Hazard caressed her only the more tenderly as he answered with the self-confidence which he put into all he did: "If my calling is so poor a thing that it cannot satisfy both our lives, I will have nothing more to do with it. I have more faith in us both. Promise to love me and I will take care of the rest."
"Ah!" gasped Esther, carried away by her own feelings and the vehemence of his love: "I am getting in deeper and deeper! What shall I do? Do not make me promise!"
"Then I will promise for both!" he said; and poor Esther ceased to struggle.
The same evening at dinner, Mrs. Murray remarked to her husband that she was becoming more and more uneasy about Esther's intimacy with Mr. Hazard.
"People are talking about it," she said. "It is really becoming a matter of public discussion."
"Do you suppose she would accept him?" asked Mr. Murray.
"How can I tell? She would say no, and then very likely do it. She is in the worst sort of a state of mind for an offer of that kind."
"Poor Dudley will rise from his grave," said Mr. Murray.
"He warned me to prevent such a match if I saw it coming," said Mrs. Murray; "but he did nothing to prevent it himself. He thought Esther was going to be very unhappy, and would make some such mistake. I would interfere, but it will only make matters worse. The thing has gone too far now."
"Take her away," said Mr. Murray.