The San Francisco call., 1904-08-07

she was mistaken. IS an English chub-
by-faced boy-in- buttons, whom she dis
covered in the hall, hastened to assure
her Esther could not altogether ac-
count for it, but the presence OF this
English lad reassured her. She asked
him who he was, and he answered 10
quaciously:
I'm Billy. miss: blacks the boots"
Then please to tell me what time it
is, Bnly?"
Billy wiped a very black hand upon
a cheek scarcely whittier
"It's ten o'clock" said he. "or eleven
call it somewhere betwixt and be-
tween, miss"
The intelligence was a little vague;
its deficiencies did not occur to Billy.
They won't say anything to you,
'csuse you're new" he went on. Il al
ways get up when 1 wakes, but that
amt early enough for 'em! You'll ex-
cuse me not blacking your boots, miss,
cause they're brown. 1 know l amt
done right-Billy never does!'
Esther assured Billy that he was a
paragon Of wisdom and went on into
the dining room. Madame Julia, whose
ample figure carried a dark green rid
ing habit well enough, sat already at
the table reading her letters: but Doc
tor Xavier was not there, nor had a
place been laid for him. Esther had
been prepared to apologize for her late
appearance, but Julia would not hear
of it. saying that it was Liberty Hall.
and that every one came down exactly
when he or she pdeased.
Il never dress until l wake: that's
Irish. my dear. but true. When you
get to my age, you'll snatch every hour
of sleep you can ard be glad of it.
Imagine il, l am thirty-three next
March, and every hair of my head is
beginning TO say. 'Passe. Passe.' In
five years time it will be somebody
elses hair and I shall be resigned"
Esther laughed with her and felt
greatly relieved. Whatever her doubts
had been when she was alone in her
own room, the presence Of these gentle
people invariably banished them. Here
was a woman, whom she had seen for
the first time yesterday, treating her
with greater kindness than she had
ever known in her life. The refine
ments of the household, the luxury of
her surroundings, never once troubled
Esther with any recognition of social
inferiority or dependence. She was re-
ceived just like any honored guest.
Madame Julia posed as a merry wo-
man of the world, who had an old
friend to entertain. She talked of balls
and theaters and of the friends she
had met in the Row that morning.
She promised Esther that they should
drive together at five O'Clock.
We'll go into the Park before din
ner; and 1 must try and persuade the
Doctor to take us TO the theater after
ward. He is dreadfully difficult. my
dear. When you are as old as 1 am,
you will say that all men are. If you
will, they won't; and if you won't
well, it depends upon their will! 1 am
one of the misera bles who have to
obey. I often wonder if any one in this
world is brave enough to contradict
my brother Francisco"
She did not know what these few
simple words meant to the young girl
who heard her. When that wooden
door closed upon Esther yesterday with
such a dismal cIang. 1t had seemed like
the door of some prison opening rarely
TO the world without. But if they were
TO drive in Hyde Park, if they were to
20 TO the theater, what possible cause
had she for alarm, Esther asked her
self Could she not leave the house
any day, go back If she would to Lon
don's solitude and the vortex of her
misfortunes? She knew that she could.
She was half afraid of her liberty.
The remembrance of that garret was
like that of some prison cell from
which a friendly hand had delivered
her She prayed God that she might
never go back there.
we will meet at lunch, my dear"
Julia continued. when breakfast was
done. and the list of the long letters
had been twice read. "Ycu must go
to my brother this morning and see if
you cannot help HIM He is waiting
for you in the laboratory. If you do
NOT feel equal to it. please tell me so,
and it shall be another day. But 1 am
sure he would be very glad if you went
this morning"
Esther said at once that she would
be delighted to go She had come to
the house to make herself useful. and
her habits of industry did not brook
delay To this Julia answered that her
brother would be well pleased; ana
waiting only to gather up her untidy
letters, she conducted Esther at once
across the quadrangle, and they stood
at the door of the laboratory. Esther
has confessed in later years that this
morning of waiting at the Doctors S
door was one she would never forget
TO her life's end. Hitherto, she had
been unable to imagine, in any way,
the services which Doctor Xavier
claimed of her. That they were of a
common kind, the house and its ap-
pointments forbade her to believe. If
they were secretarial duties nothing
would have been easier than to say so
at the first interview; but deeper mat
ters were hinted at, and now they were
TO be made known. Esther trembled
in spite of herself when she entered
that strange room. She knew from the
first that it was a clever mans holy of
boIies. bl,f the realitV SURPASSED her