Esther Waters | Page 3

I could have been two years ago, but
mother did not like me to put on livery, and I don't know how I'll face
her when I come running down to go out with the carriage."
"Is the place vacant?" Esther asked, raising her eyes timidly, looking at
him sideways.
"Yes, Jim Story got the sack about a week ago. When he had taken a
drop he'd tell every blessed thing that was done in the stables. They'd
get him down to the 'Red Lion' for the purpose; of course the squire
couldn't stand that."
"And shall you take the place?"
"Yes. I'm not going to spend my life carrying parcels up and down the
King's Road, Brighton, if I can squeeze in here. It isn't so much the
berth that I care about, but the advantages, information fresh from the
fountain-head. You won't catch me chattering over the bar at the 'Red
Lion' and having every blessed word I say wired up to London and
printed next morning in all the papers."
Esther wondered what he was talking about, and, looking at him, she

saw a low, narrow forehead, a small, round head, a long nose, a pointed
chin, and rather hollow, bloodless cheeks. Notwithstanding the shallow
chest, he was powerfully built, the long arms could deal a swinging
blow. The low forehead and the lustreless eyes told of a slight,
unimaginative brain, but regular features and a look of natural honesty
made William Latch a man that ten men and eighteen women out of
twenty would like.
"I see you have got books in that bundle," he said at the end of a long
silence. "Fond of readin'?"
"They are mother's books," she replied, hastily. "I was afraid to leave
them at the station, for it would be easy for anyone to take one out, and
I should not miss it until I undid the bundle."
"Sarah Tucker--that's the upper-housemaid--will be after you to lend
them to her. She is a wonderful reader. She has read every story that
has come out in Bow Bells for the last three years, and you can't puzzle
her, try as you will. She knows all the names, can tell you which lord it
was that saved the girl from the carriage when the 'osses were tearing
like mad towards a precipice a 'undred feet deep, and all about the
baronet for whose sake the girl went out to drown herself in the
moonlight, I 'aven't read the books mesel', but Sarah and me are great
pals,"
Esther trembled lest he might ask her again if she were fond of reading;
she could not read. Noticing a change in the expression of her face, he
concluded that she was disappointed to hear that he liked Sarah and
regretted his indiscretion.
"Good friends, you know--no more. Sarah and me never hit it off; she
will worry me with the stories she reads. I don't know what is your taste,
but I likes something more practical; the little 'oss in there, he is more
to my taste." Fearing he might speak again of her books, she mustered
up courage and said--
"They told me at the station that the donkey-cart would bring up my
box."
"The donkey-cart isn't going to the station to-night--you'll want your
things, to be sure. I'll see the coachman; perhaps he is going down with
the trap. But, golly! it has gone the half-hour. I shall catch it for
keeping you talking, and my mother has been expecting you for the last
hour. She hasn't a soul to help her, and six people coming to dinner.

You must say the train was late."
"Let us go, then," cried Esther. "Will you show me the way?"
Over the iron gate which opened into the pleasure-ground, thick
branches of evergreen oaks made an arch of foliage, and between the
trees a glimpse was caught of the angles and urns of an Italian
house--distant about a hundred yards. A high brick wall separated the
pleasure-ground from the stables, and as William and Esther turned to
the left and walked up the roadway he explained that the numerous
buildings were stables. They passed by many doors, hearing the
trampling of horses and the rattling of chains. Then the roadway
opened into a handsome yard overlooked by the house, the back
premises of which had been lately rebuilt in red brick. There were
gables and ornamental porches, and through the large kitchen windows
the servants were seen passing to and fro. At the top of this yard was a
gate. It led into the park, and, like the other gate, was overhung by
bunched evergreens. A string of horses came towards this gate, and
William ran to open it. The horses were clothed in grey cloth. They