'No, papa; and none the worse for that. Room enough for you, and room enough for me; and quite room enough for Barker, who has to take care of it all. I like the house very much.' 'What sort of a street is it?' Must that question come up to-night! Esther hesitated. 'I thought, sir, the street was of less importance to us than the home. It is _very_ comfortable; and the rent is so moderate that we can pay our way and be at ease. Papa, I would not like the finest house in the world, if I had to run in debt to live in it.' 'What is the name of the street?' 'Major Street' 'Whereabouts is it? In the darkness I could not see where we were going.' 'Papa, it is in the east part of the city, not very far from the river. Fulton Market is not very far off either, which is convenient.' 'Who lives here?' asked the colonel, with a gathering frown on his brow. 'I know none of the people; nor even their names.' 'Of course not! but you know, I suppose, what sort of people they are?' 'They are plain people, papa; they are not of our class. They seem to be decent people.' 'Decent? What do you mean by decent?' 'Papa, I mean not disorderly people; not disreputable. And is not that enough for us, papa? Oh, papa, does it matter what the people are, so long as our house is nice and pretty and warm, and the low rent just relieves us from all our difficulties? Papa, do be pleased with it! I think it is the very best thing we could have done.' 'Esther, there are certain things that one owes to oneself.' 'Yes, sir; but must we not pay our debts to other people first?' 'Debts? We were not in debt to anybody!' 'Yes, papa, to more than one; and I saw no way out of the difficulty till I heard of this house. And I am so relieved now--you cannot think with what a relief;--if only _you_ are pleased, dear papa.' He must know so much of the truth, Esther said to herself with rapid calculation. The colonel did not look pleased, it must be confessed. All the prettiness and pleasantness on which Esther had counted to produce a favourable impression seemed to fail of its effect; indeed, seemed not to be seen. The colonel leaned his head on his hand and uttered something very like a groan. 'So this is what we have come to!' he said. 'You do not know what you have done, Esther.' Esther said nothing to that. Her throat seemed to be choked. She looked at her beautiful little fire, and had some trouble to keep tears from starting. 'My dear, you did it for the best, I do not doubt,' her father added presently. 'I only regret that I was not consulted before an irrevocable step was taken.' Esther could find nothing to answer. 'It is quite true that a man remains himself, whatever he does that is not morally wrong; it is true that our real dignity is not changed; nevertheless, people pass in the world not for what they are, but for what they seem to be.' 'Oh, papa, do you think that!' Esther cried. But the colonel went on, not heeding her.