As the hart panteth

Chapter 35: CHAPTER VI.

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About This Book

The novel is structured in three stages—childhood, adolescence, and womanhood—and follows a young woman raised on a Southern estate as she matures. Early scenes emphasize domestic detail, a close bond with an elderly relative, and the girl's musical gift as a bridge to family memory and an absent mother. As she grows, the narrative examines duties, social hierarchies, and the lingering effects of a past conflict on private life. Themes include grief, moral formation, and the transition from sheltered youth to adult responsibility, while episodic episodes trace changing relationships and choices that shape her character.

CHAPTER VI.

Esther’s health was returning, and with it her strength. Her pride and her spirit, both, were fired. There was one thing left to her in her grief—concealment. She bound this thought to her heart, and held it close—so close. She was a soldier’s daughter, and came of a stock whose fortitude in defeat had been even more splendid than their valor in war. To her the secret of love had been harshly told, but she would hear it with courage. In the swiftest current of destiny, she would show her womanly strength.