an
imaginary commentary that she was constantly framing, and the words that she
most frequently gave him - for she dramatised under the inspiration of a sadness
slightly bitter - were of this kind: »That is clearly your destiny - to be
aristocratic, to be rich. I always saw that our lots lay widely apart. You are
not fit for poverty, or any work of difficulty. But remember what I once said to
you about a vision of consequences; take care where your fortune leads you.«
    Her father had not spoken since they had ended their study and discussion of
the story and the evidence as it was presented to them. Into this he had entered
with his usual penetrating activity; but he was so accustomed to the impersonal
study of narrative, that even in these exceptional moments the habit of half a
century asserted itself, and he seemed sometimes not to distinguish the case of
Esther's inheritance from a story in ancient history, until some detail recalled
him to the profound feeling that a great, great change might be coming over the
life of this child who was so close to him. At last he relapsed into total
silence, and for some time Esther was not moved to interrupt it. He had sunk
back in his chair, with his hand locked in hers, and was pursuing a sort of
prayerful meditation: he lifted up no formal petition, but it was as if his soul
travelled again over the facts he had been considering in the company of a guide
ready to inspire and correct him. He was striving to purify his feeling in this
matter from selfish or worldly dross - a striving which is that prayer without
ceasing, sure to wrest an answer by its sublime importunity.
    There is no knowing how long they might have sat in this way, if it had not
been for the inevitable Lyddy reminding them dismally of dinner.
    »Yes, Lyddy, we come,« said Esther; and then, before moving -
    »Is there any advice you have in your mind for me, father?« The sense of awe
was growing in Esther. Her intensest life was no longer in her dreams, where she
made things to her own mind; she was moving in a world charged with forces.
    »Not yet, my dear - save this: that you will seek special illumination in
this juncture, and, above all, be watchful that your soul be not lifted up
within you by what, rightly considered, is rather an increase of charge, and a
call upon you to walk along a path which is indeed easy to the flesh, but
dangerous to the