'This won't do, you know,' said the young man, half-vexed and half-laughing, but wholly determined not to be kept at a distance in this manner. 'I am not going to sit down, if you are going to treat me like that.'
'Treat you how?'
'Why, as if I were a stranger, that you didn't care a pin about. What's the matter, Queen Esther?'
Esther was silent. Pitt was half-indignant; and then he caught the shimmer of something like moisture in the eyes, which were looking away from him to the fire, and his mood changed.
'What is it, Esther?' he said kindly. 'Take a seat, your majesty, and
I'll do the same. I see there is some talking to be done here.'
He took the girl's hand and put her in her chair, and himself drew up another near. 'Now what's the matter, Esther? Have you forgotten me?'
'No,' she said. 'But I thought—perhaps—you had forgotten me.'
'What made you think that?'
'You were gone away,' she said, hesitating; 'you were busy; papa said'—
'What did he say?'