"Yes, Esther, I have looked over this world. Childhood is always
beautiful--always sweet to me--but my boy is without equal, and nearly
everybody admits it."

"He is not yours, David."

The man looks inquiringly.

"I have as good a right to love him as you have. I do love him."

The man has been eloquent and self-forgetful. The woman has lost her
command. Tears are coming in her eyes. Shame is mantling her cheeks.
David Lockwin is startled.

George Harpwood passes in the distance with Esther's mother on his arm.

"Esther, you know me, with all my faults. I think we could be happy
together--we three--you and I and the boy. Will you marry me? Will
you be a mother to my little boy? He is lonesome while I am gone!"

The matter is settled. It has come by surprise. If David Lockwin had
foreseen it, he would have left the field open to Harpwood.

If Esther Wandrell had foreseen it, she would have shunned David
Lockwin. It is her dearest hope, and yet--




CHAPTER II