Esther was glad that he did not offer to shake hands with her; she was glad that June went to see him off. As soon as the door had closed on them she took her letter out again; she pressed the paper to her lips.
It was worth waiting for, worth the heartache and disappointment; she closed her eyes for a moment and thought of Raymond Ashton. How she must have misjudged him in the past. It did not seem true now that they had ever quarrelled, or parted in anger; that she 154 had ever been so unhappy that she did not want to live....
June came running up the stairs; she was singing cheerily; Esther smiled as she listened ... it must be wonderful to be always as happy and light-hearted as June.
“Well, dreamer?” said June. She shut the door with a little slam and came over to where her friend sat. “A penny for your thoughts.”
She looked at Esther’s flushed face in the firelight.
“And so everything is all right after all, eh?” she asked.
Esther nodded.
“And I’m not really going to Mrs. Ashton’s after all,” she said with a sort of shamefaced delight. “Only I didn’t want to say so in front of Mr. Mellowes.... Oh, aren’t you glad?” she asked anxiously.
“My dear, of course I am!” said June heartily. “But for the life of me I can’t understand how it is that this man of yours has got such an influence over you. He’s only got to hold up his little finger and you’re on your knees. I’m beginning to think he must be a kind of wonder after all.”
Esther did not answer for a moment.