During that turn he came out, and in the quiet of that street of workshops and warehouses, she directly heard his steps. Now her heart failed her for an instant; but still she was not daunted from her purpose, painful as its fulfilment was sure to be. She laid her hand on his arm. As she expected, after a momentary glance at the person who thus endeavoured to detain him, he made an effort to shake it off, and pass on. But trembling as she was, she had provided against this by a firm and unusual grasp.
"You must listen to me, Jem Wilson," she said, with almost an accent of command.
"Go away, missis; I've nought to do with you, either in hearkening, or talking."
He made another struggle.
"You must listen," she said again, authoritatively, "for Mary Barton's sake."
The spell of her name was as potent as that of the mariner's glittering eye. "He listened like a three-year child."
"I know you care enough for her to wish to save her from harm."
He interrupted his earnest gaze into her face, with the exclamation—
"And who can yo be to know Mary Barton, or to know that she's ought to me?"
There was a little strife in Esther's mind for an instant, between the shame of acknowledging herself, and the additional weight to her revelation which such acknowledgment would give. Then she spoke.