One day at the end of the week, she came in to her mother and found her with an open letter in her hand and a rather perplexed face.

"Is anything the matter, mama?" she asked.

"O my dear! I hardly know. No, nothing is the matter, but it is such a sudden thing to suggest. I have got a letter from Mr. Trelawny."

"O mama! then can he see again?"

"No, my dear. It was not written by him, but only at his dictation.

There is a good deal of reason in what he says, but it is all so unexpected."

"What is it, mama?"

"He asks if I will shut up the Hermitage for the winter, and come with you all and stay at the Crag."

"O mama! Why?"

"To keep him company, he says. To cheer him up. To make a little life about the old house for a poor blind man."

"But, mama, he isn"t going to be blind, is he?" cried Esther, distressed.

"I hope not indeed, dear. He has seen the oculist again, and hopes are held out--strong hopes, he says--that he will recover the sight of one eye, at least. But recovery will be slow, and it must not be forced, or he may lose his sight altogether. For the next few months he will have to be content to use other people"s eyes more than his own. Of course that is much better than being always blind. But the poor man feels it a good deal, one can see."

"And he wants us to go and stay with him?"

"That is what he asks--to stay for the winter months, and see how we get on. As he says, he is very dependent upon Mr. Earle, and it would be much more convenient if the boys were living in his house, so that the lessons could be given there; and then, as he cannot read or study or employ himself as he has been used to do, a silent house, with n.o.body to speak to for the greater part of the day, would be very dreary for him.

He says that he has no kinsfolk except ourselves. Your father was the last blood relation of whom he knows anything, and he seems to feel that we belong to him in a certain sort of way. What do you think about it, Esther, my dear? Do you think we ought to go?"

Esther"s face was quite flushed and eager.

"O mama, if we can help him, I think we ought!"

"He says we might bring Genefer as my maid, and make any arrangements we liked about the other servants, and he would see that the house and garden here were properly cared for. Of course, it would be a great saving of trouble and expense in a way, but it would not be quite like living at home. Mr. Trelawny would be the master, and we should all have to keep his rules. But that might be a good thing for the boys. I sometimes think they want a stronger hand over them."

"I think it would be a very good plan," said Esther; "they are getting so much better, and they are fond of Mr. Trelawny. He would make them obey, and they would like it. They always obey Mr. Earle now, and they like him better than anybody almost."

"It would be more the sort of life they have been accustomed to--a big house and a man"s authority," said Mrs. St. Aiden reflectively. "And Mr.

Trelawny is a sort of guardian to you, and has been a most kind friend to me since your father died. We must not forget that. He asks it as a favor to himself. You can read the letter if you like."

Esther did so, and looked up with the sparkle of tears in her eyes.

"O mama, you will go, won"t you?"

"I suppose so, dear, if you like the plan, and think you could all be happy there. As he says, it is a big house, and we should have our own rooms, and the boys" noise need not trouble him more than he cares about. I don"t think their father would mind. After all, it is only a long visit. He only asks us just for the winter months."

"He wants us to go as soon as we can," said Esther.

"Yes, you see he feels his blindness so much, and a merry houseful about him would cheer him up. Well, dear, would you like to run up and tell him that we will try the experiment? It will save me the trouble of writing, and I think he will like to hear it from your lips. And Mr.

Trelawny is always in a hurry to carry out his plans."

Esther smiled a little at that. She knew very well that Mr. Trelawny never waited an hour if he could help it. It was his impatience of delay that had caused the accident which had partly destroyed his sight, and might have caused his death.

"I should like to go, mama, if you like me to. I have done my lessons for to-day. The boys are having their navigation. I don"t do that with them."

"Well, then, run off, dear, with the answer. I don"t see how we could refuse. And I always think that this house in the winter is just a little damp. I shall be glad to be out of it before the fall of the leaf."

Esther had her hat in her hand, and was soon on her way to the Crag. How strange to think that before long she might be actually an inmate of that house! And how much stranger still that she was not a bit afraid of the prospect!

It was a beautiful afternoon--as warm as summer; and when Esther approached the house, she gave a little jump of surprise, for there was Mr. Trelawny lying on a couch on the terrace, his eyes still bandaged up so that he could see nothing, but at least he could breathe the fresh wind blowing softly off the sea, and Esther knew how he would like that.

She ran forward, forgetting all about her old shyness.

"O Mr. Trelawny, how nice for you to be out of doors!"

"Ha! is that my little Goldylocks?" said the invalid, stretching out the hand he could use. "So you have found your way up to the old blind man, have you? I suppose you have not brought me any letter from your mother yet. That would be too soon."

Esther clasped her two hands around that of Mr. Trelawny, and said,--

"Mama said I might run up and tell you. She has got your letter, and we think it so kind of you. We should like very much to come and pay you a nice long visit, if you don"t think we shall be in your way."

His strong fingers closed over her little hands in a tight grip; she could see that his mouth was smiling, and that there was pleasure in every line of his face.

"Is that so, little woman? Have you taken counsel together over the blind man"s request? Of course your mother would not settle anything so important without the leave of the "little manager.""

Esther did not mind being teased now, not one bit. She gave a little soft laugh as she answered,--

"We think it would be a very nice plan, if you like it too. I know the boys will be just delighted. They think this is the very nicest house in the whole place, and I think it will suit mama. She will enjoy this nice sunny terrace in fine weather, and the view of the sea. We can"t see a bit of the sea from our house."

"And will somebody else enjoy it too?" asked Mr. Trelawny. "What about my little Goldylocks herself?"

"Oh, I shall like it!" answered Esther softly, stroking the hand she held. "I think it is beautiful up here, and I like being useful. Do you think I can be useful to you, Uncle Robert, if I come?"

"I mean to make you very useful, little woman," he said. "It was partly for that reason I thought out the plan. I want a little niece or granddaughter of my own to wait upon me and take care of me. As I haven"t got one quite of my own, I have to do the next best thing, and try to steal one who will do instead."

A little while ago Esther would have shaken in her shoes at the notion of being stolen by Mr. Trelawny, but now she listened to these words with only a little thrill of pleasure.

"I should like to be your little granddaughter," she said. "You must tell me what you want me to do."

He drew her down beside him on the couch, and pa.s.sed his hand over her head.

"You will have to learn how to be eyes for me, for a little while at any rate, Goldylocks, and to do the same for me that the dog does for the blind man--lead me about, and take care that I don"t fall. Will that be a great nuisance, little woman?"

"Oh no! I like taking care of people," answered Esther earnestly; "only I am so sorry you want taking care of at all. But it won"t be for very long. You will be able to see again soon, won"t you?"

"I hope so, my little maid, I hope so. They give me good words when I ask the question myself. But they all tell me I must be patient--be patient; and, Esther, though I am an old man, and ought to have learned that lesson long ago, I find that I have not done so. I find it harder to be patient than anything else in the world, and it is harder to learn lessons when we are old than when we are young. Hallo! hallo!--what"s this?"

This exclamation was caused by Mr. Trelawny"s becoming aware of something warm and damp dropping upon his hand. Esther hastily dashed the drops from her eyes, but her old friend knew whence they had come, and something like a quiver pa.s.sed over his face.

"Child, child, you must not cry," he said.