Hazard sat down, and finding that she soon tired of story-telling, he took it up, and gave a chapter of his own which had wild success, so that the children begged for more and more, until five o’clock was past and twilight coming on.  As Esther was on foot, Mr. Hazard said he would see her to her door, and they walked away together.

“Do you know that Wharton has come back?” said he as they reached the street.  “His affair is settled; the woman sailed yesterday for Europe, and he is to have a divorce.  Your uncle has managed it very well.”

“Will Mr. Wharton go to work again at the church?” asked Esther.

“He begins at once.  He asked me to find out for him whether you would begin with him.”

“Did he say whether he wanted me or Catherine?” asked Esther with a laugh.

Hazard laughed in reply.  “I think myself he would be satisfied to get Miss Brooke, but you must not underrate your own merits.  He wants you both.”

“I am afraid he must give us up,” said Esther, with a little sigh.  “Certainly I can’t come, and if he wants Catherine, he will have to come himself and get her; but he will find Catherine not easy to get.”

They discussed Wharton and his affairs till they reached Esther’s house, and she said:  “It is not yet six o’clock.  I can give you a cup of tea if you will come in?”

She could not do less than offer him this small hospitality, and yet—­Catherine was not at home.  They went up to the library, and Esther ordered tea to be brought.  She took off her bonnet and cloak, and threw them on a chair.  She sat down before the fire, and he stood on the hearth-rug looking at her while she made tea in the twilight.  At this moment he was more hopelessly in love than any other Church of England clergyman within the diocese of New York.

“What are then your plans for the future?” he asked, after they had chatted for some time on the subject of Esther’s painting.  “If you will not return to help us, what do you look forward to doing?”

“I want to take Catherine and go abroad,” answered Esther.  “If I can get my uncle and aunt to go, we shall start in the spring.”

At this announcement Hazard seemed to receive a shock.  He turned suddenly to her, his eyes sparkling with passion:  “Take me with you!  What shall I do without you!” He seized her hand and poured out a torrent of broken protests:  “I love you with all my heart and soul!  Don’t leave me alone in this horrible city!  I shall die of disgust if you desert me!  You are the only woman I ever loved!  Ah!  You must love me!”

Esther, trembling, bewildered, carried away by this sudden and violent attack, made at first a feeble effort to withdraw her hand and to gasp a protest, but the traitor within her own breast was worse than the enemy without.  For the moment all her wise resolutions were swept away in a wave of tenderness; she seemed to come suddenly on a summer sea, sparkling with hope and sunshine, the dreary sand-banks of her old life vanishing like a dream.  She shut her eyes and found herself in his arms.  Then in terror at what she had done, she tried again to draw back.