"Then all about wanting to see the child was a pack of lies?" "No, they weren't lies. I wanted both mother and child--if I could get 'em, ye know. I'm telling you the unvarnished truth, Esther. I thought of the child as a way of getting you back; but little by little I began to take an interest in him, to wonder what he was like, and with thoughts of the boy came different thoughts of you, Esther, who is the mother of my boy. Then I wanted you both back; and I've thought of nothing else ever since." At that moment they reached the Metropolitan Railway, and William pressed forward to get the tickets. A subterraneous rumbling was heard, and they ran down the steps as fast as they could, and seeing them so near the ticket-collector held the door open for them, and just as the train was moving from the platform William pushed Esther into a second-class compartment. "We're in the wrong class," she cried. "No, we ain't; get in, get in," he shouted. And with the guard crying to him to desist, he hopped in after her, saying, "You very nearly made me miss the train. What 'ud you've done if the train had taken you away and left me behind?" The remark was not altogether a happy one. "Then you travel second-class?" Esther said. "Yes, I always travel second-class now; Peggy never would, but second seems to me quite good enough. I don't care about third, unless one is with a lot of pals, and can keep the carriage to ourselves. That's the way we manage it when we go down to Newmarket or Doncaster." They were alone in the compartment. William leaned forward and took her hand. "Try to forgive me, Esther." She drew her hand away; he got up, and sat down beside her, and put his arm around her waist. "No, no. I'll have none of that. All that sort of thing is over between us." He looked at her inquisitively, not knowing how to act. "I know you've had a hard time, Esther. Tell me about it. What did you do when you left Woodview?" He unfortunately added, "Did you ever meet any one since that you cared for?" The question irritated her, and she said, "It don't matter to you who I met or what I went through." The conversation paused. William spoke about the Barfields, and Esther could not but listen to the tale of what had happened at Woodview during the last eight years.