"I've been thinking of you a good deal, Esther, in the last few days. I
want to ask you to marry me."
Esther did not answer.
"Will you?" he said.
"I can't; I'm very sorry; don't ask me."
"Why can't you?"
"If I told you I don't think you'd want to marry me. I suppose I'd better
tell you. I'm not the good woman you think me. I've got a child. There,
you have it now, and you can take your hook when you like."
It was her blunt, sullen nature that had spoken; she didn't care if he
left her on the spot--now he knew all and could do as he liked. At last,
he said--
"But you've repented, Esther?"
"I should think I had, and been punished too, enough for a dozen
children."
"Ah, then it wasn't lately?"
"Lately! It's nearly eight year ago."
"And all that time you've been a good woman?"
"Yes, I think I've been that."
"Then if--"
"I don't want no ifs. If I am not good enough for you, you can go
elsewhere and get better; I've had enough of reproaches."
"I did not mean to reproach you; I know that a woman's path is more
difficult to walk in than ours. It may not be a woman's fault if she
falls, but it is always a man's. He can always fly from temptation."
"Yet there isn't a man that can say he hasn't gone wrong."
"No, not all, Esther."
Esther looked him full in the face.
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