HESTER

A STORY OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE

BY

MRS. OLIPHANT

IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. I

London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1883
The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved

LONDON

R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor,

BREAD STREET HILL.

CONTENTS.

HESTER.

HESTER.

CHAPTER I.

VERNON'S.

The Banking House of the Vernons was known through all the Home Counties as only second to the Bank of England in stability and strength. That is to say, the people who knew about such matters, the business people, the professional classes, and those who considered themselves to be acquainted with the world, allowed that it ought to be considered second: but this opinion was not shared by the greater proportion of its clients, the shopkeepers in Redborough and the adjacent towns, the farmers of a wide district, and all the smaller people whose many united littles make up so much wealth. To them Vernon's bank was the emblem of stability, the impersonation of solid and substantial wealth. It had risen to its height of fame under John Vernon, the grandfather of the present head of the