So the servants saw what the father did not. I think he hardly knew even that Esther was growing taller.
One evening in the spring, Esther was as usual making tea for her father. As usual also the tea-time was very silent. The colonel sometimes carried on his reading alongside of his tea-cup; at other times, perhaps, he pondered what he had been reading.
'Papa,' said Esther suddenly, 'would it be any harm if I wrote a letter to Pitt?'
The colonel did not answer at once.
'Do you want to write to him?'
'Yes, papa; I would like it—I would like to write once.'
'What do you want to write to him for?'
'I would like to tell him something that I think it would please him to hear.'
'What is that?'
'It is just something about myself, papa,' Esther said, a little hesitatingly.