"In that case the hour approaches. Be prepared. I see something else. Several men love you."
"How can you see that in my hand?"
"Child! I am reading your mind at this moment; it is like an open book to me."
Esther would have withdrawn her hand, but that she felt it imprisoned as in a vise. The woman stood erect and rigid before her, her eye vitreous, with difficulty expelling her breath between her half open lips. At last she spoke as one in a dream.
"There are three! One is dressed in black."
"Reuben!" murmured Esther.
"The other is a fine gentleman."
"And the third?"
"The third! I cannot distinguish his features.—Yes,—now I see him!—Why, how singular!"
"Why?"