"Some one is coming," he said; "I hear steps in the garden. You have escaped a menacing danger. I do not speak of being crushed beneath the hoofs of the horses; that would be as nothing compared with the other. You are saved, but the peril may threaten you again at any moment. However, it does not signify. _You are in my care._" With these words he turned upon his heel and vanished just as the door was thrown open. Esther found herself confronted by the more severe than anxious face of her cousin Reuben. With his youthful air, his light, fluffy hair and sombre eyes, he resembled one of those avenging angels whom the Lord sent to the guilty cities to pronounce their doom when the hour of repentance had passed and that of retribution had sounded. "At last!" he muttered in a bitter tone. "Were you alarmed about me? Has not a man been sent here with a message from Lady Vereker?" "Yes," answered Reuben with a derisive sneer; "that woman, whose very name is a reproach and a scandal, has had the goodness to assure us that you were in her charge. A strange guardian! Daniel was safer in the lions' den than Esther Woodville under Lady Vereker's wing!" "You have no idea what has happened? All London is insane over Rodney's victory. They are fighting and breaking windows; the streets are full of soldiers." "But what means this disguise?" "I swear to you it was the only means of passing through the crowds." "I should be glad to believe you," said Reuben, enveloping her in a glance of fire. "Oh, Esther! You who bear the predestined name, the chaste name of the woman who saved the people of God, you who ought to be as pure as the fountain of Gihon, as fresh as the rose of Sharon!" But Esther abbreviated the biblical effusion. "I must hasten to relieve my aunt's mind," she said. "I have advised her to retire without waiting for you." "That was wise. Good night, Reuben." "Good night. I am going to pray." "And I--am going to bed and to sleep." But she did not sleep as readily as she had anticipated. The events of the day and evening, Sir Joshua's guests, the gamblers at Brooks's with their shepherd hats, the dangers encountered, her new friend Bella, the mysterious personage who had, as it seemed, received orders to plan her ruin, yet had protected her,--all these conflicting subjects created a tumult in her brain. She cogitated upon the singular destiny which had cast her between the love of a Reuben and that of a Lord Mowbray, between a saint and a demon. And when at last she sank into the unconsciousness of sleep, between these two personalities, equally imperious and passionate, but actuated by an opposite sentiment, there glided the pale, melancholy visage of Francis Monday. CHAPTER V. A STRANGE EDUCATION.