st evening, and he was sitting with her on the
verandah. It was rather cool there now; the roses and honeysuckles and
the summer moonshine were gone; the two friends chose to stay there
because they could be alone, and nobody overhear their words. Words for
a little while had ceased to flow. Esther was sitting very still, and
Pitt knew how she was looking; something of the dry despair had come
back to her face which had been in it when he was first moved to busy
himself about her.

'Esther, I shall come back,' he said suddenly, bending down to look in
her face.

'When?' she said, half under her breath. It was not a question; it was
an answer.

'Well, not immediately; but the years pass away fast, don't you know
that?'

'Are you sure you will come back?'

'Why, certainly! if I am alive I will. Why, if I came for nothing else,
I would come to see after you, Queen Esther.'

Esther was silent. Talking was not easy.

'And meanwhile, I shall be busy, and you will be busy. We have both a
great deal to do.'

'You have.'

'And I am sure you have. Now let us consult. What have you got to do,
before we see one an other again?'

'I suppose,' said Esther, 'take care of papa.'

She said it in a quiet, matter-of-course tone, and Pitt started a
little. It was very likely; but it had not just occurred to him before,
how large a part that care might play in the girl's life for some time
to come.

'Does he need so much care?' he asked.

'It isn't real _care_,' said Esther, in the same tone; 'but he likes to
have me about, to do things for him.'

'Queen Esther, aren't you going to carry on your studies for me, all
the same?'

'For you!' said she, lifting her heavy eyes to him. It hurt him to see
how heavy they were; weighted with a great load of sorrow, too mighty
for tears.

'For me, certainly. I expect everything to go on just as if I were here
to look after it. I expect everything to go on so, that when I come
again I may find just what I want to find. You must not disappoint me.'

Esther did not say. She made no answer at all, and after a minute put a
question which was a diversion.

'Where are you going first, Pitt?'

'To Lisbon.'

'Yes, I know that; but when you get to England?'

'London first. You know that is the great English centre?'

'Do you know any people there?'

'Not I. But I have a great-uncle there, living at Kensington. I believe
that is part of London, though really I don't know much abou