THE COMING 
 
 ESTER 
 
 
 <I 
 
 BAN K.BAIRD
 
 L OF CAUF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER
 
 SHE LOOKED PROFESSOR SANDERSON SQUARELY IN THE FACE. 
 Page 104.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 BY 
 
 JEAN K. BAIRD 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY ARTHUR 0. SCOTT 
 
 BOSTON 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARP CQ,
 
 Published, August, 1909. 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD Co. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 THE COMING OF HESTEB. 
 
 NortoooB 
 
 J. 8. Oushing Co. Berwick <fe Smith Co. 
 Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 
 SHE LOOKED PROFESSOR SANDERSON SQUARELY 
 
 IN THE FACE. (Page 104) . . Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 THE CHILD LAY ASLEEP IN HER ARMS ... 18 
 " AUNT DEBBY, YOU ARE PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL " 80 
 
 HE DID NOT WAIT TO REMOVE HIS SKATES . . 184 
 
 "HOW DARE YOU!" SHE CRIED .... 254 
 
 "I KNOW MORE ABOUT HESTER'S PEOPLE THAN 
 
 YOU SUSPECT " 310 
 
 2125532
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 T^VEBBY ALDEN was hanging out the 
 r^rr last piece of the weekly wash. It was 
 not yet eight o'clock, but Debby was not 
 one to be slack about her work. She hated 
 "slop " work, as she termed washing, to hang 
 on until the middle of the morning, so she 
 was out of bed at daylight and about it. 
 She was a tall, slender woman, with clear- 
 cut features inclined toward being sharp. 
 She was wiry and quick of movement, with 
 a voice that carried far when she put it to 
 use ; which was not frequent, for she was a 
 woman of few words. She was strong in 
 her likes and dislikes and fearless in the 
 expression of her opinion. She was in- 
 dependent in thought and action, no one 
 in her little world being able to force his 
 opinion upon her. 
 
 i
 
 2 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 She was a woman of good judgment, 
 with a large fund of practical common sense 
 which so far had never failed her. Her 
 mind had not received a great amount of 
 culture, but it was keen in its perceptions, 
 and logical in its reasoning. Had she been 
 a man, she might have been a criminal 
 lawyer or a great financier. She had a fine 
 appreciation of humor, although she her- 
 self was far from being humorous. She was 
 more inclined toward a sarcastic wit, which 
 stood her in need when curiously inclined 
 neighbors ventured too far upon her private 
 domains. 
 
 She had sprung from a long line of thrifty, 
 honest, unpretentious, plain-speaking folk, 
 and she was the epitome of all her forebears. 
 
 Her manner was undemonstrative al- 
 most stern. If affection or love made a 
 part of her composition, she kept them well 
 in the background, and only a few who really 
 understood her knew the depths of sacrifice 
 and devotion of which her love was capable.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 3 
 
 Her house, though barren of any sugges- 
 tion of luxuries or articles of finer taste, was 
 the picture of cleanliness and good sense. 
 She had everything needed for her comfort 
 and convenience. Her furniture was old- 
 fashioned, but well-kept and utilitarian. 
 She saw no reason to discard an excellent 
 article because present fashions declared it 
 out of date. 
 
 Her logical mind showed itself in her dress 
 as it did in her house. Her dark wrapper 
 was whole and clean, and quite short enough 
 to escape the ground. Her sleeves were 
 rolled above the elbow, and the front of 
 her dress was protected by a large apron of 
 blue and white check. Her great mass of 
 brown hair was braided tightly and wound 
 about her head until it looked like a crown. 
 There was a suggestion of waves about it, 
 but she kept it so tightly braided that the 
 waves never went further than a suggestion. 
 
 When the last article had been hung 
 plumb and straight on the line, Debby
 
 4 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 took up her basket preparatory to returning 
 to the wash-house. But the morning ap- 
 pealed to her. She paused to draw in a 
 breath of air and to look about her. 
 
 A choice of views was before her. Near 
 at hand was her own little place, too small 
 to be called a farm, yet large enough to 
 provide her living for her. There was her 
 early garden with hotbeds for the young 
 plants; her field of sweet corn, and to the 
 left of this, an acre laid out in potatoes. 
 
 Then close at hand was the great rambling 
 old house built to hold a large family; and 
 before this was the yard with its grass plots, 
 its beds of flowers, and the old-fashioned 
 shrubs and plants which her grandmother 
 had placed there. It was a peaceful scene. 
 She gave a sigh of contentment as her eyes 
 rested upon it. 
 
 At the edge of the place and across the 
 public road were the signs of the noise and 
 hurry of business life. A half-dozen tracks 
 of railroad came together here. The public
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 5 
 
 driveway crossed them almost at right 
 angles, and ascended a steep hill, where it 
 cut out its course close to the foot of the 
 mountain a dangerous position, with the 
 rocky barriers on one side and the railroad 
 on the outer edge a hundred feet below. 
 
 Less than a mile away was another wall 
 of mountains, at whose foot the river ran 
 like a hem to the great skirt of green. In 
 the valley between, rose the smoke and noise 
 from the great railroad shops where hun- 
 dreds of men worked day after day, and 
 year after year, to keep the engines and cars 
 ready to carry their great traffic of lives 
 and freight. 
 
 The stir and bustle of this view did not 
 please her. Her people had been quiet, 
 rural folk, and from them she inherited a 
 taste for the old homestead and pastoral life. 
 
 There had been a large family of them, 
 but one by one they had gone their way, 
 until she alone kept up the old place. She 
 had not found her life a lonely one, for she
 
 6 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 had had no scenes of gayety with which to 
 compare it. She had attended the country 
 school until she had conquered the " large" 
 arithmetic, the "big" geography, and had 
 worked a few examples in algebra. She 
 had had her season of sleigh-rides, spelling 
 schools, and taffy pulls. But when she had 
 reached the twenties and was yet Miss 
 Debby, she dropped from this social life, 
 for it was the custom of this country-side 
 that a spinster of twenty-five should be 
 retired from active social life. 
 
 With the sleigh-rides and taffy pulls and 
 spelling-bees went her smart dressing and 
 fluffy hair and little fixings of the toilette 
 dear to the heart of a belle. 
 
 She had but passed her twenty-fifth birth- 
 day, yet to an indifferent observer she ap- 
 peared much older, for although her hair 
 was as brown and satiny as the inside of 
 the ripe chestnut burr, and her face as 
 unwrinkled as a child's, the rigid straight 
 lines of her dressing brought into relief all
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 7 
 
 the angles of her form and features, robbing 
 her of every girlish grace. 
 
 After a few minutes of contemplation, 
 she aroused herself to the present. "Stand- 
 ing so when my tubs are not emptied and 
 the wash-house is yet to be scrubbed!" 
 
 Turning about quickly, she walked briskly 
 back to the house. A neighbor sat on the 
 wash-house steps, a folded newspaper in 
 her hand. 
 
 "Why, Kate Bowerman! how did you 
 ever slip in without my hearing you? Why 
 didn't you call?" 
 
 "I wasn't in a hurry. I peeped in here, 
 and, seeing your tubs standing, supposed you 
 were hanging out. You're late to-day. I was 
 all hung out and scrubbed out an hour ago." 
 
 "I'd been, too, but I washed some spreads, 
 and the blankets that were on my bed. 
 Blankets take so many rinsings. But, some- 
 how, this summer the nights get so cold I 
 can't sleep comfortably without them. 
 There's always a dampness from the river."
 
 8 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "You coddle yourself too much. The 
 nights have been none too cool. Blankets 
 from the first day of October to the first of 
 May is my rule, and I keep to it. Blankets 
 in one day and out the next hain't my way. 
 It's too slack." 
 
 "I'm going by no rules as long as the 
 weather don't. It's reasonable to suppose 
 the nights will be at least comfortable from 
 the last of May to the middle of September. 
 That's what folks used to count on. But 
 there's no telling any more. As long as 
 the weather has no laws, I hain't having 
 none about using blankets." 
 
 Her guest laughed. Yet the result of her 
 facial contortions could scarcely be graced 
 by such a name. It was a mirthless cackle 
 in which ill humors and ugly spirit were 
 manifest. Her voice was sharp and so 
 accustomed to ill-natured speech that even 
 her well-meant words savored of malice and 
 ill feeling. 
 
 Debby went on about her work, emptying
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 9 
 
 her tubs as she continued the conversation. 
 She was wondering why Mrs. Bowerman 
 had seen fit to run over at this unusual hour 
 of the day. She knew that some reason lay 
 behind the visit; it was not mere chance. 
 She saw the paper in her caller's hand, and 
 rightfully supposed it held some relation to 
 the visit, but she would not have asked for 
 the world. 
 
 Mrs. Bowerman chatted of indifferent 
 matters for some moments, and then said 
 abruptly, "I suppose you are wondering 
 why I ran over Monday morning?" 
 
 "No, I'm not." 
 
 "You seemed so absent-minded, I took it 
 for granted you were trying to think why I 
 came." 
 
 "I was wondering whether I'd have fruit- 
 cake or raisin pie for dinner. I'm a little 
 uncertain about the fruit-cake. I'm afraid 
 it won't hold out until I make more." 
 
 "Shouldn't put it on for every Tom, Dick, 
 and Harry that comes in. I set my table
 
 10 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 according to the people that eat at it. 
 There's only a few get fruit-cake." 
 
 Now, deep in her heart, Debby Alden 
 approved of such theories, but never had 
 she carried them into practice. It was not 
 her way to commend any of the theories 
 or plans of Mrs. Bowerman. She hung up 
 her tubs in silence and took down the mop 
 from its place on the wall of the wash-house. 
 
 Mrs. Bowerman, feeling that nothing 
 could be gained by further reticence, held 
 out the folded paper, saying, as she did so, 
 "I saw an item in last night's paper which 
 I knew you'd prick up your ears at." 
 
 "You talk as though I was a badly broken 
 colt." 
 
 "It's about a friend of yours." Here 
 Mrs. Bowerman gave her malicious laugh. 
 "It says that Doctor James K. Baker has 
 gone to Europe for a three months' visit. 
 There's a long piece about him. It seems 
 that he's been overworking, and his con- 
 gregation gave him this trip as a present."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 11 
 
 "That's nice." Debby's lips were closed 
 tightly as she made a strenuous effort to 
 insert the cleaning rag into the clasps of 
 the mop. 
 
 "It's too bad you and him didn't make it 
 up. It would have been a nice trip for you. 
 Of course, his congregation wouldn't have 
 sent one without the other." 
 
 "You're talking about something you 
 don't know anything about, Kate. You've 
 bothered yourself a good deal about me 
 lately with your wondering and guessing. 
 Now I'll tell you the truth right here, and 
 it will save you asking any more questions. 
 Jim Baker and I never quarrelled. We never 
 had anything to make up about. He took 
 me sleigh-riding a few times when we went 
 to school. That was all. He came here 
 to visit after he'd gone through college. 
 But why shouldn't he? If he hadn't have 
 come, the folks would all have been saying 
 that he was thinking himself better than the 
 rest of us, and had slighted us dreadfully.
 
 12 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Jim Baker and I are as good friends as we 
 always were, and there's not a man in this 
 country I admire as much. I'm glad he's 
 getting along. I hope he always will. He's 
 worked hard for all he's getting, and he 
 deserves every bit of it. Take that home 
 with you, Kate. It will set you thinking 
 and give you something to talk about." 
 
 By this time her mop had been properly 
 adjusted, and she fell to work upon the 
 floor with an unnecessary expenditure of 
 energy. 
 
 Kate stuck out her tongue a little 
 mannerism of hers which was far from 
 pleasing and laughed scornfully. 
 
 "What a fuss to make over nothing. I 
 say something jokingly, and you fly at me 
 as though I had been insulting you. There 
 must be something back of all this, or 
 else you wouldn't be so touchy. You must 
 feel hard on the subject, or you wouldn't 
 fly up so." She arose from the doorway 
 and made ready to depart. But before
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 13 
 
 going she delivered one of the old saws 
 of the locality, laughing scornfully as she 
 did so. "You know, Deb, what your 
 own grandmother used to say, 'It's the 
 " healed" place that won't bear touching.'" 
 She threw the paper toward Debby. "I'll 
 leave the paper. You might want to read 
 about Jim." 
 
 "Don't bother. I know he's getting 
 along, and I'm not much given to par- 
 ticulars." 
 
 She kept close to her work with the mop, 
 and not so much as turned her head toward 
 the departing guest. 
 
 "Well, I'll leave it, anyhow. You might 
 think better of it." With this speech she 
 turned and made her way under the or- 
 chard trees to the lane which led to her own 
 home. 
 
 Debby worked steadily until there was 
 no chance of her visitor's returning. Then, 
 laying aside her mop, she took up the paper 
 and read each word of the article which told
 
 14 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 of the departure of Doctor James Baker for 
 Europe, and which lauded his work above 
 other men of his day. 
 
 Then she folded and laid the paper away, 
 and went back to her work. It was not 
 the Alden way to day-dream or to grieve 
 over what had gone, and Debby, in whom 
 all the strongest traits of her ancestors 
 were epitomized, kept her emotions well 
 under control. She had not acknowledged 
 to herself how much of her interest had 
 been centred in the boy, Jim, of her school 
 days. They had been brought up together, 
 sharing in common each thought and pleas- 
 ure. Then Jim had gone away for six 
 years. When he came back with the ways 
 of college and city, Debby was constrained 
 and shy. She felt ill at ease in his presence, 
 and treated him with a cold courtesy which 
 he had misunderstood. 
 
 She had not done herself justice. She 
 had hidden beneath her frigid manner 
 all the noble traits of her character. She
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 15 
 
 was brusque and scornful of tongue, and 
 awkward in manner. 
 
 Jim had lingered about the old place for 
 several weeks, and then went off. He 
 had written once to her, a letter of courtesy, 
 merely, for performing her duties of hostess 
 in the home while he had been guest. That 
 had been eight years before, when she was 
 almost eighteen and he twenty-five. She 
 had heard of his successes. But she would 
 not acknowledge to herself or to her little 
 world that Jim Baker held a place in her 
 life or her thoughts. 
 
 There were neither regrets nor tears as 
 she set about her work in the preparation of 
 dinner. She ate alone, but prepared each 
 meal as though there were others to partake 
 of it. She had no tolerance for those peaky, 
 delicate women who pieced instead of eating 
 three substantial meals each day. She pre- 
 pared her dinner of meat and vegetables, 
 with a piece of pie for dessert. She was 
 about to sit down when there came to her
 
 16 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 ears the sound of footsteps upon the kitchen 
 porch. A caller at this hour was unusual. 
 The tin pedler in search of rags and old 
 iron was the only one who timed his visits 
 at the midday meal. He had made his 
 rounds but the week before, so it could not 
 be he. She waited an instant and then 
 went to the door, flinging it wide open with 
 her characteristic vehemence. 
 
 The sight which met her eyes was not 
 one to cause alarm. A young woman, ex- 
 hausted by a long walk and the burden of 
 a year-old child in her arms, was sitting on 
 the porch steps to rest. She was older than 
 Debby Alden, but so plump and round of 
 face and body that she seemed but a 
 child. She was neatly dressed in a dark 
 skirt and white shirt-waist. Her eyes were 
 large and dark, while her dark hair waved 
 and curled about her face. Her skin was 
 dark, but clear. She made a beautiful 
 picture as she leaned against the white 
 pillars of the porch, with the soft spray
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 17 
 
 of the wild cucumber vines swaying about 
 her. 
 
 The child lay asleep in her arms. Debby 
 Alden had been the youngest child in her 
 own family, and knew little of the ways of 
 children. She had not cared for them. 
 The daily sacrifices and duties of a mother 
 were a surprise to her. She had often 
 wondered how any woman could give up 
 her own comfort and convenience for the 
 welfare of a child. It was not strange, 
 then, that the beautiful child made no ap- 
 peal to her. Her quick glance rested for 
 a moment upon the woman and the babe, 
 and in an instant had grasped each detail 
 of face and dress. The woman at once 
 began an explanation. She had come on 
 the train which had passed an hour before. 
 She had mistook the trainman's words. 
 She thought the train had reached the 
 station, and she had gotten ofif. She had 
 found that the town was fully three miles 
 distant and that the train had stopped
 
 18 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 merely for orders. She had no wish to dis- 
 turb the lady, but the road was so hot and 
 dusty and the sleeping child had been very 
 heavy. She wished to rest but a moment. 
 If the lady could give them a little to eat, - 
 a piece of bread for herself and a glass of 
 milk for the child, she would be glad to 
 pay anything within reason. 
 
 Debby Alden reared back her head 
 haughtily. "The Aldens have not yet 
 reached the place where they set a price for 
 a piece of bread to a stranger. Come in." 
 She flung wide the door. Then, with native 
 hospitality, she took the child in her own 
 arms and carried her into the darkened liv- 
 ing-room, where she laid her upon the couch. 
 
 "She can have her sleep out," she said, 
 returning to the kitchen. "She can have 
 her milk when she gets awake. You can't 
 go on in the heat of the day." 
 
 "But I must. I mean to take the flyer 
 going north. I shouldn't have missed one 
 this morning."
 
 THE CHILD LAY ASLEEP IN HER ARMS. Page 17.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 19 
 
 "There's no north-going flyer until after 
 five o'clock. It's about a mile and a half 
 to the station." 
 
 "I thought there was one at three." 
 
 "There is, but that goes east. It comes 
 from Buffalo. That's why it's called the 
 Buffalo flyer. You've time to cool off and 
 escape the heat. The dinner's on. I was 
 about to sit down when I heard your step. 
 You'd better sit here. You'll not be so 
 near the stove. I don't generally heat up 
 this stove, but I was hungry for huckle- 
 berry pie, and the shanty stove doesn't 
 bake well. It needs to be cleaned out." 
 
 She pushed a chair toward her visitor, 
 who grew profuse in her thanks. Her voice 
 was rich and full, with an accent unlike 
 any which Debby Alden had ever heard. 
 To her, all who did not speak English as 
 she spoke it were foreigners. In this class 
 she at once placed her stranger guest, whose 
 mellow liquid tones were music in themselves. 
 
 "French," said Debby to herself. "I've
 
 20 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 been told that they have such a soft, pretty 
 way of speaking." 
 
 Her guest was eating heartily. Debby 
 passed her the platter of meat. "Help 
 yourself," she said, with great open-hearted- 
 ness. " You'll have a walk before you, and 
 a long journey besides. You must eat if 
 you want strength to go on." 
 
 The woman reached forth her hand for 
 the dish. The act brought her long taper 
 fingers into prominence. 
 
 Debby Alden started. In the hand she 
 recognized the racial marks and standing 
 of the woman before her. 
 
 The prejudices and dislikes of genera- 
 tions of Aldens came to the front. Draw- 
 ing herself up rigidly, she arose from the 
 table and let her guest finish her meal alone.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 rflHE stranger finished her dinner in 
 -- silence. She may have understood 
 the thoughts which had flashed through 
 the mind of her hostess. It was evident 
 that she was used to such treatment as 
 was accorded her here. 
 
 The child awakened, and she hurried to 
 it, crying out: "Mammy's coming. Don't 
 cry, honey." 
 
 Debby brought out a pitcher of morning's 
 milk and cut a generous slice from the loaf 
 of bread. 
 
 "You had better feed her now," she said. 
 "Perhaps you had better take a bottle of 
 milk with you if you have a long journey. 
 The milk bought in cities isn't always as 
 pure as it might be." 
 
 "It would be so much trouble " began 
 the woman; "and you are tired." 
 21
 
 22 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "What if I am? Being tired has harmed 
 no one yet, as far as I know." She was 
 already rinsing a small bottle and filling it. 
 "I'll set it on the ice on the porch. You 
 can get it when you are ready." 
 
 The child was devouring its bowl of 
 bread and milk with a good healthy ap- 
 petite. Debby could not but look at it. 
 The child was beautiful, with soft, dark 
 eyes fringed with long lashes, and soft, wav- 
 ing hair, which clung in rings to the white 
 forehead. 
 
 The guests lingered until the heat of the 
 midday had passed. Debby made ready 
 a lunch for the child, and hastened them 
 on their way. 
 
 "If you cross the tracks up there by the 
 wagon road," she said, indicating the end 
 of the yard, "you will have better walking, 
 and it won't be so long." 
 
 "But the trains " began the woman, 
 timidly. 
 
 "There's no danger. There's no shifting
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 23 
 
 now, as you can see. They're only empty 
 box cars that are standing on the siding. 
 The regular trains come in about five o'clock, 
 and then there's freights all night long. 
 I've lived here all my life, and I've seen 
 precious little shifting this time in the day." 
 
 The woman took up the child and set out 
 for town. Debby Alden went with her to 
 the gate, and then turned to take in the 
 clothes on the line. A grocery wagon was 
 driving up with her supplies. She told the 
 man to put them on the kitchen table while 
 she gathered together the clothes and took 
 down the line. 
 
 The man did as he was requested, and then 
 turned his team toward town. Debby had 
 about finished her work, when she heard 
 the whistle of the east-bound flyer. 
 
 "I declare ! I forgot all about that train," 
 she said aloud. "But 'twon't be no differ- 
 ence. If she's any kind of a walker, she'll 
 be a considerable distance in town by this 
 time."
 
 24 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Despite her words, an uneasy feeling was 
 with her. She walked to the front fence 
 and looked up the road. The clothes-line 
 was wound about her arm from thumb to 
 elbow. 
 
 She saw the groceryman whip his horses 
 and tear down the road at a reckless rate. 
 The flyer had entered the yard, but, con- 
 trary to custom, was moving slowly back. 
 
 Quick as a flash Debby Alden grasped 
 what had happened. She turned from the 
 yard and ran down the hot, dusty road, 
 regardless of heat and dirt. She came to 
 the crossing almost as soon as the train 
 reached there. The trainmea were bending 
 over the body of the woman, which had been 
 hurled against the slope of the mountain. 
 She was past help. 
 
 " She's a stranger hereabouts," said some 
 one. "I know every one that lives here, 
 but I never saw her before. Where shall 
 we take her?" 
 
 Here Debby Alden pushed to the front.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 25 
 
 "Take her to my house/' she said. "It's 
 my fault that she's dead. I've killed her. 
 Bring her along." 
 
 Some had a stretcher in readiness. Debby 
 waited until all was ready, and then started 
 to lead the way. She stopped suddenly 
 and looked about her. "But the child! 
 There was a child! Where is it?" 
 
 "She threw something from her just as 
 the train struck," said the engineer. "I 
 don't know what. I knew I couldn't stop, 
 we were going so fast, so I shut my 
 eyes. I didn't want to see the end." 
 
 The others were looking about for the 
 child. They found her deep in the clump 
 of elder bushes, where she had been thrown. 
 She was quite unharmed, and was reaching 
 out to clutch the clusters of bloom about 
 her. 
 
 Debby Alden seized her from the train- 
 man's arms and looked her over. "There's 
 not a scratch on her! It was Providence 
 that she lighted on the bushes."
 
 26 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 With the child in her arms, she started 
 homeward, and the men who had gathered 
 about took up their burden and followed 
 her. 
 
 "You'd better send Doctor Heins down, 
 and the undertaker," she called to the 
 groceryman, as he drove away. 
 
 When she entered her home, she de- 
 posited the baby on the couch and set about 
 to assist the men. She brought out her 
 best linen and cared for the dead woman 
 as though she was near kin. 
 
 The baby cried, and she cared for it. The 
 men went on about their own affairs, except 
 two, who awaited the coming of the doctor. 
 Debby kept busy from room to room, and all 
 the while her mind was filled with thoughts 
 of the peculiar position in which she was 
 placed. She questioned how much of her 
 knowledge would best be kept to herself, 
 and how much it was right and proper for 
 her to tell. 
 
 The doctor came, and, close at his heels,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 27 
 
 for the news of the accident had taken 
 wings, was Mrs. Bowerman with her baby 
 in her arms, and the other women of 
 the neighborhood, some curious and some 
 actuated in their coming by a desire to be 
 helpful. 
 
 They sat about in the kitchen and living- 
 room. Debby herself went with the doctor 
 into the parlor, where the woman lay. Each 
 woman was curious and anxious, and wished 
 to see the stranger. But Debby did not 
 invite them to enter the front room, and they 
 stood so in awe of her that they could not 
 venture of their own accord. 
 
 Doctor Heins was a genial little Dutch- 
 man, with shoulders hunched up, and blink- 
 ing, near-sighted eyes. He examined the 
 dead woman. 
 
 "I knew there was no use of your com- 
 ing," said Debby. "She was quite dead 
 when the men took her up. But the folks 
 would be sure to say something if I hadn't 
 sent for you."
 
 28 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Yes, it's better to have a doctor here, 
 though I'm really of no use. It's a case for 
 the coroner. But I'll attend to that, Debby." 
 He had caught her expression of perplexity. 
 "I've done it before, and I'll see to it now. 
 It isn't work for a woman." 
 
 He was bending over the dead woman, 
 trying to discover in her features a likeness 
 to some one he knew. 
 
 "She was certainly a fine-looking woman. 
 Have you any idea who she was or where 
 she was going?" 
 
 "She came from a distance, and she 
 meant to go a long way off. That's 
 all I know. I didn't ask her any ques- 
 tions, and she didn't tell me of her own 
 accord." 
 
 Mechanically the doctor took the woman's 
 hand in his own. It was the hand of one 
 not accustomed to work. His near-sighted 
 eyes blinked nervously as he examined it. 
 
 "This is unusual," he said. "She's been 
 dead less than three hours, yet mortification
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 29 
 
 has set in. The tops of her finger nails are 
 quite purple." 
 
 He looked up at Debby, expecting her to 
 reply. But she had moved to the end of 
 the room, where she stood by the door as 
 though waiting for him to leave. 
 
 "There comes Hallers, now; I hear the 
 sound of wheels." She opened the door 
 and passed into the living-room, and the 
 doctor followed. She knew that her neigh- 
 bors were waiting to hear her story. She 
 did not wish to discuss it, but she thought 
 it best to tell them enough to satisfy them. 
 With this purpose in mind she passed into 
 the kitchen and became the centre of the 
 group gathered there. One woman arose and 
 pushed her into a chair, saying, as she did so, 
 ' ' There, sit down ! I should think you'd be all 
 wrought up and of a tremble, Debby Alden I" 
 
 "Well, I'm not," she replied. "This all 
 came so sudden that I haven't had time 
 to be in a tremble. I've had no time to 
 think of myself."
 
 30 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "They say that she stopped here," said 
 a shrill-voiced little woman by the window. 
 "Did you know her, Debby? Seeing that 
 she was here and you took her in, I thought 
 maybe you knew her." 
 
 "No, I didn't. She was walking toward 
 the station." Then she repeated the in- 
 cidents of the morning, omitting no detail. 
 Her listeners sat breathless, drinking in 
 each word of her story. There were ex- 
 clamations of surprise, and sighs suggestive 
 of their regret at the sad turn of affairs. 
 Now and then Kate Bowerman's nervous, 
 hysterical laugh rang over all; and the 
 little child lay in the living-room and gurgled 
 and laughed, unconscious of the tragedy 
 close at hand. 
 
 "What kind of a woman did she appear 
 to be? Did she look as though she might 
 be some one?" It was Kate Bowerman 
 who asked the question. Debby Alden knew 
 what she meant. Throughout the valley 
 the old residents rated family high. To
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 31 
 
 say that he belonged to "good stock" was 
 the highest compliment they ever paid to 
 any man. 
 
 Debby evaded a direct answer. " She 
 seemed able to pay her way and was well- 
 dressed. She was not a bad-looking woman. 
 I know you'll all say that when you come 
 to look at her." 
 
 "What sort of a spoken woman was 
 she?" asked the nervous shrill-voiced 
 woman sitting near the window. The 
 women were all talking at once, expressing 
 themselves as to the possible identity and 
 destination of the stranger, but the voice 
 of this one rose above all. 
 
 Debby Alden hesitated. She was one 
 who spoke the truth even to the merest 
 detail. She wondered at herself that she 
 now had a desire to keep something back. 
 It may have been that telling ill of the 
 dead restrained her. 
 
 "She was as nicely spoken a woman as 
 you'd want to hear, although she had an
 
 32 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 odd way of saying her words. She must 
 have come from far off, for no one about 
 here talks any way like her." 
 
 "A foreigner, likely," said the shrill- 
 voiced woman. 
 
 "Yes, she wasn't an American. I'm sure 
 of that," said Debby. 
 
 "Do you think she might be German? 
 There's a German settlement in the eastern 
 part of the State. Did she talk anything 
 like the help that Mrs. Stevenson had? 
 Her girl Ricka was Dutch." 
 
 Debby shook her head. When she spoke, 
 it was with her usual vehemence. 
 
 " Dutch! She talked no more like Ricka 
 than I do. Her words were soft and full, 
 and her voice was low. Mine sounded like 
 bellowing alongside of it." 
 
 "French. They talk so," said Mrs. 
 Bowerman. "They're not a bad-looking 
 set as a whole, and they're neat. You said 
 this woman looked trim and neat. Had 
 she dark eyes and hair?"
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 33 
 
 "Very. Black. I've never seen blacker." 
 
 "Likely French." She arose, and, passing 
 into the living-room, brought out the child. 
 It went from the arms of one to another, 
 who examined it critically until each detail 
 of dress and feature was known. 
 
 The child's dress was sheer and fine and 
 without adornment of any kind except the 
 daintiest bits of handwork. It bore the 
 marks of the best care and taste. 
 
 The little woman by the window held it 
 close to her for an instant. "Poor child," 
 she said, and her voice came down the 
 scale until her words were scarcely audible. 
 "You're laughing and cooing now, for you 
 don't know what it means to lose a mother." 
 
 But her tenderness was swept before the 
 clamor of the others' tongues. 
 
 The women lingered until called home 
 by household duties. Several came back in 
 the evening, bringing their husbands, and 
 together they sat with Debby the long 
 night through, it being considered a show
 
 34 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 of disrespect for any one to sleep in the 
 house where the dead lay. 
 
 The third day after the accident, the 
 woman was buried, and Debby Alden, who 
 censured herself for advising the stranger 
 to cross the tracks at the danger point, 
 paid the funeral expenses, and saw to it that 
 she was not laid in the plot reserved for the 
 friendless dead. The question of caring for 
 the child now came up. Debby was willing 
 to give it a home until the relatives could 
 be found. A notice of the accident with 
 all the details was published far and wide. 
 
 But by Debby 's holding back a little of 
 her knowledge, a false coloring was given 
 to these newspaper reports. They described 
 the woman as French. The accounts left 
 no doubt in the minds of the reader that 
 the unfortunate stranger was the parent of 
 the child. These reports were copied far 
 and wide. More than one person to whom 
 the child was dear, glanced at the head- 
 lines and then read eagerly, only to toss the
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 35 
 
 paper aside, having no vital interest in this 
 French mother and her babe. 
 
 Several weeks passed, and the child was 
 yet with Debby Alden. This additional 
 care, with the housework, the cow and 
 chickens, kept her busy. But the child 
 had but one change of clothing, and she 
 set to work to make others for it. 
 
 Such was her sense of duty that she 
 selected for this little stranger the same 
 material and style of garment that she 
 would have done had the child been her 
 own. She was awkward in the use of the 
 needle. So she studied each detail of the 
 little dress which the child wore, and copied 
 it as closely as she was able. The rolled 
 hems were beyond her comprehension, yet 
 not beyond her conquering. When she found 
 that she could not make the hems in the new 
 dresses as they were in the old, she walked 
 into town and called upon Miss Richards. 
 
 This Miss Richards was a spinster of 
 middle age who had opened a free kinder-
 
 36 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 garten for the mere love of the work, and 
 who did needlework after the fashion of 
 gentlewomen of generations passed. She 
 was a refined, wholesome woman, who had 
 spent her life among the beautiful things 
 of the world. 
 
 She took up Debby's work. "A rolled 
 hem is what you wish," she said. "It is 
 easily done when once you know how to 
 start it." She set Debby right, and Debby, 
 who was neither dull nor lazy, carried the 
 baby and work-bag home, where she sat up 
 half the night until she had made a hem as 
 smooth and fine as a cord. 
 
 She was not alone during these first 
 weeks with the baby. The curious-minded 
 of her neighbors came often to see her. 
 Mrs. Bowerman was among these. She was 
 a dozen years older than Debby Alden. 
 She had married late in life, and had but 
 one child, a puny little daughter, but a few 
 months older than the little visitor at the 
 Alden home.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 37 
 
 Mrs. Bowerman was bitter toward all the 
 world and critical of all that came within 
 her range, except Mary, her own little 
 child. 
 
 " Don't she walk yet?" she asked one 
 day, as she watched the baby creep about. 
 "Why, my Mary walked everywhere before 
 she was as old, and she was into every- 
 thing." 
 
 "An inheritance, perhaps," said Debby, 
 grimly, " her being into everything." 
 
 At every point Debby met her criticism 
 with a touch of sarcastic wit. From early 
 girlhood days, Kate Bowerman had tried 
 to form her opinions and mark out her 
 course of action; but Debby would have 
 none of her. It was not that Kate's sugges- 
 tions were not often most excellent, but, 
 as Debby expressed herself, "It was not in 
 the Aldens to be druv." 
 
 She had not thought of keeping the 
 strange child as her own, until Kate Bower- 
 man touched on the subject, when she ran
 
 38 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 across lots one afternoon to see how affairs 
 at the Alden home were moving along. 
 
 "Doctor Heins was up at Earners' last 
 evening. Grandmother Earner had another 
 one of her spells, and I ran over to see if I 
 could help Eliza out. When the old lady 
 got easy, we fell to talking of this tramp's 
 child. Doctor Heins said he knew you'd 
 end in keeping it. But I sent him off with 
 a bee in his bonnet. 'You don't know the 
 Aldens,' I said. 'They're great hands for 
 standing by their own flesh and blood, 
 but when it comes to giving to an out- 
 sider, they're close. If some of the child's 
 own folks don't turn up to claim her, 
 you'll see her sent off to the poorhouse. 
 You don't know the Aldens like I know 
 them, root and branch.' That's what I 
 told him." 
 
 While she was talking, Debby kept her 
 needle busy on some little petticoats she 
 was making. A nervous jerk showed as 
 she took a stitch. Not until that moment
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 39 
 
 did she make up her mind what to do with 
 the child. 
 
 "It looks as though you didn't know 
 them as well as you've counted on," she 
 said. "You never heard tell of one of the 
 Aldens turning a stranger from his door. 
 Have you? I've never heard of them doing 
 that, and I know their history for genera- 
 tions back. Debby Alden won't be the 
 first to do such a thing. If her folks don't 
 come to claim her, she'll stay here." 
 
 "But what will you call her? You can't 
 have a child about the house without a 
 name." Kate laughed maliciously. 
 
 "I'll call her Alden. It's a good name. 
 There's never been no shame touched it. I'm 
 the last of my folks, and I mean to give my 
 name to this child. She'll have a good name. 
 I defy any one to say a word against it." 
 
 Kate sank back in her chair. "Debby 
 Alden! You've gone crazy. You're gone 
 clean out of your head. You don't mean " 
 
 "Yes, I do. I mean to call her Hester
 
 40 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Palmer Alden, after my own mother. I 
 was always fond of the name Hester." 
 
 "But if her folks should come and take 
 her after you've had her and grown fond 
 of her ! A baby does get on the soft side 
 of a person, say what you will." 
 
 "I hain't going to trust to chance. I 
 mean to make her mine by law. The 
 Aldens never were slack about business. 
 Not one of them even died without having 
 his will drawn up and signed years before 
 it was needed; and I don't intend to be 
 the first to leave affairs to chance. I mean 
 to go in to the county-seat and have the 
 papers drawn up, so that there never can 
 be any trouble." 
 
 She carried out her intentions before the 
 week had gone. She took the unknown child 
 before the court, and returned with it bearing 
 the name of Hester Palmer Alden ; but, with 
 the Alden characteristic of keeping their 
 affairs to themselves, she told no one except 
 her legal adviser what she had done.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 T ITTLE HESTER thrived and grew 
 ^-^^ after a new and remarkable way all 
 her own, if Debby's statements could be 
 taken as unbiassed ones. Never before in 
 all the valley had a child lisped her first 
 words as prettily as little Hester Alden; 
 and never had another child had such sweet, 
 attractive ways as she. She stole into 
 Debby Alden's heart before the woman was 
 aware, for she had meant only to do her 
 duty by the child, and had filled it to the 
 exclusion of all else. 
 
 Debby began to study the manner and 
 dress of other children the age of Hester. 
 She wished Hester to stand equal to any of 
 them. Her spare moments were given to 
 making dainty ' garments for the child. 
 She had even subscribed for a magazine 
 which made a specialty of child-life, and 
 pored over its pages most assiduously. 
 
 41
 
 42 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Before Hester was three years old, she 
 had accomplished some excellent results, 
 for she had made of Aunt Debby an excel- 
 lent needlewoman, and throughout the coun- 
 try-side had given her a reputation of being 
 an authority on the proper care of a child. 
 Aunt Debby, as Hester had been taught 
 to call her, had fed, bathed, and trained 
 the child according to the rules of the 
 magazine. The results were all that could 
 be desired. Hester was a dimpled, healthy, 
 active child, as happy and contented as one 
 could wish. 
 
 Debby Alden was uncertain regarding 
 the age of the child. But feeling that to be 
 without a birthday was quite as great an 
 affliction as being without a name, she set 
 aside the first day of June, and taught 
 Hester to look upon it as the anniversary 
 of her birth. 
 
 "The child must have a birthday," she 
 explained to Miss Richards, who was the 
 only person with whom she discussed her.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 43 
 
 "I took the first of June because those 
 days are generally warm and bright, and I 
 mean her to have picnics and birthday 
 cakes whenever she's old enough to under- 
 stand." 
 
 Hester's fourth birthday was celebrated 
 by a picnic in the orchard. Again had 
 Debby gone by the book, inviting four little 
 girls to spend the afternoon and having a 
 cake with four pink candles burning on it. 
 
 Mary Bowerman was among the guests. 
 The sight of the birthday cake with its tiny 
 lights aroused in her little breast the same 
 envious, malicious feelings which were the 
 striking characteristics of her mother. The 
 child was almost five years old, and had 
 never had such a fuss made over her birth- 
 day as Hester was having. She sat down 
 under the sweet apple tree, quite a dis- 
 tance from the others, refusing to take part 
 in the festivities. 
 
 Debby was spreading the table, and 
 called to her to come and play Ring-a-
 
 44 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 round-Rosy with the children. But she 
 would not. Then Jane Orr ; dimpled, pudgy, 
 and beaming with good-will and good- 
 humor, broke from the circle and ran to 
 Mary to beg her to take part in the fun. 
 
 " You'd better come," she whispered, 
 "or maybe Miss Debby will not let you 
 come to the table. She's made ice cream. 
 I saw the freezer hid under the berry bushes. 
 You had better come, Mary. It's the 
 nicest party I was ever at. I wish I was 
 Hester Alden and could have a birthday 
 cake with candles. Don't you ? Aren't you 
 glad she is having it?" 
 
 "I'm glad she has something, if it is only 
 a party. But I'd rather have a father and 
 mother. She hasn't either." 
 
 Her childish voice carried far. Little 
 Hester heard, and for the instant was on 
 the verge of tears. She had never thought 
 of that before, yet it was quite true, she 
 had neither father nor mother. She might 
 have cried, had not Jane cried out, "Yes,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 45 
 
 but she has her Aunt Debby, and she's 
 better than lots of fathers and mothers." 
 
 Hester smiled through her tears. She 
 did have Aunt Debby. That was true. 
 Perhaps if little girls have aunts, they're 
 not supposed to have mothers, she reasoned, 
 and for the time was satisfied with her con- 
 clusions. 
 
 Debby Alden caught the import of Mary's 
 speech. She was not vexed with the child, 
 for she saw that she did not understand the 
 meaning of her own words. She had caught 
 the idea from overhearing the speech of 
 her elders at home. 
 
 Debby spoke to her sharply. "Come 
 and play with the others, Mary Bowerman, 
 and don't talk about things that a little 
 girl can't understand." Then she turned 
 about and whispered so that the others 
 could not hear, "If I ever know of your 
 speaking to Hester about having no father 
 nor mother, I'll shake you until I break 
 every bone in your body." Then she said
 
 46 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 aloud: "Now run and play with the others. 
 Hester, let Mary have the handkerchief to 
 drop. She's company." 
 
 For Mary's speech concerning Hester, 
 Debby cared little. They were children. 
 One could not expect much of babies five 
 years old, yet Debby realized that this 
 speech was a forerunner of many which 
 Hester must meet either from the malicious- 
 minded or from the thoughtless. She 
 dreaded the time when Hester must be 
 sent to school. Yet when she thought of 
 these matters, she added grimly, "But there's 
 one thing not one of them can ever tell her. 
 I'm glad I kept a close tongue in my head 
 the day the child's mother was buried." 
 
 She watched the child with jealous eye, 
 fearful always that she would show some 
 trace of her parentage. 
 
 "Blood's bound to tell," she would say 
 to herself. "I know that's true, and I 
 won't try to deceive myself by saying it 
 hain't; but if there's anything in training,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 47 
 
 I'll see to it that she's trained out of every 
 low trait that might have been born in her." 
 
 Miss Richards was her greatest help at 
 this time. She went to her for suggestions 
 whenever her own natural wit failed her. 
 The high-bred, cultivated woman was always 
 ready to help, and her suggestions were 
 ones that Debby Alden knew were worthy 
 of acceptance. 
 
 "Hester is over to Bowermans'," she 
 said one afternoon, as she came into Miss 
 Richards' living-room. "I've come to an- 
 other place in the road where I don't know 
 which way to turn." 
 
 "And no sign-boards pointing anywhere, 
 Debby?" Miss Richards asked with a smile. 
 
 "Not a one. If there had been, I would 
 not have bothered you by coming." 
 
 "You never bother me. You know that, 
 Debby. I'm interested in Hester's welfare 
 almost as much as you are. I will not say 
 as much, for you hold a place in her life 
 that no one else can hold.
 
 48 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "I have just a little business to attend 
 to with one of the servants who is going 
 away for a visit. Excuse me until I speak 
 with her, and then we'll talk of Hester." 
 She left the room, leaving her caller alone 
 in an easy-chair by the window. 
 
 Debby looked about her, taking in each 
 detail of the apartment. Since Hester had 
 been with her, her eyes had grown keener. 
 She wished the child to have the best things 
 of life, and, to do Debby Alden justice, she 
 had the proper conception of what the 
 best things were. She wished her to be 
 honest and upright, and independent in 
 thought and action Debby, in her own 
 heart, despising servility. These virtues 
 were the backbone of character. In addi- 
 tion to these, she wished Hester to be gentle 
 in manner, dainty in dress, and refined in 
 speech. And so she looked about her and 
 studied the environment which had made 
 Miss Richards what she was. 
 
 There were soft rich rugs, a few beautiful
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 49 
 
 pictures, the open piano with the sheet 
 music upon the rack, a single rose in a 
 plain little vase; an easy-chair or two, and 
 the work-basket filled with exquisite hand- 
 work. 
 
 She had scarcely made a mental inven- 
 tory of the room, when Miss Richards re- 
 turned. Taking up her work, she sat down 
 near her caller. 
 
 "Now, Debby, what about the roads? 
 Where is it you wished to go?" 
 
 "I've been allowing Hester to play with 
 Jane Orr. She's a nice-mannered little 
 girl. Her mother trains her well, and I 
 felt that Hester would 'learn something by 
 playing with her." 
 
 "Yes, did she?" 
 
 "Yes, she did, and she's been troubling 
 me ever since. You see, Miss Richards, 
 Mrs. Orr tells Jane stories. I don't under- 
 stand just what kind they are, for Hester 
 gets them badly mixed up when she repeats 
 them to me. But anyhow, they're the
 
 50 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 kind that children like. At least, Hester 
 does, and she's pestered me ever since to 
 have me tell her stories like Jane's mother 
 tells." 
 
 "It would be all right, Debby. The very 
 best educators of the day believe in telling 
 children all manner of myths and fairy 
 tales. I cannot see that it would do the 
 child harm. Since she asks for them, I 
 think I should tell her." 
 
 Debby smiled grimly. "That wasn't 
 what troubled me. I believe in telling 
 them to her. But when you never were 
 told any yourself and don't know any, 
 what's to be done?" 
 
 "That is easily remedied," was the reply. 
 "I think I have what you need." 
 
 Selecting several volumes from the book 
 shelf, she glanced hurriedly through them. 
 
 "This will do for a beginning," she said, 
 handing the books to Debby. "Take them 
 home with you. The stories are all short, 
 and are generally pleasing to children.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 51 
 
 Read them once or twice, and then tell 
 them to Hester. There's a lesson in each 
 little tale. The 'Necklace of Truth 7 is 
 good. It teaches a child to despise a lie." 
 
 "I'll see to it that she is taught that/' 
 was the grim response. "If I should ever 
 catch her in a lie, I believe I'd break every 
 bone in her body. Lying is such a low-down 
 trick." 
 
 Debby took the book home and read it 
 after Hester was in bed and asleep. It 
 was a collection of the old-time stories, 
 bits of myths and fairy tales which have 
 been told to the children for generations 
 at least to most children. Debby Alden 
 herself had not been granted such a broad 
 culture. Her people had been rigid ad- 
 herents to the tenets of sect. The old 
 stories which Debby had heard in her child- 
 hood were awe-inspiring and terrifying. 
 
 She was soon master of the contents of 
 the book. She had kept her reading a 
 secret from Hester, and, when the child had
 
 52 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 begged for a story, had put her off with 
 promises for the future. 
 
 The mere reading of the stories had given 
 her pleasure, for they opened a new world 
 to her; a world filled with the rarest jewels 
 of the imagination whose existence she had 
 never suspected. But the pleasure which 
 came to her from the reading was small 
 compared to that which came to her when 
 she took Hester in her arms, and, rocking 
 slowly to and fro, repeated those wonderful 
 tales to her. 
 
 Her first story, "The Necklace of Truth," 
 Hester, big-eyed and eager, sat breathless 
 until the story ended. Then giving a sigh 
 of satisfaction, she said simply, "Tell it 
 again. 7 ' 
 
 The stories never grew old to the child. 
 But when Debby's mind had fed upon 
 them, she was hungry for more. Miss 
 Richards was ready to satisfy her. More 
 books were taken from the book-shelves to 
 the Alden home. So it was that during
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 53 
 
 the winter of Hester's fifth year, Debby 
 revelled in myth and fairy tales, and bits 
 of quaint old classics, and fragments of 
 poem and rhyme. 
 
 Hester required much work and care 
 with her clothes, baths, and especially pre- 
 pared meals, but Debby felt that she was 
 more than repaid for all her effort when 
 the child put her warm, chubby arms about 
 the woman's neck, 'and in her pretty childish 
 prattle told of her love for Aunt Debby. 
 
 In the beginning of the sixth year, Hester 
 started to school. The district school, with 
 over half a hundred pupils of all grades 
 and ages packed in an ill-ventilated room, 
 was just at the end of the public road. 
 Debby had been reared in such an atmos- 
 phere, and realized its disadvantages. She 
 wished Hester to have greater opportuni- 
 ties than had been afforded her. The ward 
 building of the borough school was over 
 half a mile distant, and the many tracks of 
 the railroad lay between.
 
 54 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 But when Debby Alden had a purpose 
 clearly defined in her mind, she would ad- 
 mit no obstructions to its carryings. It 
 was best for Hester to go to town; there- 
 fore it must be done, regardless of the cost 
 to herself either physically or financially. 
 
 She walked with Hester each morning 
 until she was safe beyond the dangerous 
 crossing. At the close of each session she 
 met her at the railroad. The walk home 
 was neither long nor dull to them. Hester's 
 tongue kept up a fire of talk about school, 
 and Debby listened as one might listen to 
 a sage. The subject never wearied her. 
 She knew each evening what pupils had 
 been publicly reprimanded, what color of 
 waist and ribbon the teacher wore, and 
 what lovely pictures the little girls had 
 made with colored crayons. 
 
 "Miss Cams told us about Clytie and the 
 sunflower yesterday," she began one even- 
 ing, "and to-day she asked us children to 
 tell her all about it."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 55 
 
 " Could you?" asked Debby, eagerly. 
 
 "Yes; I knew that long ago. Miss 
 Cams did not need to tell me. I always 
 knew about Clytie turning into a sunflower. 
 I could tell the story." 
 
 "And didn't you?" 
 
 "I was going to, Aunt Debby. Miss 
 Cams said I might tell, and I got up. I 
 was just telling it? beautifully, and all the 
 little girls sat still with their eyes 'bugging' 
 out something terrible just to hear how 
 much I knew, and then " 
 
 She was almost in tears, and yet her 
 indignation was enough greater than her 
 humiliation that the tears were kept from 
 falling. 
 
 "And what happened then? Did you 
 forget? Tell Aunt Debby all about it." 
 She held the child's hand closer in her own, 
 as though to reassure her. 
 
 "No; I didn't forget. I never could 
 forget about Clytie, Aunt Debby. Why, I 
 have always known it. But Mary Bower-
 
 man sat right back of me and punched me. 
 Yes, Aunt Debby," she nodded her head in 
 affirmation of her words. 
 
 "She punched me twice, and then I 
 turned and gave her a push, and " the 
 lips quivered perceptibly, "and Miss Cams 
 said, 'Be seated, Hester!' She made me 
 sit down, and I couldn't finish about Clytie." 
 
 Debby Alden knew not what to say. 
 Her natural instincts were to sympathize 
 with the child, but her early training was 
 opposed to any such show of feeling as 
 tending to weakness and enervation. 
 
 "Well, I wouldn't cry about it. Miss 
 Cams may let you tell the story sometime 
 again. You may tell Mary that she's not 
 to punch you. You can tell her that before 
 you go into school to-morrow." 
 
 "I've told her already, Aunt Debby. I 
 waited until the line broke. She was at 
 the end, and I told her that if she punched 
 me that way again, I'd break every bone in 
 her body!"
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 57 
 
 Debby gave a gasp. The expression hurt 
 her. The words were out of harmony with 
 the child's beautiful countenance and man- 
 ner. 
 
 "I don't believe that I would use such 
 words, Hester. They do not sound nice." 
 
 "You use them, Aunt Debby." There 
 was no criticism in the remark, only a 
 mere statement of fact. "You wouldn't 
 say anything that wasn't nice. Would you, 
 auntie?" 
 
 Debby pressed her lips together. Her 
 face took on its grim expression. She had 
 used such words not once, but often. She 
 had no wish to deny or palliate her offence. 
 At last she spoke. "Yes, I have used those 
 very words. I got into the habit of using 
 them. No one ever told me they didn't 
 sound well. I didn't know until I heard 
 you say them. Then I knew. I will not 
 use them again now, since I know how they 
 sound, and I don't want you to say them 
 either. Besides not sounding right, they're
 
 58 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 not truthful; for we both know that money 
 couldn't buy us to break every bone in any 
 one's body. We're simply telling a lie 
 when we say we'll do it. Isn't that so, 
 Hester?" 
 
 Hester pressed her lips prettily together 
 and nodded her head in affirmation of 
 Debby's words. 
 
 "Then let's not say it, auntie," she said 
 seriously. "I don't want to be a liar." 
 
 But that expression, with many of its 
 kind, had become the bone and marrow 
 of Debby Alden's conversation. To cut 
 this from her speech was like cutting 
 into her flesh. But so long as a thing 
 was right and proper, she would see to 
 it that it was done, without regard to 
 what it meant to her in effort and suf- 
 fering. 
 
 Many times her tongue slipped over these 
 expressions, but she remembered in time. 
 "There ! I've forgotten again, Hester," she 
 would say grimly. "But I'm getting better.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 59 
 
 It didn't come clear out that time. I 
 stopped on the second word. I've gained 
 something." 
 
 Debby's first heartache in connection 
 with the child came at the close of the 
 second month of school, when the report 
 cards were sent home. The grades were 
 marked in letters signifying excellent, good, 
 medium, and poor. Debby examined the 
 bit of pasteboard as a connoisseur would 
 examine a work of art. She was wholly 
 satisfied with the marks, for they were all 
 G's. 
 
 But Kate Bowerman came over after 
 supper to compare notes. It was then 
 Debby's spirits fell, for Kate, after critically 
 examining Hester's card, produced Mary's, 
 on which E's marked every study. 
 
 Kate laughed maliciously, the laugh which 
 in its mirthlessness sounded more like the 
 cackle of a distracted hen. "I'd warm 
 Mary soundly if she came home with a 
 report that wasn't all Excellents," she
 
 60 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 said. "She knows that, and she gets her 
 lessons before she gets her meals." 
 
 "She looks it," said Debby, pertinently, 
 glancing from the thin, nervous, sickly child 
 to where Hester, happy and hearty, stood.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 following morning Debby proved 
 "*- herself faithful to the family reputa- 
 tion of not being " slack." She not only 
 saw that Hester was safe beyond the tracks, 
 but she accompanied her into town and 
 into the schoolroom. 
 
 Miss Cams came to the schoolroom door 
 to meet her. "What has happened, 
 Debby?" she cried, in her bright, airy 
 little manner. "I haven't seen you for 
 years, and now you have actually come to 
 see me. Sit here by my desk. You can 
 have a view of the children and all that 
 goes on in the room." 
 
 She drew forward a chair for her guest. 
 Debby sat down without a word. She felt 
 out of place, and out of sorts with the world 
 and all about her. For a dozen years she 
 had been asleep to all that was going on 
 
 61
 
 62 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 about her. Now, as her eyes slowly opened, 
 she found wonderful changes, and she felt 
 old and disinterested and out of harmony. 
 
 She looked at Miss Cams earnestly for a 
 few moments. Then she spoke. "Do you 
 know, Mabel, that I haven't seen or talked 
 with you for over ten years?" 
 
 "Is it possible! You are right about it 
 being so long. I remember now. We were 
 on a sleigh-ride and took supper at Ham- 
 mersley's old farm-house. I remember you 
 and Jim Baker drove down in a cutter. 
 My, what good times they were!" 
 
 Her face was all smiles and dimples as 
 she spoke. 
 
 "Over ten years ago," said Debby, slowly, 
 letting her glance move from head to foot 
 of her companion, taking in each detail of 
 her dress and manner. "And you don't 
 look one day older." 
 
 "I'm not. I never intend to get old. 
 It's out of fashion, Debby. As time goes, 
 and if I live, I suppose I'll have a seven-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 63 
 
 tieth birthday. But I'll be seventy years 
 young, Debby, not seventy years old. I 
 really never mean to be over twenty in 
 spirits. I may not be able to keep the 
 wrinkles from my face, but I shall keep 
 them from my heart." She laughed again. 
 The children looked up at her with a 
 smile. No wonder they loved Miss Cams. 
 Life was so happy and sweet with her, 
 and she reflected her own mind upon 
 theirs. 
 
 But her words depressed Debby Alden. 
 There were many phases of life in which 
 she was yet a child. For the first time 
 she was thoroughly dissatisfied. She had 
 kept herself in the old home, living the life 
 of a recluse and resting upon the old hon- 
 ors of the Alden family, while opportuni- 
 ties and youth had slipped from her. She 
 studied the woman before her, and smiled 
 grimly. She knew Mabel Carns's age to the 
 day just six months older than Debby 
 Alden herself ; but looking ten years younger,
 
 64 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 and as bright and happy in manner and 
 heart as a care-free child. 
 
 "No; you don't look a day older than 
 you did when we drove down to Ham- 
 mersley's farm." 
 
 "That's nice. Did you walk into town 
 to tell me that, Debby?" 
 
 Her words recalled Debby to the pur- 
 pose of her visit. "No, I didn't. I came 
 to see about Hester. I'm not satisfied." 
 
 "Not satisfied! What has happened? 
 She is a lovely child in school and as bright 
 as the average child. I know no reason 
 for your being dissatisfied." 
 
 "She got only G's on her report." 
 
 "But, Debby, that is good. A great 
 many did not receive G. If I were you, I 
 would be quite satisfied with such a re- 
 port." 
 
 "But there were reports marked Ex- 
 cellent in everything." 
 
 "Yes; one or two. But the children 
 who received those were unusual pupils
 
 or above the average age; or," and at 
 that instant her glance fell upon Mary 
 Bowerman, sitting at her desk with her 
 shoulders hunched up and her eyes fixed 
 upon an open book, "or they study out of 
 school." 
 
 "Hester can do that. I'll see to it that 
 she does." 
 
 "But I do not approve of a child of six 
 years working at lessons at home. What 
 they do in school will be enough. It will 
 be better that they grow strong and 
 healthy." 
 
 "I have no intention of overworking 
 Hester. She's as strong as a piece of 
 hickory. I'll not let her overdo." 
 
 Miss Cams gave a sigh, and yielded to 
 the stronger will. "Well, if you are quite 
 determined, Debby, I presume you must 
 have your own way. I'll give her a reader 
 to carry home, and I'll mark out the les- 
 son." 
 
 "But I wanted more. I've heard Hester
 
 66 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 tell about the reading. You do things 
 different from when you and I learned to 
 read. I don't quite understand." 
 
 " Simple as can be. Stay this morning, 
 and you'll see how children are taught 
 by new methods." 
 
 Debby sat half the morning watching 
 Miss Cams go through the work with a 
 skill and despatch which was marvellous 
 to one ignorant of the newer methods. 
 
 When she was ready to go, Miss Carns 
 gave her several books on the subject, and 
 she went from the schoolroom with arms 
 laden with texts on the word and sentence 
 method. 
 
 At the corner of Erie Avenue and Fifth 
 Street she met Kate Bowerman and Mrs. 
 Mullin on a shopping expedition. 
 
 "You'd better come along, Debby. 
 There's a new department store opened 
 up in the Leonard Block. This is their 
 opening day, and they're serving coffee 
 to all the women that come in." Kate
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 67 
 
 laughed. Her voice clung on its high 
 falsetto note as she added, "Come and get 
 a decent cup of coffee once in your life." 
 
 "Come along/ 7 urged Mrs. Mullin. "I've 
 heard that they have fine goods. We 
 might as well go and see. It doesn't cost 
 anything." 
 
 Debby turned and went with them. 
 She was so ignorant of the business in- 
 terests of the town that she had heard 
 nothing of the proposed changes. As they 
 walked down the Avenue, she turned to her 
 companion with the question: "Who's 
 starting the store? What kind of a one 
 is it general?" 
 
 "Every kind, but arranged differently 
 from what a general store is. Each kind 
 of goods has its own room, but they all 
 open into each other; and they have some 
 of the store on the second floor." 
 
 "Oh!" said Debby. "Who did you 
 say was going to keep it?" 
 
 "No one from hereabouts. A man by
 
 68 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the name of Stout. Ab, I think, is his 
 first name. Short, I suppose, for Abner. 
 My! don't it look fine? And to look at 
 the folks going in!" 
 
 They had come directly in front of the 
 store whose windows were gaudy with all 
 manner of finery for house and person. 
 A steady flow of shoppers was pouring 
 in through the open door. The three 
 women crossed the street and joined the 
 crowds of visitors. At the rear of the 
 grocery department, a young girl was 
 serving coffee and wafers to the women, 
 and all the while delivering a harangue 
 upon the particular brand of berry they 
 had for sale. 
 
 She was a pretty girl with dark curly 
 hair, sharp dark eyes, and a business-like 
 manner. 
 
 "Who is she?" asked Debby, between 
 her sips of coffee. 
 
 "Ab Stout's daughter. They say he 
 has six girls. His wife is dead," whis-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 69 
 
 pered Mrs. Mullin, bending close that the 
 subject of the conversation might not 
 catch her words. 
 
 "Indeed. She's inclined to be pretty/' 
 said Debby. " Indeed, I might say she'd 
 be beautiful if it wasn't for her sharp 
 features. I never like sharp features." 
 
 At this Kate Bowerman leaned over 
 and whispered: "My! but don't she re- 
 semble your Hester! Take a good look 
 at her, Debby. They're alike enough to 
 be sisters." 
 
 Debby did look. The soft hair with 
 its waves and the great dark eyes of the 
 two were not unlike, but the features and 
 expression were wholly different. 
 
 They had finished their coffee and were 
 moving toward another department, when 
 Kate began: "I never before saw so great 
 a resemblance as Hester has to that girl. 
 If they were the same age, they'd be enough 
 alike to be twins." She stopped and looked 
 directly at Debby. "Suppose it should
 
 70 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 chance that Hester belonged to this Ab 
 Stout. Now, when I come to think of it, 
 I remember Sam speaking about Stout, 
 saying his wife and little girl died the 
 same time. Do you suppose " 
 
 If her purpose was to discomfort Debby, 
 she was disappointed, for Debby looked her 
 straight in the eye and said unconcernedly: 
 "No; I don't suppose. I know there isn't a 
 drop of their blood in Hester's body." 
 
 "You can't be sure of that unless you 
 know her people, and you - 
 
 "I know that much," said Debby. 
 "There's no use of talking any more 
 about those people." 
 
 Her words set Kate Bowerman to think- 
 ing. Kate knew that Debby spoke the 
 truth at all times, and in all its harshness. 
 It was not to be doubted, then, that she 
 knew something of her foster-child's par- 
 entage. 
 
 It is natural for one to attribute to oth- 
 ers motives similar to those which have a
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 71 
 
 place in one's own mind. Kate Bower- 
 man was self-centred and selfish. Her mind 
 had never been able to conceive the reason 
 for Debby Alden's taking into her home 
 and caring for a strange child. But now 
 Debby's words opened her mind's eye to 
 possible reasons. Debby knew more of 
 the child's people than she had ever let 
 others know. Were they people of 
 wealth and importance, to whom Debby 
 would later make known the identity of 
 the child, with the hope that they would 
 amply repay her for her trouble? Kate's 
 thoughts ran in that direction, although 
 she was not able to reach a conclusion. 
 
 Debby let all thought of the Stout family 
 pass from her mind. The evening of that 
 same day she read through the teacher's 
 manual on the methods of teaching and 
 reading to the little folk. The suggestions 
 were concise, and without any professional 
 terms. This, with what she had seen in 
 school that day, made the subject clear
 
 72 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 to her. She saw what the educator had 
 in mind. Her own common sense helped 
 her to know that his ideas were sound. 
 She was in sympathy with him from the 
 first, and took up his system with the en- 
 thusiasm of a young teacher. Love could 
 not give her skill, but it could and did 
 give her patience and ambition. 
 
 Each evening she labored long with 
 Hester, reviewing the lessons of several 
 days past, and teaching her the new words 
 which came in the lesson for the following 
 day. After the Christmas holidays, Hester 
 brought home a memory gem, a little poem 
 of child life which all the children in school 
 were to commit to memory. 
 
 Debby read the selection, for Hester had 
 handed it to her the moment they had 
 entered the house from school. 
 
 "I like that, Hester. It is beautiful. 
 I declare, I felt like crying while I read 
 it. The moment the supper work is cleared 
 away, we'll study it,"
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 73 
 
 The reading was too difficult for a little 
 six-year-old. Debby read it aloud, line 
 by line, and Hester repeated it after her. 
 The entire evening passed before a stanza 
 had been committed, the woman finding 
 that her memory, from disuse, was almost 
 as weak as the child's. 
 
 So the winter passed, with days spent 
 in school and evenings in study. Hester 
 was not quick to grasp the lessons, but 
 when once learned, they remained with 
 her. For this reason her report cards 
 during the spring term, when Miss Cams 
 spent much of the time in oral review, 
 improved perceptibly. Several poems had 
 been learned during the year. Hester was 
 able to repeat all, standing very erect and 
 prim, and making quaint little bows and 
 gestures, as her Aunt Debby had taught 
 her. 
 
 The last week in May marked the close 
 of school. The little folks gave an enter- 
 tainment on the afternoon of the last day.
 
 74 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Debby went early in order not to miss 
 any of the programme. She wore a stiff 
 black silk dress, one which had done ser- 
 vice since her twentieth birthday. The 
 black, shining surface and severe lines in- 
 tensified the angles of her form and face, 
 making her look years older than she was. 
 She sat up primly in her stiff-backed chair, 
 her hands folded upon her lap. 
 
 The room soon filled with visitors. 
 There was a rustle of silken petticoats 
 and the delicate subtle fragrance of choice 
 perfumes. Young matrons, whose first 
 babies had but entered school, and silver- 
 haired grandmothers sat eager and anxious 
 to hear that one in whom they were most 
 interested. 
 
 Debby Alden looked about her and 
 studied the faces and attire of these people, 
 most of whom she had known in her 
 school days. Again the old dissatisfied 
 feeling came to her. She seemed older 
 years older than the grandmothers. The
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 75 
 
 world was all disjointed, and nothing fitted 
 in. 
 
 Her heart beat high when Hester came 
 forward, and with quaint bow and ges- 
 ture said her little speech. Her effort was 
 neither better nor worse than that of the 
 other children, but to Debby's infatuated 
 eyes, it was far finer than any other. For 
 a moment her elation at Hester's success 
 caused her to forget herself and those 
 about her; but only for a moment, for 
 the child came up to her, and, leaning against 
 her, had whispered: "Look at Jane Orr's 
 mother. Isn't she weet, Aunt Debby?" 
 
 Debby looked and saw a plain little 
 woman, beautified by a wonderful smile, 
 and dainty and sweet in a soft white gown, 
 and a soft haze of hair about her forehead. 
 Then Debby realized the cause of her 
 dissatisfaction. Hester was old enough to 
 notice the difference in women. She was 
 heart-sick with fear lest the child should 
 find her plain and unattractive. She
 
 76 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 knew not what to do. Then she thought 
 of Miss Richards. She would go to her. 
 
 When the entertainment was over, she 
 sent Hester home with Jane Orr, and she 
 went to call on Miss Richards. Without 
 preliminary talk, she opened her heart to 
 Miss Richards, telling her what she dreaded. 
 
 " Hester is all I have," she said simply. 
 "I think I should die if she'd take to 
 comparing me to other folks and find me 
 dull and old-fashioned. That's what I 
 dread." 
 
 "Yes, I understand, Debby. But you 
 are not naturally dull, and you are not 
 old. A woman of thirty has just begun 
 to live. To my mind, she has but reached 
 the place where she has judgment enough 
 to know what living means. I repeat, 
 Debby, that you are not naturally dull. 
 Take my advice, and don't allow yourself 
 to become so." 
 
 "But what can I do to help myself?" 
 he asked. "I'm alone the greater part
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 77 
 
 of the day. Down our way women don't 
 visit when they are my age. There's a 
 set of young girls of eighteen who go about 
 some, but, for the most part, they settle 
 down at home when once they marry. 
 I'm afraid they'd look upon me as pe- 
 culiar if I'd dress up in white and fluff my 
 hair." 
 
 Miss Richards realized that this was 
 no light subject of conversation. Although 
 it dwelt on gowns and hair-dressing, be- 
 neath was the question of a woman's hap- 
 piness and peace of mind. To Miss Rich- 
 ards there was a trace of the tragical in it. 
 After a moment's deliberation, she re- 
 plied: "Debby Alden, haven't you yet 
 learned to do what is right and proper 
 without caring what might be thought of 
 it? If you mean to be influenced by the 
 opinions of others, you will change your 
 mind every hour of the day. Before we 
 go further, let me tell you how I was reared, 
 Debby. I'm twice your years, and yet
 
 78 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 I wear white gowns, and sometimes I put 
 a flower in my hair." 
 
 Laying aside her needlework, she crossed 
 the room and sat close beside her guest. 
 She told of that broader life in distant 
 towns, where years brought to a woman 
 greater capabilities and a wider, freer 
 range of vision; where age broadened in 
 place of narrowed one's power for enjoy- 
 ment. She described the ways of women 
 whom she remembered when she herself 
 was a young girl. When she had finished 
 her story, Debby Alden was convinced of 
 two things: the first, that she had let 
 many a golden opportunity slip from her; 
 the second, that from that time on she 
 would follow out her own inclination, with- 
 out repression and without regard to what 
 others might say. 
 
 During the summer, encouraged by 
 Miss Richards, she grew blooming and 
 radiant. She did as she would have done 
 had not the tendency of the valley been
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 79 
 
 set against it. She dressed herself in be- 
 coming dainty dresses. She opened the 
 old piano and brought back to memory 
 the few old tunes she had learned at sing- 
 ing school. Hester, big-eyed and wonder- 
 ing, could not understand the cause of 
 this transformation. But she was pleased 
 beyond words to express. One evening as 
 she stood by the piano, her childish voice 
 at intervals catching the air and carrying 
 it along, she stopped suddenly, and, throw- 
 ing her arms about the woman's neck, 
 cried out, "Aunt Debby, you are perfectly 
 beautiful!" 
 
 It was in this atmosphere, this struggle 
 after a broader, fuller culture, that Hester 
 Alden spent her childhood. She was in 
 ignorance of the mystery concerning her 
 identity. She knew only that her mother 
 had been killed at the railroad crossing, 
 and that Debby had taken her, then a 
 baby, to live at the Alden home. She 
 had taken it for granted that her mother
 
 80 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 and Debby Alden were sisters, for she 
 had heard her aunt frequently say that 
 her brothers had died in infancy. So her 
 life passed without any unusual occurrence 
 until she entered upon her first year at 
 the high school.
 
 'AUNT DEBBY, YOU ABE PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL!" Page 79.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 TTESTER was but one of several hun- 
 -*--*- dred pupils in the high school. 
 Several who had entered the primary 
 grade at the same time were with her 
 now. 
 
 Jane Orr, Mary Bowerman, Minnie Wat- 
 son, and Orpha Sheddy were among these. 
 The girls had studied together in school, 
 and had walked to and from home arm 
 in arm. Through Aunt Debby's efforts, 
 Hester had been among the first in her 
 class. Her standing had never been the 
 result of unusual capacity for study or 
 keenness of perception. Debby Alden had 
 never failed to go over, day after day, 
 each lesson, and with wonderful patience 
 explain and illustrate the points which 
 Hester was slow to grasp. 
 
 At the beginning of Hester's freshman 
 
 81
 
 82 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 year, the principalship of the high school 
 changed. Mr. Lewis with his old-fash- 
 ioned, conservative ideas was asked to 
 step aside, that a bustling, up-to-date man 
 with new ideas and new methods might 
 take his place. The new man was Pro- 
 fessor Sanderson, who had fought his way 
 from backwoods school through college 
 and into the lucrative position of head- 
 master at R. Success to him meant noth- 
 ing more than the capacity to earn money. 
 In his mind that man was most success- 
 ful whose income was greatest. He had 
 no standard of success along ethical lines. 
 He himself was upright and honest, be- 
 cause it paid to be so. He was a stocky, 
 heavy-set man, with a round, bullet-shaped 
 head set closely on square shoulders. He 
 had a keen mind, bright, sharp eyes, and 
 sufficient energy and ambition to accom- 
 plish anything toward which his wishes 
 tended. 
 He introduced new methods in regard
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 83 
 
 to recitation and discipline. Some of his 
 ideas were an improvement upon the old 
 way, but by far a greater number robbed 
 a pupil of personal responsibility and put 
 them on the same moral footing as felons. 
 His ideas seemed to be that all young 
 people are naturally evil, and but wait an 
 opportunity to allow their tendencies full 
 sway. So he hedged them about by rules, 
 and punished to the extreme the slight- 
 est infringement of any of his iron-clad 
 laws. He knew no distinction between 
 a pupil who whispered and one who was 
 ready with a lie to clear himself. 
 
 It was near the end of the first month 
 of school. Hester, with her books strapped 
 together and her lunch basket in hand, 
 had crossed the tracks and was making 
 her way up Erie Avenue, when Mary and 
 Jane met her. 
 
 "Did you get out your Latin last 
 night?" asked Mary. She had not im- 
 proved in looks since her primary days.
 
 84 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 She was thin and sallow. Her movements 
 were quick and nervous. She had in- 
 herited her mother's disposition so far 
 as not wishing to be second. 
 
 "Yes, I can read every word of it." 
 
 "Did you do the translating your- 
 self?" asked Mary, suspiciously. She had 
 not been able to translate one sentence. 
 
 "No, not altogether. Aunt Debby and 
 I worked together. She really read them 
 first." Hester knew no reason for not 
 making this statement. She felt pleased 
 when she made a creditable examination, 
 but her desires did not run toward out- 
 doing her friends. 
 
 Jane smiled blandly. There was some- 
 thing whole-souled and attractive in her 
 smile. She was a large girl, with a placid, 
 sunny disposition. "I worked all even- 
 ing at my Latin," she said slowly. "I 
 thought I had it just right. I had each 
 sentence written down beautifully, when 
 Ralphie came in and read them over. He
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 85 
 
 shrieked with laughter while he read, and 
 then he carried the paper in to father and 
 they laughed together." 
 
 "What was wrong?" asked Hester. 
 
 "Nothing much. I'd made a mistake 
 in that fifth sentence, Caesar bonas leges 
 habuit." She said the words slowly as she 
 made an effort to recall them. She smiled 
 then, and continued : "Miss Watson is al- 
 ways telling us to catch at the meaning 
 as far as we are able. I tried to please, 
 and translated at sight." 
 
 "What did you make of it?" Mary 
 asked the question eagerly. She had read 
 the sentence without difficulty. She al- 
 ways found delight in doing that which 
 her friends had found difficult. Now, 
 without giving Jane time to reply, she 
 repeated glibly, "Coesar leges bonas habuit, 
 'Csesar had good laws.' I can't see any- 
 thing hard about that." 
 
 "But I translated by sound," said Jane, 
 pensively. "I had it written on my paper,
 
 86 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 'Caesar has bony legs.' That was what 
 made Ralph laugh so." 
 
 "I have that right," said Hester. " In- 
 deed, I believe mine are all right. Aunt 
 Debby is very particular. We look up 
 every word." 
 
 "Can your Aunt Debby read Latin?" 
 asked Jane in surprise. "That must make 
 it nice for you to have some one in 
 the house that knows all about it." 
 
 "But Aunt Debby doesn't know all 
 about it. She began to study when I 
 did, and we go over the work together 
 every evening. That is why I have been 
 able to translate my sentences." 
 
 "Having to-day's lesson won't do you 
 much good now," said Mary, eagerly. 
 There was a suggestion of spite in her 
 voice. "I'm glad I did not pore over my 
 books last night. We'll have no recitation 
 to-day. We're going to be examined. 
 Written examination." 
 
 "Examinations!" Hester Alden gasped
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 87 
 
 for breath. The word sounded horrible 
 to her. It was almost as awe-inspiring as 
 though Mary had said, "To-day we go to 
 the guillotine." 
 
 Mary laughed. Her laugh was a faint 
 suggestion of her mother's. 
 
 "Yes, written. There'll be fifteen ques- 
 tions. They're to be difficult ones. The 
 whole two months' work is to be covered 
 by it. We may be kept at it all day." 
 
 "How do you know?" asked Hester. 
 
 "Oh, I know," laughed Mary. "But 
 I'm not telling." 
 
 "But I am," said Jane. She turned 
 toward Hester. "Mary and I were wait- 
 ing in the outside office last evening. Pro- 
 fessor Sanderson was in the private office 
 talking with Miss Watson. He told her 
 to make out fifteen questions to cover two 
 months' work, and to have them ready for 
 this morning. He said he wished the ex- 
 amination to be good and stiff." Jane 
 smiled blandly as she repeated the word.
 
 88 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 To her the subject had its touch of 
 humor. 
 
 "Miss Watson was angry. She did not 
 hesitate to tell Professor Sanderson what 
 she thought." 
 
 "She wasn't so very angry," said Jane. 
 "She told him that she did not think it fair 
 to her to give her so little time ; that she had 
 an engagement for the evening, and making 
 out the questions would keep her up half 
 the night." 
 
 "He could have had the examination 
 some other day either Thursday or Fri- 
 day. This is only Wednesday," said Hester, 
 who had gathered from her Aunt Debby 
 some practical ideas. 
 
 "She said just that," cried Mary, "and 
 what do you think he said? That he 
 did not wish her to have longer than over 
 night, for then she would have an oppor- 
 tunity to drill her class in the very ques- 
 tions she meant to ask." 
 
 "Did he say that?" cried Hester, angry
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 89 
 
 at the insult offered to this teacher whom 
 she greatly admired. "If I were Miss Wat- 
 son, I would have " She hesitated for 
 a word to express herself. She could 
 think of nothing quite adequate to the 
 occasion. Her old childish expression 
 flashed through her mind, but she did not 
 put it into words, for she and Aunt Debby 
 had passed beyond that place where they 
 declared themselves ready "to break every 
 bone in one's body." 
 
 "Let us walk faster," said Jane. "If 
 we go into school the moment the doors 
 are opened, we'll have time to do a little 
 reviewing. I really must glance over the 
 verb. I positively know nothing at all 
 about it." 
 
 "Don't tell the other girls," cried Mary, 
 "or they'll go in and review, too." 
 
 "Let them," said Jane. "I don't know 
 any reason why they shouldn't." 
 
 "They'll make better marks hi their ex- 
 amination," she said.
 
 90 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Hester turned to look squarely at her. 
 She had beautiful eyes, which seemed to 
 have the power of looking deep into the 
 innermost secrets of one's heart. Mary 
 tried to meet Hester's glance, but her face 
 flushed, and she turned aside. 
 
 " Suppose it does make their marks 
 better," she said slowly. "That's why we'd 
 tell them, so they could look over their 
 work if they wished to." She paused just 
 an instant, and then said quickly: "Do 
 you know you're a dreadfully selfish girl, 
 Mary Bowerman? You are always look- 
 ing out for number one, and trying to get 
 ahead." 
 
 It was not a kind remark; but it at 
 least was a truthful one. Hester spoke 
 without regard to consequences, and in 
 this lay her fault. She was quick to express 
 herself. Although her criticism was just 
 and frank, it was none the less criticism, 
 and cut its object to the quick. 
 
 Mary was not slow to take offence.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 91 
 
 Quick as a flash an angry retort was upon 
 her lips, when Jane interposed. 
 
 " Storms in a tea-cup," she said so blandly 
 that both her companions smiled. "If 
 Hester would not say all she thought, and 
 Mary would not bubble over at the least 
 jostle, what a happy time we could have ! " 
 
 There was no resisting Jane's calm good- 
 humor. She gave the girls no opportunity 
 of replying, but took the conversation in 
 her own hands for the time. 
 
 "There's Orpha. She must know about 
 it." 
 
 Jane raised her voice to claim the girl's 
 attention. Hearing her name called, Orpha 
 looked back, and, seeing her friends, waited 
 until they came up to her. 
 
 "We must tell her," Jane repeated. 
 
 "Much good it will do," said Mary. 
 "If she had from now until commence- 
 ment to study, she wouldn't know the 
 difference between an adjective and a
 
 92 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Hush/' said Jane, for they were now 
 within speaking distance. She turned to 
 Orpha and told her about the examina- 
 tion and how they had heard of it before the 
 others. Orpha listened without a word. 
 She was a dull girl with stolid, heavy fea- 
 tures. She went about with several differ- 
 ent sets in the high school, but was not a 
 close friend with any particular girl. She 
 was easy to get along with, for she never 
 became excited, was never angry, was 
 never known to be in a hurry; and, so far, 
 had never been heard to express her opin- 
 ion upon any subject or any person. 
 
 "We three are going into school the 
 instant the door opens," said Hester. 
 "Come along, Orpha, and we'll all study 
 until school calls." 
 
 "What's the use?" said Orpha, stolidly. 
 The expression of her face had not changed 
 in the slightest. Nevertheless, she went 
 with the girls into the building. They 
 met a number on their way to whom they
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 93 
 
 communicated the news of the examination, 
 so that fully a score went into the assembly- 
 room and fell upon the Latin text-book, 
 tooth and nail. 
 
 Miss Watson was in the assembly-room 
 in conversation with the teacher in charge. 
 It was evident from her expression of 
 face and nervous manner that she was 
 greatly disturbed. A half-hour later, when 
 the freshmen entered her class room, 
 she was quite herself. She smiled grimly 
 as she arose, and, standing by the desk 
 with a paper in her hand, addressed the 
 pupils. "Professor Sanderson has given me 
 a diagram of the room, with the name of 
 each pupil written upon the desk where 
 he wishes him to sit. That will neces- 
 sitate your being moved from your accus- 
 tomed places. You understand the rea- 
 son for my asking you to change. I'm 
 acting under orders from a superior officer." 
 
 By this time the greater number of pupils 
 had heard of the encounter between Miss
 
 94 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Watson and Professor Sanderson the pre- 
 vious evening. They appreciated the situa- 
 tion in which she was placed. She was 
 a popular teacher; being herself a person 
 of refinement and culture, she accorded 
 to her pupils the utmost courtesy and 
 respect. As a class, they were in sym- 
 pathy with her. 
 
 With great despatch she located each 
 pupil, saw to it that the material and ques- 
 tions for the examination were passed, 
 and then resumed her place at the front of 
 the room. 
 
 "You understand, of course, that there 
 must be no help given. It is a test of 
 your knowledge of the subject, and not 
 of your neighbor's." 
 
 There was a movement of pens. For 
 several hours not a sound except that or 
 the movement of a pupil in order to rest 
 his hand was heard. Miss Watson arose 
 and walked about the room. Time dragged 
 upon her hands. The noon hour passed,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 95 
 
 yet the brightest pupils had not completed 
 the test. 
 
 "When you complete the work, lay the 
 papers on my desk and go home," she 
 said. She was taking this dismissal upon 
 her own shoulders. Professor Sanderson 
 had not given her authority to send them 
 home until the close of the afternoon ses- 
 sion. But Miss Watson had judgment 
 enough to know that three hours of unin- 
 terrupted writing was too much of a task 
 on the nerves of growing boys and girls. 
 
 There were fifteen questions. Hester 
 had reached the thirteenth when a wad 
 of paper came flying through the air and 
 landed plump upon her desk. She looked 
 up quickly in time to catch Mary Bower- 
 man's nod and glance, signifying that the 
 note was from her. 
 
 "What's the imperative of sum? Write 
 it for me, and I'll let you have the fifteenth. 
 It's hard." 
 
 Hester surreptitiously tore off a narrow
 
 96 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 edge of paper, hastily scribbled thereon 
 the desired information, and sent it flying 
 back. A few minutes later, for Mary was 
 delayed in her answering by Miss Watson's 
 keen eyes fixed upon her, a return note 
 with the answer to the fifteenth upon it, 
 landed upon Hester's desk. 
 
 She was copying it when Professor San- 
 derson came into the room to speak to Miss 
 Watson. She listened to what he had to 
 say, nodded in reply, and then, turning 
 to her pupils, said, " Before handing in your 
 papers, write upon the upper margin of 
 the first page whether you have or have 
 not received or given help." 
 
 Hester finished her work, turned to her 
 first page, and wrote across the top, "I 
 have both given and received help." She 
 was not a speedy worker at any time, and 
 to-day the new experience of undergoing 
 a written examination made her unusually 
 slow. As she gathered up her papers and 
 began to put them in order, she looked
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 97 
 
 about the room. The class, with the ex- 
 ception of herself and two boys in a dis- 
 tant part of the room, had finished. Pro- 
 fessor Sanderson was standing at Miss 
 Watson's desk looking over the papers as 
 they were handed in. 
 
 As Hester took her papers to the front 
 of the room, the boys advanced with her, 
 and the three papers lay side by side on 
 the desk. 
 
 At this, Mary, Jane, and Orpha, who 
 had been waiting in the cloak-room, came 
 in. "We wish to speak to Miss Watson," 
 they said to Hester. "Wait, and we'll 
 walk down with you." 
 
 "Not so fast, young ladies," cried Mr. 
 Sanderson, as he fixed his eagle eyes upon 
 them. He held Hester's paper in his hand, 
 upon which he had pounced as a cat upon 
 a mouse. "Hah! hah! what have we 
 here?" He held the paper before him, 
 while he read slowly, "I have both given 
 and received help." Then, turning to Hester,
 
 98 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 he asked sternly if that statement were 
 true. 
 
 "Why, certainly, or why should I have 
 written it?" she replied. She had never 
 been cowed or browbeaten in her life. 
 She had been taught obedience through 
 love and reason. She wished to do the 
 right thing because it was right. She 
 had never been taught what fear meant. 
 Now, quite unawed, she faced Professor 
 Sanderson and answered him as freely as 
 she would have answered Aunt Debby. 
 
 "Don't be pert, young lady. Remember 
 to whom you are speaking, or you shall 
 be taught to remember. There's a strange 
 discrepancy here." He turned to address 
 this last statement to Miss Watson. "This," 
 tapping the paper with the edge of the 
 glasses which he had just removed from 
 his nose, "is the only paper which bears 
 such a statement. As you see, there must 
 be two parties to the transaction." 
 
 "It is very evident," said Miss Watson.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 99 
 
 She made no pretence of being in sym- 
 pathy with his method of conducting ex- 
 aminations. 
 
 He turned to Hester, and with his most 
 impressive air, said, "And so you have 
 the effrontery to stand up before me and 
 declare that you have been dishonest?" 
 
 "Indeed, I have been nothing of the sort," 
 she said with decision. "On the con- 
 trary, I have honestly said that I received 
 help." 
 
 "Be careful, be careful. You must re- 
 member, young lady, to whom you are 
 speaking. Your offence in being dishonest 
 is quite enough, without adding imperti- 
 nence. I demand respect from my pupils." 
 
 "It might be well to pay respect to 
 them," said Hester. She was not afraid 
 of Professor Sanderson, but she was trem- 
 bling with anger. His sharp speeches were 
 uncalled for and undeserved. She had no 
 intention of bearing them as though they 
 were due her.
 
 100 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Her three companions sank down upon 
 the recitation bench nearest to them. Orpha 
 looked as stolid and as disinterested as 
 though Professor Sanderson had been pass- 
 ing remarks about the weather. Jane sat 
 quiet, looking straight before her. She was 
 thinking quickly during the few minutes. 
 
 Mary Bowerman moved restlessly. Her 
 hands were not quiet for a moment. She 
 fussed with her belt and her rings, while 
 her glance moved quickly from one point 
 to another. 
 
 Professor Sanderson squared his shoul- 
 ders, pressed his lips together, and looking 
 the undaunted Hester straight in the eye, 
 said sternly, "To whom did you give 
 help?" 
 
 "I cannot tell you." 
 
 "You can not tell me." He repeated 
 the words slowly and impressively. "Do 
 you mean to say that you have not the 
 power of telling me, or do you mean to 
 say that you will not tell?"
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 101 
 
 "I will not tell." Her anger had passed. 
 She was herself again. Her one thought 
 now was that she had better hurry home, 
 lest Aunt Debby would be waiting the 
 evening meal for her. Her voice was quite 
 calm, but decisive. 
 
 Professor Sanderson looked her directly 
 in the eye as though by force of will he 
 would compel her submission. She met 
 his gaze unmoved and fearless. 
 
 It was to be regretted that Debby Alden 
 did not see her then. Had she done so, all 
 fearful thoughts of the child's parentage 
 would have left her. For the blood of a 
 serf could not be in the veins of one who 
 defies the authority that would compel 
 him to do that which his sense of honor 
 could not sanction.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ~F\EBBY ALDEN had prepared supper, 
 ^- > ^ and sat down to wait Hester's com- 
 ing. The old-fashioned drop-leaf table 
 was set in the dining room. This was 
 an innovation from the first of Hester's 
 school days. It was not the only one. 
 There were napkins upon the table and a 
 bouquet of asters the very last of the 
 fall flowers. Debby had laid the table 
 after the fashion laid down in a periodical 
 devoted to questions of the home. It 
 was dainty and attractive, without going 
 beyond practical common sense. 
 
 Before the coming of Hester, Debby 
 Alden had eaten in the kitchen, and had 
 not used napkins, in order to save the wash- 
 ing. When there was need of such an 
 article, she used the bottom of her kitchen 
 apron. But Hester was younger, and 
 102
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 103 
 
 must become accustomed to the use of 
 napkins, or she would appear at a disad- 
 vantage when she was older and had formed 
 the habits. 
 
 Debby waited until the hour at which 
 Hester was in the habit of returning had 
 passed. Then she grew uneasy. She 
 looked from the window to see if the girl 
 had come into the yard, and when she 
 had not, she went to the gate where 
 she could get a view of the road and 
 crossing. 
 
 "She has gone somewhere with the 
 girls," she said again and again to encour- 
 age herself. But when almost an hour 
 had passed and Hester had not come, Debby 
 put on her hat and started forth. She 
 was never without an uneasy feeling about 
 the railroad crossing. She stopped a 
 moment at Mrs. Bowerman's to inquire 
 if Hester were there. Learning that Mary 
 had not come home, Debby's heart grew 
 lighter. Nevertheless, she went on into
 
 104 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 town. As she came to Seventh Street 
 and Ontario Avenue, the lights were turned 
 on in the high school building. The lower 
 floors were in darkness, but the third floor 
 was fairly ablaze. 
 
 She made her way through the dark 
 entrance and hallways, mounted the steep 
 stairs, and came to the door of Miss Wat- 
 son's recitation-room. The scene within 
 caused her to pause. Miss Watson sat 
 with weary head bowed upon her upturned 
 palms. In the distant, shadowy part of 
 the room, huddled together as though 
 affected by fear, sat Jane, Mary, and Orpha. 
 Hester stood at a front desk. Her hands 
 were back of her, supported on the top 
 of a desk. Her head was tilted back as 
 she looked Professor Sanderson squarely in 
 the face. Her dark hair hung in a single 
 heavy braid down her back. Her cheeks 
 were flushed and her eyes brilliant with 
 feeling. 
 
 Debby Alden caught her breath and
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 105 
 
 stood. The persons within the room 
 neither saw nor heard her. 
 
 "I have given you a half-hour to con- 
 sider this matter, Miss Alden," Professor 
 Sanderson was saying. He stood before 
 her with his watch in his hand as though 
 he had been timing her. He looked at 
 her as though to compel her to do as he 
 had asked. 
 
 "What have you to say now? Are you 
 ready to tell me the name of the person 
 who was a party to your dishonesty?" 
 
 "I deny that I was dishonest. I re- 
 ceived and gave help. I have not denied it." 
 
 "Answer my question, Miss Alden. 
 Give me the name of that person." 
 
 "I will not." 
 
 "Very well. I am accustomed to being 
 obeyed. I have never yet allowed a pupil 
 to transgress my laws or infringe upon the 
 discipline of the rooms, nor do I intend to. 
 You may remain in the room until you are 
 ready to obey my commands."
 
 106 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "I will not tell either now or an hour 
 later." 
 
 "The matter is settled. You remain 
 here until you do, whether it be one hour 
 or twenty-four." 
 
 He was about to pass into the adjoining 
 recitation-room when Miss Watson spoke 
 to him. She had arisen. Her usually pale 
 cheeks were marked by a spot of crimson. 
 Her dark eyes were brilliant with indigna- 
 tion, yet when she addressed him, it was 
 with the courtesy and respect due to his 
 position. " Professor Sanderson, will you 
 not reconsider your words? I think you 
 have spoken hastily." 
 
 "Hastily! I am not in the habit of 
 speaking hastily, Miss Watson. I most 
 assuredly shall not reconsider. You are 
 out of your jurisdiction, Miss Watson. 
 Your work is to attend to the work in 
 Latin. I shall manage the discipline." 
 
 "Perhaps the matter is out of my juris- 
 diction," she said quietly, "but this even-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 107 
 
 ing I mean to make it mine. I think Miss 
 Alden is quite right in the stand she has 
 taken." 
 
 Professor Sanderson had been standing 
 at the door of the recitation-room. But 
 at such revolutionary words he turned and 
 came back into the room. He had not 
 learned self-control, for he was trembling 
 with rage. But Miss Watson, actuated in 
 her words by a sense of justice, was not at 
 all awed by his sputtering and show of anger. 
 
 "What! Is it possible, Miss Watson, 
 that you have the audacity to stand there 
 before my face and tell me that you take 
 sides with a pupil against a principal? Is 
 it possible ? I shall see to it that my teach- 
 ers as well as the pupils are disciplined. 
 You have need of it." 
 
 "We'll discuss that later. At present 
 the subject is Miss Alden. I surely do 
 take sides with her. I must ask you to 
 allow her to go home now. She has al- 
 ready been detained several hours."
 
 108 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Never, until she is willing to do as I 
 have commanded." 
 
 "Then I shall take the responsibility. 
 Hester," turning to the girl who stood 
 silent before her, "take your wraps and 
 go home. You have been kept here long 
 enough." 
 
 "You shall answer to me for this, Miss 
 Watson," cried the principal. His face 
 was crimson with rage. He had so lost 
 his self-control that his voice rolled forth 
 like a clap of thunder. 
 
 "I shall answer to the board of directors 
 and the city superintendent," replied Miss 
 Watson, quietly. "Go home now, Hester; 
 your Aunt Debby will be alarmed about 
 you." 
 
 "I'll stay, Miss Watson ! " she cried, 
 clinging to this teacher whom the pupils 
 loved and admired. "My going home will 
 cause trouble for you. I'll stay rather 
 than that." 
 
 "Nonsense, child. There'll be no trouble
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 109 
 
 further than telling my story to the di- 
 rectors. Go, now." At this Debby Alden 
 came into the room. That part of the 
 conversation which she had overheard had 
 left her all at sea as to the cause of offence 
 or the remedy for it. Mr. Sanderson had 
 already left the room, and knew not that she 
 had entered. She came up to where Miss 
 Watson and Hester stood. " What's the 
 trouble?" she asked. "You haven't been 
 misbehaving, Hester ? ' ' 
 
 "I don't know, Aunt Debby. You may 
 think so." 
 
 "Sit down, Miss Alden," said Miss Wat- 
 son, drawing a chair closer. "Let me 
 tell you the story from the first. You 
 can judge for yourself." 
 
 Debby Alden seated herself. Miss Wat- 
 son repeated the events of the day. As 
 far as possible, she kept her own opinions 
 in the background. 
 
 "Hester received help on the fifteenth 
 problem, and gave help on the thirteenth."
 
 110 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "You shouldn't have done that, Hester," 
 said Debby. "If you didn't know, you 
 shouldn't have answered it." 
 
 "I suppose I shouldn't have done so," 
 said Hester. "I did not intend to do so, 
 Aunt Debby. I did not know then that 
 we were to write on our paper whether we 
 had given or received help. I really did 
 it thoughtlessly." 
 
 "A girl fifteen years old has a right to 
 think," responded Debby Alden, grimly. 
 "Thinking about what you do is part of your 
 business." That was all the encourage- 
 ment she received from Debby Alden. 
 
 Miss Watson continued her story. When 
 she said that Hester had refused to turn 
 tale-bearer, Debby 's face lighted up. The 
 words gave her a sense of relief. She 
 turned to Hester. "I'm glad you wrote 
 what was true across your paper. It 
 would have been wrong to do anything else, 
 and I'm glad you didn't tell on that other 
 person. I don't like the idea of your being
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 111 
 
 disobedient, but you shouldn't have told. 
 I don't know whether any one had a right 
 to ask that of you. Come, get your wraps, 
 Hester, and we'll go home." 
 
 At this, Mr. Sanderson walked through 
 the room. He recognized Miss Alden as 
 Debby's legal protector, for the story of the 
 child's adoption was widely known. 
 
 "I trust, Miss Alden, that you have 
 heard the truth about Miss Hester's dis- 
 obedience and dishonesty." 
 
 Debby Alden arose, and with the native 
 dignity and self-possession which were al- 
 ways with her, replied: "I've been told 
 that you couldn't compel her to turn tale- 
 bearer. I'm glad of it. There's nothing 
 that is dishonest in keeping such matters 
 to yourself. Come, Hester. Bid Miss Wat- 
 son good evening." 
 
 She left the room, followed by Hester's 
 three girl friends. Jane discussed the 
 matter freely; Orpha listened in her own 
 heavy, dull way, while Mary Bowerman
 
 112 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 walked along on the other edge of the group 
 and had nothing at all to say. 
 
 "I'm afraid mother will not like my 
 staying so long," said Jane, "but she will 
 not care when I tell her the reason. I had 
 no intention of leaving that room until I 
 saw what was going to be done with you." 
 
 "I was getting afraid when Professor 
 said I should stay there until I told. It 
 would have been dreadful to stay there 
 alone all night." 
 
 "But you wouldn't be alone," said Jane. 
 "Do you think that I would go home and 
 leave you there ? Well, hardly. I was doing 
 some thinking, Hester, while you and Mr. 
 Sanderson were talking. I had my plans 
 well made." 
 
 "What would you have done, Jane?" 
 She slipped one arm through Jane's; the 
 other was already clinging tight about her 
 Aunt Debby. 
 
 "I thought that Miss Watson would not 
 go home and leave you alone, but if she
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 113 
 
 did, I meant to stay. I meant to have 
 Mary leave word at home to send us some- 
 thing to eat. We wouldn't have had such 
 a dreadful night, Hester. We could have 
 had our lunch and read the library books, 
 and then well, the benches would not 
 have been the softest cots in the world. 
 But," with a smile, "I suppose when one is 
 tired, one doesn't think much of the bed." 
 
 "I think it would be dreadful to stay 
 there all night," began Hester. She now 
 feared the thought of it more than she had 
 feared the possibility. 
 
 ''But you wouldn't have told, even if you 
 were afraid?" asked Jane. 
 
 " Never. I'll never tell. If Professor San- 
 derson would have kept me there for a 
 week I would not have told." 
 
 "Why?" asked Orpha. She raised her 
 dull, expressionless eyes to Hester. It was 
 impossible for Orpha to grasp that subtle 
 difference between action actuated by a 
 high sense of honor and that which was not.
 
 114 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 " Because," replied Jane, quickly. " Isn't 
 that an excellent reason, Orpha? She 
 wouldn't because she wouldn't." Jane had 
 long since learned how worse than wasted 
 were those explanations which were given 
 to Orpha. 
 
 "I suppose Professor Sanderson will not 
 go from his way to be good to me, after 
 what has happened," said Hester. A pained 
 expression came to her eyes for an instant. 
 She was an affectionate girl, to whom the 
 love and kindness of those with whom she 
 lived and those with whom she worked at 
 school were necessary for her happiness. 
 During these last two months she had seen 
 enough of Professor Sanderson to realize 
 that she could never again be in his good 
 books. The thought hurt her. But, deter- 
 mined not to show how much the experi- 
 ence she had gone through had affected her, 
 she said with assumed carelessness: "But, 
 Miss Watson will be there. So long as we 
 have her, we can go along without Professor
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 115 
 
 Sanderson's good-will. But, nevertheless, 
 I'm glad that I do not recite to him." 
 
 "It will blow over in a day or so. You 
 will forget it, and so will he. Don't you 
 think so, Miss Debby?" asked Jane. 
 
 "I don't know. I hope so," she replied. 
 
 "I'm sure it will not," said Hester. "I 
 remember just ordinary occurrences longer 
 than that; I know I shall never forget this." 
 
 "You think so now." Jane smiled 
 blandly. She had found the touchstone 
 of happiness. She always managed to turn 
 the darkest cloud about until she caught a 
 glimpse of its silver lining. 
 
 "I see plainly how the matter will end. 
 That other party to the transaction will hear 
 of what took place this evening, and then 
 she'll walk up like a lady and plead guilty. 
 Don't you think so, Mary?" She turned to 
 Mary, who was lagging along on the outer edge 
 of the line, several steps behind the others. 
 
 "How do I know? I haven't listened to 
 a word you were saying."
 
 116 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Well, that is flattering. All my flow of 
 eloquence wasted ! " She looked back over 
 her shoulder as she continued: "Why don't 
 you come and walk with us? There's 
 plenty of room on these wide pavements, 
 and we're not apt to meet any one this 
 time in the evening." Then, as Mary did 
 not respond to her invitation, she continued : 
 "What's the trouble? You've been glum 
 for the last hour. I haven't heard you say 
 a word since we left school." 
 
 "There wouldn't have been much chance, 
 if I'd wanted to." 
 
 "I'll keep quiet. Speak up. I promise 
 I will not say another word unless you ask 
 me." There was always good-humor in 
 Jane's voice and manner. In all the school- 
 girl spats, she met the most ill-natured re- 
 marks with apparent good-nature. Now 
 she but smiled again, as Mary retorted: 
 "Don't try it. You'd go into convulsions 
 if you couldn't do all the talking." 
 
 Hester alone understood the reason for
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 117 
 
 Mary's lack of interest in the conversation. 
 She was disappointed in her friend. She 
 knew that Mary was sharp in her way of 
 speaking, but she had always believed her 
 upright and honorable. But the occur- 
 rences of the day had proved that she was 
 neither. She meant to tell Mary plainly 
 what she thought of such conduct, but she 
 could not do so in the presence of others. 
 She decided to wait and create an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing her alone on the morrow. 
 
 One by one the girls left Debby and 
 Hester, and the last of their walk was alone. 
 Debby did not again bring up the subject 
 of the trouble in school. She was vexed 
 with Hester that the girl had taken help 
 from any one ; on the other hand, she was 
 pleased that no denial had been made of 
 this, and that Hester had taken such a 
 stand with regard to giving information. So 
 the matter was equalized. The supper had 
 been almost spoiled from waiting so long, 
 yet both were so hungry that they could
 
 118 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 have relished less palatable fare. During 
 the meal Debby kept up the conversation, 
 for the reaction had begun with Hester, and 
 she was nervous and depressed. 
 
 Debby would not allow her to talk of 
 school, and kept the conversation to the 
 trifling matters of the house and some new 
 shirt-waists which they were making. She 
 was not a little curious about the girl who 
 had been party to giving help in class, yet 
 she would not ask Hester to tell her. 
 
 "It's no use of my knowing," she re- 
 peated to herself. "No good will come of 
 it. I might tell before I was aware of 
 what I was saying. Then, too, I'd dislike 
 a girl who wouldn't be honest. I'd dislike 
 her doubly because it was my Hester who 
 was harmed by her not telling. I suppose 
 it isn't right to feel so, but it's natural." 
 
 She hurried with the supper work, Hester 
 drying the dishes, while her aunt washed 
 them. When the work was finished, Hester 
 took out her books, but Debby stopped her.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 119 
 
 " We're not going to study one speck 
 this night," she said decidedly. "I'll work 
 a spell at those waists, and you can read. 
 We'll not stay up. We're both tuckered 
 out, and I mean that we shall be in bed 
 early." 
 
 Hester was pleased with this arrange- 
 ment. She was tired. She took up a book, 
 but could not fix her mind upon it. In 
 spite of her efforts, her thoughts went back 
 to the events of the afternoon. Before a 
 half-hour had passed, she laid aside her book 
 and suggested that they go to bed. 
 
 She thought to meet Mary Bowerman 
 on the way to school the next morning, 
 but that young lady had been wise and had 
 been gone from home some time when Hes- 
 ter passed the Bowermans'. When Hester 
 entered the class room, Mary was in her 
 seat, studying so diligently that she neither 
 spoke nor raised her head as Hester passed 
 her. At noon she was the first to leave 
 and the last to enter for the afternoon
 
 120 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 session. She seemed as anxious to avoid 
 being alone with Hester as the latter was to 
 meet her. 
 
 During the middle of the afternoon 
 session Mary walked into the cloak-room. 
 As quickly as she could be excused, Hester 
 was with her. Mary turned quickly when 
 she heard the door close. Recognizing Hes- 
 ter, she was about to leave the room, but 
 Hester detained her. "Wait one moment, 
 Mary. I must speak to you." 
 
 "I haven't time. I'll see you after 
 school. I must get out my geometry." 
 She spoke with careless indifference, which, 
 however, did not deceive her companion 
 into believing that she was wholly uncon- 
 cerned. She again moved toward the door, 
 but Hester was before her. Standing with 
 her back against the door, she looked squarely 
 at Mary. 
 
 "I wish to know why you didn't write 
 on your examination paper that you, too, 
 had received help."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 121 
 
 Mary tilted back her head. "It seems to 
 me that that is my business, Hester Alden." 
 
 "It is partly my business. You heard 
 what took place last evening. Why didn't 
 you tell then?" 
 
 "What is it to you? You were not 
 punished on my account. You " 
 
 "You heard what Professor Sanderson 
 said to me. He would have punished me 
 severely if Miss Watson had not come to 
 my help." 
 
 "But not on my account. He did that 
 because you were so obstinate. If you had 
 told him when he asked you at first, the 
 matter would have ended there." 
 
 "Did you wish me to tell? If you were 
 so indifferent to consequences, why did you 
 not tell him that you were the other 
 party?" 
 
 "You seemed to have some particular 
 reason for keeping it a secret. My telling 
 would not have helped matters for you. 
 Professor Sanderson was punishing you for
 
 122 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 your obstinacy. Don't put the blame of 
 it on me." 
 
 Hester stood and looked at Mary. She 
 could not understand such a nature. She 
 had played with Mary Bowerman since the 
 primary days, and thought that she knew 
 her so well. 
 
 "Did you wish me to tell?" she asked 
 again. 
 
 "I have nothing to say about what you 
 do. Suit yourself. I suppose, though, 
 you'll do the heroic part and have Miss 
 Watson fuss over you. She's treated you 
 to-day as though you were too precious for 
 everyday use, and should be kept under a 
 glass case. Tell? Why, you wouldn't tell 
 if I'd get down on my knees and beg you 
 to. You enjoy playing the heroic too well. 
 No," with a disdainful toss of her head as 
 though by that motion she cast the matter 
 from her, "I have nothing to say about 
 what you'll do." 
 
 "I have something to say about what
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 123 
 
 you'll do, Mary Bowerman." Hester spoke 
 decidedly. "If you have one spark of 
 honor, one little mite of self-respect left, 
 you'll go to Professor Sanderson this very 
 day and tell him that I wrote out the im- 
 perative mode for you." 
 
 "See me do it. Get away from that 
 door, Hester Alden, and let me go back to 
 the room. I haven't glanced at my geome- 
 try yet." 
 
 "I'll not get away from the door until 
 I'm through talking, and I'm not through 
 yet, Mary Bowerman. I'll not be through 
 until I tell you what I think of you." 
 
 Mary gave a disdainful toss of her head 
 and twisted her mouth into an expression 
 of weariness. She leaned against the wall 
 as she said, indifferently: "Well, proceed. 
 When words fail you, consult the dictionary 
 in the next room. But remember, Hester, 
 what Miss Warner has taught you in com- 
 position. When in doubt, cut out adjec- 
 tives."
 
 124 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Her tones and expression were galling. 
 Hester's eyes flashed. She began to speak 
 quickly, hurriedly, and in anger. "I think 
 you are mean and dishonorable. You've 
 cheated and lied about it, and you've 
 treated me disagreeably, and insulted me 
 because I would not betray you. You are 
 the most deceitful person I know. I'll 
 never call you friend again. I'll never 
 speak to you as long as I live." She caught 
 herself quickly, for Aunt Debby's training 
 asserted itself. "Yes, I'll speak to you. I 
 didn't mean that I never would. But it 
 will be weeks and weeks before I do. I 
 mean every word I said about despising 
 you." 
 
 "Who cares if you speak or not? You 
 have such a temper and flare up so, that 
 it's hardly safe to be where you are. As to 
 speaking to me, you should be glad and 
 thankful if I or any other nice girl notice 
 you. You're nothing but a tramp baby." 
 
 Hester's eyes opened wide. This was
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 125 
 
 new to her. "What do you mean? Tell 
 me how you dare say such a thing, Mary 
 Bowerman." 
 
 "I dare say it, because it's true. Your 
 mother was tramping through the country 
 when she was killed. If Miss Debby Alden 
 hadn't taken pity on you, you'd have been 
 sent to the county home." 
 
 There was a ring of conviction in this 
 speech that impressed Hester. She gazed 
 at Mary with a shocked, startled look. She 
 had neither voice nor words to reply to this. 
 Mary saw the effect of her words, and took 
 advantage of it. 
 
 "You don't intend to notice me. You 
 have no idea how funny that sounds. Why, 
 the only reason that I and the other girls 
 ever had anything at all to do with you is 
 that we pitied you. But now we'll cut you. 
 Remember, Hester Alden, you need never 
 expect to go with me and my friends." 
 
 Hester had unconsciously moved away 
 from the door. Mary, seeing her oppor-
 
 126 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 tunity, hurried from the room. As she left, 
 she looked back over her shoulder and 
 laughed tauntingly. 
 
 Left alone, Hester stood leaning against 
 the wall. She was dazed. She could not 
 return to the schoolroom. She wished to 
 think about what Mary had said, yet she 
 could not think, for everything was mixed 
 up in her brain, and the room moved un- 
 certain before her.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TTESTER ALDEN was absent from the 
 geometry class, which recited to Mr. 
 Wilbur. This teacher was new to the ways 
 of high school. He inquired for Miss Alden, 
 and no one volunteering information, the 
 subject was dismissed. The freshmen Latin 
 followed the geometry. Miss Watson, who 
 had taken charge of that department, was 
 alert. She at once missed Miss Alden, but 
 asked no information in general concerning 
 her. On the contrary, she turned to Jane 
 with the question, "Miss Orr, where is Miss 
 Alden?" 
 
 "She went into the cloak-room before 
 geometry class. She had not returned when 
 the class came over." 
 
 That was all for that time. Miss Watson 
 gave them work to keep them employed. 
 Then, unobserved, she went into the cloak- 
 
 127
 
 128 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 room. Hester stood just as Mary had left 
 her almost an hour before. Her head was 
 against the wall, while her hand clasped 
 the coat rack for support. 
 
 "What is the trouble? Are you ill, 
 Hester?" 
 
 She raised her head and looked at Miss 
 Watson. 
 
 "I don't know," she said wearily. "I 
 think I must be." 
 
 "Go to the teachers' room and lie down. 
 When you feel better, you may go home. 
 I'll explain to the other teachers." She 
 was alarmed by the pallor of Hester's face 
 and the peculiarly dazed expression of her 
 eyes. 
 
 The girl made an attempt to obey, but 
 the room moved about her. She threw out 
 her arms to steady herself. Miss Watson 
 came to her assistance. Throwing her arms 
 about her, Hester leaned her head against 
 her and sobbed aloud. Miss Watson let her 
 have her cry out, and then said: "Something
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 129 
 
 from the ordinary has happened, Hester. 
 Can you tell me what it is?" 
 
 "No, Miss Watson. I've heard some- 
 thing that troubled me. It made me ill." 
 
 Perhaps Miss Watson had a suspicion 
 what that something was. She knew Hes- 
 ter's story. She had spent her life with 
 young girls, and read them better than 
 they suspected. 
 
 "I should not allow myself to be troubled 
 by what I heard. There are many things 
 repeated that are not worth a thought. 
 Don't allow yourself to be disturbed by 
 such matters. You must bear in mind that 
 much of what one hears is not the truth. 
 Perhaps what has disturbed you may not 
 have a grain of truth in it." 
 
 Hester raised her head. "Perhaps it 
 hasn't, but it sounded like the truth. She 
 surely would not have dared to say such 
 things if they were not true." 
 
 Miss Watson had no idea to whom she 
 referred. "Some people dare do anything,"
 
 130 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 she said. "I must return to my class. 
 Remain in the teachers' room until you 
 feel better." With this advice she was 
 gone. Hester went into the teachers' room, 
 but could not lie down. She stood by the 
 window, her head pressed against the cool 
 pane. She went over all that Mary had 
 said, and she brought to mind all the 
 little incidents and suggestions that had 
 been given her concerning her mother's 
 death. 
 
 Aunt Debby had told her very little. 
 She knew that her mother had been killed 
 at the crossing, and that she was buried at 
 Fairview. Aunt Debby had taken her to 
 see the grave. The granite slab had upon 
 it only the date of her mother's death. 
 There was neither date of birth nor name. 
 
 "It must be true," she said. "Aunt 
 Debby didn't know her age and name. No 
 one knew. Aunt Debby just took me in." 
 Then a new thought came to her in con- 
 nection with Debby Alden. Like a flash
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 131 
 
 there spread out before the girl's eyes the 
 long stretch of sixteen years of kindness 
 and care that this woman had given her. 
 It helped her to bear the loss of name and 
 mother. "Wasn't that noble of Aunt 
 Debby?" she said to herself, while her 
 heart gave a leap of joy, "and I hadn't one 
 little bit of claim upon her." 
 
 As she looked at the subject with this 
 new knowledge before her, she felt that 
 Mary Bowerman had told the truth. She 
 really belonged to no one, and the name 
 Alden in which she had taken so much 
 pride was not her own. She was naturally 
 of a happy disposition. She could not be 
 depressed long. Her youth and vitality 
 asserted itself, and before the time for the 
 closing of the day's session had come, she 
 was outwardly herself again. 
 
 Entering the schoolroom, she put her 
 books in order, and then spoke to Jane, 
 asking her to wait to walk home with her. 
 She felt as though she could -not treat Mary
 
 132 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 courteously if they were together, and she 
 did not wish to be alone. 
 
 Jane lingered in the cloak-room. Mary 
 was deliberate about arranging her books, 
 so that the greater number of pupils had 
 gone before she was ready. Hester hurried 
 after Jane. "I'm ready now, Jane. Come 
 on." 
 
 "Let us wait for Mary. She'll be here 
 in a minute. She and Orpha will come 
 together." Then Hester replied, as she ob- 
 served the surprised look, "Mary and I had 
 a little spat to-day. I do not wish to walk 
 home with her until, well, until I feel 
 differently toward her." 
 
 "Oh, very well." Jane turned and came 
 with her. She asked no questions about 
 the cause of the difficulty. A proper regard 
 for other persons' affairs had been bred in 
 her. If Hester saw fit to tell her about 
 the trouble with Mary, well and good, but 
 if she did not, Jane had no thought of ask- 
 ing impertinent questions.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 133 
 
 The two walked home together, talking 
 freely of every subject of common interest 
 except the difficulty with Mary Bowerman. 
 
 Hester had part of her walk alone, as 
 Jane lived just at the edge of town. Aunt 
 Debby was standing at the gate waiting 
 for her. Hester saw her at a distance and 
 waved. Debby Alden returned the salute 
 with interest. As Hester came closer, she 
 saw the woman in a new light. Debby 
 Alden had improved since the day she 
 had had her heart-to-heart talk with Miss 
 Richards fully ten years before. Her life 
 had grown fuller and broader, and every 
 expression of her face, every movement, 
 gave testimony to it. 
 
 Her hair was drawn softly from her fore- 
 head. The stern expression of her eyes 
 had given place to a tender one. Her soft 
 white waist was dainty and becoming. 
 She had lost nothing of her strength and 
 individuality, but to them she had added a 
 gentle sweetness and consideration.
 
 134 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "I was tempted to wait and walk home 
 with you," she said, as Hester came near. 
 "I have been in town the greater part of 
 the day. Mrs. Orr and I went shopping 
 this morning, and we had our club meeting 
 this afternoon." 
 
 "Did you have a good time?" asked 
 Hester, entering the gate. Her voice had a 
 new touch to it which did not escape Debby 
 Alden. She turned and looked keenly at 
 Hester, but there was nothing in the girl's 
 expression to cause alarm. Thus reassured, 
 she replied to Hester's question, "Yes, I 
 did have a good time. Perhaps it was be- 
 cause I enjoyed the work. You know I was 
 to read a paper on myths and folk-lore. I 
 read it to you several weeks ago. The ladies 
 declared it was fine, and wondered how I 
 found time to devote so much time to re- 
 search." She laughed, and Hester joined her. 
 
 "Did you tell them, Aunt Debby, that it 
 had taken you ten years to write that 
 paper ? "
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 135 
 
 "No, I did not, Hester. I'm afraid they 
 would have doubted it if I had." 
 
 "Yet it is true." 
 
 "Yes, but I'm afraid they would not 
 have understood. It has been just ten 
 years ; for you were five when Miss Richards 
 gave me the book to find stories for you. 
 That was the first, and we've not neglected 
 it since." 
 
 "But they've grown harder, Aunt Debby. 
 You have no idea what a help in the classics 
 my knowing them has been. I never need 
 look up the allusions. Miss Leonard com- 
 plimented me upon knowing them, and 
 Miss Watson says that knowing the Greek 
 and Latin myths will be a great help when 
 we begin to read Virgil." 
 
 They were walking toward the house. 
 Hester had her arm about Debby Alden's 
 waist. The girl felt that she must show 
 her affection and gratitude in some way. 
 Had she had her way, she would have ex- 
 pressed her love in no weak words, and
 
 136 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 would have told Debby Alden how she ap- 
 preciated the care and self-sacrifice that she 
 had given her. But to have said a word on 
 the subject would disclose the fact that 
 Hester knew what Aunt Debby wished 
 kept from her. 
 
 "If Aunt Debby wished me to know," 
 reasoned Hester, "she would have told me. 
 I shall never let her know what Mary has 
 told me." 
 
 "Virgil," repeated Debby. "The word 
 sounds difficult. I'm afraid that I shall 
 never be able to read it. Perhaps you can 
 manage that alone, Hester." 
 
 "Oh, Aunt Debby, don't give it up. 
 Miss Watson says that we're just now in 
 the drudgery of Latin, and that the pleas- 
 ure will come when we begin reading the 
 stories. You will not give it up, Aunt 
 Debby?" 
 
 "We'll not decide until next fall, Hester. 
 That will be time enough." The beginner's 
 work in Latin had been difficult for her,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 137 
 
 Hester did not realize how hard the woman 
 studied to keep up with her. However, 
 one strong point was in her favor; while 
 the lessons were difficult to acquire, she was 
 able to retain them. 
 
 "Supper is not ready," said Debby, as 
 they entered the kitchen. "But we'll take 
 our time. There is no need to hurry, since 
 to-day's Friday and there'll be no lessons 
 this evening." 
 
 "I'll arrange the table," said Hester. 
 Without waiting, she began to assist her 
 Aunt Debby. She had it in mind to be a 
 help and a comfort to the one who had 
 befriended her. She watched herself closely 
 and did all things as Debby Alden wished 
 them done. When supper was finished, she 
 helped with the dishes, and never before 
 had the china such a polishing as it had 
 this particular evening. Suddenly she 
 paused, with a plate in one hand and the 
 drying towel in the other. "I've just be- 
 gun to realize how much you've done for
 
 138 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 me, Aunt Debby. I suppose I'll never be 
 able to repay you." 
 
 "Who has ever said anything about 
 being paid? It wasn't for that I brought 
 you up." She spoke sharply. 
 
 "I know that, yet I'd be ungrateful if I 
 didn't realize what you've done for me 
 and what sacrifices you've made. I was 
 thinking about it to-day while I was in 
 school, and I made up my mind then that 
 the best I could do would never make 
 matters quite even between us. I want to 
 be a great help and comfort to you, Aunt 
 Debby." 
 
 "The greatest comfort you can be to me 
 now is to get your lessons well in school, 
 and be honest and truthful. I hate a 
 sneak and a liar. I never could understand 
 why the Lord let them cumber the earth." 
 She spoke sternly. Hester did not remem- 
 ber the time when she had heard her aunt 
 speak in just that way. There was a touch 
 of fierceness in her voice that awed the
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 139 
 
 girl. But she said simply: "I'll try, then, 
 to be a comfort to you, Aunt Debby. I'll 
 get the best reports I can. As to ever 
 being a sneak or a liar, I do not believe I 
 could be either, Aunt Debby, if I tried." 
 
 She put the plates in the corner of the 
 cupboard, rinsed out the drying towel, and 
 sat down near her aunt. The kitchen clock 
 striking the hour aroused her to her sur- 
 roundings. "Half-past eight. We surely 
 are late. I think, Aunt Debby, I will go 
 to bed if you do not need me, and do not 
 mind sitting alone." 
 
 "Are you sick, Hester?" 
 
 "No; I'm not just sick, but I do not 
 feel like myself. I did not feel well in 
 school. I stayed in the teachers' room and 
 missed two classes." 
 
 "You'd better go to bed, then. I'll be 
 up in a few minutes. You must keep warm. 
 You'd better put blankets on your bed. 
 Get those gray ones from the chest." 
 
 When Hester had gone from the kitchen,
 
 140 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Debby Alden went out to the wash-house 
 in search of her unfailing remedy, a fire- 
 brick, which she put on top of the kitchen 
 stove to heat. When it was hot, she 
 wrapped it up in newspapers, and carried 
 it upstairs to Hester's room. 
 
 Pulling up the covers from the foot of 
 the bed, she placed the hot brick at Hes- 
 ter's feet. 
 
 "If you've taken cold, that will keep you 
 from being chilled. Keeping warm, or hav- 
 ing a good sweat, is the best thing for either 
 a cold or a fever." She tucked down the 
 bedclothes, and then turned her attention 
 to the girl's head. 
 
 "You haven't a speck of fever," she said, 
 laying her hand on Hester's head. "I sup- 
 pose it's just a 'brashy' spell. We must 
 watch our eating to-morrow. That's what 
 has caused the trouble." 
 
 "Are you coming to bed now, Aunt 
 Debby?" 
 
 "Not for a spell yet. I'm going down-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 141 
 
 stairs again." She went back to the 
 kitchen, and, making herself comfortable in 
 the great wooden rocker, with her feet 
 upon the hearth of the stove, she began to 
 piece together the incidents of the day to 
 see what she could make of them as a whole. 
 She knew it was not natural for a girl 
 Hester's age to speak about repaying her. 
 Some one had set the child thinking along a 
 new line, and Debby Alden made up her 
 mind there and then that she would find 
 out who that was and put a stop to it. 
 
 It was a common saying throughout the 
 locality that Debby Alden was no one's 
 fool. Her keenness of intuition, and the 
 logic that showed in her reasoning, now 
 proved that her reputation was well- 
 founded. She thought of the trouble of 
 the day before. She knew Hester well 
 enough to know that she would speak 
 sharply and frankly to the girl whom she 
 had helped in the examination, and who was 
 not honest enough to confess it. It would
 
 142 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 be natural for the girl to answer back. No 
 doubt, a war of words followed. Hester 
 had felt sick afterward, and then this great 
 desire to be a comfort and help to Aunt 
 Debby who had done so much for her. 
 To Debby Alden the whole matter was as 
 clear as an open book. She meant to find 
 out who that girl was, and see to it that she 
 would not again hector Hester with her 
 suggestions and hints. She must be one 
 who knew Hester well, or they would not 
 have helped each other. She brought to 
 mind each of the girls with whom Hester 
 was friendly. Jane Orr was not to be 
 thought of. Debby remembered with pleas- 
 ure the speech that Jane had made the 
 evening before. As she thought of that 
 walk home, she was suddenly enlightened as 
 to the guilty party. She remembered how 
 Mary had kept on the outer edge of the 
 group, how sullen and silent she had been, 
 without a civil word for any one. 
 
 "And it isn't generally Mary Bower-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 143 
 
 man's way not to talk. She's generally 
 ready with a word on her tongue. Kate 
 was always the most ambitious, envious 
 person hereabouts. 'Mother and daughter 
 alike,' is an old saying. I've noticed that 
 before in Kate and Mary. I'm thinking 
 that I've found the right person now, and 
 I'll see to it that she doesn't nag Hester. I 
 will not have it." 
 
 She did not for an instant suspect that 
 Mary Bowerman had told Hester the truth. 
 She did not know that Mary herself knew 
 it. She took it for granted that Mary had 
 gone no further in her annoyance than 
 merely hinting. Debby did not decide just 
 what course she would pursue in the matter, 
 but she experienced a feeling of relief in 
 knowing that she had found the culprit. 
 She was quite ready to sleep now. She 
 slipped into Hester's room and found her 
 sleeping. She did considerable thinking and 
 planning the following morning, as she pre- 
 pared breakfast. Before the morning's
 
 144 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 work was well under way, she had reached 
 a decision. 
 
 "Mrs. Bowerman is going into town this 
 morning, Hester," she said. "I wish you 
 would go with her and ask Miss Richards 
 for the book she promised me. It's about 
 taking charge of club meetings. You had 
 better go now, for Mrs. Bowerman is never 
 slack about starting when she means to go." 
 
 She noticed Hester's face flush and the 
 hesitancy in her manner as she answered: 
 "Yes, Aunt Debby. But I do not mind 
 the walk alone. I rather enjoy being by 
 myself sometimes." 
 
 "But I don't wish you to. There's al- 
 ways strangers coming and going, and no 
 one knows who they are. I'd feel safer if 
 you have company, and Kate is going. She 
 told me so." 
 
 There was nothing to do but obey. Hes- 
 ter put on her wraps and started forth, not 
 at all pleased with the prospect of meeting 
 Mary Bowerman in her own home.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 145 
 
 Debby Alden finished the morning's work, 
 and then started for the Bowerman home. 
 She knew that Kate and Hester had long 
 since left the house. Going around to the 
 back door, which was a custom of the 
 neighborhood, she entered the kitchen, which 
 Mary had just put in order. 
 
 "No, I shall not sit down," she said 
 grimly, in reply to Mary's invitation. 
 
 "Mother has gone to town, Miss Debby. 
 She'll be back in the course of a half-hour. 
 You'd better sit down while you are wait- 
 ing." 
 
 "I'll not wait to see your mother. I didn't 
 come to see her. It is you I wish to see." 
 
 "Me?" said Mary, indifferent alike to 
 grammar and Miss Debby's purpose in 
 coming. 
 
 "Yes, you. I came to tell you that you 
 are not to hector Hester with your taunts 
 and insinuations." 
 
 "Did Hester run to you and tell? I do 
 declare that I'm surprised after the hero
 
 146 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 she tried to make of herself before Mr. 
 Sanderson." 
 
 "No; Hester did not tell. She was 
 never a girl to carry tales about, and she 
 hasn't begun it now. Hester doesn't know 
 that I know about what happened yester- 
 day, or about you getting help in your 
 examinations. It doesn't matter how I 
 know, but it does matter that you are to 
 keep a civil tongue in your head with Hes- 
 ter. You may have all the schoolgirl 
 squabbles you wish. Hester can take care 
 of herself; but you're not to tell her about 
 her mother's death or her people." 
 
 As she spoke, Mary's mind went over the 
 events of the previous day. Who could 
 have told Miss Debby? The only person 
 who could possibly know of the talk be- 
 tween herself and Hester was Miss Watson. 
 She hastily concluded that it was Miss 
 Watson, and Mary feared her and knew 
 that such conduct, if it were known, would 
 meet with punishment.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 147 
 
 "Do you understand?" Debby Alden 
 again asked. 
 
 "Yes; I understand. I'm sure that I'll 
 not bother my head at all about Hester, 
 Miss Debby. You do not need to be at all 
 concerned." 
 
 "Well, see that you keep to that," were 
 Debby's parting words. There were few 
 whom she could not inspire with awe when 
 in this mood. She left the Bowerman 
 home with the feeling that she had settled 
 the matter for a time, yet she knew that 
 the story was too well-known and too in- 
 teresting to be forgotten. She realized, also, 
 that Hester might always be exposed to 
 experiences similar to that of the previous 
 day. Debby Alden could not bear the 
 thought that Hester would suffer from such 
 remarks. She knew that the child's sensi- 
 tive nature would make her peculiarly sus- 
 ceptible to suffering.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TAURING the first week of December the 
 ^^ weather grew intensely cold. There 
 had been no wind such as usually marked 
 the winter months in the valley. There 
 had been a full September flood in the river 
 and plenty of rain during that month and 
 October; so when the cold weather set in, 
 the river was not low. The rocks in the 
 river-bed near the end of the town were 
 covered by a foot of water just enough to 
 prevent the 'riffles. 7 
 
 The difference of six inches, more or less, 
 was an important matter to the young and 
 active element of the town. They read the 
 signs well, and watched the indications for 
 high or low water and no wind, with intense 
 interest. The skating depended entirely 
 upon such conditions. If the ice was 
 formed while a stiff breeze swept the sur- 
 
 148
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 149 
 
 face of the river, or when the water was so 
 low that it made little rippling circles as 
 it passed over the rocks, the skating was 
 ruined for that season. But now, after 
 several days and nights of still, bitter 
 weather, the matter was settled for months. 
 For miles the main portion of the stream 
 was one unbroken sheet of ice, as clear and 
 smooth as glass, and thick enough so that 
 the skaters took no risks. 
 
 Friday morning Jane Orr came into the 
 cloak-room where a half-dozen of her friends 
 were leisurely removing their wraps. It 
 was generally understood that the pupils 
 should not congregate here, but as com- 
 munication was forbidden within the school- 
 room proper, the girls were most deliberate 
 about removing and arranging their wraps, 
 especially on those mornings when some one 
 of the number had a long story to tell. 
 
 Jane's face was wreathed with smiles as 
 she joined the girls. She began talking as 
 she removed her tam-o'-shanter in order
 
 150 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 that none of the precious minutes might be 
 lost. Although she talked rapidly, her voice 
 never lost its low, deliberate tones. "Oh, 
 girls! I have the best news! I could 
 scarcely wait until I reached here to tell 
 you. I'm all out of breath. You'll be as 
 glad to hear it as I was." Here she jammed 
 her hat pins through the crown of the tarn, 
 and, with it in her hand, turned about and 
 faced her half-dozen listeners. 
 
 "Ralphie and some of his young men 
 friends skated to Hyner last evening. It 
 was moonlight, you know. Ralphie said 
 that the ice was fine simply fine ! That 
 for the entire six miles there wasn't a 
 break." 
 
 A sigh of satisfaction came from her 
 listeners. They had been disappointed the 
 year before, and for weeks they had hoped 
 for and counted much upon good ice for 
 skating. 
 
 "We can't go to-night after school," said 
 one of the group. "No one has brought
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 151 
 
 skates. By the time we go home for them, 
 it will be too late. Mine must be sharpened 
 before I use them. They're saw-toothed on 
 the edge." 
 
 "I wasn't through with what I was going 
 to say," cried Jane. "Ralphie said that 
 we must not on any account miss the skate. 
 So he suggested getting up a crowd of girls 
 for to-morrow afternoon, to start imme- 
 diately after dinner." 
 
 "It will be so cold," said Orpha. 
 
 "Of course it will," said Edith, "but is a 
 little cold going to hurt us?" 
 
 "You will not wait until I finish," said 
 Jane. She had taken off her coat by this 
 time, and had seated herself on the extreme 
 edge of a small bench. "We can get a 
 warm supper at Hyner before we start to 
 skate back. That will keep us from getting 
 cold while we rest." 
 
 "If it's hard skating against the wind, 
 we can come back on the evening train," 
 said Janet, who was always practical. "I
 
 152 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 wouldn't mind going down, but the skate 
 back with the wind against one is too hard." 
 
 "Ralphie will go along so that nothing 
 can happen. If one of us should fall, he's 
 big and strong enough to take care of us." 
 Here Jane's bland smile fairly outdid itself, 
 for, in her mind, if there were one person 
 in the world who was absolutely faultless, 
 that person was her elder brother Ralph. 
 
 "Who'll go?" asked Janet. "And 
 where'll we meet, and at what time?" 
 
 The seven girls who were present all 
 declared themselves willing and ready, de- 
 barring a little sharpening of skates, which 
 could be attended to the following morning. 
 
 "A dozen is just a nice party," said Janet. 
 
 "Delia will go, I'm sure, and Julia. I'll 
 ask them this morning." 
 
 "And Hester," said Jane. "She'll go, of 
 course. I'll speak to her while we're going 
 into algebra. She's always just ahead of 
 me in the line." 
 
 "Oh!" said Mary Bowerman, and then
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 153 
 
 waited without further word. Her tone 
 was so expressive of dissatisfaction at Jane's 
 suggestion, that the other six girls looked 
 up at her in surprise, and then waited for 
 her to speak. Seeing what was expected of 
 her, she continued: "Must we ask her? I'd 
 so much rather that she wouldn't be one 
 of the crowd." 
 
 "Why?" asked Janet, who never took 
 such subtle suggestions, but demanded 
 point-blank statements. 
 
 "I do not know that it is necessary for 
 me to give my reasons," Mary replied. 
 "I know that I don't wish to have her." 
 
 "I do," said Jane, sweetly but firmly. 
 "And I see no reason why she should not 
 be invited. I'm sure she is always agree- 
 able, and she never keeps one waiting, and 
 she will not hang back and say that she's 
 tired and wants to rest. You know that 
 she will not complain and grumble, what- 
 ever happens." 
 
 "Well, if Hester Alden is one of the
 
 154 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 party, I will not be," said Mary, decidedly. 
 She had intended keeping the promise 
 which she made to Miss Alden some weeks 
 before. She tried to reconcile her con- 
 science by telling herself that this was not 
 hectoring Hester; that she was saying no 
 word to her. Yet she knew what it was 
 Miss Alden meant, and that so far she 
 had fulfilled the letter and not the spirit 
 of the promise. After this declaration 
 about not going, she waited a moment to 
 see what effect her words would have on 
 the girls. If she expected protestations 
 and beseechings on their part, she was 
 disappointed. Her declaration was followed 
 by silence. She repeated her words, making 
 them as emphatic as possible. 
 
 "Well, I'll tell you this. If Hester Alden 
 goes, I will not." 
 
 "You must suit yourself about that," 
 Jane replied. "I intend to ask Hester." 
 
 She had unconsciously moved closer to 
 the edge of the seat as she talked. A foot-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 155 
 
 step was heard in the hall. With the 
 thought that a teacher was coming to 
 take them to task for their loitering, the 
 two girls, who had been occupying the 
 greater portion of the bench, sprang to 
 their feet. With Jane, plump and round 
 as a partridge, on the unsupported end 
 of the bench, a state of equilibrium could 
 not be maintained. The bench tilted, and 
 Jane sat unexpectedly upon the floor. 
 
 She made no effort to rise, but remained 
 there laughing heartily at her plight. The 
 door opened and Hester came in. 
 
 "The halls were so quiet that I was 
 afraid I was late," she said. Then, seeing 
 Jane sitting upon the floor, she exclaimed: 
 "For all the world, Jane Orr! Why are 
 you sitting there?" 
 
 "I've been issuing invitations to a skat- 
 ing party, and this is the way it affected me. 
 You're invited, Hester. When I get the 
 dust from my dress, I'll tell you all about 
 it." She was on her feet by this time,
 
 156 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 brushing vigorously at the coat of tan, 
 which showed against the dark blue skirt. 
 
 The others of the party turned to leave 
 the cloak-room, when Jane called after 
 them: "Meet at our house at one-thirty. 
 Don't forget to bring money along to pay 
 for your supper. It's to be a Dutch treat." 
 
 Then she turned to Hester and told her 
 of the arrangements for the following 
 afternoon. 
 
 "I'll go if I can," Hester replied, "but I'm 
 not sure about my skates. They were too 
 small for me two years ago, and I wear shoes 
 two sizes larger than I did then. But if 
 I can possibly use them, I'll be there." 
 
 The following morning after breakfast 
 she went to the attic to look for her skates. 
 She did not doubt that her Aunt Debby 
 would gladly buy her a larger pair if she 
 knew that the old ones were too small. 
 But since Mary Bowerman had told her 
 the facts of Debby Alden's giving her a 
 home, Hester could not ask for luxuries.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 157 
 
 It was quite enough to be clothed and 
 fed. 
 
 The skates were packed in one of the 
 great boxes in which the attic was rich. 
 Hester looked through several. One of 
 these contained each article of clothing 
 which her mother had worn when she was 
 killed. Debby Alden had put them in 
 order and packed them away. She under- 
 stood now why her aunt had been careful 
 to save the most insignificant of these. 
 
 "Poor Aunt Debby," said Hester to 
 herself, "I suppose she thought that 
 some one might come to claim me, and she 
 wanted to identify my mother and me. 
 That is why she keeps that little old dress 
 of mine." 
 
 She examined the waist and skirt crit- 
 ically, yet without any sign of emotion. 
 
 "My mother could not have been a 
 tramp. These clothes are fine nicer 
 than Debby's best dress, and they are the 
 kind that a lady would wear."
 
 158 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 She replaced each article as she had 
 found it. She was displeased with herself 
 that she had not felt sad and cried. But 
 she had not. If the stories she had read 
 could be relied upon, her indifferent feeling 
 was quite unnatural. The feeling of ten- 
 derness was all for Aunt Debby, and not 
 for this strange unknown woman which 
 Mary Bowerman had declared was her 
 mother. 
 
 " Maybe I haven't any heart," she said. 
 "If I had, I suppose I'd cry and be sad, 
 but I do not feel at all like it. Where 
 are those skates?" She began searching 
 through the fourth box. Before she was 
 aware of what she was doing, she was sing- 
 ing a cheerful song. 
 
 Debby Alden had come upstairs, and, 
 hearing Hester fussing about, came to 
 the foot of the attic stairs and called 
 up: "Hester, what are you doing up 
 there? Now don't get those boxes in 
 disorder."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 159 
 
 "I'm not, auntie. I'm putting every- 
 thing back. I was looking for my skates, 
 but I've found them now." 
 
 She came down the dark, narrow stairway, 
 the skates clinking in her hand. Sitting 
 down on the lower step, she raised her 
 foot and put the skate on it. It was fully 
 two inches shorter than the shoe. 
 
 "Too short," said Debby Alden, la- 
 conically. "Yes, I thought they'd be. 
 When did you mean to use them?" 
 
 "This afternoon,, if they were all right. 
 But I hardly expected that they would 
 be. I've grown so since these were new." 
 
 "Do the girls intend to go?" 
 
 "Yes." Then before Hester realized 
 what she was doing, she told her aunt, 
 just as Debby Alden wished her to do. 
 
 "You had better go to Ab Stout's right 
 off and get a pair. You should get a fairly 
 good pair for two dollars." 
 
 "I can do without them, Aunt Debby. 
 We'd better not spend the money. You
 
 said just the other day that you'd have to 
 save a little." 
 
 "I can spend two dollars. I never let 
 myself get as close as that. That was 
 never the Alden way. We always keep a 
 little saved back. Besides, I meant right 
 along to get you skates for Christmas." 
 
 That settled the matter. Hester lost 
 no time in getting into her wraps and 
 setting out for Stout's department store. 
 
 It was a busy time in all departments, 
 for Saturday morning was a general shop- 
 ping day. Farmers' wives, who had come 
 to town on the market wagons, were laying 
 in a week's supply of groceries; miners' 
 wives from Bitumen were there in groups 
 of six and eight, and the keen Joel Stout, 
 the junior member of the firm, was be- 
 guiling them to part with their money for 
 light, shoddy wraps, and head-gear con- 
 spicuous for its long, light plumes and 
 quantities of flowers. 
 
 Hester made her way through the
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 161 
 
 crowd to the household department, where 
 skates held their place with pots, pans, 
 and waffle-irons. This department was 
 not so crowded, yet she was compelled 
 to wait some time before she could have 
 the services of a clerk. 
 
 Abner Stout himself had charge of this 
 department. Esther and Mary, two of 
 his younger children, assisted him. Busi- 
 ness had prospered with the man. He 
 could boast no nationality or trade. He 
 was a hybrid, sprung from the sharpest, 
 keenest, and most unprincipled types of 
 several nationalities. In his early days 
 he had been a junk and rag dealer. He 
 had failed as often as the law permitted, 
 and each failure added to the money he 
 had hoarded away, so that he was at last 
 enabled to start in business on his present 
 substantial scale. He had cut communica- 
 tions with all his old friends, for he knew 
 of nothing to be gained by a further ac- 
 quaintance with them. He had passed
 
 162 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the place where they could be used by him 
 as stepping-stones, and he had no wish to 
 serve the purpose of a stepping-stone to 
 them. His trade had grown so large that 
 every member of the family was kept busy 
 handling it. His daughters had no time 
 to give to domestic matters, and for weeks 
 housekeeping and cooking had gone by 
 the board. The family had eaten at odd 
 minutes, helping themselves to cheese and 
 crackers or a dried herring as they passed 
 from one department to another. 
 
 This way of living was not pleasing to 
 the elder man. He liked a well-laid table 
 with plenty of good, strong fare, but busi- 
 ness was business, and his daughters were 
 needed as clerks. He might have em- 
 ployed one of the townspeople as clerk, 
 but his economical soul revolted at the 
 thought. It was not so much the sal- 
 ary that constrained him from employing 
 such a one, but Joel and he had little ways 
 of their own hi weighing and measuring,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 163 
 
 and marking up and down, a system that 
 was hard for the mind of some to grasp. 
 
 In the midst of his difficulties an ex- 
 cellent plan presented itself to his mind 
 for consideration. There was living in New 
 York one Jane Farwell, an elder sister of 
 his deceased wife. Jane was making her 
 home with her brother Reuben, a dealer 
 in junk and rags to whom she had been a 
 great help, for she was quick to sort. But 
 she was not content, as the work was te- 
 dious and the stooping stiffened her back, 
 and, besides, Reuben grew angry if she so 
 much as mentioned wages and declared 
 that she was a burden upon him. 
 
 This Jane Farwell had been an excellent 
 housekeeper in her younger day, being 
 trained after the fashion of the thrifty 
 housewife, and she knew much about the 
 cooking of food along economical lines. 
 
 He decided to send for Jane. She could 
 keep the house in order and make ready 
 the meals, and she would be glad to come
 
 for little or nothing. He wrote to her. 
 His heart grew glad when she sent word 
 that she would come. This had occurred 
 three weeks before, and for almost that 
 length of time Jane had been in his kitchen 
 preparing the savory messes whose strong, 
 fragrant odor filled the shop and lingered 
 for days. It was little wonder, then, that 
 he was in the best of humor and laughed 
 and joked with his customers. His little 
 sharp gray eyes glistened like polished 
 beads, his sharp thin nose was elevated 
 beyond its usual angle, and his hands with 
 their long talons and sharp-pointed nails 
 rubbed together, expressive of his greatest 
 satisfaction; for the presence of his sister- 
 in-law, Jane, in the kitchen, preparing 
 savory dishes and without a word as to 
 wages> was as oil and myrrh to his covetous 
 soul. 
 
 Kate Bowerman and Mrs. Mullin had 
 come shopping together. They were both 
 keen at a bargain, and enjoyed being to-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 165 
 
 gether when buying was on hand. Mary 
 Stout was waiting upon them. They had 
 made their selections and were waiting 
 while she put together their purchases and 
 made the change. Abner stood at a dis- 
 tance, with eye and ear seizing upon all 
 that took place in his store. 
 
 At this instant Hester entered, and, pass- 
 ing the women, went on to the counter 
 where skates were laid out. Her long coat 
 of dark blue was brightened by a crimson 
 tam-o'-shanter and the crimson bow at 
 the end of her long, dark braid. 
 
 Mrs. Mullin nudged her companion. "A 
 fine-looking girl," she said in stage whispers. 
 
 "Think so?" said Kate Bowerman. She 
 gave forth a mirthless cackle. "I sup- 
 pose she's good-looking to them who like 
 that style. I don't and never did. A 
 woman or girl to be good-looking should be 
 fair." 
 
 "I don't agree with you, Kate. I'm 
 all for dark eyes and dark hair." She
 
 166 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 turned and looked at the girlish figure 
 bending over the counter on which lay the 
 skates. 
 
 "It must cost Debby Alden a pretty 
 penny to dress her. I see her go by the 
 house on her way to school, and she's as 
 well dressed as any girl in town. Better 
 than Debby Alden ever dressed. I wonder 
 that Debby does it, for you know yourself 
 that the Aldens were always counted close. 
 I wouldn't have believed it if any one would 
 have told me ! Debby Alden spending her 
 folks' money on a strange child." 
 
 Abner Stout drew nearer. To all out- 
 ward appearances, his attention was 
 wrapped up in the sale of a butcher knife, 
 over the price of which an old German 
 woman was haggling. He believed in learn- 
 ing all he could of other people's business, 
 so he drew closer to the two women. 
 
 Kate gave a malicious laugh, and for an 
 instant the point of her tongue showed 
 between her lips.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 167 
 
 "Debby Alden's no one's fool, Hattie 
 Mullin. You've heard that time and 
 time again, and it's never been truer than 
 it is at this minute. She knows what 
 she's doing. Do you for one minute think 
 that she'd be spending her money on that 
 girl if she didn't expect to get it back with 
 a good big interest? She's not bringing 
 her up like a lady, educating her and giving 
 her music and all that, just for the fun 
 of it. No indeed! I knew the Aldens 
 too well to ever suspect that one of 
 them would throw away her money for 
 mere pleasure." 
 
 "You don't mean?" Mrs. Mullin 
 looked the question. She could not put it 
 into words. 
 
 "That's just what I mean," laughed 
 Kate. "You'll find that Debby Alden 
 either knows or has some suspicion who 
 that child is. It may be that her folks are 
 well-to-do, and they'll pay Debby well 
 when she lets them know of the child."
 
 168 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Dear me! Who would have thought 
 that Debby Alden would have been so far- 
 sighted," she said. "No doubt, the child's 
 folks are well off, and will pay Debby hand- 
 somely." 
 
 "Why, of course ! Or why should she 
 take all this trouble?" At this, Mary 
 was about to come up with the change. 
 Her father seized her hand. "You have 
 it wrong," he cried. "Go back." 
 
 She returned to the cash drawer and 
 deliberated long upon making the change. 
 She knew not her father's purpose in send- 
 ing her back. But having faith in his 
 business ability, she obeyed without a word, 
 and kept at the account until he let her 
 know that he wished her to return. Mean- 
 while, Kate Bowerman, all unconscious of 
 the little by-play which had been enacted 
 before her eyes, continued her conversation 
 with Mrs. Mullin. 
 
 "Debby forgot herself one day and let 
 it slip that she knew more about the child's
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 169 
 
 mother than she had told any one. I re- 
 member where the ticket that the woman 
 had was from, and where she was going. 
 I've a sharp memory for such things. Some 
 day, when I've time, I mean to write to 
 those places and just find out. A woman 
 and child disappearing isn't something 
 that's going to be forgotten in fifteen 
 years." 
 
 "No, I guess not," said Mrs. Mullin. 
 At this she grew reminiscent, and repeated 
 in detail all the events of that day. But 
 the details were too clear in Kate's mind 
 to enjoy hearing another repeat them. 
 
 "Yes, I know all about it, Hattie, from 
 A to Z. But we've something else to 
 attend to now. Where is that girl with 
 my change? Is she never coming?" 
 
 At this Abner Stout raised his voice, and 
 admonished Mary not to be so slow. She 
 hurried forward with the change. Mrs. 
 Bowerman and her friend went on their 
 way. Abner Stout stood behind the counter
 
 170 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 until late that night, his hands busy with 
 scales and twine, but his mind weaving 
 a great scheme by which gold might be 
 added to his constantly increasing hoard.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 A T the hour appointed that afternoon, 
 -**- a merry party had gathered at Jane's 
 home, preparatory to starting on the skat- 
 ing expedition. Hyner was a little village 
 six miles distant. To skate there was no 
 task at all. It was the return trip against 
 the wind and the imperceptible slope of 
 the ice-bed which tried the mettle of the 
 skaters. 
 
 They were about to set forth when Mary 
 Bowerman entered ready for the trip, her 
 skates slung on a strap over her shoulders. 
 She made no explanation hi regard to her 
 change of plans. 
 
 "I was afraid I would be late," she said, 
 "and I walked so fast that I am out of 
 breath." 
 
 The others waited until she had rested, and 
 then started out. Mrs. Orr followed them to 
 
 171
 
 172 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the gate, admonishing them to be careful 
 and not to run any risks while skating. 
 
 "Don't worry, mother," said Ralph. 
 "The ice is as solid as a rock. I haven't 
 seen such ice as this for years. One could 
 skate anywhere on it." 
 
 "It is just that confidence that may 
 cause the trouble," she replied. "You may 
 be so sure that you will not take the trouble 
 to look about you and rush on into danger. 
 Do be careful, girls. Ralph, remember 
 they are under your care." 
 
 "I certainly will not forget. I'll take 
 care of them, mother." He looked quite 
 able to fulfil his self-appointed task. He 
 was in his third year in college, and had 
 wpn a reputation as an athlete. He was 
 big, broad-shouldered, and sinewy. 
 
 When they reached the ice, he called 
 out to those in advance: "Wait a moment, 
 girls, until I come. I'll put on your skates." 
 
 A merry laugh greeted him from Jane 
 and Hester,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 173 
 
 "You would have a glorious task, Ralph," 
 said Hester. "Twelve girls with skates to 
 have put on. Why, the last one would be 
 chilled to the marrow before her turn came." 
 
 "It will take but " he began. He 
 was already upon his knees with Jane's 
 skates in his hand. 
 
 "We can manage very well, thank you, 
 Ralph," said Janet. She had one skate 
 on and the lever turned, and was strength- 
 ening her ankle with a heavy strap as she 
 spoke. Mary Bowerman alone made no 
 effort to put on her skates, but stood close 
 by Jane, waiting until Ralph had finished 
 tightening the levers. 
 
 "Put mine on, Ralph. I hate working 
 with the cold steel, and the buckles always 
 hurt my hands." 
 
 The other girls were ready. As they 
 waited, they tested their skates, making 
 fancy curves and figures upon the ice and 
 circling about Ralph and Mary while he 
 tightened the straps.
 
 174 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Let me lead the way," he said, rising 
 and drawing on his gloves. "I'll pick 
 out a safe course. Mother is so afraid of 
 air-holes. I honestly don't believe there 
 is one for miles about. Nevertheless, I'll 
 skate ahead." He looked about the group, 
 uncertain who needed his help most. 
 
 "Will you skate singly or together? 
 Who wants me to help them ? " 
 
 "You'd better take Delia," suggested 
 Jane. "She hasn't skated as we have, 
 and she'll tire sooner." 
 
 "Very well," he replied, holding out his 
 hands to the frailest and youngest of the set. 
 She smiled as she said: "I'm very glad. 
 I do not skate well alone. I've always 
 skated with one of my brothers, and I'm 
 timid when alone." 
 
 "You should practise skating without 
 help. I would not attempt it on a trip 
 like this, but some afternoon when you 
 have no definite place to make. It will 
 make you more independent." Then he
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 175 
 
 added with a smile: "Skating is like every- 
 thing else. You must go it alone, if you 
 do it well." 
 
 One cannot skate and talk, so the con- 
 versation stopped. Ralph and Delia led 
 the way. Back of them in single file and 
 separated by several rods came the others 
 of the party. Jane, whose muscles were 
 accustomed to this form of exercise, was in 
 the lead. Back of her came Hester, while 
 Janet, panting and perspiring, was at the 
 rear. With long, sweeping strokes the line 
 swept down the river. Each movement 
 was graceful, and the rhythmical sway of 
 their bodies was as easy and graceful as 
 that of the sedges moved by the breeze. 
 
 Hyner was reached with no unusual 
 experiences. The girls were warm with 
 exercise. 
 
 "I feel fine except for my feet," said 
 Jane, as she tried to walk, "but they are 
 asleep." 
 
 "You would have your straps as tight
 
 176 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 as I could draw them/' said Ralph. "That 
 is what caused the trouble." 
 
 She was not alone in her discomfort. 
 Each girl, as she attempted to walk across 
 the beach without her skates, stumbled 
 awkwardly, and gave little shrieks as she 
 struck a clump of earth or a rock. 
 
 "My feet feel as though they weighed 
 ten pounds," said Delia. "I can scarcely 
 drag them along." 
 
 Each expressed her discomfort in a new 
 and individual way, yet laughed between 
 the twinges of pain. 
 
 "I'm glad we are here at last," said 
 Jane, as they mounted the steps of the 
 little country hotel. "I've been told that 
 this place is only a hundred yards from 
 the river. It seemed a mile while I was 
 walking." 
 
 "A mile!" said Delia, sinking into the 
 chair she came to first. "I'm sure it was 
 ten miles. My feet were so numb that 
 I couldn't lift them, and so I struck every
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 177 
 
 rough place on the beach. I think there 
 was ten thousand of them, and every time 
 I struck one, a million little sharp pains 
 ran from my toes to the top of my head." 
 
 The girls laughed at the exaggeration. 
 Delia was addicted to the use of such ex- 
 pressions. She knew no happy medium. 
 
 "I intend remembering that for rhetoric. 
 Our lesson for Monday is a review of figures 
 of speech. I'll use that for the hyper- 
 bole." This was from Janet. As she 
 spoke, she glanced toward Delia. "Is that 
 the way the word is pronounced, Dell?" 
 she asked. 
 
 "Use your own taste in regard to it," re- 
 sponded Delia, with a show of indifference. 
 "I shouldn't have called it that." 
 
 "I think not," replied Janet. Then, 
 turning to the others, she said: "You girls 
 were at the board and didn't hear Dell 
 recite. She said an exaggerated form of 
 expression was called a hyper-bowl." 
 
 "I'm glad I said it," said Delia, good-
 
 178 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 naturedly. "Janet has enjoyed it so. 
 She's told every one that she's met since." 
 
 They had drawn about the great stove 
 which stood in the middle of the hotel 
 parlor. Twilight had fallen, and the room 
 was dusky. Ralph had gone to see what 
 the prospects for supper were. The girls 
 sat with their feet on the fender, chatter- 
 ing of school affairs as they awaited his 
 return. 
 
 "I hope there'll be enough to eat," said 
 Janet. "I'm as hungry as a bear." 
 
 "I'm as hungry as two bears," said 
 Hester. "I hope the landlady will not 
 think that we're a frail and delicate set. 
 Let's appoint a committee to tell her how 
 hungry we are." 
 
 "Better have Delia as chairman," said 
 Janet. "She'll use enough ' hyper-bowls' 
 to convince the woman that a regiment 
 has come down upon her." 
 
 "Are you as hungry as that?" said a 
 pleasant voice, as the woman of the house
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 179 
 
 entered. "Your supper will be ready soon, 
 and I promise you that there will be enough 
 of it. It is growing dark; I'll light the 
 lamps." 
 
 She lighted the lamps and opened the 
 piano. " Perhaps some of you would like 
 to play/' she said, as she left the room. 
 
 "I should like to," said Janet, " but 
 I can't." 
 
 Orpha, during all the chatter and light 
 talk, sat silent. It was difficult to know 
 whether she appreciated what was going 
 on, or whether it was an enigma to her. 
 The only part she took in the conversa- 
 tion was "Why?" or "Is that so?" 
 
 Supper was prepared for them in the 
 course of half an hour. By this time they 
 were able to step without shrieking with 
 mingled pain and laughter. The land- 
 lady outdid herself in service, standing 
 by the table and urging them to partake 
 heartily of the fare. 
 
 "If you intend skating home, you'll need
 
 180 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 to eat well, for there's a stiff breeze starting 
 up, and you know how the wind on the 
 river cuts." 
 
 Ralph excused himself from the table to 
 investigate the condition of the weather. 
 "Let's start back at once," he said, as he 
 rejoined the girls. "There is a little wind. 
 I suppose it will get stronger as the hour 
 grows later. We'll start now and miss the 
 worst." 
 
 Hurrying into their wraps and giving 
 their feet a last warming at the fender, 
 they made ready to depart. They found 
 a stiff breeze sweeping along the river. 
 With as little delay as possible, they were 
 on their skates, battling against it. Ralph 
 had gone ahead with Delia and Janet 
 on either side. Back of them came the 
 others in single file, their heads bent for- 
 ward and their skirts flying in the wind. 
 They had skated some distance when Edith 
 Rank, who led the line, paused to wait 
 until the others came up.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 181 
 
 " We'll skate easier if we go three by 
 three," she said. "This wind takes one's 
 strength. We'll find we'll not be so apt to 
 flounder about with three. Come, girls!" 
 She held out a hand toward Mary . and 
 Hester. The latter hesitated, but only for 
 a moment. She did not wish to skate arm 
 in arm with Mary, but a river of ice on a 
 cold night, with the wind blowing, is not 
 a pleasant place for the airing of grievances. 
 Hester held out her hand, and she and Edith 
 with Mary between started on. 
 
 Ralph and the others were ahead. The 
 ice crackled under their feet. The trunks 
 of trees along the shore cast weird, gaunt 
 shadows. The three skated without speak- 
 ing, having no surplus energy to give to 
 conversation. With their heads bent 
 down to protect their faces from the wind, 
 they could not see far in advance. Un- 
 conscious of their course, they had moved 
 nearer shore, just where Paddy's Run 
 enters the river. There were eddies and
 
 182 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 ripples here, and the ice had formed with 
 air-holes. 
 
 Suddenly, as the three skates lifted to 
 take a long stroke, Mary gave a scream, 
 let go her hold upon the girls, clutched 
 wildly, and went through the ice. Hester 
 lost no time in screaming. 
 
 "Skate for Ralph as fast as you can!" 
 she said to Edith. The girl, understand- 
 ing what was best to be done, bent her 
 head to the wind and skated up the stream 
 as fast as she was able. She watched her 
 course now, and kept well over the deep 
 water. 
 
 Ralph, with the two girls clinging to him, 
 was not making great headway. Edith 
 had made but a half mile before she reached 
 him. "Go back! It's Mary!" she panted, 
 catching to the girls to check her speed 
 and steady herself. Without a word, 
 Ralph turned and went back. 
 
 Hester had no sooner given Edith the 
 word to hurry for Ralph, than she threw
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 183 
 
 herself flat upon the ice, and, reaching for- 
 ward, caught Mary under the arms. Thus 
 supported there was no danger of Mary 
 going under, although she was in up to her 
 arms. She began to cry with fright. 
 
 " Ralph will be here in a minute," said 
 Hester. "It's only an air-hole, the ice 
 is strong where I am. I will not let you 
 go." Her words came brokenly, as sup- 
 porting Mary's weight only for these few 
 minutes had almost exhausted her, and 
 the ice had chilled her limbs into numb- 
 ness. 
 
 It was only a few minutes until Ralph 
 was there. He threw himself flat upon 
 the ice as Hester had done, and grasping 
 Mary firmly, cried out: "All right, Hester, 
 pull as hard as you can! Her dress is 
 frozen fast." 
 
 He was big and strong enough to drag 
 her out. "Keep her there just a minute," 
 he said, putting Jane's arms about her. 
 "Here, Hester," and he stood and lifted
 
 184 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 her up. "You're all right, now," he said 
 encouragingly. "Edith, you and Jane skate 
 with Hester. I'll take Mary. Skate as 
 though the wolves were after you." 
 
 He had picked Mary up in his arms. 
 
 "See that light! We are within a half- 
 mile of Debby Alden's. Go for it." 
 
 He skated as fast as was possible with 
 Mary in his arms. The others kept in 
 advance of him. 
 
 When they reached the bank, he did not 
 wait to remove his skates, but with them 
 on cut his way over the ice and stones of 
 the beach. 
 
 "Don't take me in to Aldens', Ralph," 
 cried Mary. "Debby Alden will not let 
 me stay. She'll put me out." 
 
 "Don't you believe it," he said. "She'll 
 put you to bed and dose you up until you 
 couldn't take cold if you tried." 
 
 "Take me any place but there." 
 
 Ralph laughed, and hurried through 
 the Alden garden to the house. He gave
 
 IMIMHHHHMM^^I^^nl 
 
 HE DID NOT WAIT TO REMOVE HIS SKATES Page 184-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 185 
 
 little thought to Mary's request, believing 
 that she was so badly frightened that she 
 did not know what she was saying. 
 
 Debby Alden wasted no time in use- 
 less questions. After her quick, " Where's 
 Hester?" and Ralph's reply, " She's com- 
 ing. The girls stopped long enough to 
 take off their skates," she said nothing, 
 but took Mary from Ralph's arms and 
 carried her into the kitchen. 
 
 "Sit there with your feet in the oven 
 while I make a bed ready for you." She 
 paid no attention to Mary's feeble words 
 of remonstrance. In a moment the kettle 
 was on the stove, the fire-brick heating 
 on the front griddle, while Debby Alden 
 was upstairs making up the bed with 
 extra blankets. 
 
 Mary's teeth were chattering when 
 Debby came back. The girls had crowded 
 into the kitchen. Hester, in spite of her 
 hard skating, was blue with the cold. 
 "Hurry upstairs and get into bed, Hessie.
 
 186 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 I've double blankets on. Slip between 
 them. Jane, run along and rub her feet 
 after she's in. Edith, fill the water-bag 
 when the kettle boils, and bring it upstairs. 
 The others take off your wraps, and get 
 warm. I'll see to Mary." 
 
 She took the shivering girl by the arm. 
 " Hurry upstairs to the back bedroom. It's 
 the warmest. There's two beds, and you and 
 Hester can be company for each other." 
 
 Soon she had both girls in bed between 
 blankets, with hot-water bottles and bricks 
 about them. Edith had been sent down- 
 stairs to brew a pitcher of catnip tea. When 
 danger of a chill was past, and the girls 
 were snug and warm, Debby Alden went 
 downstairs. The little group had gathered 
 about the kitchen stove with their feet 
 in the oven or on the fender. 
 
 "I'm going to give you a good hot cup 
 of coffee and have you well warmed up, 
 then I'm going to send you home. Your 
 mothers will worry if you're late."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 187 
 
 She brought forth the coffee urn and 
 cups. " While I'm attending to the coffee, 
 tell me how it happened." 
 
 A babel of voices arose. Their fear 
 having gone, excitement took its place. 
 By broken sentences, many exclamations 
 and interruptions, Debby Alden learned 
 that Hester had acted the part of a heroine. 
 
 "And there lay Hester, stretched out 
 flat, with her hands holding Mary under 
 her arms. Hester was stiff with cold, and 
 her sleeves were frozen to the ice where 
 the water trickled over. She could scarcely 
 move, but I told her to skate home. I 
 couldn't carry two and, anyway, moving 
 was better for Hester," said Ralph. 
 
 "I think I should have stood there until 
 doomsday," cried Edith. This was the 
 first excitement she had shown. "I was 
 stunned, I'm sure. I could not have 
 moved, but Hester cried, 'Go for Ralph,' 
 and threw herself right across the broken 
 ice. I didn't wait. I went as fast as I
 
 188 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 could. I forgot everything but catching 
 up to Ralph. I'll never be able to skate 
 so fast again." 
 
 "There really wasn't any danger," ex- 
 plained Ralph, "but Hester did not know 
 that. There wasn't danger for her, I mean, 
 but if she hadn't have held Mary above 
 water, she would have gone under. You 
 see, Miss Alden, the air-hole was about a 
 foot across. Mary came with all her weight 
 upon it. Of course, when she went through, 
 the thin ice, for the radius of a foot, went 
 with her, but it was solid where Hester 
 and I threw ourselves. It was fully six 
 inches thick. So Hester was in no danger." 
 
 Debby Alden pressed her lips grimly. 
 "If there had been danger, it would have 
 been all the same to Hester. To try to 
 save a companion was the only thing for 
 her to do danger or no danger. Of 
 course, she acted quickly and without 
 thinking, but actions of that kind are more 
 apt to show of what sort folks are than
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 189 
 
 actions that come after thought and de- 
 liberation. I'm glad Hester showed the 
 proper instincts." 
 
 She poured the coffee and passed it to 
 her guests. "It may keep you awake, 
 but it will keep you from being chilled." 
 
 When they had finished, she said: "Now, 
 I'm going to send you home. It's long 
 after ten o'clock, and your parents will 
 be worried about you. Ralph, will you 
 stop in at the Bowermans' and tell Kate 
 that Mary will stay with Hester all night? 
 You need say nothing of what has happened. 
 Mary is comfortable now, and there's no 
 danger of her taking cold. I've done all 
 I could, and there's no use in Kate's run- 
 ning over here to-night and getting nervous 
 and excited. We'll tell her about it in the 
 morning." 
 
 "I presume, Miss Debby, that this will 
 be the last time Hester will be allowed to 
 go skating," said Jane. 
 
 Debby Alden shook her head in nega-
 
 190 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 tion. "No, she may go just as she always 
 has, when the ice is reasonably safe. I 
 never wish her to take foolhardy risks, 
 but neither do I want her kept in a band- 
 box, wrapped up in cotton." 
 
 She came with them to the door, holding 
 a lamp high in her hand to light them 
 down the garden path. 
 
 "All right, Miss Debby. Good night," 
 they called back. She responded warmly, 
 and, turning back into the kitchen, closed 
 the door upon the darkness and the ris- 
 ing wind. 
 
 Upstairs the two girls lay in great feather- 
 beds in the bedroom over the kitchen. 
 They were warm; the danger of a chill, 
 with all the ills which might follow in its 
 wake, had passed. Yet they were not 
 comfortable. At least, Mary Bowerman 
 was not. She felt that an apology was due 
 to Hester, or at least an expression of grati- 
 tude for the effort Hester had made to save 
 her. She was nervous and restless, in spite
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 191 
 
 of the copious draughts of catnip tea which 
 Miss Debby had given her. 
 
 She heard Ralph and the girls leave the 
 house, and their call of "good night" from 
 the garden gate. She could hear Hester 
 breathing, but could not tell whether she 
 were sleeping or awake. When she heard 
 Miss Debby coming upstairs, she closed 
 her eyes and pretended to be asleep. She 
 did not wish to talk with her now, and she 
 knew that Miss Debby would slip in to see 
 how her patients were getting along. 
 
 Debby put the lamp in the hallway, 
 turning it low that the light might not 
 waken the girls if they were sleeping. She 
 tiptoed in, in her stocking feet. Leaning 
 over Mary's bed, she laid her hand softly 
 upon her head and then upon her hand. 
 Both were warm and moist. With a sigh 
 of relief, she went to Hester. 
 
 "I'm all right, Aunt Debby," whispered 
 Hester. "I'm as warm as toast. I was 
 trying to stay awake until you came up.
 
 192 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Good night." She raised herself in bed 
 and threw her arms about her aunt's neck. 
 "Oh, Aunt Debby! when I saw Mary in 
 the water to-night, I was sorry." 
 
 "Don't talk about it. There was really 
 no danger," she replied brusquely. She 
 understood what Hester was about to say. 
 Sorry that she had kept warm in her heart 
 her anger at Mary. "We'll not talk about 
 it to-night, Hessie." 
 
 She kissed the girl, and went off to her 
 own room. She had not wished Hester 
 to express herself before Mary. "Mary 
 Bowerman is the one who should feel sorry 
 and ashamed," she said to herself. 
 
 Mary lay with her eyes closed, listening 
 to Miss Debby moving about in her room. 
 When the house had grown quiet and all 
 danger of Miss Debby's hearing her had 
 passed, she raised herself on her elbow 
 and whispered, "Hester! Hester!" 
 
 There was no response. Hester heard, 
 but her pride would not let her heed.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 193 
 
 " Hester! why don't you answer? You 
 are not asleep." 
 
 At this Hester raised herself on her 
 elbow, and across the dimly lighted room 
 the girls looked each other directly in the 
 eyes. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Hester. She spoke 
 calmly enough, although her heart was 
 throbbing so violently that she could 
 scarcely speak. She wished to be loved. 
 Every friend was dear to her. She and 
 Mary had played together since they were 
 toddling babies. She liked Mary yet, hi 
 spite of all that had passed between them, 
 and she was almost ready to forgive the 
 insult and forget that Mary had proved her- 
 self false to truth and to friendship. 
 
 "You saved my life to-night. I suppose 
 I'd be under the ice now, if you had not 
 helped me up. I've been lying here a long 
 time thinking about it. I wanted to tell 
 you that I didn't tell you just what was 
 true. Your mother was not really a com-
 
 194 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 mon tramp. I shouldn't have said that. 
 She had gone from her way and was walk- 
 ing into town." 
 
 So far, the attempt at confession and 
 apology was good. Suddenly Mary paused. 
 Perhaps the look of pleasure and relief 
 which came to Hester's face was too much 
 for Mary's malicious, selfish nature to bear. 
 She laughed softly, and then added, "But 
 the rest was true enough the rest about 
 no one knowing who you are, and Aunt 
 Debby keeping you so you wouldn't be 
 sent to the poorhouse." 
 
 For one instant Hester's frame stiffened. 
 She was never slow about expressing her- 
 self when matters did not move to please 
 her. Sharp, bitter words were upon her 
 tongue, but she thought of her Aunt Debby, 
 who must never know that she knew that 
 she belonged nowhere, and that no one 
 claimed her. She pressed her lips together, 
 arranged her pillow with the greatest care, 
 and lay back as though to sleep.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 195 
 
 "I have a lot of things that I'd like to 
 say to you, Mary Bowerman," she said 
 in whispers, "but they'll not be said 
 to-night."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A BNER STOUT'S mind was planning 
 ^^ great things. When the store had 
 closed, and the family gathered about the 
 board, he was silent. Jane prepared her 
 most savory dishes, which her brother-in- 
 law ate without comment, and not so much 
 as smacked his lips with satisfaction, as was 
 his wont. By these signs his family knew 
 that some great plan had presented itself 
 to his mind, so they spoke in whispers when 
 he was present, and gave him room at the 
 table and when they sat about the fire. 
 
 A week passed before he lifted up his 
 voice and spoke. It was after supper. 
 Mary and Esther were in the parlor enter- 
 taining friends with music. Joel and John 
 had dressed themselves with care, donned 
 their finest overcoats, and with canes in 
 hand went for a promenade in the public 
 
 196
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 197 
 
 thoroughfare. They were the only family 
 of their class in town. They had not the 
 privilege of calling upon young ladies at 
 their homes, so their social life was made up 
 of promenading upon the public square and 
 ogling every one who passed. Their clothes 
 were always redolent with perfume, and a 
 supercilious smirk was upon their lips. 
 
 So it was that Abner and his sister-in-law 
 sat by the fire alone. The room was in 
 shadows, the light having been turned low, 
 as the gas was metred. He was the promi- 
 nent, all-absorbing presence in the room. 
 Jane, worn, humble, and a dependent upon 
 his good graces, sat in the background upon 
 a rocking-chair, yet not rocking lest she 
 disturb the serenity of Abner's thoughts. 
 She was ingratiating and sycophantic. She 
 had fed upon the bread of charity all her 
 life, and her manner was apologetic for exist- 
 ing at all. Yet she was not naturally dull, 
 but independent thought and action had 
 long been crushed out of her. Her living
 
 198 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 depended upon the favor of others, and to 
 obtain that favor was the sole ambition 
 left within her. 
 
 Suddenly Abner looked up at her; his 
 sharp, keen eyes gleamed through narrow 
 slits of eyelids. He rubbed his hands to- 
 gether as though to wash them; his smile, 
 intended to be pleasing, was but sinister; 
 his oily voice was ingratiating as he ad- 
 dressed his sister-in-law. 
 
 "I know what your mind is working on, 
 Jane. You grieve too much about it, 
 Jane." 
 
 She looked up quickly, unable to under- 
 stand the new tone in his voice. She had 
 never known him to be sympathetic or 
 tender. As to grieving ! She was anything 
 but that. She scarcely knew what she was 
 thinking about. She knew only that she 
 was glad that she could sit all evening in 
 quiet, for her back had grown weary with 
 sorting rags from daylight until bedtime. 
 She knew her brother-in-law well. He
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 199 
 
 could be sympathetic and tender only 
 when these qualities paved the way for his 
 own purpose. She looked at him, but did 
 not reply. She knew that something lay 
 beyond his remark, and waited to hear. 
 
 "Poor 'Liza has been dead sixteen years 
 now. It's never been the same with me 
 since she went away. She was a fine woman 
 was 'Liza, my wife." He sniffled and 
 rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. 
 Jane waited patiently as became a woman 
 of her humble position. She offered no 
 word of sympathy, for in spite of his at- 
 tempt to wipe away the tears of grief, she 
 knew that his eyes were dry. She had not 
 heard him speak of 'Liza since the day she 
 was buried from the East Side of New 
 York, where she had died from fever con- 
 tracted from sorting junk and rags which 
 had been collected from an infected region 
 of the tenements. 
 
 Her death had occurred eighteen years 
 ago, and Abner had engrossed his time and
 
 200 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 mind so in business that he had not men- 
 tioned her in all these years. 
 
 He heaved a prodigious sigh and con- 
 tinued: " You're sitting around dopish all 
 the time, and thinking of Eliza. You 
 grieve as though it was only yesterday she 
 died. You're always sniffling and feeling 
 bad." He gave her no opportunity to 
 reply, but continued: "You can't get over 
 her going away, taking little Ruth with her. 
 Every day you sit around and cry as though 
 your heart was broke. It's always, ' Abner, 
 I must go to 'Liza's grave. I want to 
 know that she's buried decently as a Chris- 
 tian should be. I hain't never happy when 
 I think that she's lying away from her 
 people, and no tombstone over her/ You 
 keep talking about her every day till I'm al- 
 most crazy listening to you. Hain't that the 
 way you've been acting right along, Jane?" 
 
 He glanced at her furtively. He had 
 been sitting with his face buried in his 
 hands, the very attitude of dejection and
 
 grief. Now he glanced at her through his 
 long, thin fingers, as though to study the 
 effect of his words. 
 
 Her face was utterly devoid of expression. 
 She rocked gently backward and forward. 
 It was not yet clear to her mind toward 
 what end he was working, so she discreetly 
 did not commit herself to speech. But 
 when he kept his sharp eyes upon her and 
 repeated his query, "Isn't that the size of 
 it, Jane?" she nodded her head in affir- 
 mation and replied, as she knew he wished 
 her to do, "I guess it's that way if you say 
 so, Abner." 
 
 Again he sniffled and wiped the imaginary 
 tears from his eyes. "It is sixteen years 
 next June since Ruth was born. My, but 
 she was a fine child, with lots of hair curling 
 about her head. She was dark like Mary 
 same eyes and hair." He paused a 
 moment as though to let his thoughts dwell 
 tenderly upon this child of his. The at- 
 tempt at tears was forgotten. He spoke in
 
 202 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 clear, incisive tones, which cut and rang 
 like his own silver dollars as they fell on 
 the counter. He was the business man 
 now, ready to sacrifice any one or every one 
 to his own interests. 
 
 Jane did not break the silence. She was 
 ignorant of his plans, so the most tactful, 
 the surest thing, was to maintain a discreet 
 silence. After a moment, he continued : 
 
 "'Liza was never the same woman after 
 Ruth was born. Never seemed to get 
 through her work, and always fussing and 
 fretting. That was sixteen years ago since 
 Ruth was born. Hain't that about right, 
 Jane?" 
 
 Again she nodded in affirmation. All 
 this was new to her. She had heard of no 
 Ruth except that one who went gleaning 
 in the fields of Boaz. But if Abner had a 
 good and sufficient reason for wishing there 
 to be a Ruth who was born sixteen years 
 ago, she knew no reason to refuse him such 
 comfort. So far, she was wholly in the
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 203 
 
 dark as to his intentions, but an under- 
 standing of his plans could never be had 
 by asking questions. He would divulge as 
 much as he wished her to know, and the 
 time and place would be of his own choos- 
 ing. That she was necessary to the further- 
 ance of his plan was evident, else he would 
 have told her nothing. 
 
 He watched her covertly for a few 
 minutes. He wondered if she would be as 
 'Liza had often been too dense to follow 
 his lead in business matters. Eliza with 
 her big, innocent eyes, tell-tale expression, 
 and hesitancy in agreeing with statements 
 which he had made, had ruined many a 
 sale for him. But Jane possessed one ad- 
 vantage over her sister. No one could tell 
 her thoughts or intentions from her face. 
 Even to him they were a closed book. 
 
 He studied her furtively from between 
 his fingers. Her face was as heavy and 
 as expressionless as a block of wood. It 
 seemed safe to continue.
 
 204 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "You've never been the same person 
 since 'Liza went off. Of course, you felt 
 badly. Didn't we all feel just that way, 
 and didn't we do everything to find her? 
 But it's no use of spoiling your whole life. 
 After she went and I knew there wasn't 
 the remotest chance of finding her, I put 
 my mind on business. As I said then, I 
 can never be a happy man, but I'll be suc- 
 cessful. I owe that much to my children. 
 I'll leave them a little to make life easier. 
 There's just one thing about 'Liza going 
 off and taking Ruth the way she did. I 
 think she was sicker than we thought. I 
 spoke sharp once or twice to her about not 
 taking hold and helping about the shop, 
 but somehow she didn't seem to have any 
 spirit. I honestly think she wasn't just 
 right in her head. If I'd realized at that 
 time how miserable she was, I'd never 
 mentioned shop, and had up a doctor and 
 sent her off somewhere to get well ; although 
 I had but a few dollars, I'd spent my last
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 205 
 
 cent to have had her well, but I didn't 
 know. I didn't realize. I was all wrapped 
 up in trying to make a little so she and the 
 children could live in comfort." 
 
 This new story of her sister's life was 
 like a romance to Jane. So far as outward 
 show was concerned, she listened with pa- 
 tience; but inwardly she was wondering as 
 to the reason for the new version, and 
 speculating as to the outcome. 
 
 His sharp gray eyes gleamed in the dark- 
 ness. He was so much the actor that for 
 the time he almost believed the story he 
 was constructing. 
 
 " She's dead I feel that she is dead," 
 he said at last, in his sharp, metallic tone. 
 "Surely, if she was living, she would have 
 sent word. If not to me, at least to you, 
 Jane, or to her children. But there's never 
 been the scratch of a pen not a scratch 
 except that little note that she left pinned 
 to a curtain, for all the world like a stage 
 woman. That was one other thing that
 
 206 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 made me think that Eliza wasn't just her- 
 self. She was never no hand for such 
 stagey games running off and leaving a 
 note behind her. She was a woman with 
 good horse sense, and kept to her work 
 and said little. I have that letter yet, 
 scratched on brown wrapping paper, a bit 
 she tore from a package. It hain't writ 
 plain, for she was never nothing of a 
 scholar." 
 
 He had told Jane enough to set her 
 thinking. That was quite enough for one 
 evening. He was like a skilful fisherman, 
 who does not immediately attempt to draw 
 in his heaviest catch. He had her on the 
 hook. He knew that tact and skill would 
 be required to "land" her. 
 
 For a week the name of Eliza was not 
 mentioned in the family. Jane, knowing 
 her people well, knew that this silence be- 
 tokened neither lack of interest nor change 
 of plans. If Abner thought it wise to be 
 silent, well and good. She could keep her
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 207 
 
 lips as close as others. While she prepared 
 the savory stews, washed dishes, and cleaned 
 up the kitchen floor, she did much thinking. 
 
 Meantime, Abner, as he smacked his lips 
 over the palatable dishes, complimented her 
 highly upon her frugality and the delightful 
 results achieved without a great expenditure. 
 
 " Extravagance! Extravagance!" he ex- 
 claimed one day, as he rolled his eyes 
 heavenward and clasped his hands to- 
 gether. "It is the curse of our country. 
 Merchants want to live like kings, and 
 beggars like merchants. You mustn't be 
 extravagant, Jane. Save the scraps, for I 
 have so little, Jane, so little." 
 
 Jane kept her own counsel. Abner was 
 not generally free with compliments, yet, as 
 the week passed, at every meal he beamed 
 upon her and commended her for her 
 frugality. 
 
 "When your work is finished, Jane, come 
 into the store," he said one day. "You 
 are 'Liza's sister, and always stood by her
 
 208 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 when she needed a friend, and I mean to 
 show you that Abner Stout is not one to 
 forget a kindness to him or his. So come in 
 and pick a dress for yourself trimmings, 
 linings, and all." He set his thin lips 
 close. His features were keen and sharp, 
 at variance with the generosity expressed 
 by his words. He turned to his eldest son, 
 who was his likeness in looks and business 
 methods. "When your Aunt Jane comes 
 in, I want you to show her what there is in 
 black goods. Let her have something fine 
 and good. You have alpaca, haven't you? 
 The kind that retails at fifty cents?" 
 
 Jane accepted the gift without comment. 
 She was humble, dependent. It was not 
 her place to pick and choose and declare 
 her desire like those who had money in the 
 business. This life was fine, compared to 
 that with her brother's family. She knew 
 no reason to complain. 
 
 Abner attended strictly to business while 
 in the store. But at hours during the day
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 209 
 
 when business was dull, he encouraged his 
 customers to linger and talk with him. On 
 these occasions he had little to say beyond 
 a question now and then. But he was an 
 excellent listener, and many of his customers, 
 particularly those women who lived on iso- 
 lated farms and drove to town but once a 
 week, found him interesting company. He 
 encouraged them to speak of their lives, 
 incidents that had happened in this little 
 valley. Wholly unconscious that he had a 
 subtle purpose in leading them to talk, they 
 told all they knew of their own history and 
 their neighbors'. So he learned in detail all 
 that had occurred in the valley for a score 
 of years past. He knew of the accident 
 which had occurred at the crossing. He 
 could have described, had he been asked, 
 each detail of her feature and dress. He 
 knew the reputed age of the child this 
 woman had carried in her arms. It was 
 not until he was quite sure of all that could 
 be known concerning Hester Alden's life
 
 210 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 and parentage that he spoke again to his 
 sister-in-law. 
 
 "What a beautiful child our little Ruth 
 was," he began suddenly, as they sat by 
 the kitchen stove with the gas turned low, 
 for it was sold by the meter. Jane was 
 rocking slowly but steadily. She did not 
 glance at the speaker or suggest in any way 
 that she had heard him. 
 
 "She would have been just sixteen years 
 old last June," he continued. "She favored 
 Mary more than any other member of the 
 family. Every one who saw her spoke about 
 her big dark eyes and long lashes. Dark 
 hair in soft rings about her head. Hain't 
 that about right, Jane? Wasn't Ruth just 
 such a looking child when her mother ran 
 off with her and started to go to Chicago ? " 
 
 Jane looked steadily into his eyes. 
 
 "I guess she must have looked that way," 
 she said wearily. 
 
 "Guess? I should think you would 
 know. If you have grown so dull that
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 211 
 
 you've forgotten how your own sister's 
 child looked, you'd better go back and live 
 with Reuben. It will be too hard for you 
 here the work and all. Ruth was just 
 such a looking child as I said; plump, with 
 black hair in curls. Hain't I right? You 
 seem afraid to speak out." 
 
 "Yes; that's how she looked. I remem- 
 ber now." 
 
 "Do you remember how I felt over Eliza's 
 going off in that way and taking our baby? 
 I couldn't stand the place. I sold out, 
 sacrificed everything, and left the place. I 
 never felt like settling anywhere till I came 
 here. Then it seems as though I was satis- 
 fied. I've said time and again that some- 
 how I had a feeling that I was near my 
 little Ruth. That was the way I talked 
 right along. Wasn't it?" 
 
 He looked keenly at her. His sharp gray 
 eyes seemed to look deep into her heart. 
 He had the power of making her agree to any 
 statement which he might choose to make.
 
 212 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Yes, indeed. You've said them very 
 words time and time again," she responded. 
 
 He waited a moment, looking at his 
 companion to see if she were grasping the 
 import of his speech, and seeing that she 
 was, he continued: "It's just sixteen years 
 the fourth day of next June, Jane, since 
 'Liza took Ruth and went off. Remember 
 that, Jane? You're getting old, and al- 
 though your memory's good, it hain't quite 
 what it was. I shouldn't like it at all if 
 folks would say that you had forgotten your 
 sister. Her loss was more to be remem- 
 bered than though she had died in her bed, 
 like a decent woman is supposed to die." 
 
 Jane nodded. She was beginning to see 
 a glimmer of light in regard to this new 
 story of her sister's life. Abner was satis- 
 fied with her quiet acquiescence. It pleased 
 him more than any words could have done. 
 
 When he felt that she was responding in 
 the proper spirit, and that in her he would 
 find a reliable if not an energetic helper,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 213 
 
 he continued his monologue. He dwelt at 
 length on the causes which led his wife 
 to become dissatisfied with her home. He 
 attributed the dissatisfaction to the condi- 
 tion of her nerves rather than to any ma- 
 terial thing. He reproached himself for 
 having spoken sharply to her, and in the 
 same sentence excused himself for the act, 
 by declaring that he had not realized how 
 miserable in health she had been. 
 
 So admirably did he act the part that for 
 the time he believed the story he was re- 
 lating. His thin lips pressed together in 
 their cruel, grasping selfishness; his keen 
 little gray eyes looked furtively upon his 
 companion as he watched the effect of his 
 words upon her. 
 
 He told how he had slaved to provide 
 for her and the children. How but a few 
 weeks before her disappearance he had 
 purchased for her a handsome black skirt, 
 and fine shirt-waist of white madras. 
 
 He grew quite eloquent, and went into
 
 214 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 details concerning these garments. He de- 
 scribed the cut and length of the skirt, and 
 the width of the flounce which adorned it. 
 He described the quality of the goods so 
 fully that Jane could have been able to 
 select its counterpart from a score of black 
 materials. He went so far as to mention 
 the size and quality of the buttons which 
 fastened the waist. 
 
 Jane nodded slowly, her head keeping 
 time with the motion of her rockers. He 
 continued his story, describing his long-lost 
 wife as Jane did not at all remember her; 
 for Eliza and she had greatly resembled 
 each other. They had always been bony, 
 sharp-featured girls, and had developed into 
 scrawny, angular women, with little sharp 
 eyes, straight thin noses, and sallow skins. 
 The Eliza which Abner described to her 
 was as unlike as possible to the Eliza which 
 she had called sister. But Abner would 
 not speak this without reason, and it was 
 becoming and well for her, a humble depend-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 215 
 
 ent upon his charity, to agree to what he 
 thought wise to say. When he had finished 
 a description of this new Eliza, he added: 
 "We know only that her ticket was on this 
 road. We know nothing more than that. 
 We never heard a word, though she said 
 she'd write that is, her letter on the 
 scrap of brown paper said she'd write when 
 she reached Chicago." 
 
 He sighed. Jane had listened so atten- 
 tively, and her mind had become so en- 
 grossed in this subject about which she had 
 thought for weeks, that she also sighed, and, 
 with real tears in her eyes, murmured 
 brokenly: "My poor sister! Poor 'Liza!" 
 
 Abner looked upon her with approval. 
 He did not give her credit for genuine feel- 
 ing, but was pleased with what he thought 
 was her good acting. His spirits rose. He 
 chuckled gleefully, and his eyes scintillated 
 like bits of glass under the rays of a hot 
 sun. 
 
 "I know how you've missed Eliza.
 
 216 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 You're not one to talk much, but you've 
 got a good heart in you, and you and Eliza 
 thought a heap of each other. I'm pretty 
 much the same way myself not much for 
 words, but pretty deep on feelings. If any 
 of the folks should speak to you, you tell 
 them how broke up I've been never got 
 over my great loss. That all I live for is 
 the hope that I'll find my little girl. You 
 speak up in that way, Jane, if folks should 
 bring the matter up, you know." He 
 looked sharply at her. 
 
 She nodded. "It won't be a word dif- 
 ferent than what you say," she said. 
 
 "Well, you've heard how I said it," was 
 the rejoinder. Again she nodded. They 
 understood each other. There was no need 
 for further speech. 
 
 There was silence for some time. Abner 
 Stout's shoulders bent forward until they 
 were bow-shaped. He propped his head on 
 his upturned hands, and his keen eyes 
 pierced the semi-darkness of the kitchen.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 217 
 
 Then he began again in his softest, most 
 sycophantic tone. 
 
 "I never ask one to take me on my 
 word alone. That hain't business. I ex- 
 act pledges and proofs, and I do for others 
 as much as I expect them to do for me. 
 But here's you with your word. Your 
 word's as good any time as the words of 
 another. There's Herman Loeb, the money- 
 lender, and there's William Shearer, both 
 well-known. They'll remember Eliza, how 
 she looked, and what she wore that day 
 she took Ruth and left home. Herman has 
 a great head for dates. He'll know the 
 time to the hour." 
 
 Jane pressed her thin lips together, folded 
 her arms across her bony chest, and rocked 
 slowly for several minutes before she spoke. 
 "I'd make sure, I'd make quite sure about 
 him remembering, Abner. Folks will for- 
 get." 
 
 "He'll remember. Don't lose sleep on 
 that, Jane. I'm sending Joel off to New
 
 218 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 York this very night to see that Herman 
 remembers. Eh? Joel?" He turned to 
 address his eldest son who had that moment 
 entered the room in an overcoat, and hat in 
 hand. He wasted no energy in words. He 
 understood the situation fully. He was to 
 go to New York to see to it that Herman 
 Loeb and the man Shearer remembered his 
 mother, and the details of her disappearance 
 as Joel would describe them, and also to 
 bring to the minds of the two gentlemen 
 certain little discrepancies of their own 
 which were yet clear in the mind of Abner 
 Stout. 
 
 Joel took a late train for the city. Abner 
 instructed his daughters if customers should 
 inquire for Joel, to say he was laid up with 
 neuralgia. He knew no reason for the 
 public knowing that Joel was in New York 
 on business. 
 
 The next day Debby Alden came into 
 the store. Abner himself hastened to wait 
 upon her. She attended strictly to her
 
 X 
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 219 
 
 purchasing with as few words as possible. 
 The shopkeeper looked upon her with ad- 
 miration, and when she departed his eyes 
 followed her. To think of her, a woman, 
 having foresight sufficient for such work; 
 and ability enough to keep the secret to 
 herself for sixteen years! What a wonder- 
 ful creature she was! He would like to 
 know her better. He might learn from her, 
 and what wonderful results they might 
 accomplish if they might work together for 
 the same end 1
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 TPvEBBY ALDEN was much concerned 
 ^-^ about Hester's future in the high 
 school. She suspected that Mary Bower- 
 man had taunted her as being a child who 
 had been reared on the charity of strangers, 
 and what Mary had done became a possi- 
 bility with every other pupil. Debby saw 
 clearly that the following three or four 
 years would be critical ones for Hester's 
 peace of mind. Until this time the girls 
 who were friends were but children, without 
 a thought of a moment beyond the present, 
 and with no knowledge of certain phases of 
 life. Now they had come to the place 
 where, with their half-knowledge, came self- 
 assertion and self-confidence. They were 
 willing now to blurt out what, in the course 
 of several years, they would consider well 
 before repeating. 
 
 220
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 221 
 
 As children they had been too innocent 
 to tell Hester that she by rights belonged 
 at the county home, and as women they 
 would have been too self-respecting, too con- 
 siderate of others, not to have kept such 
 knowledge to themselves. It was the years 
 between, when they were neither women 
 nor children, that Debby Alden dreaded. 
 It was now the first of March. School 
 would close the first week in June. Debby 
 felt that it would be better for Hester to 
 complete the freshman year, and that would 
 give her time enough to consider what was 
 best to be done before the opening of an- 
 other term. 
 
 Miss Richards, who spent her winters in 
 the South, had not yet returned. She had 
 always been a help to Debby, and her sug- 
 gestions in regard to Hester had been in- 
 valuable. Debby gave Miss Richards credit 
 for much that was fine in the girl. 
 
 The winter had passed quickly for both 
 aunt and niece. The freshman class had
 
 222 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 taken the preliminary Latin, and were deep 
 in the translation of Caesar. This work 
 had been extremely difficult for Debby, but 
 she clung to it with a tenacity of purpose 
 which had been a characteristic mark of 
 the Aldens for generations. Had the work 
 been easy, she might have laid it aside 
 without any pricks of conscience; but with 
 conditions as they were, it looked too much 
 to her like being conquered by a few pages 
 of printed matter. Her tenacity of pur- 
 pose and faithfulness exerted an influence 
 over Hester. Debby realized this, and for 
 Hester's sake never grew faint-hearted, 
 whatever the task before her. 
 
 Hester's mind was quicker than hers, 
 especially along the line of literature and 
 language, as these never had been Debby's 
 strong points. She might have been a 
 mathematician, for she was logical, far- 
 sighted, and judicious. In order that she 
 could keep step with her niece, she pur- 
 chased her own set of books, and put in
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 223 
 
 every spare moment that the housework 
 and sewing did not claim. Her sense of 
 humor never failed her. She often smiled 
 grimly as she sat alone translating the 
 Latin. A dozen years before had any one 
 told her that she would do just the thing 
 she was doing now, she would have put his 
 assertion by as not worth considering. 
 Looking back upon what she had accom- 
 plished during these years was a never- 
 failing source of delight to her. Her mind 
 had developed and broadened in a way she 
 would not have believed possible. Her 
 social life had become something worthy of 
 the name. She had, through Miss Richards's 
 introduction, become a member of a read- 
 ing club. For several years she had met 
 and mingled with a conservative, cultivated 
 set of women who were friends of Miss 
 Richards. 
 
 Debby had never been at a disadvantage. 
 From the first she had been one with them; 
 for she had within her all the essentials of
 
 224 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 high-breeding, and a high ideal of honor. 
 The thought of a lie appalled her; an im- 
 pure thought had never entered her mind 
 nor a coarse word crossed her lips. Al- 
 though at first she was ignorant of the 
 niceties of manners which marked the 
 polished women she had met, yet they 
 recognized that she had within her that 
 which was the mark of nobility, and greater 
 than all the surface culture that the world 
 could give. 
 
 She had gone back to her forgotten 
 music since Hester was old enough to wish 
 to sing. She had taught herself much 
 about dainty needlework since that day she 
 had made Hester's first white dress. With 
 Hester in school and her friends coming in 
 for visits and calls, Debby had had young 
 life about her. This company meant extra 
 work and extra steps for the home-maker, 
 but it bore with it its own compensation, 
 as it kept her in touch with that " world 
 of buoyant spirits to whom the world was
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 225 
 
 green; with every goose a swan, and with 
 every lass a queen." 
 
 It was Debby Alden who took charge of 
 them when the sleighing parties were made 
 up, and who chaperoned the moonlight 
 walks and corn roasts. Before she knew 
 what had happened, her spirits were as 
 light and girlish as Hester's, while her 
 judgment and ideals had not lowered their 
 standard. 
 
 "She has done wonders for Hester," was 
 the common expression among the people 
 of the country-side. Debby heard and at 
 first accepted it without reservation. But 
 lately she had added to this judgment of 
 the people, "I have done some things for 
 her, but think what she has done for me ! " 
 
 While awaiting Miss Richards's return, 
 Debby took inventory of her financial con- 
 dition. The Aldens had ever been thrifty 
 folk, who would have gone in calico all 
 their lives rather than to exceed their in- 
 come by so much as a penny. Indeed, they
 
 226 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 had laid a little aside each year for the 
 " rainy day." So it was that Debby, in 
 addition to the farm, had been left a sum 
 well invested. With the exception of the 
 yard, and her own little garden, the place 
 had been hired out. The income from this 
 had been sufficient to supply Hester and 
 herself with their necessities. So far, they 
 had had no longing for luxuries. Debby 
 had never lived up to the full amount of 
 her interest money. 
 
 When she considered Hester's future, she 
 gave forth an expression of thankfulness 
 that she had not been slack with her money. 
 She believed that she would have enough, 
 without touching the original principal, to 
 send Hester to school for two years. She 
 herself would live on very little while Hes- 
 ter was away. But at this point of think- 
 ing her courage always failed her. She 
 could not think of what the house would 
 be without Hester. 
 
 "Fifteen years, and she with me every
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 227 
 
 day of that time! Well, one can get in 
 the habit of things in fifteen years." 
 
 Debby Alden had done that. In fifteen 
 years she had lived only for Hester, and 
 looked forward to the hour of her coming 
 from school. Every act which she per- 
 formed, every thought that came to her, 
 had Hester as the centre about which they 
 revolved. There had been a time when 
 Debby Alden had hoped that Hester's rela- 
 tives would find and claim her. Now she 
 feared such a thing, and hugged to her 
 heart the comforting thought that the laws 
 of the land had made the child hers, and 
 the love between them had grown so strong 
 that unknown relatives, however near of kin, 
 could never come between. 
 
 When Miss Richards returned from the 
 South, Debby Alden at once called upon her. 
 
 "I'm troubled about Hester," she said. 
 
 "Isn't she well and happy? From your 
 letters I judged she was both." 
 
 "She is just now, but I dread the future."
 
 228 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Then she told what had occurred during 
 the winter. She did not mention Mary 
 Bowerman's name. Nothing could be 
 gained by making known to Miss Richards 
 that young person's shortcomings, and 
 Debby Alden was not one who traduced 
 for the mere satisfaction of repeating ill of 
 those whom she called neighbor. 
 
 "That has happened once, Eva," she 
 said. "My little girl is proud; as proud 
 as she can be of those things which a girl 
 should be proud of. That is, of her good 
 name, and her freedom from obligations, 
 and then to be told that the name isn't 
 hers, and that she's under great obligations 
 to those who are not even kin! I tell 
 you, Eva, it cut her deep. She never told 
 me a word, but I could see how she was 
 hurt." 
 
 "It never happened before, Debby, and 
 it may never again. I think you worry 
 needlessly." 
 
 But Debby Alden, as far as outside
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 229 
 
 practical affairs were concerned, was more 
 far-sighted than Miss Richards. 
 
 "I think it will, Eva. I think it will 
 occur more times in the next two years 
 than it has or will again." 
 
 "Your reasoning may be logical, Debby; 
 but it is beyond my comprehension. I feel 
 as you do concerning Hester. I would not 
 have her hurt in that way. There is no 
 reason why she should bear the taunts of 
 some malicious, ill-bred person." These 
 were strong adjectives for Miss Richards. 
 She observed her companion's look of sur- 
 prise. "I am not speaking without thought, 
 Debby. I mean what I say. No one but 
 a malicious, ill-bred person would speak 
 tauntingly of such matters to the person 
 who is most interested. Hester should be 
 spared a recurrence of such an experience. 
 But I believe it will not come to her again." 
 
 There was always peace and calm in 
 Miss Richards's presence. No phase or 
 condition held fear or terror to her. She
 
 230 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 performed graciously those duties which 
 lay near at hand ; and her energy never 
 expended itself in anticipating the difficul- 
 ties of the future. She knew no social 
 standing. The woof and warp of her friend- 
 ship was formed upon her moral worth. 
 She visited as gladly at the three-room 
 cottage as she did at the mansion. Neither 
 did she make distinctions of years. Her 
 friends were among old ladies and women 
 of mature years. Hester enjoyed a visit 
 with Miss Richards as much as Debby did, 
 and once, without considering the force of 
 her speech, she remarked after a day with 
 Miss Richards, "Well, Miss Eva is a Chris- 
 tian who is working hard at the business." 
 
 Now she was conscientious in her efforts 
 to see Hester's position from the same 
 point of view that Debby was seeing it. 
 She did not wish by so much as a word to 
 make it possible for Hester to be hurt 
 again in the same way. 
 
 "I think you are worrying needlessly,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 231 
 
 Debby," she continued, after a moment's 
 consideration. "For this reason. Among 
 all the girls with whom Hester is intimately 
 acquainted, but one may be so maliciously 
 inclined. I know that Jane and Edith 
 and Janet would suffer to the limit rather 
 than do such a thing. Perhaps in all that 
 set of girls one only lacks self-control and 
 breeding. Hester has learned who that is. 
 Will she not keep from her? I think, 
 Debby, that Hester will never again put 
 herself in a position for that girl to speak 
 to her so." 
 
 "You haven't been with girls as much 
 as I have, Eva. I remember grandmother 
 Palmer used to talk about young people 
 climbing fools' hill. I thought then it was 
 merely an old lady's saying, but I must 
 confess now that I believe there is a good 
 bit of philosophy in those old saws." 
 
 " Perhaps a grain of wheat in a bushel 
 of chaff, Debby. Much husk and little 
 meat."
 
 232 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "In some old sayings, perhaps. But 
 I'm learning that this has more than one 
 grain of wheat in it. You see it's this 
 way, Eva. The greater number of the 
 girls have been well reared. But up to 
 this time they've been disciplined at home, 
 and have had no responsibility, no choice 
 in their line of conduct, which was right 
 and proper, for no child has judgment 
 enough to know what is best to do or be 
 left undone. They have been children all 
 these years. But now they've reached the 
 place where they've begun to think and act 
 for themselves, and their law of judgment 
 and reason begins to show. They'll do 
 silly, reckless things now, that they'll be 
 ashamed of in three or four years. They're 
 not babies, to have reason spanked into 
 them, and they're not old enough to be 
 talked to as one talks to women. It's 
 these two or three years on fools' hill that 
 I'm dreading for Hester." 
 
 "Yes, I understand, Debby. Have you
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 233 
 
 thought of any plans? Have you any- 
 thing in view?" 
 
 "I have thought a great deal, but I 
 waited until you had come back before 
 I'd made up my mind to anything. She 
 must go to school. I stopped when I was 
 sixteen ; but schools were not what they are 
 now, and I intend that Hester shall be 
 educated. I thought of several places, 
 boarding-schools, I mean, but I haven't 
 decided. There's Arlington, and Exeter, 
 and a school where some of Jane Orr's 
 friends went. Petrikin Hall, I think, is 
 the name." 
 
 "Yes, I've had several young friends who 
 went there. It is excellent in many ways. 
 What do you wish most of all, Debby?" 
 
 Debby Alden considered well before re- 
 plying. It was difficult to put into words 
 what she wished for Hester. 
 
 "I wish her to know a good deal about 
 books, but I don't wish her to get the idea 
 that they are the best and only things in
 
 234 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the world. I wish her to take them as 
 incidentals in life, not as the chief end to 
 be attained." She looked up quickly at 
 her companion. Miss Richards could not 
 restrain a smile at Debby's terseness. "I 
 understand what you mean, Debby. What 
 else?" 
 
 "I wish a school where she will be taught 
 that high ideals and doing one's duty are 
 worth more than brains. Now I admire 
 bright people, Eva. I'm not wishing to 
 detract one iota from those who have great 
 brain power. But I hold that there's some- 
 thing greater. When I study the people 
 who were brought up here, whom I've 
 known since I was a toddler, I've found that 
 it isn't always the smart, brainy ones who 
 have accomplished the most good. I wish 
 Hester to know about books and to be 
 trained how to use them. But I wish her 
 to be taught to be honest and honorable, 
 to do her share of work wherever she is, and 
 I wish her to have her own ideas about
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 235 
 
 things, and not to do so and so because 
 Jane Brown or Jane Smith or some one else 
 has done it." 
 
 "I think Petrikin Hall is such a place. 
 What a student is counts there for more 
 than what she has. They pay a great deal 
 of attention to manners, though. Girls 
 are trained in many of the nice little ways 
 observed in cultivated society." 
 
 "I wish Hester to be well-mannered. 
 I've always wished her to be like you, Eva. 
 I should be satisfied if she'd be another 
 Miss Richards." 
 
 "I hope she will be a better, stronger 
 woman than I have been," was the reply. 
 "But I have not wanted in the effort, 
 Debby. I think I have made of Eva Rich- 
 ards as much as Eva Richards could be. 
 But Hester is stronger both physically 
 and mentally than I have been. She has 
 a strength of will which I lacked." She 
 hesitated just a moment, and then looking 
 into her friend's face continued, " You'll
 
 236 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 understand me, Debby, I think, that Hester 
 must belong to good people. You have 
 trained her well, I know. But all the train- 
 ing in the world would not eradicate the 
 traces of a low and weak people. Blood 
 will tell, and Hester shows that her people 
 were honest and upright." 
 
 Her words, in place of pleasing Debby 
 Alden, depressed her greatly. She was 
 no longer worried, but distressed. She her- 
 self firmly believed that ancestry spoke 
 in the descendants. But with what she 
 believed she knew of Hester's people, she 
 was ready to combat such an idea. "Non- 
 sense, Eva. Give a child training, and you 
 can make what you wish of it. You can take 
 a puny, dwarf plant and develop it into a 
 giant of its kind. Why not with children?" 
 
 "But, Debby, you cannot cultivate a 
 thistle until it becomes a rose, nor can you 
 convert a sour apple into a sweet one. I 
 should think you would be glad to believe 
 such a theory, for with Hester the kind of
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 237 
 
 a girl she is, you might take it for granted 
 that her people were the best in the land. 
 But let us return to the school question. 
 Is there any particular line of work you 
 wish Hester to take up?" 
 
 "I had not thought so far. I have been 
 looking at the money side of the question 
 first. I can let her finish at some good 
 school without denying myself too much. 
 After that will be time enough for her to 
 consider work of any kind. She must 
 learn something, Eva, by which she can 
 provide for herself. As long as I am with 
 her there will be enough for us both, but 
 the greater part of my income dies with 
 me, and what is left will not be all that 
 Hester needs. So I intend that she shall 
 learn something that will keep her happy 
 and contented, and at the same time in- 
 crease her income." 
 
 Debby Alden was one who considered 
 the future from a practical standpoint. 
 Yet she was not one given to worry and
 
 238 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 dim forebodings. She did take thought 
 for the morrow, but not worrying, distract- 
 ing thought. 
 
 "I've been perplexed about what work 
 to have her undertake. As yet she has 
 shown no particular inclination toward any- 
 thing. Not that she is idle. She is never 
 that. She helps me with the housework, 
 and does her share, and she is speedy about 
 it, but I mean that she showed no incli- 
 nation toward a profession, or life-work. 
 But, of course, she's young yet." 
 
 " Perhaps housework and home-making 
 may be her life-work. She may have a 
 home of her own, Debby. Indeed, I 
 think it is very possible, for Hester is surely 
 an attractive and lovable girl. And if she 
 made a very happy home, she could find no 
 nobler profession." 
 
 "I don't doubt that, but it's not to be 
 for Hester. I shall never allow Hester to 
 marry. She must never be allowed to get 
 that idea in her head."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 239 
 
 "Why, Debby! I am surprised. Of 
 course you love Hester, and we do not 
 wonder at that. It is natural that you 
 should wish to keep her with you, but you 
 may not always be with her. You should 
 think of her loneliness when you are gone. 
 Isn't it a wee bit selfish, Debby, not to 
 wish her to have a home of her own?" 
 
 "It isn't selfish. It's anything but that. 
 But Hester must live as you and I have 
 lived. It hasn't been a lonely life for me. 
 The days are, all too short, and even if it 
 should be lonely, there's to be no choice 
 for Hester. She must be Miss Hester Alden 
 to the very last of her days." 
 
 Miss Richards shook her head. "I do 
 not understand you to-day, Debby. You 
 do not seem like yourself. You have 
 strange notions, but Hester is a little girl 
 yet, and the time for such questions is a 
 long way off." 
 
 "But the proper time to settle some 
 questions is before they ever come up.
 
 240 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Never by any word must Hester be given 
 such ideas. If she should talk to you on 
 such matters, I know the young girls 
 come to you with half their worries, I 
 wish you to discourage her. Don't coun- 
 tenance any idea of sentiment that may 
 come to her." 
 
 "Very well, Debby, if you think best. 
 Hester belongs to you, and you are the 
 one to decide as to her training. I shall 
 not allow her to talk to me on some subjects. 
 I do that out of respect to your wishes, 
 Debby, yet I do not agree with you. I 
 would not think too much about Hester's 
 future. We can make preparations and 
 do our planning, yet her life is beyond our 
 control. A greater power will put to 
 naught our work. Plan for Hester's school, 
 and forget other matters. They may 
 never be for you or me to decide." 
 
 Debby Alden leaned her head wearily 
 back upon the back of the chair. She closed 
 her eyes, and for a time sat without speak-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 241 
 
 ing. By nature she was frank and open. 
 The Aldens had never been secretive. 
 There had been nothing in their lives 
 which would have caused them to blush 
 had it been heralded to the world. To 
 know that which a friend could not know, 
 to feel that there was one thing that she 
 had not told because of shame and fear, 
 had hung over Debby Alden for fifteen 
 years. When she thought of what she 
 was concealing, she felt like a criminal. 
 Her keeping this secret and rearing Hester 
 under false pretence was bearing with it 
 its own compensation. Her friends would 
 misunderstand and misjudge her as Eva 
 Richards was doing now; and as time 
 passed, and she of necessity must train 
 Hester as she knew it must be, she would 
 be yet more misunderstood and reproached. 
 For the first time she longed to ease her 
 conscience of its burden and rest it upon 
 some one else, if but for a moment. She 
 looked up at her friend. Her lips quivered
 
 and her eyes filled with tears, but she 
 forced them back. "I've been wanting 
 to tell you something, Eva," she said, 
 "something I've known for fifteen years, 
 since the very day that Hester's mother 
 came to my home and asked to rest. I've 
 kept it a secret for Hester's sake. I know 
 enough of the child's parentage more 
 than any one has ever suspected I know 
 to feel that I would commit a crime should 
 I allow her to marry one whom I or my 
 friends could receive into their homes. It 
 is not selfishness in me; I wish to protect 
 and guard my little girl. I cannot explain. 
 Fve carried the secret for fifteen years, and 
 must carry it all the rest of my life." 
 
 "Very well, Debby. It is not my place 
 to judge what you have done. Yet I 
 would not anticipate the future. You will 
 do as you have always done, perform each 
 duty faithfully and cheerfully. You can 
 do no more. Perhaps it is well. For 
 Hester's life may be ordered on higher,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 243 
 
 broader lines than it is given to us to con- 
 template." 
 
 She laid her hand upon Debby's bowed 
 head. There was silence for a moment. 
 Then Miss Richards, with a sprightly, viva- 
 cious manner, began to talk of other matters. 
 So the subject of Hester's family was closed 
 between them, and never reopened.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 accident which occurred during 
 the returning skate from Hyner was 
 only an incident in the lives of the young 
 people. They had been brought up by the 
 water, and, although they realized its dan- 
 gers, they also enjoyed hugely the recrea- 
 tion and sport which it afforded them. The 
 experience caused them to be more watch- 
 ful, but it did not cause one to be fearful 
 enough to keep from the ice. 
 
 The winter was long and severe. The 
 skating lasted until the last of March. 
 Along the river, as far as the eye could 
 carry, the ice swarmed with skaters. At 
 night bonfires were built alongshore, torches 
 were carried, and the sport continued. 
 
 The girls came home tired but happy. 
 Their muscles grew strong and flexible, 
 and the rhythm and motion of skating move- 
 
 244
 
 THE COMING OF. HESTER 245 
 
 ments gave a new grace and ease to them. 
 
 One Saturday morning, several days after 
 Joel Stout had returned from New York, 
 where he had gone to tell Herman Loeb 
 and Will Shearer what they were to re- 
 member, Hester and her friends started 
 out for the river. The ice directly op- 
 posite the Alden home had been in con- 
 stant use, and was so cut up that it was 
 impossible to longer skate on it. On this 
 account, the girls went to the river near the 
 west end of the town, where the ice had 
 been little used. 
 
 During the walk through town, Janet 
 had been fussing and grumbling about the 
 condition of the front levers. They had 
 not been at all satisfactory, and had tripped 
 her several times the previous evening. 
 
 "Your soles are not heavy enough," 
 said Mary Bowerman, giving a quick side- 
 wise glance at Janet's slender, shapely foot. 
 "It's perfectly silly trying to skate in shoes 
 several sizes too small."
 
 246 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Janet laughed. Mary's sharp remarks 
 merely amused her. She replied to her 
 lightly. "But what can I do ? They are the 
 very broadest my Cinderella feet can wear." 
 
 "My front levers wouldn't close tight 
 enough either," said Jane. "I screwed 
 them as tight as I could. I told Ralphie, 
 and he cut off part of the screw. It took 
 him almost an hour, but my skates fit nicely 
 now. If you would tell him " 
 
 "I will, Jane. I'd give a farm to have 
 a pair fit as they should. But Ralph's 
 changing them to-night will not make them 
 fit this morning. Why, last night, every 
 time I'd try to take a long glide and lift 
 my foot, there would be my skate dangling 
 from the heel strap. The toe-lever wouldn't 
 hold at all. The only way I could skate 
 was to take little, mincing steps, and not 
 lift my foot." 
 
 "Use a strap across the toe," said Hester. 
 "I have several good ones at home. If 
 I'd thought, I'd have brought them."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 247 
 
 Janet sighed, and then looked up at 
 them with woe pictured upon her face. 
 "You are surely the most sympathizing 
 people. There have been two suggestions 
 for making those miserable skates" she 
 shook them fiercely "stay on, but neither 
 plan is working just at present. I've made 
 up my mind to go skating and do some of 
 that fancy rolling. I think it looks fine, 
 and I'll do it if I'm compelled to strap my 
 skates on my hand." 
 
 "You can buy straps," said Edith. "If 
 they'll make the matter right, why not 
 stop in the store and buy two short ones? 
 They'll not cost more than ten cents 
 apiece." 
 
 Janet stopped and looked at the speaker. 
 
 "Edith Rank," she said with mock 
 gravity, "do you realize that your sug- 
 gestion is far worse than either of the others ? 
 It can't be carried out. Besides that, it 
 makes me acknowledge my financial con- 
 dition in the world. I haven't a penny
 
 248 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 with me. How can I buy two straps even 
 at the ridiculously low rate of ten cents 
 each?" 
 
 Janet was always looked upon as the 
 humorous girl of the crowd. Such was 
 her reputation, and her slightest remark 
 was accepted as funny, and called forth 
 either smiles or laughter. The girls laughed 
 now. Janet looked annoyed. 
 
 "It's true," she exclaimed. "I am 
 financially embarrassed I haven't a 
 penny with me, and allowance day is a 
 week distant." 
 
 "Then allow me," said Hester, present- 
 ing her purse. "Help yourself, Janet. 
 But I'm sure you'll not find more than fifty 
 cents in it." 
 
 Janet did not hesitate to accept the offer. 
 
 "How good you are, Hester. You've 
 made me happy for the morning, provided 
 I can get the straps at Stout's, and they 
 work as you say they will. Come, let us 
 turn down Fourth Street, and the store will
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 249 
 
 be right on our way. We can get on the 
 ice from Fourth as well as Fifth Street." 
 
 As usual, Abner Stout's clerks were busy. 
 The girls made their way to the depart- 
 ment where the straps would likely be. 
 Hester and Janet were in advance. Abner 
 was waiting upon a customer when the 
 girls came in. The moment his glance 
 rested upon them, he turned and spoke in 
 an undertone to his daughter Mary. 
 
 The girl made no response. She did 
 not raise her eyes toward the group of girls 
 by the counter, but silently and quickly 
 left the store and went in the direction of 
 the kitchen. 
 
 She was gone but a few moments when 
 Jane stuck her head through the doorway, 
 glanced about her, and then, coming up 
 to her brother-in-law, said plaintively, 
 
 " Abner, hain't you cut me off that cheese 
 yet?" 
 
 Abner was slow to answer, so Jane walked 
 across the room to the front of the counter.
 
 250 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 This brought her face to face with Hester. 
 She gave a sudden cry, threw her apron 
 over her face, and began swaying her body 
 to and fro as though overcome by sudden 
 and intense grief. The attention of cus- 
 tomers and clerks was attracted to her. 
 Hester and Jane drew back, uncertain what 
 to do. The people who were buying in the 
 front of the store hurried back to know 
 the cause of the trouble. 
 
 Jane swayed back and forth, her face 
 hidden by the blue-checked gingham apron, 
 and all the while she gave a peculiar cry of 
 distress. 
 
 "What is ever the matter with the 
 woman?" cried Abner in well-feigned alarm, 
 as he hurriedly came from behind the 
 counter. "I never knew her to carry on 
 so. She's quiet and peaceful, Jane is." 
 
 He laid his hand upon her shoulder. 
 "Jane, look here! What's the trouble 
 with you? What ails you? You act as 
 though you were crazy. Go on in the
 
 house, and don't raise such a fuss. Mary 
 can take care of you if you are ill." 
 
 He had one hand on her shoulder, and 
 with the other he drew away the apron 
 from her face. She shrieked, and her body 
 shook with sobs, but the eyes which she 
 raised to meet Abner Stout's glance were 
 quite dry. 
 
 "What's ailin' you, Jane?" he repeated. 
 "What do you mean by scaring customers 
 into fits until they shake as though they 
 had the ague? If you're sick, go back into 
 the house, and Mary will see to you." 
 
 At this Jane yelled and shrieked louder 
 than before. 
 
 "Ails me? What's been ailin' you 
 right along ? What's been the matter with 
 your eyes? You've all been blind as bats. 
 Can't you see Eliza's child? She looks 
 just like Eliza when we used to play to- 
 gether before you ever met her, Abner." 
 
 She raised herself and pointed to the 
 girls, who, absorbed in what was going on,
 
 252 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 were wholly unconscious of their own con- 
 spicuous position, quite at the front of the 
 crowd of shoppers. 
 
 At these words Abner raised his eyes 
 and looked at the girls. He gave a hasty 
 glance, and then, leaning forward, stared 
 at Hester. 
 
 "Land of love!" he cried. "Jane, I 
 believe you're right. Never was there such 
 a likeness. It's Eliza herself come back 
 to me." Then he pressed his thin lips 
 together, clasped his hands as though with 
 a mighty effort he was controlling him- 
 self, and all the while kept his eyes upon 
 Hester as if he could not remove them. 
 
 Customers came in, and, attracted by the 
 cries and the crowd, pushed forward. The 
 main aisle of the store was jammed. Hester 
 and Jane looked about them, eager to es- 
 cape. But behind them was a crowd of 
 people so closely packed in that a passage 
 among them would have been impossible, 
 while before them stood the figures of the
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 253 
 
 old man and his sister-in-law, swaying 
 their bodies and gazing upon Hester as 
 though she had hypnotized them. 
 
 Janet's mind was upon her skating. 
 She was growing impatient of this delay. 
 She looked about her, hoping to find some 
 means of escape, but every thoroughfare 
 was closed. She sighed and turned to 
 Hester with the remark, "Oh, had I the 
 wings of a dove ! " She looked over the 
 heads of the people as though selecting a 
 course to follow, should her wish come true. 
 The remark was so like Janet. Hester 
 laughed aloud. At this Jane Farwell gave 
 forth a louder shriek. "Did you see that 
 smile that heavenly smile? It was just 
 like poor Eliza used to smile. Abner, how 
 dull you've been not to know your own 
 little Ruth." 
 
 "Lord! I believe you're right, Jane. 
 It's Ruth, sure enough. There's no mis- 
 take about that." 
 
 They came close to the girls, who tried
 
 254 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 to push back, but could not for the pressing 
 crowd. The man came close, and bending 
 his body stuck his face close up into Hester's. 
 She gave a gesture of repulsion and drew 
 herself back. 
 
 " How dare you!" she cried. "Let us 
 get out of here." 
 
 "How dare I? Listen to her," he cried 
 brokenly, as though his finer feelings had 
 been touched by her words. "How dares 
 a father look on the face of his long-lost 
 child? It grieves me to hear you speak so. 
 I'm your father, child. You are the little 
 Ruth Stout who was lost sixteen years ago. 
 Thank God, I've found you at last." 
 
 "Nonsense! I'm Hester Alden. Will 
 you let us pass?" She spoke with dignity 
 and decision, but even as she did so her 
 heart failed her. She was not really Hester 
 Alden. Dim forebodings seized her that 
 she might be this Ruth that some place 
 and at some time had been lost. When 
 this thought came to her, she showed the
 
 "How DARE YOU!" SHE CRIED. Page 254-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 255 
 
 spirit that Debby Alden would have shown 
 under similar circumstances. If there were 
 truth to be known, she wished to know it 
 all. She would not push the issue aside. 
 She would know the best or the worst, and 
 know it at once. She did not flinch now. 
 The color left her cheek. She drew herself 
 as far as possible from the revolting features 
 of the old man. But she waited. Janet 
 slipped her hand into Hester's and whis- 
 pered: "Come, let's push back through the 
 crowd. There's a jam, but we'll be able 
 to make our way through if we keep at it." 
 
 Hester shook her head in negation. She 
 had no desire to leave now. She wished 
 to hear what Abner Stout had to say. 
 Janet could not have dragged her from the 
 place. 
 
 The man had not been in business with 
 all sorts and conditions of folk for forty years 
 without reading the girl's expression. He 
 knew what she feared. He knew, too, 
 that it would not be Debby Alden alone
 
 256 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 with whom he would have to contend. 
 Hester would be more difficult to manage 
 than the elder woman. He read in her 
 face the dislike for him and the antipathy 
 toward his family. But this did not deter 
 him. He chuckled at her assertion that 
 she was Hester Alden. "So you think, 
 Ruth, my dear child. But, I swear you 
 belong to me. I might have known before. 
 Every time you came into the store I could 
 not take my eyes from you. I couldn't 
 understand. It was nature. Flesh and 
 blood was calling to its own. Jane knew 
 you the minute she clapped her eyes on you. 
 It's strange how things come around. I'd 
 just about given up hope of ever finding 
 you, and here Jane's eyes light on you the 
 first thing. It's great how things do come 
 around." 
 
 "Fifteen years. Yes, it was," wailed the 
 old woman. "I know the day. Can lever 
 forget it ? It was the fourth day of June, 
 and poor Eliza was all wrought up and mad
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 257 
 
 at Abner for something he had said, and 
 off she starts with Ruth." 
 
 Abner affirmed her words with nods and 
 gestures. He had seized Hester's plump 
 hand within his bony talons. She made 
 an effort to withdraw it from his grasp, but 
 he clung tightly to her. 
 
 " Just fifteen years last June," he repeated, 
 "'Liza went through this place on her way 
 to Chicago, with little Ruth just a year old." 
 
 Jane had come closer and laid her worn, 
 wrinkled hand upon Hester's arm. The 
 woman was old and infirm, but age had 
 not glorified her. She was repulsive. The 
 girls instinctively shrank from her. She 
 whimpered and cringed. " 'Liza's little girl," 
 she began, looking up into Hester's face 
 with a look meant to be compassionate 
 and loving, but which was sly and insinuat- 
 ing. 
 
 "My poor, poor sister Eliza," she whined. 
 "How we did love each other, and how dear 
 her babies were to me. But little Ruthie
 
 258 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 was dearest of all. The dear little child! 
 How I've been worried all these years 
 wondering where you were and if you were 
 provided for. I never could relish my 
 meals, thinking all the time that mebbe 
 my sister and her baby were going hungry. 
 How I've longed to see her and her child 
 no one knows." 
 
 She came nearer to the girl, and sticking 
 her face up close said with assumed tender- 
 ness: "You're my only sister's little girl. 
 Come, give a loving kiss to your poor Aunt 
 Jane." 
 
 Hester gave a gasp of horror and pushed 
 the woman away. "How dare you! Will 
 you move away and allow us to pass?" 
 
 Her voice was strong and fearless enough, 
 but her courage went no further than this. 
 Her knees were shaking, and her muscles 
 refused to obey her will. She stood still, 
 unable to move. She might have fallen 
 had not Janet's grasp been upon her and 
 Janet's arm about her waist.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 259 
 
 At this the curious crowd back of them 
 parted, and Doctor Heins pushed his way 
 through. Taking hold of Janet and Hester, 
 he turned them about and helped them to 
 make their way through the crowd. But 
 as he left he turned to Abner Stout and said 
 with energy: 
 
 "Let this happen again, Ab, and I'll see to 
 it that you get your just reward ! It's out- 
 rageous ! This heaping insults upon two 
 people who cannot protect themselves!" 
 
 With as little commotion as possible he 
 escorted the girls from the store and on 
 to the street. " Hester and Janet are not 
 going to skate this morning," he said to 
 the others of the party. "I wish to talk 
 with them. They'll walk down the street 
 with me." 
 
 Without more ado he escorted the girls 
 down a street leading from the skating 
 place. When they came to a less crowded 
 thoroughfare, where conversation was pos- 
 sible, he turned to Hester. "Now tell
 
 260 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 me how that fuss began and all that old 
 skinflint said to you." 
 
 Hester began her story. She was not 
 excited or nervous now, but a great depres- 
 sion was upon her. She would have laughed 
 at the scene had she not felt that truth 
 lay in the man's speech. If she were his 
 daughter, if she belonged to him, he would 
 claim her. She shuddered at the thought. 
 If Abner Stout were her father, he would 
 compel her to live in his home. Joel would 
 be her brother, and the girls, the thought 
 was revolting. From the innermost fibre 
 of her composition she loathed all that this 
 family stood for; their chicanery, their 
 greed, their cringing and fawning, their 
 disorder of household, and carelessness of 
 attire. They knew neither truth nor friend- 
 ship if the betrayal of either might add a 
 penny to their hoard. And she, Hester 
 Alden, belonged to them and would be com- 
 pelled to live with them and make their 
 interests hers!
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 261 
 
 She began to tremble. In the middle 
 of her story she flung her arms about the 
 old doctor's and cried, " You'll never let 
 them take me, will you?" 
 
 He answered her promptly and with con- 
 viction. " Never, Hester. I'll abduct you 
 first myself rather than let that villain take 
 you. But there is no danger. He's a 
 subtle one. I don't quite see his purpose 
 now, but it will be clear later. Come into 
 my office. The street is not a good place 
 for tears. I must hear the remainder of 
 the story, and you must dry those tears. 
 You do not wish to frighten Aunt Debby 
 with such a woe-begone countenance." 
 
 He led the girls into his private office. 
 He spoke lightly to reassure them. Yet 
 he was not satisfied with what he had heard. 
 He knew that Abner Stout was keen and 
 crafty. He knew that the man would not 
 have caused such a scene unless he felt 
 secure in proving his statement and main- 
 taining the position which he had assumed.
 
 262 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 But why should he wish to claim a child 
 who had no money nor estate ? The reason 
 might be that parental affection had as- 
 serted itself, but Doctor Heins did not 
 give the man credit for such feeling. He 
 felt that Abner Stout loved nothing so 
 much as he did the circles of silver and 
 gold which poured into his till, and to his 
 ear no music was so sweet as the jingle of 
 the silver as he tested its genuineness with 
 a toss upon the counter. 
 
 Doctor Heins heard the story. He 
 laughed and made light of it to encourage 
 Hester and Janet, and kept the girls with 
 him until they had recovered their usual 
 composure. Then he dismissed them with 
 the advice to Hester: "I believe, Hessie, 
 I wouldn't bother your Aunt Debby with 
 that man's story. He may forget it in a 
 day or two, but if he shouldn't and should 
 bother either of you, come to me. I'll 
 send him to the right-about." 
 
 "You'll never let him take me?"
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 263 
 
 "Never." Doctor Hems laughed with as- 
 sumed gay spirits, squared his shoulders, 
 and said with an air of bravado: "Like 
 the hero in the dime novel, Hessie, I shall 
 allow him to take you over my dead body. 
 There ! run home, girls ! I've patients 
 awaiting me." 
 
 Doctor Heins had learned one fact from 
 hearing the story. Hester knew then that 
 she was not an Alden, and did not belong 
 to her Aunt Debby. 
 
 Janet, whose principle was not to desert 
 a friend when that friend was in need, 
 walked with Hester the entire distance 
 home. When they came to the railroad 
 crossing, Hester paused. 
 
 "My mother was killed here," she said 
 quietly. "Do you think, Janet, that she 
 was that man's wife that Jane's sister ? " 
 
 "Never!" said Janet with conviction. 
 "Any one to look at you could see that 
 you were not of such a family. It's so 
 ridiculous that I can't keep from laughing."
 
 264 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 At this she forced a laugh more noticeable 
 for its volume than any suggestion of light 
 spirits. 
 
 "But my hair is dark and wavy " 
 began Hester, determined to probe the mat- 
 ter to the furthest. 
 
 "So is mine much curlier than yours, 
 and about as black. But that's no reason 
 for saying that I belong to them. I defy 
 any one to tell me that I do." 
 
 Her voice was so determined and her 
 manner so aggressive that Hester smiled 
 in spite of her grief. Janet continued her 
 nonsense, turning into ridicule Hester's 
 fears, until they reached the Alden home. 
 Hester was so much herself that Debby 
 did not perceive that anything had gone 
 wrong. 
 
 She inquired why they had not gone 
 skating. Janet began her story of the skates 
 which would not hold fast to the soles of 
 her shoes. Debby Alden listened. With 
 all her astuteness she did not perceive that
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 265 
 
 Janet had not answered the question which 
 she had put directly to them. 
 
 Janet spent the entire day with Hester. 
 When she saw the troubled look come to 
 her friend's eyes, she grew merry and gay. 
 There was no rest for Hester that day. 
 Janet kept her playing, or singing, or on a 
 hunt for eggs, or a search for pansies in 
 the flower bed which had been covered with 
 straw and boards. Now Janet knew more 
 of Hester's story than Mary Bowerman 
 did, but a sense of honor was within her. 
 She would not by so much as a look let 
 Hester suspect that she knew aught of her 
 history. 
 
 After Doctor Heins had escorted the girls 
 from the store, the crowd went about its 
 own affairs. Jane disappeared into the 
 basement kitchen, and made up her savory 
 messes as serenely as though she had not 
 found the child of her dearly beloved sister. 
 Abner went back to the counter and dis- 
 posed of bargains all day long and far into
 
 266 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the night. So far as they were concerned, 
 all interest in Eliza and her child had gone 
 from their minds. 
 
 But those who had made up the crowd 
 had seen and heard. The incident had 
 been too unusual not to cause comment. 
 It was discussed in many homes that 
 evening. Hester Alden's history was well 
 known. There was much discussion as to 
 whether she was Abner Stout's daughter. 
 But all advanced this question to substan- 
 tiate his claims; if she were not his, why 
 should the money-loving, greedy old man 
 wish to claim a penniless girl? It would 
 mean but expense and responsibility to 
 him. This view of the question caused 
 many to believe that he was honest in his 
 words, and that the scene of the morning 
 was unplanned and natural. But the con- 
 versation between Abner and his son Joel, 
 which took place that same night after the 
 store had closed, and Jane and the girls were 
 deep in slumber, was a key to the problem.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 267 
 
 A smirk of satisfaction was upon the face 
 of the elder man. He rubbed his hands 
 together and chuckled gleefully. The re- 
 sults of the morning's work pleased him. 
 The ability which Joel had shown in this 
 affair was highly gratifying to him. Joel 
 was shrewd; Joel was to be depended 
 upon; Joel knew when to speak and when 
 to be silent. The father thought of these 
 matters and looked with favor upon the 
 oldest child. 
 
 "Come," he said ingratiatingly. "Come, 
 sit awhile and talk. I mean to take you into 
 the business, Joel. You've been a good 
 son. I'll change the sign. I will have it 
 read in big gold letters, "Abner Stout and 
 Company." 
 
 But Joel would have none of that. "No 
 company for me, father. So help me, no. 
 It's Stout and Stout full and equal. 
 Herman Loeb has promised me " 
 
 Abner waved his words aside. 
 
 "Stout and Stout it shall be, Joel. No
 
 268 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 matter. All I have will be yours some day. 
 But about ?" He looked wise and 
 rubbed his hands. "You're sure, my son?" 
 
 "Sure, father. I went to the house 
 myself." Abner had heard the story be- 
 fore, but the sounds of the words were as 
 music to his ears. Joel described again 
 the magnificent house with its acres of 
 lawn, and the fine carriages with men in 
 livery. 
 
 "And what did you say, Joel?" asked 
 Abner. 
 
 "I told them I lived on the East Side. 
 I gave Herman's address. I told them 
 about finding the old newspaper." He 
 made a queer little gesture with his hand. 
 "They thought it was but lately I found it." 
 
 "Fifteen years ago fifteen years ago. 
 Eliza, sorting rags and paper, ran across it. 
 I put it aside no one can tell, Joel, when 
 such things come in good. Keep a thing 
 seven years, you know." 
 
 "I told the woman I thought I knew of
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 269 
 
 the child a relative of mine had adopted 
 her and had brought her up like a lady. 
 I'd search for him I had lost track of 
 him and I'd come to her with the child." 
 
 "And she she?" Abner leaned eagerly 
 forward. 
 
 "She said if I came with the child and 
 with the proofs, she would give me ten 
 thousand dollars cash." 
 
 Abner smacked his lips. A smirk of 
 satisfaction spread over his face. 
 
 He took from his wallet a dirty, greasy 
 cutting from a newspaper. His eyes 
 glinted with joy as he read. It was an 
 advertisement, fifteen years old, offering 
 a large reward for information concerning 
 a woman named Rosa Williams. Then 
 followed a description of the woman's ap- 
 pearance, dress, and the time and place 
 where she was last known to be.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 T TESTER had regained thorough control 
 -L -L of herself by the time she went to 
 school Monday morning. She realized that 
 a number of people had witnessed the scene 
 in the store Saturday morning, and that the 
 whole town had heard it by this time. She 
 felt that Miss Watson treated her with a 
 greater kindness than ever before the 
 woman's way of expressing a silent sym- 
 pathy. Since the encounter between them 
 in the early fall, Hester had kept as far as 
 possible from Professor Sanderson. For- 
 tunately she was in none of his classes, and 
 never came directly under his authority, 
 so outward harmony at least had been 
 maintained. 
 
 But this Monday morning, as he came 
 into the assembly-room to take part in the 
 devotional exercises, she felt that he was 
 
 270
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 271 
 
 making a study of her. His eyes were upon 
 her with a critical, uncertain expression. 
 "He's trying to see if I resemble the Stout 
 family/' she said to herself, and her face 
 flushed crimson. 
 
 Janet Collum and Jane Orr, during 
 Hester's troubles, maintained the letter 
 and the spirit of true friendship. They 
 walked home with Hester, they gave her 
 choice in the selection of the library books, 
 and by every power in their means, except 
 the power of words, they made her feel 
 that she would always be one of them and 
 that their love and friendship were about 
 her now, stronger and more disinterested 
 than ever. 
 
 Orpha was too dull of perception, too 
 lacking in those finer feelings to realize what 
 these days meant to Hester. She would 
 have been willing to do what she could, had 
 she been able to realize one part of what a 
 sensitive, proud nature might feel in know- 
 ing that she was the subject of discussion
 
 272 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 throughout the town, but Orpha knew 
 nothing of such feeling. 
 
 Tuesday afternoon Miss Watson sent 
 Hester on an errand to the library. There 
 was a reference to be looked up, and Hester 
 Alden was a reliable person to send forth in 
 search of technical information. She had 
 taken her tablet with her and was about 
 finishing a copy of the distinction between 
 synonyms when Professor Sanderson came 
 into the room. He nodded curtly to the 
 girl, went over to the bookcases, and began 
 his search. He looked up suddenly to 
 address her. "Let me offer my congratu- 
 lations, Miss Alden." 
 
 "Congratulations!" she repeated, look- 
 ing up in surprise. "I do not quite under- 
 stand." 
 
 He laughed. "I think you would if 
 you'd consider. Of course, we've all heard 
 the news. You are a fortunate young lady, 
 and will be quite an heiress when Abner 
 Stout is called to his fathers. They say
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 273 
 
 that he's worth a million now, and is still 
 collecting." 
 
 "His money is nothing to me. I care not 
 how many millions he has." She closed 
 the book and walked to the door. She 
 had no wish to talk with Professor Sander- 
 son on any subject, and this one least of all. 
 
 "It will be. If you're his daughter, as 
 he says you are, you'll have your share. 
 I've never known any one yet who refused 
 a hundred thousand dollars. You are very 
 fortunate." 
 
 Hester left the room without replying. 
 
 "I'd rather have Aunt Debby, and belong 
 to her and her people, than to have ten 
 millions of dollars," she said to herself. 
 "There wouldn't be money enough in the 
 world to make up for leaving her. And I 
 will not. I do not know what I'll do, but 
 I'll not leave her unless they chain me and 
 drag me away." 
 
 That thought comforted her. She straight- 
 ened out her shoulders and raised her head
 
 274 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 as she entered the class room. She had no 
 intention of letting all the school world 
 know that she was worried and sorrowful. 
 She would keep her affairs to herself, and 
 smile and appear as happy as she could. 
 She had her Aunt Debby's pride in her. 
 
 It was toward the last of the week when 
 her hope and her courage had revived that 
 she found a letter for her Aunt Debby among 
 the mail. This was nothing unusual in 
 itself, but it set her heart to beating rapidly, 
 for the envelope bore the business card of 
 Abner Stout. It had been her habit to 
 stop for the mail on the way from school, 
 as she did this day. 
 
 The evening meal was ready to be served 
 when she entered the house, and her Aunt 
 Debby was awaiting her. 
 
 "There's letters, auntie," she said, placing 
 them in Debby Alden's hand. 
 
 Debby glanced at them, smiling. " Noth- 
 ing important," she said. "I'll not bother 
 reading them now. Come, Hester, while
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 275 
 
 your meat is hot. I have a veal loaf. I 
 remembered that you like that new recipe 
 I tried." 
 
 "I think I like everything you try, Aunt 
 Debby," she said simply as she sat down to 
 the table. Debby Alden smiled. These ex- 
 pressions of affection from Hester pleased 
 her. 
 
 "Do you, Hester?" she said. "I'm 
 very glad you do. It wouldn't be a pleas- 
 ant life for either of us if we did not like 
 what each other did." 
 
 She served the meal, ate a little, and then 
 took up the letters which had been lying 
 beside her plate. She read the business 
 heading and smiled grimly. "What is 
 Abner Stout writing to me for? I owe 
 him no bills." 
 
 Hester's eyes sought her plate. She 
 made a brave attempt to continue her eat- 
 ing, that her aunt might not observe her 
 perturbation. Debby opened the note, read 
 it, and laughed. Laying the letter aside,
 
 276 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 she said lightly, "Mr. Stout wishes to see 
 me on business of great importance, and 
 asks me to call at his store to-morrow 
 afternoon." 
 
 "Will you go, Aunt Debby?" Hester's 
 eyes were big with alarm. He meant to 
 tell her Aunt Debby. They meant to take 
 her if they could. "But I will not go. 
 They cannot make me," was her thought. 
 
 Debby Alden had no suspicion of what 
 that business could be. She looked at 
 Hester and smiled grimly. "Hessie, your 
 Aunt Debby has not spent years studying 
 her Caesar without learning something. Do 
 you remember the reply that Ariovistus, 
 the German king, gave to Caesar when the 
 latter bade him come to the Roman camp?" 
 
 Hester shook her head. She could not 
 at that moment have said her letters, had 
 she been asked. 
 
 "Forgotten already, Hessie? His reply 
 was, ' If Ariovistus wishes anything of Caesar, 
 he will go to Caesar; should Caesar desire
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 277 
 
 anything of Ariovistus, let him go to Ario- 
 vistus.' So, if Abner Stout wishes to talk 
 with Debby Alden on business, he must 
 come to Debby Alden." 
 
 She looked at Hester and smiled. Then, 
 noticing the child's worn, harassed look, 
 she said : 
 
 "You haven't eaten enough, Hester. 
 Are you ill? Try to eat your veal loaf. 
 Put this hot gravy on it. I'm afraid that 
 high school work is too much for you, Hes- 
 ter. I've thought so all along. I have 
 never looked with favor upon third and 
 fourth floor schoolrooms. Three and four 
 long flights of stairs will not add to the 
 health of young girls. I've told you about 
 going slowly. Are you sure you do not 
 run up and down ? Do you take the trouble 
 to put your feet on the steps, as I told 
 you?" 
 
 "'Most always, Aunt Debby. Sometimes 
 I forget and go in a hurry." 
 
 "Well, I've made up my mind that this
 
 278 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 shall be your last year at the high school. 
 You've never been away. It will do you 
 worlds of good. I intend sending you to a 
 boarding-school next winter." 
 
 But this, instead of pleasing Hester, as 
 Debby Alden supposed it would, caused her 
 great alarm. 
 
 "Aunt Debby, don't ever send me from 
 you. I'd rather be with you than know 
 all the books that were ever printed. You 
 will not send me away?" 
 
 "I thought you would enjoy it, Hester. 
 I've been planning all winter. Girls have 
 lovely times at. boarding-schools. I thought 
 you would like it." 
 
 "I should like the boarding-school well 
 enough and the study, too; but it would 
 mean leaving you, and I don't like that." 
 
 "Well, since you feel so about it, I shall 
 not insist, but, - " after a moment's thought, 
 "we both need a change. I've kept 
 house for almost thirty years. It may do 
 me good to go away for a while. We'll
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 279 
 
 think the matter over, Hester, during the 
 summer. There will be time enough." 
 
 The following morning, as Hester was 
 preparing to go to school, Debby Alden 
 came into the hallway and called up to 
 her: "Hester, if you have time, stop into 
 the store and tell Mr. Stout that if he wishes 
 to see me, he will find me at my home any 
 afternoon of the week. Do you hear, 
 Hester?" 
 
 "Yes." There was a pause. Debby 
 stood waiting to hear Hester's promise. 
 "Wait until I come down, Aunt Debby," 
 she said; "I'll tell you something." 
 
 "Very well. You must hurry. It is 
 past eight o'clock now." 
 
 She was in the kitchen busy with the 
 breakfast work when Hester came in. 
 "Aunt Debby, if you would just as soon 
 write a note to that man, I'll mail it. I 
 don't like to go in the store, Aunt Debby. 
 I I those people make me shudder." 
 
 "Just as you will, Hester. Perhaps a
 
 280 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 written reply would be more courteous." 
 She dried her hands and went to the writ- 
 ing-desk in the living-room, where she 
 wrote a note to Abner Stout, in which she 
 replied to his request as the old German 
 had replied centuries before to the Roman 
 leader. 
 
 Miss Watson had spent years in the 
 schoolroom with young people. She under- 
 stood them as thoroughly as she did the 
 text-books from which she had been teach- 
 ing for twenty years. She had heard of the 
 scene of the previous Saturday morning. 
 She appreciated the position in which Hes- 
 ter was placed, and knew what a proud 
 and sensitive nature would suffer under 
 conditions such as these. She saw the 
 effort which Hester made to keep a smiling, 
 cheerful countenance to the school, and 
 admired her for it, as one must ever ad- 
 mire strength of character and self-control. 
 
 Miss Watson was a great student, and 
 loved study in any form. Yet she was
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 281 
 
 liberal-minded enough to put a proper 
 estimate upon books. She knew that 
 they could never be first in affairs of life. 
 Lessons were very well, but there were 
 times when they should go to the wall. 
 She believed that this time had come for 
 Hester. The child was not in a condition 
 to study. Yet Miss Watson could not tell 
 her so and excuse her from recitations. 
 That would throw Hester's thoughts back 
 upon herself and set the hundred pupils 
 surmising and wondering. School had 
 barely been called when Miss Watson spoke 
 to Hester. "Miss Alden, would you and 
 Miss Orr go on an errand for me? I've 
 left my books at home." She named the 
 books, and told the girls where in her house 
 they could be found. Hester and Jane set 
 forth. Miss Watson lived on the South 
 Side. A walk to her home took them 
 across the river bridge and down long, 
 broad streets for a great distance. They 
 went on their way rejoicing, for the morn-
 
 282 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 ing was fine and the lessons left in the 
 schoolroom were tedious and long. 
 
 Jane was in the best of humor, and was 
 a constant source of droll, good-natured 
 talk. When they turned down Eighth 
 Street, which led to the bridge, they met 
 Ralph coming from the college building and 
 hurrying to the athletic grounds. 
 
 Jane stopped to look at his retreating 
 form. Her face was expressive of the 
 greatest admiration. "Ralphie is the best 
 boy," she said. "I'm always glad I have 
 him. Girls without brothers do not know 
 what they miss." 
 
 "Oh, yes, they do ! I've always wanted 
 a brother, ever since I was a little girl, and 
 since I've grown up, I want one more than 
 ever. I'd give " She stopped suddenly. 
 Perhaps she had a brother, after all. But 
 not such a brother as Ralph. Before her 
 came a picture of Joel Stout with a smirk 
 upon his face, and his fawning, ingratiating 
 manner. The thought of his presence, redo-
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 283 
 
 lent with musk, and his talon-like fingers, 
 which showed no knowledge of manicure or 
 brush, was repulsive. 
 
 Quick as a flash, Jane observed Hester's 
 change of expression and understood its 
 cause. "But every one cannot have a 
 brother like Ralph," she said quickly. 
 "There wouldn't be enough to go around. 
 I'm one of the lucky girls, and I don't in- 
 tend being selfish. I'll divide whenever 
 you need a brother, Hester; just send me 
 word, and I'll lend you Ralph." 
 
 Hester laughed. "What would Ralph 
 say about that? He might object." 
 
 "No, indeed. That is what makes him 
 what he is. He does what I ask without 
 even asking why." 
 
 "He must be uncommon," said Hester, 
 with conviction. 
 
 "He is," responded Jane, earnestly. Then 
 Jane laughed at herself for being such a 
 braggart about her brother. From this she 
 went on to other conversation, turning each
 
 284 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 detail about that Hester might see the 
 brighter side, or repeating incidents that 
 were far removed from matters which 
 troubled Hester. Jane understood Miss 
 Watson's purpose in sending them on this 
 errand. She did not hurry, but loitered by 
 the roadside to see if by chance there might 
 be some early green on the protected side 
 of the hill. The view from the bridge at- 
 tracted, and she hung over the railing for 
 several minutes to enjoy its beauty. So, by 
 her skilful loitering, it was almost dismissal 
 time before they reentered the class room. 
 
 "Miss Watson will reprimand us," said 
 Hester. "We have been gone twice as long 
 as was necessary." 
 
 "Don't you believe it," said Jane, with 
 conviction. "Hasn't she always advocated 
 our cultivating a love for outside life? If 
 she speaks to me about the time we spent 
 in our errand, I'll explain to her that I was 
 drinking in the beauties of nature. She'll 
 not resist that." Jane smiled blandly at
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 285 
 
 this, walked up to Miss Watson's desk, de- 
 posited the book, and said: "It was so 
 beautiful on the bridge, Miss Watson, that 
 I could not hurry. I walked up the old 
 road a little way. It was so inviting. I 
 was the laggard not Hester. She did her 
 best to hurry me." 
 
 "You did very well, Jane. I'm glad that 
 you saw fit to loiter." Hester heard the 
 words with surprise. Miss Watson was 
 charming, and the pupils loved her, but her 
 most devoted admirers had never been 
 able to say that her discipline was not 
 rigid. What had come to her that she was 
 taking matters so lightly? 
 
 While she was wondering at the change 
 in Miss Watson, the letter she had mailed 
 that morning had been delivered to Abner 
 Stout, and he and his son had eagerly de- 
 voured it. 
 
 They read and looked at each other. 
 Joel spoke first. "What do you think 
 about that, father?"
 
 286 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "Joel, I'm not sure what to think. This 
 Miss Alden, Joel, is not like other women. 
 She will be be difficult to manage, 
 Joel, I'm thinking. Why, she has kept 
 this secret for fifteen years." He looked 
 up at his son as though he expected some 
 show of surprise upon hearing this state- 
 ment. Abner Stout stood in awe of Miss 
 Alden. This feeling was brought about by 
 the fact that she had trusted no one, and 
 had kept her own secrets. Surely that 
 showed strength and power not found in 
 the average person. 
 
 "Do you think she knows all this, 
 father?" Abner shook his head in negation. 
 
 "No, Joel. She does not know all. I'm 
 pretty sure of that. If she did, our plans 
 would be worth " He snapped his 
 fingers. "But she knows something. She 
 so much as told that Bowerman woman 
 who lives down her way. She knows that 
 the girl's people are able to pay for all 
 this care and clothes and sending to school.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 287 
 
 No woman would take all this trouble for 
 nothing, Joel." 
 
 Joel was not easily convinced. He could 
 not understand why Debby Alden would 
 not make herself known to the child's 
 family. Fifteen years is a long time to 
 wait. He expressed himself to his father. 
 
 Abner saw the matter in a different 
 light. It was his opinion that Debby Alden 
 knew only that the child belonged to wealthy 
 people, and had perhaps a general idea as 
 to their whereabouts. He believed, also, 
 that the woman expected Hester to fall 
 heir to immense wealth. With the child 
 under her control, she could manipulate 
 matters as she wished. That she was 
 awaiting a proper time for the climax of 
 affairs, he did not doubt. His mind and 
 training had been such that he could not 
 conceive of a person who could sacrifice for 
 the sake of affection, or from a high idea of 
 duty to one's fellow-creatures. Because he 
 could not conceive of a nature such as
 
 288 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Debby Alden's, he misconstrued her acts in 
 his mind, and placed her upon the same 
 level as himself and his son. 
 
 They discussed fully the reason for Debby 
 Alden replying to them as she had done. 
 The note was courteous, so far as that 
 went, but it was also independent. That 
 she was not ready to cringe and make 
 terms with them was what they read be- 
 tween the lines. She had faith in herself 
 and her ability to maintain the position she 
 had assumed, the note told them. They 
 admired her subtlety and her bravado, for 
 they did not for an instant think that Hes- 
 ter had not repeated to her Aunt Debby 
 all that had taken place that Saturday 
 morning in the store. Again, they were un- 
 able to conceive of a girl who would keep 
 such matters to herself, and suffer silently, 
 rather than cause a moment of uneasiness 
 to one whom she loved. 
 
 Joel was eager to sit down at once and 
 answer Miss Alden's note, but his father
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 289 
 
 would not hear to it. He shook his head 
 solemnly, while his keen eyes glinted. "It 
 would not do, Joel. It would not do. We 
 will call upon Miss Debby Alden, since it is 
 the only way, but I talk better when I 
 have my own people about me. I'd rather 
 she came here; I'm on my own ground 
 when I'm in my own store and my own 
 house. Yet, since there's no way of getting 
 around it, we'll go, but not to-day. She'll 
 think that we're over anxious, and I don't 
 want her to think that. We'll go to-morrow, 
 Joel. We'll not walk. We'll drive. There's 
 times when spending a dollar is money in 
 your pocket. And to-morrow will be one 
 of the times." 
 
 "I'll write and tell her we'll be there 
 to-morrow," said Joel, seizing his pen. 
 Joel, who could write with many flourishes 
 and much shading on the downward strokes, 
 looked upon his penmanship as his one 
 accomplishment, and was always eager to 
 flaunt it in the face of an admiring public.
 
 290 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 But Abner laid a restraining hand upon 
 the young man's arm. "What's the use of 
 writing?" he asked. "You act as though 
 you had lost your mind. The very last 
 thing we want that Alden woman to know 
 is that we're coming to talk business with 
 her. Take her unawares and off her guard, 
 and there's no telling how much she'll let 
 slip. But let her know that we're coming, 
 and she'll have her mind made up as to what's 
 best to tell and what's best to keep to one's 
 self. She'd have a few sharp words ready 
 on the end of her tongue. She's a mighty 
 smart woman, and as deep as the Lord ever 
 made any one. But you'd let her know, 
 and give her a chance to be ready for us." 
 He glowered at his son, and let his voice ring 
 out sharply. "That's what you would do 
 with your infernal letter-writing. But, 
 you're never happy unless you've got a pen 
 in your hand. There's one thing you've 
 got to keep in your mind when you deal 
 with this Alden woman; that's to think
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 291 
 
 twice and speak once. And there's another 
 business rule you'd do well to get into your 
 head: save the ink in your own well, and 
 let the other fellow do the writing." 
 
 With such practical advice Abner Stout 
 closed his heart-to-heart talk with his son.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 riTBE story of Abner Stout's claim upon 
 "*- Hester Alden came to Miss Richards. 
 She was greatly troubled for Debby's sake. 
 She would not have given the story credence 
 had she not remembered Debby's words but 
 a short time before in regard to Hester's 
 parentage. She deliberated some time be- 
 fore she drove down to the Alden home, 
 uncertain whether Debby might wish her 
 to come at such a time. 
 
 But after thinking over the matter, she 
 decided to do by this friend as she would 
 wish to be done by, were their positions 
 interchanged. She had not expected to find 
 Debby either in tears or sitting down be- 
 wailing, for such had never been the way 
 of the Aldens, and this last member of the 
 family was capable of great self-control, 
 but she was surprised to find her exceedingly 
 
 292
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 293 
 
 cheerful and with a buoyancy of spirit in 
 her manner and voice which came to Debby 
 only when she was feeling her best. 
 
 "I'm glad you came," was her greeting, 
 as she came to the gate to welcome her 
 guest. "I have just finished my weekly 
 cleaning. When I saw the carriage come 
 over the hill, I wished it was some one to 
 spend the day with me." She turned to 
 the coachman. "Come after Miss Richards 
 sometime this evening, Herrick. She will 
 spend the day with me." She laughed, and 
 waved aside all Miss Richards's words about 
 coming only for a call. 
 
 "This day suits me best of all," she said. 
 "I've put my house in order and have a 
 nice fat hen ready for the roaster. Hester 
 and I cannot manage such a large fowl. It 
 will be an act of charity to stay and help 
 us dispose of it." 
 
 They went together into the great old-fash- 
 ioned living-room. The windows commanded 
 a view of the road from town as it descended
 
 294 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the hill after crossing the tracks. There 
 was a bright-striped rag carpet upon the 
 floor, white dimity curtains at the windows, 
 and scarlet bunches of geraniums. 
 
 "Have you any sewing on hand?" asked 
 Miss Richards, as she sat in the great wooden 
 rocker by the west window. 
 
 "I've cut out some shirt-waists for Hes- 
 ter, enough to last her through the summer. 
 I'm not in a hurry to finish them. She will 
 not begin to wear them until summer is 
 really here. So I mean to take my time. 
 I'm putting my best needlework on them. 
 I think it looks daintier than so much 
 bought lace." 
 
 Miss Richards nodded her agreement. 
 
 "There's nothing daintier than hand- 
 work. Get out the waists, Debby, and I'll 
 take a few stitches. I always like to feel 
 that I have a little interest in Hester." 
 
 "You always will have, Eva. Hester 
 feels the same toward you. I believe, after 
 me, that she loves you. I told her about
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 295 
 
 going to school next winter. She likes the 
 idea of school well enough, but declares she 
 will not leave me." 
 
 Her face lighted up. Hester's words had 
 pleased her more than any other thing the 
 girl could have done. She left the room 
 to get the sewing, leaving her guest alone 
 for a few minutes. 
 
 Miss Richards was in a dilemma. Debby 
 did not know then of what had occurred in 
 Stout's store the previous Saturday morn- 
 ing! The story was the property of the 
 entire town, and had been rolled between 
 hundreds of tongues and turned about like 
 a delectable morsel, while she who was the 
 most vitally interested knew nothing of 
 the matter. Miss Richards understood the 
 reason for this. No one would have come 
 to Debby with this story, for she was one 
 of whom many stood in awe, while Hester 
 had kept the matter to herself, lest her aunt 
 should be unnecessarily worried. 
 
 "There may nothing come of it," thought
 
 296 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 Miss Richards. "The Stouts may have acted 
 so for some purpose of their own, and with no 
 idea of carrying the matter further." 
 
 Debby came in at this with her arms 
 filled with shirt-waists. 
 
 "If you will make French knots, Eva," 
 she said, "I shall be glad. Mine never look 
 quite as well as yours." 
 
 Miss Richards consented, and soon the 
 two women were interested in the sewing, 
 with now and then a sentence by way of 
 conversation. 
 
 "I had a letter this week which was 
 rather out of the ordinary," said Debby, 
 pausing, as she snapped a new thread from 
 the spool. 
 
 Miss Richards looked up from her work, 
 her face expressing her interest. 
 
 "From Abner Stout. He wished to see 
 me on a matter of business, and asked me 
 to call at his store." 
 
 "Did you, Debby?" There was a trace 
 of anxiety in Eva Richards's voice.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 297 
 
 "Scarcely. I have no business interests 
 with him. If he wishes to see me, he knows 
 where I live. I sent him word to that 
 effect." 
 
 "When was that?" 
 
 "I mailed the letter Tuesday morning." 
 
 "And this is Friday. Has he called here 
 yet?" 
 
 "No, I fancy he will not. No doubt he 
 had some goods in the store he thought he 
 might be able to persuade me into taking. 
 I'm confident that his business was of no 
 more importance than that. Don't you 
 fancy so?" 
 
 Miss Richards made no reply. But her 
 lack of response awakened no suspicion in 
 Debby's mind. 
 
 The conversation languished, for Miss 
 Richards's mind was busy with her ques- 
 tion of ethics, as to whether she should or 
 should not make known to her friend the 
 business which Abner Stout might have in 
 common with her. To touch upon an-
 
 298 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 other's personal affairs is a delicate matter, 
 and Eva Richards questioned what was best 
 to do, and hesitated between two decisions. 
 
 But the decision was taken from her. 
 Debby looked up from her work, and across 
 the field to the road over the hill, along the 
 mountain side. " Another carriage coming 
 over Paddy's Run road," she said. "I 
 wonder if it is coming here. If it is, I'll 
 have this as a reception day." She laughed 
 lightly as she added: "Perhaps it is Abner 
 Stout coming to pay me a visit. If it is, 
 I'm sure I shall be overwhelmed with the 
 honor. You must assist me to receive him 
 with due ceremony, Eva." 
 
 Miss Richards laid down her sewing. Her 
 hands trembled with nervousness. "It may 
 be, Debby. It may be, and if it is, I must 
 tell you what his business is. It is not 
 right that you should meet him unpre- 
 pared. He's too subtle, too crafty, for you 
 to deal with. I must tell you why he 
 comes."
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 299 
 
 "Yes," said Debby Alden. She threaded 
 her needle and took a buttonhole stitch as 
 firmly and as evenly as though her guest 
 had made no comment more pretentious 
 than one on the conditions of the weather. 
 "Yes," she repeated, for Miss Richards had 
 hesitated. 
 
 "I thought you knew. I gave no thought 
 but Hester would come directly home to 
 tell you. Poor child, I suspect she wished 
 to spare you, and perhaps she did not 
 believe it after all." 
 
 Then without interruption she told Debby 
 Alden of the scene between Hester and 
 Abner Stout, and how Doctor Heins had 
 led the girls away and had spoken sharply 
 to the man. 
 
 Debby Alden listened without comment. 
 She had continued her buttonhole-making 
 while the story was told. The sole expres- 
 sion of the anger and indignation which 
 were filling her heart was shown in the 
 quick, sharp way in which she drew her
 
 300 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 thread. Miss Richards understood her well, 
 and expected nothing more than this. 
 
 "I felt that you must be prepared when 
 you met this man, or I would not have 
 told you," said Miss Richards, as she con- 
 cluded the story. 
 
 "I understand. I understand." 
 
 Laying aside her work, Debby moved 
 nearer to the window, that she might 
 watch the progress of the carriage as it 
 by turns appeared and disappeared as the 
 road rose on the brow of the hill or lay 
 hidden in the depressions of the valley. 
 
 "They have turned down between here 
 and Bowermans 1 ," she said at last. "One 
 of us is to be favored." She did not leave 
 her place at the window until she saw that 
 the carriage had stopped at her own gate. 
 
 "You are right, Eva. Abner Stout and 
 his son, Joel, in all the glory of bright ties 
 and plaid suits are about to honor us with 
 a call. They have hired a livery rig. My ! 
 what extravagance ! "
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 301 
 
 Miss Alden opened the door in response 
 to their knock, and the two men entered 
 without invitation, selected the easiest 
 chairs in the room, and seated themselves, 
 while Debby Alden stood looking upon 
 them with an inscrutable smile upon her 
 lips and a dignity of manner which would 
 have put to rout the self-assertive manners 
 of less confident persons. 
 
 They had arrayed themselves regardless 
 of expense. They had done so with the 
 intent of impressing Miss Alden. They im- 
 pressed, but not just in the way they 
 thought. She observed each detail of their 
 attire, for it clamored aloud to be noticed; 
 the room became filled with the odor of a 
 powerful scent. As their hands jangled 
 their many-sealed watch chains, it was evi- 
 dent that their nails were in mourning for 
 the death of an orange-wood stick, a file, 
 and a brush. 
 
 "I got your letter Tuesday," began 
 Abner. His present position was so un-
 
 302 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 usual that it confused him. A perspiration 
 broke upon him. He mopped his brow, 
 and the odor of musk was wafted with the 
 wave of his handkerchief. If only Miss 
 Alden, grave and serene and quiet, would 
 not stand and look at him! He repeated 
 his statement with a slight variation in 
 order of the words. 
 
 "Your letter reached me Tuesday." 
 
 "So I suppose. The United States mail 
 is generally reliable." 
 
 "You said that we would find you home 
 when we came." 
 
 "So I remember having written. My 
 being present now proves the truth of 
 my statement." 
 
 This was too much for Abner. He could 
 not grasp the gentle irony of such speech. 
 He had dealt with many people, but never 
 one who spoke so enigmatically, and smiled 
 so inscrutably as Miss Debby Alden. He 
 knew no precedent in the dealing with such 
 people. For the time he was disconcerted,
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 303 
 
 and blurted out, "I suppose Rut hie that 
 is, Hester, told you that we talked with 
 her?" 
 
 "Miss Hester and I have never discussed 
 you in any way. There has never been 
 occasion to do so." 
 
 "Didn't she say what business was 
 bringing us here?" 
 
 "As I have said, my niece and I have 
 never discussed you. Therefore it would 
 be impossible for her to tell me the reason 
 for this call, even should it chance that 
 she knew it." 
 
 Abner smiled sardonically. Not for one 
 instant did he believe that Hester Alden 
 had not related in detail all that had tran- 
 spired that Saturday morning. He pressed 
 his thin lips, and looked at Miss Alden with 
 a sneer. 
 
 "She knows it all right from A to Z, 
 and you do, too. I see no use in trying to 
 pretend you don't. The truth's bound to 
 come out sooner or later. I'll see that it
 
 304 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 does. You've kept my little girl for fifteen 
 years, and now I mean to have her." Then 
 feeling that a show of emotion would be 
 in keeping with his part, he let his head 
 fall on his breast, assumed what he thought 
 was a sorrowful expression ; which was not 
 dissimilar to that which a starving wolf 
 might assume when it was desirous of win- 
 ning the confidence of a young lamb. "No 
 one knows how dreadful these fifteen years 
 have been to me," he said brokenly. "No 
 one knows how I feel about this." 
 
 The serenity of Miss Alden was not dis- 
 turbed. Feeling that some reply was ex- 
 pected of her, she said calmly, "If you felt 
 as bad as you look, it must have been dread- 
 ful." 
 
 She had no sooner spoken than the double 
 meaning in her words came to her. She 
 had not intended saying all that the speech 
 implied. She could not restrain a smile. 
 She glanced quickly at Miss Richards and 
 saw that her eyes were twinkling.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 305 
 
 Although Abner Stout had spent his life 
 in America, and Joel had been educated in 
 its great public school system, neither were 
 able to grasp the subtleties of its humor. 
 Miss Alden's words were accepted in good 
 part. 
 
 "Yes; that's just how I felt. I have 
 spent fifteen years grieving over the loss of 
 that child, and here she's been comfortable 
 all this time. You did wrong, Miss Alden, 
 in not publishing in the papers about the 
 child and her mother. I don't doubt that 
 the law would hold you guilty of fraud. 
 However, that is past and gone. You may 
 have acted in ignorance. But whatever 
 led you to it, I'm willing to overlook it all. 
 All that I can think of now is that the girl 
 known as Hester Alden is my little daughter, 
 Ruth. I know that you'll be glad to hear 
 that the fatherless has found a father." 
 
 "Well, no, Mr. Stout. I cannot honestly 
 say that such a piece of news would awaken 
 any such feeling."
 
 306 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "No?" He looked upon her in surprise 
 as though to say: "Is it possible? Do you 
 lack all natural feeling? Are you less than 
 human?" 
 
 She returned his furtive glance with a 
 steady gaze. He let his head sink upon 
 his breast as if overcome by her lack of 
 proper feeling. 
 
 "Haven't I made it plain to you?" he 
 continued after a moment's pause. "This 
 girl you call Hester Alden is my child 
 Ruth. She is the child of my wife Eliza 
 who was killed at the crossing. Ruth must 
 come to her father's house. There'll be 
 room for her. There is no one, Miss Alden, 
 so near as your own flesh and blood." 
 
 "I agree heartily with you, Mr. Stout. 
 No one can be so dear to us as our own 
 people." 
 
 Abner, believing that such a concession 
 was a show of weakness, became encouraged 
 and continued his talk, interspersing it with 
 many gestures and sidewise airing of his
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 307 
 
 hands. In the earnestness of his conver- 
 sation he drew nearer and nearer to Debby 
 Alden, until he stood directly before her, 
 his sharp eyes peering up into her face, 
 and his talon-like fingers almost touching 
 her. Debby Alden drew herself erect and 
 moved back. The man was too self-satisfied 
 to read the repulsion which her movement 
 manifested. But Joel understood. He laid 
 a detaining hand upon his father's arm, 
 and, drawing him back, took up the thread 
 of conversation himself. "My father is so 
 excited that he forgets himself. What he 
 means to say, Miss Alden, is that he's 
 ready to take Ruth that is, Hester, and 
 take care of her as he does his other chil- 
 dren. It will be a great saving to you, as 
 it costs something to keep a girl her age. 
 Father knows that, but he'll do what's 
 right for Rut hie." 
 
 "He is surely very kind very generous," 
 Debby Alden replied. 
 
 "Of course, we know you'll miss her and
 
 308 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 hate to part with her, but then, there's the 
 money it has cost to keep her. There's no 
 use of your having the trouble longer. 
 This is Friday. If Hester could come to 
 her new home Saturday evening " 
 
 " Sabbath, her first day at home! How 
 lovely! How appropriate!" cried Abner, 
 rubbing his hands together. 
 
 "I will drive down for her myself. I 
 will not ask her to walk." 
 
 "I would not take that trouble. Con- 
 sider the livery bill," said Miss Alden, dryly. 
 
 But Joel explained that on such an occa- 
 sion as this, money would not be considered. 
 Hester would receive a royal welcome and 
 be given her proper place in the household 
 of Abner Stout. 
 
 Miss Alden allowed them to finish their 
 story before she addressed them. "You 
 have talked a great deal of nonsense. Hes- 
 ter Alden is Hester Alden, and will remain 
 so. I cannot understand your reason for 
 coming to me with such a story, but I take
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 309 
 
 it for granted that you have some purpose 
 in view. The subject is stopped right here, 
 also your discussion of it among the people 
 who come to your store. If you so much 
 as address the child again, I shall take 
 means to prevent her being annoyed. If 
 that is all the business you have with me, 
 I'll bid you good afternoon." 
 
 She moved to the outside door and laid 
 her hand on the knob, as about to open it 
 for the egress of the callers. But the two 
 were not to be put aside so. Abner straight- 
 ened his shoulders and said sharply: "We 
 will not go. We will not be put off in this 
 way. There's a law, madam. Remember 
 that there is a law which will put aside 
 your weak words." 
 
 Again Joel calmed him, and, turning to 
 Miss Alden, said, " You think we are talking, 
 but we mean to have our little Rut hie. If 
 you give her up without trouble, very well, 
 but if you don't, then we'll have the law 
 make you give her up. We've friends in
 
 310 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 New York who knew my mother and all 
 about the time she disappeared. We can 
 prove that she was the woman who was 
 killed and brought here. We'll prove it." 
 
 "Do you think so?" Miss Alden showed 
 admirable self-control. She was not so 
 much alarmed as she was angry. 
 
 She continued, as she opened wide the 
 door: " Prove it if you can. I am quite 
 sure that you cannot do so. For/' with a 
 sweet smile and gracious bow, "I know 
 more about Hester's people than you sus- 
 pect. Not a drop of your blood is in her 
 veins." 
 
 "I shall have the law on you. I shall 
 employ a lawyer." 
 
 "As you will, but it seems a pity to 
 waste a fee. Good afternoon." 
 
 They would have said more, but Debby 
 did not wait to hear. She closed the door 
 after her, and turned to Miss Richards. 
 
 "Are you surprised at my discourtesy?" 
 she asked with a smile. "Those people
 
 "I KNOW MORE ABOUT HESTER'S PEOPLE THAN YOU SUSPECT." 
 
 Page 310.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 311 
 
 have always been offensive to me, but when 
 they enter my house ready with lies for 
 my undoing, they merit more than dis- 
 courtesy." 
 
 "But, Debby, are you sure? It couldn't 
 be possible that these people are correct?" 
 
 " Utterly impossible. Does Hester look 
 or act as they do? Does she show one of 
 their traits?" 
 
 "No, but" 
 
 " There is no question about it. I am 
 sure of my statement. Hester hasn't one 
 drop of Stout blood in her veins. But 
 we've spent the greater part of the after- 
 noon in the discussion. I must see to my 
 dinner, if you will excuse me." 
 
 The freshman class was dismissed early 
 Friday afternoon. Hester Alden was trudg- 
 ing along over the hill when she saw a 
 carriage come down the lane between her 
 home and the Bowermans'. She felt at once 
 that it must be Abner Stout, and her heart 
 failed her. In a few minutes the carriage
 
 312 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 passed her. Joel was driving, while Abner 
 was talking excitedly and gesticulating with 
 both hands, the palms upturned. She 
 glanced at him and hurried on. As she 
 entered the kitchen, Debby Alden was just 
 taking the chicken from the oven. She 
 looked up and smiled. 
 
 " You're in time, Hester. You did not 
 have much of a lunch to-day, so I thought 
 I'd have an early dinner. Miss Richards is 
 in the living-room, Hester. Go in and 
 speak to her." 
 
 Hester had stood like one dumfounded. 
 She could not account for her Aunt Debby's 
 lightness of manner and cheerfulness of 
 voice. Without a word she passed into 
 the living-room. 
 
 Miss Richards observed the troubled look 
 in the girl's eye, and understood the reason. 
 She arose to greet her. 
 
 "Your friends have been here, Hester, 
 and your Aunt Debby has sent them right 
 about. Don't give them another serious
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 313 
 
 thought. But this evening, after I'm gone, 
 tell your Aunt Debby what happened last 
 week. It is right that she should know." 
 She drew Hester to her and kissed her. At 
 the words the troubled look left the girl's 
 eyes, and she gave a sigh of relief.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 T^EBBY ALDEN did a great deal of 
 *-^ thinking during the days which fol- 
 lowed, but she did not put her thoughts 
 into action, as she wished to be on the de- 
 fensive rather than the offensive side should 
 the subject of Hester's parentage again be 
 brought up. She knew not what course 
 Abner Stout might take. She did not be- 
 lieve one word of their story, yet she could 
 not understand why they should wish to 
 take Hester into their family. She had a 
 feeling that something lay back of their 
 action, and determined that she would keep 
 herself in touch with all they did, in the 
 hope of discovering the reason for this 
 scheme. 
 
 She was not long left in doubt as to the 
 stand they would take. Within a week she 
 
 314
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 315 
 
 received a formal notice from Hinter and 
 Hendig, attorneys-at-law, asking her to ap- 
 pear before them and give reason for the 
 detention in her home of one Ruth Stout, 
 generally known as Hester Alden. The 
 date for her appearance was fixed for the 
 following Saturday morning at eleven-thirty. 
 
 Debby read the letter at the supper table, 
 for Hester, as usual, had brought the mail 
 home with her. She smiled grimly, and 
 after a moment's hesitation tossed the single 
 sheet of paper across to Hester. 
 
 "There's interesting reading for you," 
 she said. Hester read and then looked up 
 in alarm. "You will not let them take 
 me, Aunt Debby? I will not go with 
 them." 
 
 "Don't give that a thought. There is 
 not a possibility of your going. I'm sorry 
 for them that they employed Hinter and 
 Hendig. They will have a pretty fee to 
 pay. Giving up money is worse on Abner 
 Stout than drawing blood."
 
 316 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 "They must think they can make me go, 
 Aunt Debby, or they would not employ 
 such men. Perhaps they know more than 
 they told you. They may know " 
 
 "One thing they do not know, Hessie. 
 That one thing, no one but myself knows. 
 I have no fear of what either Abner Stout 
 or his son Joel can do." 
 
 She dropped the subject then and asked 
 Hester concerning the lessons of the day. 
 They had been uncertain regarding a sen- 
 tence in Latin, and Debby wished to 
 know how the Latin teacher had trans- 
 lated it. 
 
 The subject of what Abner Stout might 
 do was not brought up again until Friday 
 morning. Despite her aunt's encourage- 
 ment, Hester was worried. She could not 
 understand why these men should care to 
 claim her unless she really belonged to them. 
 This lack of understanding made her fearful. 
 Then, too, she was inclined to believe that 
 her Aunt Debby's confidence was partly
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 317 
 
 assumed for her encouragement. She tried 
 to keep her mind upon her lessons, but her 
 efforts resulted in failure. Her recitations 
 were scarcely worthy of the name. Miss 
 Watson understood, and made the way 
 easier for her by explaining matters to the 
 other teachers. 
 
 Jane Orr and Janet Collum walked with 
 her on her way home, and brought out their 
 gayest spirits, and kept them on dress-pa- 
 rade for Hester's benefit. She could not be 
 dull in their company, and before she knew 
 what was happening the Stouts were for- 
 gotten and she was laughing as light-hearted 
 and merry as the others. 
 
 When Hester started to school Friday 
 morning, Debby Alden came out to the 
 porch and handed her two notes enclosed 
 in small envelopes. "One to Mrs. Orr and 
 one to Mrs. Collum, Hessie. Give them to 
 the girls to carry to their mothers. I've 
 asked permission for Jane and Janet to 
 spend the day with you. You know I
 
 must be in town to-morrow, and it will be 
 dull for you to be alone." 
 
 ^May I go with you, Aunt Debby? 
 I'll worry dreadfully while you are gone." 
 
 "That would be very foolish, to worry 
 about nothing. I cannot see that you will 
 gain by it. No, Hester; you may not go. 
 Now, don't look so at me or I shall say 
 yes when my judgment says the other 
 thing." She put her hands before her eyes as 
 though to shut out the face, then laughed and 
 turned toward the door. But before entering 
 she turned to smile and wave good-by. 
 
 Kate Bowerman's ears had been tickled 
 with the news of the disturbance which 
 Abner Stout was about to make. She set 
 forth this Friday morning on what she 
 called a visit of sympathy for Debby Alden. 
 She found her in the kitchen, rolling out a 
 batch of cookies, while a heap of some 
 fresh from the oven were spread out on the 
 bread cloth on the table to cool. 
 
 Kate came in without knocking, and
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 319 
 
 seating herself near the table helped her- 
 self to a cookie. "Sour milk?" she asked 
 by way of greeting. 
 
 "Good morning, Kate. Yes, I used sour 
 milk and soda. I like it better." 
 
 "I can always taste soda," was the re- 
 joinder. "I've never seen the cook yet 
 who could fool me on soda. It always 
 leaves a sort of slippery taste." She had 
 finished her cookie by this time, and reached 
 for another. 
 
 Debby did not reply. She had long since 
 learned the wisdom of keeping quiet when 
 the issue was of as little importance as this. 
 Then, too, she knew Kate's weakness in 
 always taking the opposite side of any 
 question. She did not doubt that had she 
 told Kate that baking-powder had been 
 used, Kate would have begun an argument 
 in favor of soda. 
 
 Mrs. Bowerman talked for some minutes 
 on the subject, munching cookies all the 
 while, and then she turned to Debby with
 
 320 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the remark, "I hear you are having trouble 
 with the Stouts." 
 
 "You've been misinformed. I'm not 
 having trouble with them." She rolled out 
 another ovenful of cakes and prepared to 
 cut them. 
 
 "You haven't!" Kate looked incredu- 
 lous. "Well, from all the reports that I've 
 heard, you must be having a peck of trouble 
 with them." 
 
 "Not a bit. On the contrary, they are 
 having trouble with me." 
 
 Kate sniffed, stuck out her tongue as 
 was her habit when surprised or excited. 
 But she had come over there to sympathize 
 with Debby Alden, and sympathize she 
 would, whether Debby desired it or not. 
 
 "Well, either way you put it, it's bad 
 enough. It would have been an excellent 
 thing, Debby Alden, if you had listened to 
 my advice years ago. I was against you 
 keeping the child. You know that. Here, 
 after all your trouble and expense, it turns
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 321 
 
 out that she belongs to that dirty, low set 
 of people. It wouldn't have seemed so bad 
 if you'd discovered her parents and found 
 them to be good reliable folks. But your 
 time and money wasted on ' She did 
 not finish her sentence, but made a gesture 
 of disgust as she reached forth to take an- 
 other cookie. 
 
 Debby made no reply. She rolled her 
 dough with more than her usual amount of 
 energy, and cut the cakes with a manner 
 indicating that she was putting her power 
 of self-control to the test. Kate, heedless 
 of the signs, continued: "If she belonged to 
 one of the good old families, it would have 
 been different. I set store by what stock 
 folks come from. There's nothing like old 
 families, I say. Don't you agree to that, 
 Debby?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, if they're not so old that they're 
 mouldy," she replied, with seeming indif- 
 ference. "When it comes to that, I prefer 
 
 new ones."
 
 322 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 She stooped before the oven, dish towel 
 in hand. Her cheeks were flushed with 
 heat. 
 
 ''You've a sharp tongue to-day, Debby. 
 Do for pity's sake learn to control it, or 
 you'll be ugly-tempered before you are an 
 old woman. I've always disliked that kind 
 of old folks, and I've watched myself like a 
 hawk. But to go back to our subject 
 about Hester's being a Stout. Do you 
 know, I've noticed the resemblance for 
 years, but I hated to speak " 
 
 "Then do not do it if you have disliked 
 it so. As far as Hester is concerned, she is 
 an Alden nothing more nor less. Not a 
 word that you can say or leave unsaid can 
 alter that in the least. So why not drop 
 the subject, Kate?" 
 
 "My! but you're touchy this morning, 
 Debby. A neighbor cannot come in with 
 a word of sympathy but you flare up like a 
 house afire." She rose, and wrapping her 
 shawl about her, moved toward the door.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 323 
 
 "There's no use of trying to talk with you 
 in such a humor; I'll go." 
 
 "Come again, Kate, when Hester is not 
 the subject to be discussed." Repenting 
 of her hasty speech, she added, as she 
 piled a dish high with cakes: "Take these 
 home for Sam's dinner. He used to like 
 my sour-cream cookies." 
 
 So the treaty of peace was signed be- 
 tween them, and Kate went home by way 
 of the lane, lest her plate of cakes should 
 suffer should she attempt climbing the 
 fences. 
 
 Janet and Jane came home from school 
 with Hester. They were rejoicing in the 
 possession of several new recipes, and were 
 eager to try them. 
 
 "Mother wouldn't care if I tried them 
 at home," said Janet, "but the cook's so 
 cranky about our going into the kitchen. 
 Edith Rank wrote this recipe for me. She 
 says it's fine. There's not another girl in 
 school who can make fudge like Edith."
 
 324 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 " There's no cook here to bother us," 
 said Debby. "You may try the whole 
 batch of recipes." 
 
 "I said Aunt Debby wouldn't care," said 
 Jane, addressing Janet. 
 
 "Thank goodness, there's no cook to 
 fear!" cried Janet. "Let's begin the in- 
 stant we have finished supper, and, Aunt 
 Debby, let us have supper early." 
 
 There was no refusing Janet. Her plans 
 were carried out. Debby Alden took part 
 in the making of the fudge and caramels as 
 though she, too, were going through a new 
 experience of the freedom of the kitchen. 
 Janet and Jane understood without explana- 
 tion the reason for their invitation at this 
 particular time. They were so overflow- 
 ing with energy and high spirits that Hester 
 was well employed keeping up with them. 
 
 Debby Alden started forth to town im- 
 mediately after breakfast the following 
 morning. The three girls went with her to 
 the gate.
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 325 
 
 " We'll have a lovely dinner ready for 
 you," was Jane's parting words. "I'll get 
 it myself." 
 
 Janet groaned. "You had better bring 
 some dyspepsia tablets along, Aunt Debby, 
 if Jane does the cooking. I'll bake a cake, 
 myself. You'll be sure of one good bite." 
 
 It was Jane's turn to groan. 
 
 "If you intend eating Janet's cake, you 
 had better bring a doctor with you. Dys- 
 pepsia tablets would count nothing against 
 her angel-food cake." 
 
 "I did not say I would make an angel- 
 food cake." 
 
 "No, but your cake would make an angel 
 of any one who would eat it." 
 
 With the laughter following such mild 
 bantering of each other, Debby Alden left 
 them and went into town. 
 
 Her first visit was to Doctor Heins. He 
 knew what had taken place during the last 
 week, and expected her visit. He ushered 
 her into his private office, saw that she
 
 326 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 was seated, and after adjusting his glasses 
 peered at her and began the conversation 
 with, "Well, what are we going to do about 
 Hester?" 
 
 "They can do nothing, Doctor. But 
 their efforts have set me thinking. While I 
 am living, I can settle such matters. But 
 sometime the question of Hester's people 
 must come up again. It must come up. 
 Some day she must know, and the papers 
 must be so arranged that it will be attended 
 to whether I am here or not." 
 
 "Then you are sure she does not belong 
 to the Stouts?" 
 
 "Quite sure. I know it, and you do 
 also, Doctor Heins." 
 
 He blinked, cleaned his glasses, and 
 looked at her with surprise. 
 
 "Indeed, Debby Alden, I know nothing 
 at all about it, and never for one moment 
 did I suspect that you did." 
 
 "Yes, you know as much as I." She 
 paused a moment, and then resting her
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 327 
 
 arms on the office table, she leaned over 
 and spoke to him in a tone of voice and 
 expression quite different from the inde- 
 pendent, self-reliant, fearless ones which 
 marked the Aldens. 
 
 "You, as a doctor, hear many things in 
 confidence. Because I believe I can trust 
 you, I am going to bring to your mind 
 several incidents of the time you came to 
 my home, when Hester's mother was 
 brought there. Do you remember what it 
 was you said as you held the dead woman's 
 hands in yours?" 
 
 "I do not, Debby. I have so much of 
 that work." 
 
 "I remember." She paused again, and 
 then bending closer to him, in a voice 
 almost a whisper, repeated his words of 
 fifteen years before. He looked perplexed. 
 "Does it not come to you that there might 
 be something else to cause the condition 
 which you remarked?" she said. 
 
 His expression changed. "Why, of
 
 328 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 course. I gave it no thought. But you 
 are right, Debby. And you knew this from 
 that time?" 
 
 "I discovered it from something which 
 occurred while she was sitting at my table. 
 There is no question about it." 
 
 " There cannot be. Then the advertise- 
 ment for the child's people was a misrepre- 
 sentation. No wonder no one ever came 
 to claim her." 
 
 "I did not attend to the advertising. I 
 did not misrepresent the matter. The town 
 officers attended to that." 
 
 "Then she is not a Stout. What will you 
 do to convince them? Will you tell them 
 who she is?" 
 
 "No. The story would be abroad before 
 the day had passed. Mr. Laffler has always 
 attended to my business affairs. He will 
 attend the meeting with Hintner and Hen- 
 dig. He attended to the matter when I 
 legally adopted Hester." 
 
 "You really adopted her? Well, that
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 329 
 
 clinches the matter for Abner. He could 
 not take her from you, even were she the 
 Ruth he claims her to be. We never knew, 
 Debby, whether you attended to having 
 the papers drawn up or not. You never 
 mentioned the matter to any one." 
 
 "I did not know that my affairs would 
 interest any one," she said. "My purpose 
 here to-day was not to tell you that. But 
 knowing what you do of Hester's mother, 
 you understand that sometime my girl 
 must know. If she should ever think of 
 marrying, she would have to be told." 
 
 "Yes, yes. It would not do at all. But 
 how are you going to mend matters?" 
 
 "You and I may be gone before that 
 time. I wish you to write down and sign 
 what you know of the child's mother. I 
 will do the same. I will have those papers 
 put away with the injunction that they 
 must be read when she reaches the age of 
 discretion." 
 
 The doctor nodded his approval of the
 
 330 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 plan. "I'll attend to that at once, Debby. 
 I'll bring the paper to you before Monday." 
 
 "Very well. I am to meet Mr. Laffler 
 at his office. I presume he is through with 
 the conference by this time." 
 
 On her way to the lawyer's office she met 
 Abner and his son. The elder man was 
 sawing the air sidewise with his upturned 
 palms, his shoulders were hunched, and his 
 sharp face stuck forward. As he passed 
 Miss Alden, he gave her a look in which 
 hatred, fear, and admiration were alike in 
 evidence. 
 
 On arriving at the office, Miss Alden found 
 that there had been no difficulty in Mr. 
 Laffler's way. Hintner and Hendig, on 
 being informed that Hester had been legally 
 adopted, dropped the case at once. It 
 may have been that they were glad to do 
 so, for they were not in sympathy with 
 Abner Stout and his method of business, 
 and they believed, with the majority of the 
 townspeople, that Hester was happier and
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 331 
 
 better with Debby Alden than she could be 
 with the other family. 
 
 Debby started home immediately. She 
 appreciated Hester's feelings during the 
 morning. The girls had had dinner pre- 
 pared for some time, and were eagerly 
 watching from the windows for her coming. 
 As Debby turned from the main road, Jane 
 saw her first. With a tact born of unselfish- 
 ness, she cried: " There she is! Hester, 
 run to meet her while Janet and I serve 
 the dinner." 
 
 Hester was already from the kitchen 
 
 and flying down the garden path. The two 
 
 met at the gate. Hester flung her arms 
 
 about Miss Alden. "Tell me, Aunt Debby, 
 
 -did" 
 
 She could not finish. Her fear of the 
 answer was so great that her lips trembled 
 and her eyes filled with tears. Debby 
 Alden laughed and drew Hester's arm 
 about her, holding her hand in her own. 
 "No, they didn't, and they never will," she
 
 332 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 replied, nodding her head gayly. " Didn't 
 I tell you, silly child, that there was noth- 
 ing to fear? The court gave you to me 
 with the name of Alden. The Stouts, 
 from a mere whim of their own, cannot 
 take you from me. So," with a pressure 
 of the hand, "you are compelled to stay 
 with me, whether you wish to or not." 
 
 "Oh!" Then, as might be expected of 
 a girl who would not cry when there was 
 reason enough for tears, Hester sobbed 
 aloud, but her face was smile-wreathed all 
 the while. Debby let her have her cry 
 out. They had come to the steps of the 
 side porch, and stood there for a moment, 
 Hester leaning her head against Debby 
 Alden's shoulder and with Debby Alden's 
 arms about her. When she was able to 
 control herself, she looked up and asked: 
 "Aunt Debby, will you tell me something? 
 Do I belong to those people? Am I Joel's 
 sister?" 
 
 "No; you are not, and they know it. I
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 333 
 
 cannot understand why they wished to take 
 you from me. No doubt they had a selfish 
 reason back of their efforts." She waited 
 a moment. The time was one suitable for 
 confidence. 
 
 "There is one matter I must speak to 
 you about, Hester, and then we'll never 
 mention the subject again. I and Doctor 
 Heins know something about your mother's 
 people that no one else knows or needs to 
 know. I may not always be with you, so 
 I have made provisions for that. I will 
 give Mr. Laffler a written account which 
 Doctor Heins and I have signed. But I 
 do not wish you to read that, Hester, un- 
 less it is absolutely necessary. I'd much 
 prefer that you would remain in ignorance 
 of your people. Yet, sometime, the occa- 
 sion may arise when it will be best for you 
 to know. I wish you would never marry, 
 Hester; but if the time comes when you 
 give serious thought to such matters, I will 
 tell you of your mother, or you may read
 
 334 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 the paper if I am not here. Perhaps my 
 ideas seem peculiar to you, Hester. But 
 all my thought and my effort is to do the 
 best for you. Will you trust and believe 
 in me, Hester?" 
 
 "To the end of the world, Aunt Debby. 
 Why should I not? You took me in, a 
 nameless, helpless child, and gave me the 
 very best of your life, even to the name 
 which has always been honored and re- 
 spected. Don't you think I have known 
 for a long while what sacrifices you have 
 made? That name, Aunt Debby, is as 
 dear to me as to you, and I promise you I 
 will suffer anything before I bring dishonor 
 or shame to it. Hester Palmer Alden. 
 That was the name you loved best your 
 own mother's. I'm proud of it every time 
 I write it. Trust you!" She leaned her 
 soft cheek against Debby Alden's. "Not 
 trust you, who have done everything for me, 
 and for whom I have done nothing ? Oh ! 
 Aunt Debby!"
 
 THE COMING OF HESTER 335 
 
 "Done nothing for me!" Debby Alden 
 said the words softly and tenderly, and 
 smiled as she said them. She looked back 
 over the fifteen years and saw what Hester 
 had done for her. She saw herself as she 
 was that morning when the stranger came 
 to the door. She had been an old woman 
 at twenty-five, narrow in her views of life, 
 careless of her language, knowing nothing 
 but the daily routine of housework, with no 
 vital, human interest to draw her from 
 herself. There had come fifteen years of 
 study and discipline with Hester, the friend- 
 ship of young girls and of women who 
 lived and worked not worked merely. 
 She was a young girl now at forty, young 
 in spirits, ambitions, and looks. Her horizon 
 had broadened. She could not only see the 
 flowers at her feet, but she had caught the 
 glow of Aurora's rosy fingers on the eastern 
 hilltops, and saw in every shooting star the 
 sacrifice of Berenice. 
 
 This came to Debby Alden as she stood
 
 336 THE COMING OF HESTER 
 
 with Hester's cheek pressed to hers. A 
 soft light came to her eyes. She turned, 
 and taking the girl's face between her hands 
 looked at her with a strange new light in 
 her eyes, as she said: "Done nothing for 
 me? I have had fifteen years of love and 
 tenderness from my little girl. Each day 
 has been filled with happiness; my heart 
 has grown greater and my mind keener. 
 The narrow way where I was walking has 
 grown broader and higher ever since the 
 Coming of Hester."
 
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 village in which we first find her, and comes into 
 larger living and the bestowal of modest "advan- 
 tages." She is a shy country-bred child, but she observes, imitates and 
 applies the best of her own life and the .exercise of loving and homely 
 qualities brings her to a desirable plane. 
 
 " It is a perfect book for children from ten to fifteen years of age, or even 
 older." Universalist Leader, Boston. 
 
 "The book is a good one for growing^ girls. Would to Heaven there were 
 more of which one might say the same. It is quite above the level of the ordinary 
 book of its kind." Cincinnati Times Star. 
 
 Hortense 
 
 By EDNA A. FOSTER Illustrated 
 byMaryAyer 12 mo Cloth $1.00 
 
 MISS FOSTER has here a book of unusual 
 excellence, whether viewed as a tale of 
 entertainment for a child's reading or a valuable 
 and suggestive study for the education of those 
 who have to do with children. The impulsive 
 little Hortense wins the reader's sympathy at 
 once, and the experiences of the well-meaning 
 young lady relative who attempts to train her up 
 according to set rules for well-regulated children 
 are very interesting. 
 
 "We would strongly advise all mothers of growing boys and girls to hasten 
 to procure a copy of this delightful book for the home library and, above all, to 
 make a point of reading it carefully themselves before turning it over to the 
 juveniles." Designer, New York, N. Y. 
 
 " It is a truthful and discerning study of a gifted child, and should be read by 
 all who have children under their care. It is probably the best new girl's book of 
 the year." Springfield (Mass.) Republican. 
 
 For tale at all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt 
 of price by the publishers 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE, & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON
 
 WHEN GRANDMAMMA 
 WAS FOURTEEN 
 
 By MARION HARLAND 
 
 WITH FOUR FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND NUMEROUS PICTURES 
 IN THE TEXT PRICE $1.2$ 
 
 Later adventures of the heroine of 
 "WHEN GRANDMAMMA WAS NEW.- 
 
 THOSE who recall this noted author's delightful story, "When 
 Grandmamma was New," will be glad to hear that in this 
 book are the adventures of the heroine at a later period. 
 Through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Molly Burwell, the reader 
 sees much that is quaint, amusing and pathetic in ante-bellum Rich- 
 mond, and the story has all the charm of manner and rich humanity 
 which are characteristic of Marion Harland. All healthy- hearted 
 children will delight in the story, and so will their parents. 
 
 WHEN GRANDMAMMA WAS NEW 
 
 The Story of a Virginia Girlhood in the Forties 
 By MARION HARLAND 12 mo Illustrated Price $1.25 
 
 The BOSTON JOURNAL says: 
 
 " If only one might read it first with the trained enjoyment of the 
 ' frown-up ' mind that is ' at leisure from itself,' and then if one might with, 
 draw into ten-year-old-dom once more and seek the shadow of the friendly 
 apple-tree, and revel in it all over again, taste it all just as the child tastes, 
 and And it luscious! For this book has charm and piquancy. And it is in 
 just this vivid remembrance of a child's mental workings, in just the avoid- 
 ance of all ' writing down ' to the supposed level of a child's mind, that 
 this story has its rare attractiveness. It is bright, winsome, and magnetic." 
 
 The INTERIOR, Chicago, says: 
 
 11 ' Grandmamma ' may have charmed other folks, has charmed them all, 
 incontrovertibly, but she has never tried harder to be vivid and dramatic 
 and entertaining, and to leave a sweet kernal of application, withal, than in 
 these memory-tales of a sunny childhood on a big Virginia plantation. It is 
 a book which will delight, not children alone, but all such as have the child 
 heart and a tender memory of when they were ' new.' " 
 
 AT ALL BOOKSELLERS, OR SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT 
 OF PRICE BY THE PUBLISHERS 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON
 
 Our Own Land Series 
 
 By EVERETT T. TOMLINSON 
 
 Illustrated Cloth, i2mo $1.50 each 
 
 FOUR BOYS IN THE YELLOWSTONE 
 
 T7"OUR boy friends who chance to represent respectively the northern, 
 southern, eastern, and western sections of our country, join in a trip up 
 the Great Lakes to Duluth, where they take a private car furnished by the 
 father of one of them and go on to the world-famous Yellowtsone Park, 
 in which they have an abundance of adventure and enjoyment. The 
 spirited illustrations by Mr. Edwards are worthy of special mention. 
 
 "The book has a decided value in awakening in young American! an interest 
 in some of the marvels of their own land." The Interior, Chicago. 
 
 FOUR BOYS IN THE LAND OF COTTON 
 
 HTHE four boys spend their next long vaca- 
 tion in a southern tour, which begins in 
 Virginia, thence to the Mississippi river, and 
 on through Arkansas to Indian Territory. 
 They come to appreciate their own country by 
 seeing it, and learn history by visiting historic 
 places. Above all, they have a good time, 
 and so will every one who reads this book. 
 
 "The next best thing to visiting these places 
 yourself is to hear about them from Mr. Tomlin. 
 son." Providence News. 
 
 FOUR BOYS INTHE 
 [AND OF COTTON 
 
 E.t.TOMUNSON 
 
 FOUR BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI 
 
 "THE four friends of the previous volumes are in camp on the Arkansas 
 River, and are so fascinated by good comradeship and interesting 
 sights and experiences that they prolong their travelling by a most enviable 
 trip on the mighty Mississippi. What they miss rinding out or enjoying 
 would not be worth mentioning. 
 
 "They are likable lads and Ihe story of their holiday is a vastly entertaining and 
 instructive one for boys." Chicago Daily Ne-ws. 
 
 For salt by all bookseller* or seat postpaid 00 receipt of 
 price by the publishers 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000072138 1