Esther | Page 6

"The orthodox are the
ragers."
"Never mind the orthodox," said Hazard. "I will look after them. Tell
me about the Pagans. I felt like St. Paul preaching at Athens the God
whom they ignorantly worshiped."
"I took with me the sternest little Pagan I know, my cousin, Esther
Dudley," said Strong; "and the only question she asked was whether
you believed it all."
"She hit the mark at the first shot," answered Hazard. "I must make
them all ask that question. Tell me about your cousin. Who is she? Her
name sounds familiar."
"As familiar as Hawthorne," replied Strong. "One of his tales is called
after it. Her father comes from a branch of the old Puritan Dudleys, and
took a fancy to the name when he met it in Hawthorne's story. You
never heard of them before because you have been always away from
New York, and when you were here they happened to be away. You
know that half a dozen women run this city, and my aunt, Mrs. Murray,
is one of the half-dozen. She is training Esther to take her place when
she retires. I want you to know my Uncle Dudley and my cousin. I am
going to have a little tea-party for them in my rooms, and you must
help me with it."
Mr. Hazard asked only to have it put off until the week after the next
because of his engagements, and hardly had they fixed the day when
another caller appeared.
He was a man of their own age, so quiet and subdued in manner, and so
delicate in feature, that he would have been unnoticed in any ordinary
group, and shoved aside into a corner. He seemed to face life with an
effort; his light-brown eyes had an uneasy look as though they wanted
to rest on something that should be less hard and real than what they

saw. He was not handsome; his mouth was a little sensual; his
yellowish beard was ragged. He was apt to be silent until his shyness
wore off, when he became a rapid, nervous talker, full of theories and
schemes, which he changed from one day to another, but which were
always quite complete and convincing for the moment. At times he had
long fits of moodiness and would not open his mouth for days. At other
times he sought society and sat up all night talking, planning,
discussing, drinking, smoking, living on bread and cheese or whatever
happened to be within reach, and sleeping whenever he happened to
feel in the humor for it. Rule or method he had none, and his friends
had for years given up the attempt to control him. They took it for
granted that he would soon kill himself with his ill-regulated existence.
Hazard thought that his lungs would give way, and Strong insisted that
his brain was the weak spot, and no one ventured to hope that he would
long hold out, but he lived on in defiance of them.
"Good evening, Wharton," said the clergyman. "I have been trying to
find out from Strong what the heathen think of me. Tell us now the art
view of the case. How are you satisfied?"
"Tell me what you were sketching in church," said Strong. "Was it not
the new martyrdom of St. Stephen?"
"No," answered Wharton quietly. "It was my own. I found I could not
look up; I knew how bad my own work was, and I could not stand
seeing it; so I drew my own martyrdom rather than make a scandal by
leaving the church."
"Did you hear my sermon?" asked the clergyman.
"I don't remember," answered Wharton vaguely; "what was it about?"
Strong and Hazard broke into a laugh which roused him to the energy
of self-defense.
"I never could listen," he said. "It is a slow and stupid faculty. An
artist's business is only to see, and to-day I could see nothing but my
own things which are all bad. The whole church is bad. It is not

altogether worth a bit of Japanese enamel that I have brought round
here this evening to show Strong."
He searched first in one pocket, then in another, until he found what he
wanted in the pocket of his overcoat, and a warm discussion at once
began between him and Strong, who declared that he had a better piece.
"Mine was given me by a Daimio, in Kiusiu," said Strong. "It is the
best old bit you ever saw. Come round to my rooms a week from
to-morrow at five o'clock in the afternoon, and I will show you all my
new japs. The Dudleys are coming to see them, and my aunt Mrs.
Murray, and Hazard has promised to come."
"I saw you had Miss Dudley