Hester divined that, for some reason, Mr. Samuel had decided to accept her claim; and that for some reason equally occult he meant to give the clergyman no choice but to accept it. "Indeed?--er--yes, to be sure, I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Marvin," said Parson Endicott mellifluously, with a glance which seemed to distinguish Hester kindly from the ordinary furniture of the room. This was his habitual way of showing cordial goodwill to his social inferiors, and the poor man had lived to the age of fifty-six without guessing that they invariably saw through it. Having bestowed this glance of kindness upon Hester, he turned to Mr. Sam with another, which plainly asked how far (as one person of importance conferring with another) he might take it that the creature before them was a satisfactory creature. "You're in luck's way," said Mr. Sam, answering this look. "She's a Churchwoman." "My dear Mr. Rosewarne,"--Parson Endicott pressed the finger-tips of both hands together, holding them in front of his stomach--"I am gratified-- deeply gratified; but you must not suppose for one moment--h'm--whatever my faults, I take some credit to myself for broad-mindedness. A Churchwoman, eh?"--he beamed on Hester--"and in other respects, I hope, satisfactory?" "Quite." Mr. Sam turned to Hester. "Would you mind running over your qualifications again? To tell the truth, I've forgotten 'em." Hester, with an acute sense of shame, again rehearsed the list. "Quite so," said Parson Endicott, who had obviously not been listening. He turned to Mr. Sam with inquiry in his eye. "I think, perhaps--if Miss Marvin--" "I daresay she won't mind stepping into the next room," said Mr. Sam, turning his back on her, and calmly reseating himself. The parson glanced at Hester with polite inquiry, and, as she bowed, stepped to open the door for her. With head bent to hide the flush on her cheeks, she passed out into the great parlour. Now the great parlour overlooked the garden through three tall windows, of which Susannah had drawn down the blinds half-way and opened the lower sashes, so that the room seemed to Hester deliciously fresh and cool. It was filled, too, with the fragrance of a jarful of peonies, set accurately in the middle of the long bare table; and she stood for a moment--her sight yet misty with indignant, wounded pride--staring at the reflection of their crimson blooms in the polished mahogany.