“Caramba!” growled Strong, with a profusion of Spanish gutturals.  Then after a moment’s reflection, he added:  “Poor child!  Why should I care?”

“You irritate me more than your uncle does,” broke out Mrs. Murray, at last losing patience.  “Do you think I should be so distressed if Esther had only joined the church?  I should like nothing better.  What has happened is very different.  She is engaged to Mr. Hazard.”

Strong broke into a laugh, and Mr. Murray, with a quiet chuckle of humor, took his cigar out of his mouth to say: 

“Let me explain this little matter to you, George!  What troubles your aunt is not so much that Esther has joined the church as that she fears the church has joined Esther.”

“The church has struck it rich this time;” remarked Strong without a sign of his first alarm.  “Now we’ll see what they’ll make of her.”

“The matter is too serious for joking;” said Mrs. Murray.  “Either Esther will be unhappy for life, or Mr. Hazard will leave his church, or they will both be miserable whatever they do.  I think you are bound to prevent it, since you are the one most to blame for getting them into it.”

“I don’t want to prevent it;” replied Strong.  “It’s a case of survival for the fittest.  If Hazard can manage to convert Esther, let him do it.  If not, let her take him in charge and convert him if she can.  I’ll not interfere.”

“That is just the remark I had the honor to make to your aunt as you came in,” said Mr. Murray.  “Yesterday I wanted to stop it.  To-day I want to leave it alone.  They are both of them old enough to manage their own case.  It has risen now to the dignity of a great cause, and I will be the devil’s advocate.”

“You are both of you intolerable,” said Mrs. Murray, impatiently.  “You talk about the happiness of Esther’s life as though it were a game of poker.  Tell me, George! what kind of a man is Mr. Hazard at heart?”

“Hazard is a priest at heart,” replied Strong.  “He has the qualities and faults of his class.  I understand how this thing happened.  He sees nothing good in the world that he does not instantly covet for the glory of God and the church, and just a bit for his own pleasure.  He saw Esther; she struck him as something out of his line, for he is used to young women who work altar-cloths; he found that Wharton and I liked her; he thought that such material was too good for heathen like us; so he fell in love with her himself and means to turn her into a candlestick of the church.  I don’t mind.  Let him try!  He has done what he liked with us all his life.  I have worked like a dog for him and his church because he was my friend.  Now he will see whether he has met his match.  I double you up all round on Esther.”

“You men are simply brutal!” said his aunt.  “Esther will be an unhappy woman all her life, whether she marries him or not, and you sit there and will not raise a finger to help her.”