The Marriage of Esther. Guy Boothby

possibly my life. It is a faculty of mine to be always in debt to somebody. I may probably repay you when I can; in the meantime it will be better for us both if I endeavour to forget all about it."

      "Isn't that rather a strange way of talking?"

      "Very possibly. But you see I am a strange man. Nature has ordained that I should not be like other men. I don't know altogether whether I'm the worse for it. I'm a little weak after my trouble this morning; have you any objection to my sitting down?"

      "Take that seat, you'll find it more comfortable."

      She pointed to a loose canvas-backed chair near the steps. He smiled as he had done in the hut when he had looked at his image in the glass. The other chairs were hard-backed, and it proved that she had been thinking of his deformity when she chose this one. He seated himself and placed his hat on the floor beside him. She took in at a glance his pale, sensitive face, curious eyes, and long white fingers, and as she looked she came to a conclusion.

      "Your friend, Mr. Ellison, wants me to give you employment. Until a minute ago I had not made up my mind. Now I think I shall do so."

      "I knew you would."

      "How did you know it?"

      "By the way you dropped your hand on the back of that chair just now. Well, I'm very glad. It is good of you. You know nothing about us, however, remember that. Don't trust us too far until you are more certain of our honesty. Sir Walter Raleigh, I would have you not forget, says, 'No man is wise or safe but he that is honest.' It is for you to find our honesty out."

      "You talk as if you were taking me into your employ, instead of its being the other way about."

      "So you noticed it? I was just thinking the same thing myself. It's a habit of mine. Forgive it."

      "Somehow I think I shall like you. You talk in a way I'm not quite used to, but I fancy we shall hit it off together."

      "I make no promises. I have some big faults, but I'll do my best to amend them. You have heard of one of them."

      "I have, but how did you know?"

      "By your eyes and the way your lips curled when I used the word 'faults.' Yes, unhappily I am a drunkard. I need make no secret of it. I have fought against it, how hard you would never guess; but it beats me every time. It killed my first life, and I'm not quite sure it won't kill my second."

      "Your first life! What do you mean?"

      "Exactly what I say. I am a creature of two lives. You don't surely suppose I was always the beach-comber you see before you now?"

      "I did not think about it."

      "Forgive me! That is not quite true. It was one of the first thoughts in your mind when you saw me come out of the hut yonder."

      "How is it you can read my thoughts like this?"

      "Practice in the study of faces, that's all. Another bad habit."

      "But if I take you on you will give up the liquor, won't you? It seems such a pity that a man should throw himself away like that when there's so much in the world worth living for."

      "That's, of course, if there is. Suppose, for the sake of argument, there is nothing? Suppose that a man has forfeited all right to self-respect—suppose he has been kicked out of house and home, deprived of his honour, disowned even by those who once loved him best—would you think it foolish if he attempted to find a City of Refuge in the Land of Alcohol?"

      "Are you that man?"

      Her face grew very gentle and her voice soft, as she put the question.

      "I simply instance an example to confute your argument. May I change the subject? What is my work to be? Much must of course depend on that. Like the elephant, my strength is in my head rather than my hands, certainly not in my legs."

      "Our store-keeper and book-keeper left us a month ago. Since then I have been doing his work. Are you good at figures?"

      "Fairly; that sort of work would suit me admirably, and would, I believe, enable me to give you satisfaction. And, my friend——But here he comes to ask for himself."