whom he had set his desire,
of whom he had felt so sure, to whom his love should have come as a
crown, was sorry. King Cophetua, flouted by the beggar maid, could not
have been more astonished, more deeply humiliated!

But the greater wound was not to his pride. At any cost to his dignity
and self-respect he could not let her go like this. His ministerial
manner fell away, his readiness deserted him. In a moment he became all
lover, pleading, entreating, with the one great abandon of his life,
with the stammering eloquence of unspeakable desire!

Slowly the girl turned to him. He saw her pure profile, then the full
charm of her changing face. The blue eyes, widely open, were darker,
lovelier than ever--Surely there was softening in their depths....

"Es--ther, Es--ther!" Miss Annabel's voice broke upon the tense moment
with cheerful insistence, and Miss Annabel herself appeared at the turn
of the walk, waving a slip of paper. She saw them at once.

"You're wanted at home, Esther. Your mother's come back. To-day! Think
of that! On the noon train. In face of the whole town. And all she said
when Elder MacTavish met her coming up from the station was that she had
forgotten it was Sunday. Fancy!"

CHAPTER XVIII

Perhaps never, in all her life of inopportune arrivals, had Miss Annabel
been so truly welcome--or so bitterly resented! Esther turned to her
with a heart-sob of relief, the minister walked away without a word.

"Dear me! What's the matter?" said the good lady. "You seem all excited.
Perhaps I shouldn't have shouted out the news so abruptly. But it never
occurred to me that you might be startled. 'Tisn't as if your mother had
been away a year. Jane's waiting for you down by the gate. Such a
peculiar child! Nothing I could say will induce her to come in. Don't
you find Jane is a peculiar child, Esther?"

"Only a little shy," said Esther, quickening her steps.

"Shy! Mercy, I shouldn't call her shy. That child has the
self-possession of a Chinee! I hope you won't mind me saying it, but a
little shyness is exactly what Jane needs."

Esther, whose shaken nerves threatened hysterical laughter, made no
reply to this, but hurried toward the small figure by the garden gate.

"Oh, Jane!" she called, somewhat shakily.

At her voice, the Shy One stopped kicking holes in the turf with the
toes of her new boots and executing a bearlike rush, threw herself into
her sister's arms.

"I'm home, Esther! So's mo