had
my
own
head
explored
with
somewhat
similar
results
.
It
is
,
I
fear
,
but
a
vain
show
of
fulfilling
the
heathen
precept
,
'
Know
thyself
,
'
and
too
often
leads
to
a
self-estimate
which
will
subsist
in
the
absence
of
that
fruit
by
which
alone
the
quality
of
the
tree
is
made
evident
.
Nevertheless
—
Esther
,
my
dear
,
this
is
Mr
Holt
,
whose
acquaintance
I
have
even
now
been
making
with
more
than
ordinary
interest
.
He
will
take
tea
with
us
.
"
Esther
bowed
slightly
as
she
walked
across
the
room
to
fetch
the
candle
and
place
it
near
her
tray
.
Felix
rose
and
bowed
,
also
with
an
air
of
indifference
,
which
was
perhaps
exaggerated
by
the
fact
that
he
was
inwardly
surprised
.
The
minister
's
daughter
was
not
the
sort
of
person
he
expected
.
She
was
quite
incongruous
with
his
notion
of
ministers
'
daughters
in
general
;
and
though
he
had
expected
something
nowise
delightful
,
the
incongruity
repelled
him
.
A
very
delicate
scent
,
the
faint
suggestion
of
a
garden
,
was
wafted
as
she
went
.
He
would
not
observe
her
,
but
he
had
a
sense
of
an
elastic
walk
,
the
tread
of
small
feet
,
a
long
neck
and
a
high
crown
of
shining
brown
plaits
with
curls
that
floated
backward
—
things
,
in
short
,
that
suggested
a
fine
lady
to
him
,
and
determined
him
to
notice
her
as
little
as
possible
.
A
fine
lady
was
always
a
sort
of
spun-glass
affair
—
not
natural
,
and
with
no
beauty
for
him
as
art
;
but
a
fine
lady
as
the
daughter
of
this
rusty
old
Puritan
was
especially
offensive
.
"
Nevertheless
,
"
continued
Mr
Lyon
,
who
rarely
let
drop
any
thread
of
discourse
,
"
that
phrenological
science
is
not
irreconcilable
with
the
revealed
dispensations
.
And
it
is
undeniable
that
we
have
our
varying
native
dispositions
which
even
grace
will
not
obliterate
.
I
myself
,
from
my
youth
up
,
have
been
given
to
question
too
curiously
concerning
the
truth
—
to
examine
and
sift
the
medicine
of
the
soul
rather
than
to
apply
it
.
"
"
If
your
truth
happens
to
be
such
medicine
as
Holt
's
Pills
and
Elixir
,
the
less
you
swallow
of
it
the
better
,
"
said
Felix
.
"
But
truth-vendors
and
medicine-vendors
usually
recommend
swallowing
.
When
a
man
sees
his
livelihood
in
a
pill
or
a
proposition
,
he
likes
to
have
orders
for
the
dose
,
and
not
curious
inquiries
.
"
This
speech
verged
on
rudeness
,
but
it
was
delivered
with
a
brusque
openness
that
implied
the
absence
of
any
personal
intention
.
The
minister
's
daughter
was
now
for
the
first
time
startled
into
looking
at
Felix
.
But
her
survey
of
this
unusual
speaker
was
soon
made
,
and
she
relieved
her
father
from
the
need
to
reply
by
saying
,
"
The
tea
is
poured
out
,
father
.
"
That
was
the
signal
for
Mr
Lyon
to
advance
towards
the
table
,
raise
his
right
hand
,
and
ask
a
blessing
at
sufficient
length
for
Esther
to
glance
at
the
visitor
again
.
There
seemed
to
be
no
danger
of
his
looking
at
her
:
he
was
observing
her
father
.
She
had
time
to
remark
that
he
was
a
peculiar-looking
person
,
but
not
insignificant
,
which
was
the
quality
that
most
hopelessly
consigned
a
man
to
perdition
.
He
was
massively
built
.
The
striking
points
in
his
face
were
large
clear
grey
eyes
and
full
lips
.
"
Will
you
draw
up
to
the
table
,
Mr
Holt
?
"
said
the
minister
.
In
the
act
of
rising
,
Felix
pushed
back
his
chair
too
suddenly
against
the
rickety
table
close
by
him
,
and
down
went
the
blue-frilled
work-basket
,
flying
open
,
and
dispersing
on
the
floor
reels
,
thimble
,
muslin
work
,
a
small
sealed
bottle
of
atta
of
rose
,
and
something
heavier
than
these
—
a
duodecimo
volume
which
fell
close
to
him
between
the
table
and
the
fender
.
"
O
my
stars
!
"
said
Felix
,
"
I
beg
your
pardon
.
"
Esther
had
already
started
up
,
and
with
wonderful
quickness
had
picked
up
half
the
small
rolling
things
while
Felix
was
lifting
the
basket
and
the
book
.
This
last
had
opened
,
and
had
its
leaves
crushed
in
falling
;
and
,
with
the
instinct
of
a
bookish
man
,
he
saw
nothing
more
pressing
to
be
done
than
to
flatten
the
corners
of
the
leaves
.
"
Byron
's
Poems
!
"
he
said
,
in
a
tone
of
disgust
,
while
Esther
was
recovering
all
the
other
articles
.
"
'
The
Dream
'
—
he
'd
better
have
been
asleep
and
snoring
.
What
!
do
you
stuff
your
memory
with
Byron
,
Miss
Lyon
?
"
Felix
,
on
his
side
,
was
led
at
last
to
look
straight
at
Esther
,
but
it
was
with
a
strong
denunciatory
and
pedagogic
intention
.
Of
course
he
saw
more
clearly
than
ever
that
she
was
a
fine
lady
.
She
reddened
,
drew
up
her
long
neck
,
and
said
,
as
she
retreated
to
her
chair
again
,
"
I
have
a
great
admiration
for
Byron
.
"
Mr
Lyon
had
paused
in
the
act
of
drawing
his
chair
to
the
tea-table
,
and
was
looking
on
at
this
scene
,
wrinkling
the
corners
of
his
eyes
with
a
perplexed
smile
.
Esther
would
not
have
wished
him
to
know
anything
about
the
volume
of
Byron
,
but
she
was
too
proud
to
show
any
concern
.
"
He
is
a
worldly
and
vain
writer
,
I
fear
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
.
He
knew
scarcely
anything
of
the
poet
,
whose
books
embodied
the
faith
and
ritual
of
many
young
ladies
and
gentlemen
.
"
A
misanthropic
debauchee
,
"
said
Felix
,
lifting
a
chair
with
one
hand
,
and
holding
the
book
open
in
the
other
,
"
whose
notion
of
a
hero
was
that
he
should
disorder
his
stomach
and
despise
mankind
.
His
corsairs
and
renegades
,
his
Alps
and
Manfreds
,
are
the
most
paltry
puppets
that
were
ever
pulled
by
the
strings
of
lust
and
pride
.
"
"
Hand
the
book
to
me
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
.
"
Let
me
beg
of
you
to
put
it
aside
till
after
tea
,
father
,
"
said
Esther
.
"
However
objectionable
Mr
Holt
may
find
its
pages
,
they
would
certainly
be
made
worse
by
being
greased
with
bread-and-butter
.
"
"
That
is
true
,
my
dear
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
,
laying
down
the
book
on
the
small
table
behind
him
.
He
saw
that
his
daughter
was
angry
.
"
Ho
,
ho
!
"
thought
Felix
,
"
her
father
is
frightened
at
her
.
How
came
he
to
have
such
a
nice-stepping
,
long-necked
peacock
for
his
daughter
?
but
she
shall
see
that
I
am
not
frightened
.
"
Then
he
said
aloud
,
"
I
should
like
to
know
how
you
will
justify
your
admiration
for
such
a
writer
,
Miss
Lyon
.
"
"
I
should
not
attempt
it
with
you
,
Mr
Holt
,
"
said
Esther
.
"
You
have
such
strong
words
at
command
,
that
they
make
the
smallest
argument
seem
formidable
.
If
I
had
ever
met
the
giant
Cormoran
,
I
should
have
made
a
point
of
agreeing
with
him
in
his
literary
opinions
.
"
Esther
had
that
excellent
thing
in
woman
,
a
soft
voice
with
a
clear
fluent
utterance
.
Her
sauciness
was
always
charming
,
because
it
was
without
emphasis
,
and
was
accompanied
with
graceful
little
turns
of
the
head
.
Felix
laughed
at
her
thrust
with
young
heartiness
.
"
My
daughter
is
a
critic
of
words
,
Mr
Holt
,
"
said
the
minister
,
smiling
complacently
,
"
and
often
corrects
mine
on
the
ground
of
niceties
,
which
I
profess
are
as
dark
to
me
as
if
they
were
the
reports
of
a
sixth
sense
which
I
possess
not
.
I
am
an
eager
seeker
for
precision
,
and
would
fain
find
language
subtle
enough
to
follow
the
utmost
intricacies
of
the
soul
's
pathways
,
but
I
see
not
why
a
round
word
that
means
some
object
,
made
and
blessed
by
the
Creator
,
should
be
branded
and
banished
as
a
malefactor
.
"
"
O
,
your
niceties
—
I
know
what
they
are
,
"
said
Felix
,
in
his
usual
fortissimo
.
"
They
all
go
on
your
system
of
make-believe
.
'
Rottenness
'
may
suggest
what
is
unpleasant
,
so
you
'd
better
say
'
sugar-plums
,
'
or
something
else
such
a
long
way
off
the
fact
that
nobody
is
obliged
to
think
of
it
.
Those
are
your
roundabout
euphuisms
that
dress
up
swindling
till
it
looks
as
well
as
honesty
,
and
shoot
with
boiled
pease
instead
of
bullets
.
I
hate
your
gentlemanly
speakers
.
"
"
Then
you
would
not
like
Mr
Jermyn
,
I
think
,
"
said
Esther
.
"
That
reminds
me
,
father
,
that
to-day
,
when
I
was
giving
Miss
Louisa
Jermyn
her
lesson
,
Mr
Jermyn
came
in
and
spoke
to
me
with
grand
politeness
,
and
asked
me
at
what
times
you
were
likely
to
be
disengaged
,
because
he
wished
to
make
your
better
acquaintance
,
and
consult
you
on
matters
of
importance
.
He
never
took
the
least
notice
of
me
before
.
Can
you
guess
the
reason
of
his
sudden
ceremoniousness
?
"
"
Nay
,
child
,
"
said
the
minister
,
ponderingly
.
"
Politics
,
of
course
,
"
said
Felix
.
"
He
's
on
some
committee
.
An
election
is
coming
.
Universal
peace
is
declared
,
and
the
foxes
have
a
sincere
interest
in
prolonging
the
lives
of
the
poultry
.
Eh
,
Mr
Lyon
?
Is
n't
that
it
?
"
"
Nay
,
not
so
.
He
is
the
close
ally
of
the
Transome
family
,
who
are
blind
hereditary
Tories
like
the
Debarrys
,
and
will
drive
their
tenants
to
the
poll
as
if
they
were
sheep
.
And
it
has
even
been
hinted
that
the
heir
who
is
coming
from
the
East
may
be
another
Tory
candidate
,
and
coalesce
with
the
younger
Debarry
.
It
is
said
that
he
has
enormous
wealth
,
and
could
purchase
every
vote
in
the
county
that
has
a
price
.
"
"
He
is
come
,
"
said
Esther
.
"
I
heard
Miss
Jermyn
tell
her
sister
that
she
had
seen
him
going
out
of
her
father
's
room
.
"
"
'
Tis
strange
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
.
"
Something
extraordinary
must
have
happened
,
"
said
Esther
,
"
for
Mr
Jermyn
to
intend
courting
us
.
Miss
Jermyn
said
to
me
only
the
other
day
that
she
could
not
think
how
I
came
to
be
so
well
educated
and
ladylike
.
She
always
thought
Dissenters
were
ignorant
,
vulgar
people
.
I
said
,
so
they
were
,
usually
,
and
Church
people
also
in
small
towns
.
She
considers
herself
a
judge
of
what
is
ladylike
,
and
she
is
vulgarity
personified
—
with
large
feet
,
and
the
most
odious
scent
on
her
handkerchief
,
and
a
bonnet
that
looks
like
'
The
Fashion
'
printed
in
capital
letters
.
"
"
One
sort
of
fine-ladyism
is
as
good
as
another
,
"
said
Felix
.
"
No
,
indeed
.
Pardon
me
,
"
said
Esther
.
"
A
real
fine-lady
does
not
wear
clothes
that
flare
in
people
's
eyes
,
or
use
importunate
scents
,
or
make
a
noise
as
she
moves
:
she
is
something
refined
,
and
graceful
,
and
charming
,
and
never
obtrusive
.
"
"
O
yes
,
"
said
Felix
,
contemptuously
.
"
And
she
reads
Byron
also
,
and
admires
Childe
Harold
—
gentlemen
of
unspeakable
woes
,
who
employ
a
hairdresser
,
and
look
seriously
at
themselves
in
the
glass
.
"
Esther
reddened
,
and
gave
a
little
toss
.
Felix
went
on
triumphantly
.
"
A
fine
lady
is
a
squirrel-headed
thing
,
with
small
airs
and
small
notions
,
about
as
applicable
to
the
business
of
life
as
a
pair
of
tweezers
to
the
clearing
of
a
forest
.
Ask
your
father
what
those
old
persecuted
emigrant
Puritans
would
have
done
with
fine-lady
wives
and
daughters
.
"
"
O
there
is
no
danger
of
such
misalliances
,
"
said
Esther
.
"
Men
who
are
unpleasant
companions
and
make
frights
of
themselves
,
are
sure
to
get
wives
tasteless
enough
to
suit
them
.
"
"
Esther
,
my
dear
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
,
"
let
not
your
playfulness
betray
you
into
disrespect
towards
those
venerable
pilgrims
.
They
struggled
and
endured
in
order
to
cherish
and
plant
anew
the
seeds
of
scriptural
doctrine
and
of
a
pure
discipline
.
"
"
Yes
,
I
know
,
"
said
Esther
,
hastily
,
dreading
a
discourse
on
the
pilgrim
fathers
.
"
O
they
were
an
ugly
lot
!
"
Felix
burst
in
,
making
Mr
Lyon
start
.
"
Miss
Medora
would
n't
have
minded
if
they
had
all
been
put
into
the
pillory
and
lost
their
ears
.
She
would
have
said
,
'
Their
ears
did
stick
out
so
.
'
I
should
n't
wonder
if
that
's
a
bust
of
one
of
them
.
"
Here
Felix
,
with
sudden
keenness
of
observation
,
nodded
at
the
black
bust
with
the
gauze
over
its
coloured
face
.
"
No
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
;
"
that
is
the
eminent
George
Whitfield
,
who
,
you
well
know
,
had
a
gift
of
oratory
as
of
one
on
whom
the
tongue
of
flame
had
rested
visibly
.
But
Providence
—
doubtless
for
wise
ends
in
relation
to
the
inner
man
,
for
I
would
not
inquire
too
closely
into
minutiæ
which
carry
too
many
plausible
interpretations
for
any
one
of
them
to
be
stable
—
Providence
,
I
say
,
ordained
that
the
good
man
should
squint
;
and
my
daughter
has
not
yet
learned
to
bear
with
this
infirmity
.
"
"
So
she
has
put
a
veil
over
it
.
Suppose
you
had
squinted
yourself
?
"
said
Felix
,
looking
at
Esther
.
"
Then
,
doubtless
,
you
could
have
been
more
polite
to
me
,
Mr
Holt
,
"
said
Esther
,
rising
and
placing
herself
at
her
work-table
.
"
You
seem
to
prefer
what
is
unusual
and
ugly
.
"
"
A
peacock
!
"
thought
Felix
.
"
I
should
like
to
come
and
scold
her
every
day
,
and
make
her
cry
and
cut
her
fine
hair
off
.
"
Felix
rose
to
go
,
and
said
,
"
I
will
not
take
up
more
of
your
valuable
time
,
Mr
Lyon
.
I
know
that
you
have
not
many
spare
evenings
.
"
"
That
is
true
,
my
young
friend
;
for
I
now
go
to
Sproxton
one
evening
in
the
week
.
I
do
not
despair
that
we
may
some
day
need
a
chapel
there
,
though
the
hearers
do
not
multiply
save
among
the
women
,
and
there
is
no
work
as
yet
begun
among
the
miners
themselves
.
I
shall
be
glad
of
your
company
in
my
walk
thither
to-morrow
at
five
o'clock
,
if
you
would
like
to
see
how
that
population
has
grown
of
late
years
.
"
"
O
,
I
've
been
to
Sproxton
already
several
times
.
I
had
a
congregation
of
my
own
there
last
Sunday
evening
.
"
"
What
!
do
you
preach
?
"
said
Mr
Lyon
,
with
a
brightened
glance
.
"
Not
exactly
.
I
went
to
the
ale-house
.
"
Mr
Lyon
started
.
"
I
trust
you
are
putting
a
riddle
to
me
,
young
man
,
even
as
Samson
did
to
his
companions
.
From
what
you
said
but
lately
,
it
cannot
be
that
you
are
given
to
tippling
and
to
taverns
.
"
"
O
,
I
do
n't
drink
much
.
I
order
a
pint
of
beer
,
and
I
get
into
talk
with
the
fellows
over
their
pots
and
pipes
.
Somebody
must
take
a
little
knowledge
and
common
sense
to
them
in
this
way
,
else
how
are
they
to
get
it
?
I
go
for
educating
the
non-electors
,
so
I
put
myself
in
the
way
of
my
pupils
—
my
academy
is
the
beer-house
.
I
'll
walk
with
you
to-morrow
with
great
pleasure
.
"
"
Do
so
,
do
so
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
,
shaking
hands
with
his
odd
acquaintance
.
"
We
shall
understand
each
other
better
by-and-by
,
I
doubt
not
.
"
"
I
wish
you
good-evening
,
Miss
Lyon
.
"
Esther
bowed
very
slightly
,
without
speaking
.
"
That
is
a
singular
young
man
,
Esther
,
"
said
the
minister
,
walking
about
after
Felix
was
gone
.
"
I
discern
in
him
a
love
for
whatsoever
things
are
honest
and
true
,
which
I
would
fain
believe
to
be
an
earnest
of
further
endowment
with
the
wisdom
that
is
from
on
high
.
It
is
true
that
,
as
the
traveller
in
the
desert
is
often
lured
,
by
a
false
vision
of
water
and
freshness
,
to
turn
aside
from
the
track
which
leads
to
the
tried
and
established
fountains
,
so
the
Evil
One
will
take
advantage
of
a
natural
yearning
towards
the
better
,
to
delude
the
soul
with
a
self-flattering
belief
in
a
visionary
virtue
,
higher
than
the
ordinary
fruits
of
the
Spirit
.
But
I
trust
it
is
not
so
here
.
I
feel
a
great
enlargement
in
this
young
man
's
presence
,
notwithstanding
a
certain
licence
in
his
language
,
which
I
shall
use
my
efforts
to
correct
.
"
"
I
think
he
is
very
coarse
and
rude
,
"
said
Esther
,
with
a
touch
of
temper
in
her
voice
.
"
But
he
speaks
better
English
than
most
of
our
visitors
.
What
is
his
occupation
?
"
"
Watch
and
clock
making
,
by
which
,
together
with
a
little
teaching
,
as
I
understand
,
he
hopes
to
maintain
his
mother
,
not
thinking
it
right
that
she
should
live
by
the
sale
of
medicines
whose
virtues
he
distrusts
.
It
is
no
common
scruple
.
"
"
Dear
me
,
"
said
Esther
,
"
I
thought
he
was
something
higher
than
that
.
"
She
was
disappointed
.
Felix
,
on
his
side
,
as
he
strolled
out
in
the
evening
air
,
said
to
himself
:
"
Now
by
what
fine
meshes
of
circumstance
did
that
queer
devout
old
man
,
with
his
awful
creed
,
which
makes
this
world
a
vestibule
with
double
doors
to
hell
,
and
a
narrow
stair
on
one
side
whereby
the
thinner
sort
may
mount
to
heaven
—
by
what
subtle
play
of
flesh
and
spirit
did
he
come
to
have
a
daughter
so
little
in
his
own
likeness
?
Married
foolishly
,
I
suppose
.
I
'll
never
marry
,
though
I
should
have
to
live
on
raw
turnips
to
subdue
my
flesh
.
I
'll
never
look
back
and
say
,
'
I
had
a
fine
purpose
once
—
I
meant
to
keep
my
hands
clean
,
and
my
soul
upright
,
and
to
look
truth
in
the
face
;
but
pray
excuse
me
,
I
have
a
wife
and
children
—
I
must
lie
and
simper
a
little
,
else
they
'll
starve
;
'
or
,
'
My
wife
is
nice
,
she
must
have
her
bread
well
buttered
,
and
her
feelings
will
be
hurt
if
she
is
not
thought
genteel
.
'
That
is
the
lot
Miss
Esther
is
preparing
for
some
man
or
other
.
I
could
grind
my
teeth
at
such
self-satisfied
minxes
,
who
think
they
can
tell
everybody
what
is
the
correct
thing
,
and
the
utmost
stretch
of
their
ideas
will
not
place
them
on
a
level
with
the
intelligent
fleas
.
I
should
like
to
see
if
she
could
be
made
ashamed
of
herself
.
"
CHAPTER
VI
.
"
Though
she
be
dead
,
yet
let
me
think
she
lives
,
And
feed
my
mind
,
that
dies
for
want
of
her
.
"
Marlowe
:
Tamburlaine
the
Great
.
Hardly
any
one
in
Treby
who
thought
at
all
of
Mr
Lyon
and
his
daughter
had
not
felt
the
same
sort
of
wonder
about
Esther
as
Felix
felt
.
She
was
not
much
liked
by
her
father
's
church
and
congregation
.
The
less
serious
observed
that
she
had
too
many
airs
and
graces
,
and
held
her
head
much
too
high
;
the
stricter
sort
feared
greatly
that
Mr
Lyon
had
not
been
sufficiently
careful
in
placing
his
daughter
among
God-fearing
people
,
and
that
,
being
led
astray
by
the
melancholy
vanity
of
giving
her
exceptional
accomplishments
,
he
had
sent
her
to
a
French
school
,
and
allowed
her
to
take
situations
where
she
had
contracted
notions
not
only
above
her
own
rank
,
but
of
too
worldly
a
kind
to
be
safe
in
any
rank
.
But
no
one
knew
what
sort
of
a
woman
her
mother
had
been
,
for
Mr
Lyon
never
spoke
of
his
past
domesticities
.
When
he
was
chosen
as
pastor
at
Treby
in
1825
,
it
was
understood
that
he
had
been
a
widower
many
years
,
and
he
had
no
companion
but
the
tearful
and
much-exercised
Lyddy
,
his
daughter
being
still
at
school
.
It
was
only
two
years
ago
that
Esther
had
come
home
to
live
permanently
with
her
father
,
and
take
pupils
in
the
town
.
Within
that
time
she
had
excited
a
passion
in
two
young
Dissenting
breasts
that
were
clad
in
the
best
style
of
Treby
waistcoat
—
a
garment
which
at
that
period
displayed
much
design
both
in
the
stuff
and
the
wearer
;
and
she
had
secured
an
astonished
admiration
of
her
cleverness
from
the
girls
of
various
ages
who
were
her
pupils
;
indeed
,
her
knowledge
of
French
was
generally
held
to
give
a
distinction
to
Treby
itself
as
compared
with
other
market-towns
.
But
she
had
won
little
regard
of
any
other
kind
.
Wise
Dissenting
matrons
were
divided
between
fear
lest
their
sons
should
want
to
marry
her
and
resentment
that
she
should
treat
those
"
undeniable
"
young
men
with
a
distant
scorn
which
was
hardly
to
be
tolerated
in
a
minister
's
daughter
;
not
only
because
that
parentage
appeared
to
entail
an
obligation
to
show
an
exceptional
degree
of
Christian
humility
,
but
because
,
looked
at
from
a
secular
point
of
view
,
a
poor
minister
must
be
below
the
substantial
house-holders
who
kept
him
.
For
at
that
time
the
preacher
who
was
paid
under
the
Voluntary
system
was
regarded
by
his
flock
with
feelings
not
less
mixed
than
the
spiritual
person
who
still
took
his
tithe-pig
or
his
modus
.
His
gifts
were
admired
,
and
tears
were
shed
under
best
bonnets
at
his
sermons
;
but
the
weaker
tea
was
thought
good
enough
for
him
;
and
even
when
he
went
to
preach
a
charity
sermon
in
a
strange
town
,
he
was
treated
with
home-made
wine
and
the
smaller
bedroom
.
As
the
good
Churchman
's
reverence
was
often
mixed
with
growling
,
and
was
apt
to
be
given
chiefly
to
an
abstract
parson
who
was
what
a
parson
ought
to
be
,
so
the
good
Dissenter
sometimes
mixed
his
approval
of
ministerial
gifts
with
considerable
criticism
and
cheapening
of
the
human
vessel
which
contained
those
treasures
.
Mrs
Muscat
and
Mrs
Nuttwood
applied
the
principle
of
Christian
equality
by
remarking
that
Mr
Lyon
had
his
oddities
,
and
that
he
ought
not
to
allow
his
daughter
to
indulge
in
such
unbecoming
expenditure
on
her
gloves
,
shoes
,
and
hosiery
,
even
if
she
did
pay
for
them
out
of
her
earnings
.
As
for
the
Church
people
who
engaged
Miss
Lyon
to
give
lessons
in
their
families
,
their
imaginations
were
altogether
prostrated
by
the
incongruity
between
accomplishments
and
Dissent
,
between
weekly
prayer-meetings
and
a
conversance
with
so
lively
and
altogether
worldly
a
language
as
the
French
.
Esther
's
own
mind
was
not
free
from
a
sense
of
irreconcilableness
between
the
objects
of
her
taste
and
the
conditions
of
her
lot
.
She
knew
that
Dissenters
were
looked
down
upon
by
those
whom
she
regarded
as
the
most
refined
classes
;
her
favourite
companions
,
both
in
France
and
at
an
English
school
where
she
had
been
a
junior
teacher
,
had
thought
it
quite
ridiculous
to
have
a
father
who
was
a
Dissenting
preacher
;
and
when
an
ardently
admiring
schoolfellow
induced
her
parents
to
take
Esther
as
a
governess
to
the
younger
children
,
all
her
native
tendencies
towards
luxury
,
fastidiousness
,
and
scorn
of
mock
gentility
,
were
strengthened
by
witnessing
the
habits
of
a
well-born
and
wealthy
family
.
Yet
the
position
of
servitude
was
irksome
to
her
,
and
she
was
glad
at
last
to
live
at
home
with
her
father
;
for
though
,
throughout
her
girlhood
,
she
had
wished
to
avoid
this
lot
,
a
little
experience
had
taught
her
to
prefer
its
comparative
independence
.
But
she
was
not
contented
with
her
life
:
she
seemed
to
herself
to
be
surrounded
with
ignoble
,
uninteresting
conditions
,
from
which
there
was
no
issue
;
for
even
if
she
had
been
unamiable
enough
to
give
her
father
pain
deliberately
,
it
would
have
been
no
satisfaction
to
her
to
go
to
Treby
church
,
and
visibly
turn
her
back
on
Dissent
.
It
was
not
religious
differences
,
but
social
differences
,
that
Esther
was
concerned
about
,
and
her
ambitious
taste
would
have
been
no
more
gratified
in
the
society
of
the
Waces
than
in
that
of
the
Muscats
.
The
Waces
spoke
imperfect
English
and
played
whist
;
the
Muscats
spoke
the
same
dialect
and
took
in
the
'
Evangelical
Magazine
.
'
Esther
liked
neither
of
these
amusements
.
She
had
one
of
those
exceptional
organisations
which
are
quick
and
sensitive
without
being
in
the
least
morbid
;
she
was
alive
to
the
finest
shades
of
manner
,
to
the
nicest
distinctions
of
tone
and
accent
;
she
had
a
little
code
of
her
own
about
scents
and
colours
,
textures
and
behaviour
,
by
which
she
secretly
condemned
or
sanctioned
all
things
and
persons
.
And
she
was
well
satisfied
with
herself
for
her
fastidious
taste
,
never
doubting
that
hers
was
the
highest
standard
.
She
was
proud
that
the
best-born
and
handsomest
girls
at
school
had
always
said
that
she
might
be
taken
for
a
born
lady
.
Her
own
pretty
instep
,
clad
in
a
silk
stocking
,
her
little
heel
,
just
rising
from
a
kid
slipper
,
her
irreproachable
nails
and
delicate
wrist
,
were
the
objects
of
delighted
consciousness
to
her
;
and
she
felt
that
it
was
her
superiority
which
made
her
unable
to
use
without
disgust
any
but
the
finest
cambric
handkerchiefs
and
freshest
gloves
.
Her
money
all
went
in
the
gratification
of
these
nice
tastes
,
and
she
saved
nothing
from
her
earnings
.
I
cannot
say
that
she
had
any
pangs
of
conscience
on
this
score
;
for
she
felt
sure
that
she
was
generous
:
she
hated
all
meanness
,
would
empty
her
purse
impulsively
on
some
sudden
appeal
to
her
pity
,
and
if
she
found
out
that
her
father
had
a
want
,
she
would
supply
it
with
some
pretty
device
of
a
surprise
.
But
then
the
good
man
so
seldom
had
a
want
—
except
the
perpetual
desire
,
which
she
could
never
gratify
,
of
seeing
her
under
convictions
,
and
fit
to
become
a
member
of
the
church
.
As
for
little
Mr
Lyon
,
he
loved
and
admired
this
unregenerate
child
more
,
he
feared
,
than
was
consistent
with
the
due
preponderance
of
impersonal
and
ministerial
regards
:
he
prayed
and
pleaded
for
her
with
tears
,
humbling
himself
for
her
spiritual
deficiencies
in
the
privacy
of
his
study
;
and
then
came
down-stairs
to
find
himself
in
timorous
subjection
to
her
wishes
,
lest
,
as
he
inwardly
said
,
he
should
give
his
teaching
an
ill
savour
,
by
mingling
it
with
outward
crossing
.
There
will
be
queens
in
spite
of
Salic
or
other
laws
of
later
date
than
Adam
and
Eve
;
and
here
,
in
this
small
dingy
house
of
the
minister
in
Malthouse
Yard
,
there
was
a
light-footed
,
sweet-voiced
Queen
Esther
.
The
stronger
will
always
rule
,
say
some
,
with
an
air
of
confidence
which
is
like
a
lawyer
's
flourish
,
forbidding
exceptions
or
additions
.
But
what
is
strength
?
Is
it
blind
wilfulness
that
sees
no
terrors
,
no
many-linked
consequences
,
no
bruises
and
wounds
of
those
whose
cords
it
tightens
?
Is
it
the
narrowness
of
a
brain
that
conceives
no
needs
differing
from
its
own
,
and
looks
to
no
results
beyond
the
bargains
of
to-day
;
that
tugs
with
emphasis
for
every
small
purpose
,
and
thinks
it
weakness
to
exercise
the
sublime
power
of
resolved
renunciation
?
There
is
a
sort
of
subjection
which
is
the
peculiar
heritage
of
largeness
and
of
love
;
and
strength
is
often
only
another
name
for
willing
bondage
to
irremediable
weakness
.
Esther
had
affection
for
her
father
:
she
recognised
the
purity
of
his
character
,
and
a
quickness
of
intellect
in
him
which
responded
to
her
own
liveliness
,
in
spite
of
what
seemed
a
dreary
piety
,
which
selected
everything
that
was
least
interesting
and
romantic
in
life
and
history
.
But
his
old
clothes
had
a
smoky
odour
,
and
she
did
not
like
to
walk
with
him
,
because
,
when
people
spoke
to
him
in
the
street
,
it
was
his
wont
,
instead
of
remarking
on
the
weather
and
passing
on
,
to
pour
forth
in
an
absent
manner
some
reflections
that
were
occupying
his
mind
about
the
traces
of
the
Divine
government
,
or
about
a
peculiar
incident
narrated
in
the
life
of
the
eminent
Mr
Richard
Baxter
.
Esther
had
a
horror
of
appearing
ridiculous
even
in
the
eyes
of
vulgar
Trebians
.
She
fancied
that
she
should
have
loved
her
mother
better
than
she
was
able
to
love
her
father
;
and
she
wished
she
could
have
remembered
that
mother
more
thoroughly
.
But
she
had
no
more
than
a
broken
vision
of
the
time
before
she
was
five
years
old
—
the
time
when
the
word
oftenest
on
her
lips
was
"
Mamma
;
"
when
a
low
voice
spoke
caressing
French
words
to
her
,
and
she
in
her
turn
repeated
the
words
to
her
ragdoll
;
when
a
very
small
white
hand
,
different
from
any
that
came
after
,
used
to
pat
her
,
and
stroke
her
,
and
tie
on
her
frock
and
pinafore
,
and
when
at
last
there
was
nothing
but
sitting
with
a
doll
on
a
bed
where
mamma
was
lying
,
till
her
father
once
carried
her
away
.
Where
distinct
memory
began
,
there
was
no
longer
the
low
caressing
voice
and
the
small
white
hand
.
She
knew
that
her
mother
was
a
Frenchwoman
,
that
she
had
been
in
want
and
distress
,
and
that
her
maiden
name
was
Annette
Ledru
.
Her
father
had
told
her
no
more
than
this
;
and
once
,
in
her
childhood
,
when
she
had
asked
him
some
question
,
he
had
said
,
"
My
Esther
,
until
you
are
a
woman
,
we
will
only
think
of
your
mother
:
when
you
are
about
to
be
married
and
leave
me
,
we
will
speak
of
her
,
and
I
will
deliver
to
you
her
ring
and
all
that
was
hers
;
but
,
without
a
great
command
laid
upon
me
,
I
cannot
pierce
my
heart
by
speaking
of
that
which
was
and
is
not
.
"
Esther
had
never
forgotten
these
words
,
and
the
older
she
became
,
the
more
impossible
she
felt
it
that
she
should
urge
her
father
with
questions
about
the
past
.
His
inability
to
speak
of
that
past
to
her
depended
on
manifold
causes
.
Partly
it
came
from
an
initial
concealment
.
He
had
not
the
courage
to
tell
Esther
that
he
was
not
really
her
father
:
he
had
not
the
courage
to
renounce
that
hold
on
her
tenderness
which
the
belief
in
his
natural
fatherhood
must
help
to
give
him
,
or
to
incur
any
resentment
that
her
quick
spirit
might
feel
at
having
been
brought
up
under
a
false
supposition
.
But
there
were
other
things
yet
more
difficult
for
him
to
be
quite
open
about
—
deep
sorrows
of
his
life
as
a
Christian
minister
that
were
hardly
to
be
told
to
a
girl
.
Twenty-two
years
before
,
when
Rufus
Lyon
was
no
more
than
thirty-six
years
old
,
he
was
the
admired
pastor
of
a
large
Independent
congregation
in
one
of
our
southern
seaport
towns
.
He
was
unmarried
,
and
had
met
all
exhortations
of
friends
who
represented
to
him
that
a
bishop
—
i.e.
,
the
overseer
of
an
Independent
church
and
congregation
—
should
be
the
husband
of
one
wife
,
by
saying
that
St
Paul
meant
this
particular
as
a
limitation
,
and
not
as
an
injunction
;
that
a
minister
was
permitted
to
have
one
wife
,
but
that
he
,
Rufus
Lyon
,
did
not
wish
to
avail
himself
of
that
permission
,
finding
his
studies
and
other
labours
of
his
vocation
all-absorbing
,
and
seeing
that
mothers
in
Israel
were
sufficiently
provided
by
those
who
had
not
been
set
apart
for
a
more
special
work
.
His
church
and
congregation
were
proud
of
him
:
he
was
put
forward
on
platforms
,
was
made
a
"
deputation
,
"
and
was
requested
to
preach
anniversary
sermons
in
far-off
towns
.
Wherever
noteworthy
preachers
were
discussed
.
Rufus
Lyon
was
almost
sure
to
be
mentioned
as
one
who
did
honour
to
the
Independent
body
;
his
sermons
were
said
to
be
full
of
study
yet
full
of
fire
;
and
while
he
had
more
of
human
knowledge
than
many
of
his
brethren
,
he
showed
in
an
eminent
degree
the
marks
of
a
true
ministerial
vocation
.
But
on
a
sudden
this
burning
and
shining
light
seemed
to
be
quenched
:
Mr
Lyon
voluntarily
resigned
his
charge
and
withdrew
from
the
town
.
A
terrible
crisis
had
come
upon
him
;
a
moment
in
which
religious
doubt
and
newly-awakened
passion
had
rushed
together
in
a
common
flood
,
and
had
paralysed
his
ministerial
gifts
.
His
life
of
thirty-six
years
had
been
a
story
of
purely
religious
and
studious
fervour
;
his
passion
had
been
for
doctrines
,
for
argumentative
conquest
on
the
side
of
right
;
the
sins
he
had
had
chiefly
to
pray
against
had
been
those
of
personal
ambition
(
under
such
forms
as
ambition
takes
in
the
mind
of
a
man
who
has
chosen
the
career
of
an
Independent
preacher
)
,
and
those
of
a
too
restless
intellect
,
ceaselessly
urging
questions
concerning
the
mystery
of
that
which
was
assuredly
revealed
,
and
thus
hindering
the
due
nourishment
of
the
soul
on
the
substance
of
the
truth
delivered
.
Even
at
that
time
of
comparative
youth
,
his
unworldliness
and
simplicity
in
small
matters
(
for
he
was
keenly
awake
to
the
larger
affairs
of
this
world
)
gave
a
certain
oddity
to
his
manners
and
appearance
;
and
though
his
sensitive
face
had
much
beauty
,
his
person
altogether
seemed
so
irrelevant
to
a
fashionable
view
of
things
,
that
well-dressed
ladies
and
gentlemen
usually
laughed
at
him
,
as
they
probably
did
at
Mr
John
Milton
after
the
Restoration
and
ribbons
had
come
in
,
and
still
more
at
that
apostle
,
of
weak
bodily
presence
,
who
preached
in
the
back
streets
of
Ephesus
and
elsewhere
,
a
new
view
of
a
new
religion
that
hardly
anybody
believed
in
.
Rufus
Lyon
was
the
singular-looking
apostle
of
the
Meeting
in
Skipper
's
Lane
.
Was
it
likely
that
any
romance
should
befall
such
a
man
?
Perhaps
not
;
but
romance
did
befall
him
.
One
winter
's
evening
in
1812
,
Mr
Lyon
was
returning
from
a
village
preaching
.
He
walked
at
his
usual
rapid
rate
,
with
busy
thoughts
undistracted
by
any
sight
more
distinct
than
the
bushes
and
hedgerow
trees
,
black
beneath
a
faint
moonlight
,
until
something
suggested
to
him
that
he
had
perhaps
omitted
to
bring
away
with
him
a
thin
account-book
in
which
he
recorded
certain
subscriptions
.
He
paused
,
unfastened
his
outer
coat
and
felt
in
all
his
pockets
,
then
he
took
off
his
hat
and
looked
inside
it
.
The
book
was
not
to
be
found
,
and
he
was
about
to
walk
on
,
when
he
was
startled
by
hearing
a
low
,
sweet
voice
say
,
with
a
strong
foreign
accent
,
"
Have
pity
on
me
,
sir
.
"
Searching
with
his
shortsighted
eyes
,
he
perceived
some
one
on
a
side-bank
;
and
approaching
,
he
found
a
young
woman
with
a
baby
on
her
lap
.
She
spoke
again
,
more
faintly
than
before
:
"
Sir
,
I
die
with
hunger
;
in
the
name
of
God
take
the
little
one
.
"
There
was
no
distrusting
the
pale
face
and
the
sweet
low
voice
.
Without
pause
,
Mr
Lyon
took
the
baby
in
his
arms
and
said
,
"
Can
you
walk
by
my
side
,
young
woman
?
"
She
rose
,
but
seemed
tottering
.
"
Lean
on
me
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
.
And
so
they
walked
slowly
on
,
the
minister
for
the
first
time
in
his
life
carrying
a
baby
.
Nothing
better
occurred
to
him
than
to
take
his
charge
to
his
own
house
;
it
was
the
simplest
way
of
relieving
the
woman
's
wants
,
and
finding
out
how
she
could
be
helped
further
;
and
he
thought
of
no
other
possibilities
.
She
was
too
feeble
for
more
words
to
be
spoken
between
them
till
she
was
seated
by
his
fireside
.
His
elderly
servant
was
not
easily
amazed
at
anything
her
master
did
in
the
way
of
charity
,
and
at
once
took
the
baby
,
while
Mr
Lyon
unfastened
the
mother
's
damp
bonnet
and
shawl
,
and
gave
her
something
warm
to
drink
.
Then
,
waiting
by
her
till
it
was
time
to
offer
her
more
,
he
had
nothing
to
do
but
to
notice
the
loveliness
of
her
face
,
which
seemed
to
him
as
that
of
an
angel
,
with
a
benignity
in
its
repose
that
carried
a
more
assured
sweetness
than
any
smile
.
Gradually
she
revived
,
lifted
up
her
delicate
hands
between
her
face
and
the
firelight
,
and
looked
at
the
baby
which
lay
opposite
to
her
on
the
old
servant
's
lap
,
taking
in
spoonfuls
with
much
content
,
and
stretching
out
naked
feet
towards
the
warmth
.
Then
,
as
her
consciousness
of
relief
grew
into
contrasting
memory
,
she
lifted
up
her
eyes
to
Mr
Lyon
,
who
stood
close
by
her
,
and
said
,
in
her
pretty
broken
way
,
"
I
knew
you
had
a
good
heart
when
you
took
your
hat
off
.
You
seemed
to
me
as
the
image
of
the
bien-aimé
Saint
Jean
.
"
The
grateful
glance
of
those
blue-grey
eyes
,
with
their
long
shadow-making
eyelashes
,
was
a
new
kind
of
good
to
Rufus
Lyon
;
it
seemed
to
him
as
if
a
woman
had
never
really
looked
at
him
before
.
Yet
this
poor
thing
was
apparently
a
blind
French
Catholic
—
of
delicate
nurture
,
surely
,
judging
from
her
hands
.
He
was
in
a
tremor
;
he
felt
that
it
would
be
rude
to
question
her
,
and
he
only
urged
her
now
to
take
a
little
food
.
She
accepted
it
with
evident
enjoyment
,
looking
at
the
child
continually
,
and
then
,
with
a
fresh
burst
of
gratitude
,
leaning
forward
to
press
the
servant
's
hand
,
and
say
,
"
O
,
you
are
good
!
"
Then
she
looked
up
at
Mr
Lyon
again
and
said
,
"
Is
there
in
the
world
a
prettier
marmot
?
"
The
evening
passed
;
a
bed
was
made
up
for
the
strange
woman
,
and
Mr
Lyon
had
not
asked
her
so
much
as
her
name
.
He
never
went
to
bed
himself
that
night
.
He
spent
it
in
misery
,
enduring
a
horrible
assault
of
Satan
.
He
thought
a
frenzy
had
seized
him
.
Wild
visions
of
an
impossible
future
thrust
themselves
upon
him
.
He
dreaded
lest
the
woman
had
a
husband
;
he
wished
that
he
might
call
her
his
own
,
that
he
might
worship
her
beauty
,
that
she
might
love
and
caress
him
.
And
what
to
the
mass
of
men
would
have
been
only
one
of
many
allowable
follies
—
a
transient
fascination
,
to
be
dispelled
by
daylight
and
contact
with
those
common
facts
of
which
common-sense
is
the
reflex
—
was
to
him
a
spiritual
convulsion
.
He
was
as
one
who
raved
,
and
knew
that
he
raved
.
These
mad
wishes
were
irreconcilable
with
what
he
was
,
and
must
be
,
as
a
Christian
minister
;
nay
,
penetrating
his
soul
as
tropic
heat
penetrates
the
frame
,
and
changes
for
it
all
aspects
and
all
flavours
,
they
were
irreconcilable
with
that
conception
of
the
world
which
made
his
faith
.
All
the
busy
doubt
which
had
before
been
mere
impish
shadows
flitting
around
a
belief
that
was
strong
with
the
strength
of
an
unswerving
moral
bias
,
had
now
gathered
blood
and
substance
.
The
questioning
spirit
had
become
suddenly
bold
and
blasphemous
:
it
no
longer
insinuated
scepticism
—
it
prompted
defiance
;
it
no
longer
expressed
cool
inquisitive
thought
,
but
was
the
voice
of
a
passionate
mood
.
Yet
he
never
ceased
to
regard
it
as
the
voice
of
the
tempter
:
the
conviction
which
had
been
the
law
of
his
better
life
remained
within
him
as
a
conscience
.
The
struggle
of
that
night
was
an
abridgment
of
all
the
struggles
that
came
after
.
Quick
souls
have
their
intensest
life
in
the
first
anticipatory
sketch
of
what
may
or
will
be
,
and
the
pursuit
of
their
wish
is
the
pursuit
of
that
paradisaic
vision
which
only
impelled
them
,
and
is
left
farther
and
farther
behind
,
vanishing
for
ever
even
out
of
hope
in
the
moment
which
is
called
success
.
The
next
morning
Mr
Lyon
heard
his
guest
's
history
.
She
was
the
daughter
of
a
French
officer
of
considerable
rank
,
who
had
fallen
in
the
Russian
campaign
.
She
had
escaped
from
France
to
England
with
much
difficulty
in
order
to
rejoin
her
husband
,
a
young
Englishman
,
to
whom
she
had
become
attached
during
his
detention
as
a
prisoner
of
war
on
parole
at
Vesoul
,
where
she
was
living
under
the
charge
of
some
relatives
,
and
to
whom
she
had
been
married
without
the
consent
of
her
family
.
Her
husband
had
served
in
the
Hanoverian
army
,
had
obtained
his
discharge
in
order
to
visit
England
on
some
business
,
with
the
nature
of
which
she
was
not
acquainted
,
and
had
been
taken
prisoner
as
a
suspected
spy
.
A
short
time
after
their
marriage
he
and
his
fellow-prisoners
had
been
moved
to
a
town
nearer
the
coast
,
and
she
had
remained
in
wretched
uncertainty
about
him
,
until
at
last
a
letter
had
come
from
him
telling
her
that
an
exchange
of
prisoners
had
occurred
,
that
he
was
in
England
,
that
she
must
use
her
utmost
effort
to
follow
him
,
and
that
on
arriving
on
English
ground
she
must
send
him
word
under
a
cover
which
he
enclosed
,
bearing
an
address
in
London
.
Fearing
the
opposition
of
her
friends
,
she
started
unknown
to
them
,
with
a
very
small
supply
of
money
;
and
after
enduring
much
discomfort
and
many
fears
in
waiting
for
a
passage
,
which
she
at
last
got
in
a
small
trading
smack
,
she
arrived
at
Southampton
—
ill.
Before
she
was
able
to
write
her
baby
was
born
;
and
before
her
husband
's
answer
came
,
she
had
been
obliged
to
pawn
some
clothes
and
trinkets
.
He
desired
her
to
travel
to
London
,
where
he
would
meet
her
at
the
Belle
Sauvage
,
adding
that
he
was
himself
in
distress
and
unable
to
come
to
her
:
when
once
she
was
in
London
they
would
take
ship
and
quit
the
country
.
Arrived
at
the
Belle
Sauvage
,
the
poor
thing
waited
three
days
in
vain
for
her
husband
:
on
the
fourth
a
letter
came
in
a
strange
hand
,
saying
that
in
his
last
moments
he
had
desired
this
letter
to
be
written
to
inform
her
of
his
death
,
and
recommend
her
to
return
to
her
friends
.
She
could
choose
no
other
course
,
but
she
had
soon
been
reduced
to
walking
,
that
she
might
save
her
pence
to
buy
bread
with
;
and
on
the
evening
when
she
made
her
appeal
to
Mr
Lyon
,
she
had
pawned
the
last
thing
,
over
and
above
needful
clothing
,
that
she
could
persuade
herself
to
part
with
.
The
things
she
had
not
borne
to
part
with
,
were
her
marriage-ring
and
a
locket
containing
her
husband
's
hair
,
and
bearing
his
baptismal
name
.
This
locket
,
she
said
,
exactly
resembled
one
worn
by
her
husband
on
his
watch-chain
,
only
that
his
bore
the
name
Annette
,
and
contained
a
lock
of
her
hair
.
The
precious
trifle
now
hung
round
her
neck
by
a
cord
,
for
she
had
sold
the
small
gold
chain
which
formerly
held
it
.
The
only
guarantee
of
this
story
,
besides
the
exquisite
candour
of
her
face
,
was
a
small
packet
of
papers
which
she
carried
in
her
pocket
,
consisting
of
her
husband
's
few
letters
,
the
letter
which
announced
his
death
,
and
her
marriage
certificate
.
It
was
not
so
probable
a
story
as
that
of
many
an
inventive
vagrant
;
but
Mr
Lyon
did
not
doubt
it
for
a
moment
.
It
was
impossible
to
him
to
suspect
this
angelic-faced
woman
,
but
he
had
strong
suspicions
concerning
her
husband
.
He
could
not
help
being
glad
that
she
had
not
retained
the
address
he
had
desired
her
to
send
to
in
London
,
as
that
removed
any
obvious
means
of
learning
particulars
about
him
.
But
inquiries
might
have
been
made
at
Vesoul
by
letter
,
and
her
friends
there
might
have
been
appealed
to
.
A
consciousness
,
not
to
be
quite
silenced
,
told
Mr
Lyon
that
this
was
the
course
he
ought
to
take
,
but
it
would
have
required
an
energetic
self-conquest
,
and
he
was
excused
from
it
by
Annette
's
own
disinclination
to
return
to
her
relatives
if
any
other
acceptable
possibility
could
be
found
.
He
dreaded
,
with
a
violence
of
feeling
which
surmounted
all
struggles
,
lest
anything
should
take
her
away
,
and
place
such
barriers
between
them
as
would
make
it
unlikely
or
impossible
that
she
should
ever
love
him
well
enough
to
become
his
wife
.
Yet
he
saw
with
perfect
clearness
that
unless
he
tore
up
this
mad
passion
by
the
roots
,
his
ministerial
usefulness
would
be
frustrated
,
and
the
repose
of
his
soul
would
be
destroyed
.
This
woman
was
an
unregenerate
Catholic
;
ten
minutes
listening
to
her
artless
talk
made
that
plain
to
him
:
even
if
her
position
had
been
less
equivocal
,
to
unite
himself
to
such
a
woman
was
nothing
less
than
a
spiritual
fall
.
It
was
already
a
fall
that
he
had
wished
there
was
no
high
purpose
to
which
he
owed
an
allegiance
—
that
he
had
longed
to
fly
to
some
backwoods
where
there
was
no
church
to
reproach
him
,
and
where
he
might
have
this
sweet
woman
to
wife
,
and
know
the
joys
of
tenderness
.
Those
sensibilities
which
in
most
lives
are
diffused
equally
through
the
youthful
years
,
were
aroused
suddenly
in
Mr
Lyon
,
as
some
men
have
their
special
genius
revealed
to
them
by
a
tardy
concurrence
of
conditions
.
His
love
was
the
first
love
of
a
fresh
young
heart
full
of
wonder
and
worship
.
But
what
to
one
man
is
the
virtue
which
he
has
sunk
below
the
possibility
of
aspiring
to
,
is
to
another
the
backsliding
by
which
he
forfeits
his
spiritual
crown
.
The
end
was
,
that
Annette
remained
in
his
house
.
He
had
striven
against
himself
so
far
as
to
represent
her
position
to
some
chief
matrons
in
his
congregation
,
praying
and
yet
dreading
that
they
would
so
take
her
by
the
hand
as
to
impose
on
him
that
denial
of
his
own
longing
not
to
let
her
go
out
of
his
sight
,
which
he
found
it
too
hard
to
impose
on
himself
.
But
they
regarded
the
case
coldly
:
the
woman
was
,
after
all
,
a
vagrant
.
Mr
Lyon
was
observed
to
be
surprisingly
weak
on
the
subject
—
his
eagerness
seemed
disproportionate
and
unbecoming
;
and
this
young
Frenchwoman
,
unable
to
express
herself
very
clearly
,
was
no
more
interesting
to
those
matrons
and
their
husbands
than
other
pretty
young
women
suspiciously
circumstanced
.
They
were
willing
to
subscribe
something
to
carry
her
on
her
way
,
or
if
she
took
some
lodgings
they
would
give
her
a
little
sewing
,
and
endeavour
to
convert
her
from
Papistry
.
If
,
however
,
she
was
a
respectable
person
,
as
she
said
,
the
only
proper
thing
for
her
was
to
go
back
to
her
own
country
and
friends
.
In
spite
of
himself
,
Mr
Lyon
exulted
.
There
seemed
a
reason
now
that
he
should
keep
Annette
under
his
own
eyes
.
He
told
himself
that
no
real
object
would
be
served
by
his
providing
food
and
lodging
for
her
elsewhere
—
an
expense
which
he
could
ill
afford
.
And
she
was
apparently
so
helpless
,
except
as
to
the
one
task
of
attending
to
her
baby
,
that
it
would
have
been
folly
to
think
of
her
exerting
herself
for
her
own
support
.
But
this
course
of
his
was
severely
disapproved
by
his
chruch
.
There
were
various
signs
that
the
minister
was
under
some
evil
influence
:
his
preaching
wanted
its
old
fervour
,
he
seemed
to
shun
the
intercourse
of
his
brethern
,
and
very
mournful
suspicions
were
entertained
.
A
formal
remonstrance
was
presented
to
him
,
but
he
met
it
as
if
he
had
already
determined
to
act
in
anticipation
of
it
.
He
admitted
that
external
circumstances
,
conjoined
with
a
peculiar
state
of
mind
,
were
likely
to
hinder
the
fruitful
exercise
of
his
ministry
,
and
he
resigned
it
.
There
was
much
sorrowing
,
much
expostulation
,
but
he
declared
that
for
the
present
he
was
unable
to
unfold
himself
more
fully
;
he
only
wished
to
state
solemnly
that
Annette
Ledru
,
though
blind
in
spiritual
things
,
was
in
a
worldly
sense
a
pure
and
virtuous
woman
.
No
more
was
to
be
said
,
and
he
departed
to
a
distant
town
.
Here
he
maintained
himself
,
Annette
,
and
the
child
,
with
the
remainder
of
his
stipend
,
and
with
the
wages
he
earned
as
a
printer
's
reader
.
Annette
was
one
of
those
angelic-faced
helpless
women
who
take
all
things
as
manna
from
heaven
:
the
good
image
of
the
well-beloved
Saint
John
wished
her
to
stay
with
him
,
and
there
was
nothing
else
that
she
wished
for
except
the
unatttainable
.
Yet
for
a
whole
year
Mr
Lyon
never
dared
to
tell
Annette
that
he
loved
her
:
he
trembled
before
this
woman
;
he
saw
that
the
idea
of
his
being
her
lover
was
too
remote
from
her
mind
for
her
to
have
any
idea
that
she
ought
not
to
live
with
him
.
She
had
never
known
,
never
asked
the
reason
why
he
gave
up
his
ministry
.
She
seemed
to
entertain
as
little
concern
about
the
strange
world
in
which
she
lived
as
a
bird
in
its
nest
:
an
avalanche
had
fallen
over
the
past
,
but
she
sat
warm
and
uncrushed
—
there
was
food
for
many
morrows
,
and
her
baby
flourished
.
She
did
not
seem
even
to
care
about
a
priest
,
or
about
having
her
child
baptised
;
and
on
the
subject
of
religion
Mr
Lyon
was
as
timid
,
and
shrank
as
much
from
speaking
to
her
,
as
on
the
subject
of
his
love
.
He
dreaded
anything
that
might
cause
her
to
feel
a
sudden
repulsion
towards
him
.
He
dreaded
disturbing
her
simple
gratitude
and
content
.
In
these
days
his
religious
faith
was
not
slumbering
;
it
was
awake
and
achingly
conscious
of
having
fallen
in
a
struggle
.
He
had
had
a
great
treasure
committed
to
him
,
and
had
flung
it
away
:
he
held
himself
a
backslider
.
His
unbelieving
thoughts
never
gained
the
full
ear
and
consent
of
his
soul
.
His
prayers
had
been
stifled
by
the
sense
that
there
was
something
he
preferred
to
complete
obedience
:
they
had
ceased
to
be
anything
but
intermittent
cries
and
confessions
,
and
a
submissive
presentiment
,
rising
at
times
even
to
an
entreaty
,
that
some
great
discipline
might
come
,
that
the
dulled
spiritual
sense
might
be
roused
to
full
vision
and
hearing
as
of
old
,
and
the
supreme
facts
become
again
supreme
in
his
soul
.
Mr
Lyon
will
perhaps
seem
a
very
simple
personage
,
with
pitiably
narrow
theories
;
but
none
of
our
theories
are
quite
large
enough
for
all
the
disclosures
of
time
,
and
to
the
end
of
men
's
struggles
a
penalty
will
remain
for
those
who
sink
from
the
ranks
of
the
heroes
into
the
crowd
for
whom
the
heores
fight
and
die
.
One
day
,
however
,
Annette
learned
Mr
Lyon
's
secret
.
The
baby
had
a
tooth
coming
,
and
being
large
and
strong
now
,
was
noisily
fretful
.
Mr
Lyon
,
though
he
had
been
working
extra
hours
and
was
much
in
need
of
repose
,
took
the
child
from
its
mother
immediately
on
entering
the
house
and
walked
about
when
it
,
patting
and
talking
soothingly
to
it
.
The
stronger
grasp
,
the
new
sensations
,
were
a
successful
anodyne
,
and
baby
went
to
sleep
on
his
shoulder
.
But
fearful
lest
any
movement
should
disturb
it
,
he
sat
down
,
and
endured
the
bondage
of
holding
it
still
against
his
shoulder
.
"
You
do
nurse
baby
well
,
"
said
Annette
,
approvingly
.
"
Yet
you
never
nursed
before
I
came
?
"
"
No
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
.
"
I
had
no
brothers
and
sisters
.
"
"
Why
were
you
not
married
?
"
Annette
had
never
thought
of
asking
that
question
before
.
"
Because
I
never
loved
any
woman
—
till
now
.
I
thought
I
should
never
marry
.
Now
I
wish
to
marry
.
"
Annette
started
.
She
did
not
see
at
once
that
she
was
the
woman
he
wanted
to
marry
;
what
had
flashed
on
her
mind
was
,
that
there
might
be
a
great
change
in
Mr
Lyon
's
life
.
It
was
as
if
the
lightning
had
entered
into
her
dream
and
half
awaked
her
.
"
Do
you
think
it
foolish
,
Annette
,
that
I
should
wish
to
marry
?
"
"
I
did
not
expect
it
,
"
she
said
,
doubtfully
.
"
I
did
not
know
you
thought
about
it
.
"
"
You
know
the
woman
I
should
like
to
marry
?
"
"
I
know
her
?
"
she
said
,
interrogatively
,
blushing
deeply
.
"
It
is
you
,
Annette
—
you
whom
I
have
loved
better
than
my
duty
.
I
forsook
everything
for
you
.
"
Mr
Lyon
paused
:
he
was
about
to
do
what
he
felt
would
be
ignoble
—
to
urge
what
seemed
like
a
claim
.
"
Can
you
love
me
,
Annette
?
Will
you
be
my
wife
?
"
Annette
trembled
and
looked
miserable
.
"
Do
not
speak
—
forget
it
,
"
said
Mr
Lyon
,
rising
suddenly
and
speaking
with
loud
energy
.
"
