young, and had a power of attraction accorded to few women, it was
well known in Hester's very wide circle of indiscriminate acquaintances
that she had long ago vowed a vow, far more solemn than Bet's in her
ignorance, to take to herself no mate, and to share her life with no
one. Hester's mate that shou'd have been had gone away far over the
ocean and never come back again. He had been drowned at sea; and
although she made no fuss and paraded her sorrow before no one, yet
other men saw it would be useless to think of her as a wife. She was
not aparticularly industrious woman, and was perfectly indifferent to
the comforts of life. She kept her room clean and neat, because,
notwithstanding the queer medley which her character presented, she
had certain refinements about her, cropping up in all sorts of queer
directions--one of them lay in her great regard for personal neatness,
the other in her wonderful gift of song. Hester could laugh at a coarse
joke, but it was quite impossible for her to lend her voice to singing
a coarse song. She liked old ballads best, and her choice of music was
quite wonderful for a person of her education. If she had a strong
love or passion it was for popularity. She liked to see the young lads
or lasses crowding around her, begging for a song, or asking her for
advice or help of any kind. She was a good worker, and got plenty to
do from one of the beet boys' outfitting shops in Castle Street; but
she was always extremely poor, and often knew what it was to be hungry,
for she gave her money away quite as fast as she earned it. Her
beautiful voice, although only used for the benefit of the lowest of
the people, had brought to her more than one offer of lucrative
employment from the managers of music-halls and cheap theatres. But
Hester would have nothing to say to such proposals.

"I ain't keen about money," she would answer, "and I won't sell my
voice. Somehow, it would take the joy out of it."