'But I was not trying anything like that.'
'What were you trying to do, then?'
Esther hesitated.
'I thought—I must do without you; and so—I thought I had better not think about you.'
'Did you succeed?'
'Not very well. But—I suppose I could, in time.'
'See you don't! What do you think in that case I should do?'
'Oh, you!' said Esther; 'that is different. I thought you would not care.'
'Did you! You did me honour. Now, Queen Esther, let us understand this matter. I do care, and I am going to care, and I shall always care. Do you believe it?'
'I always believe what you say,' said the girl, with a happy change in her face, which touched Pitt again curiously. Somehow, the contrast between his own strong, varied, rich, and active life, with its abundance of resources and enjoyments, careless and satisfied,—and this little girl alone at home with her cranky father, and no variety or change or outlook or help, struck him painfully. It would hardly have struck most young men; but Pitt, with all his rollicking waywardness and self-pleasing, had a fine fibre in him which could feel things. Then Esther's nature, he knew, was one rich in possibilities; to which life was likely to bring great joy or great sorrow; more probably both.