Esther had not seen so much of their new acquaintance as her father had.  But she had begun to find him amusing, though he always opposed and criticised her, and looked at her as if he never saw a single detail about her person.  It seemed to Esther that he thought slightly of her.  “But, rude and queer as he is, I cannot say there is anything vulgar about him,” she said to herself.

One Sunday afternoon Felix Holt rapped at the door of Mr. Lyon’s house, although he could hear the voice of the minister in the chapel.

Esther was in the kitchen alone, reading a French romance, and she opened the door and invited him in.

He scoffed at her book, and as the talk went on, upbraided her for her vanity.  Finally he told her that he wanted her to change.  “Of course, I am a brute to say so,” he added.  “I ought to say you are perfect.  Another man would, perhaps; I can’t bear to see you going the way of the foolish women who spoil men’s lives.”

Mortification and anger filled Esther’s mind, and when Felix got up to say he was going, she returned his “good-bye” without even looking at him.

Only, when the door closed she burst into tears.  She revolted against his assumption of superiority....  Did he love her one little bit, and was that the reason why he wanted her to change?  But Esther was quite sure she could never love anyone who was so much of a pedagogue and a master.

Yet, a few weeks later, and Esther accepted willingly when Felix proposed a walk for the first time together.  That same afternoon he told her that she was very beautiful, and that he would never be rich:  he intended going away to some manufacturing town to lead the people to better things and this meant a life of poverty.

Something Esther said made Felix ask suddenly, “Can you imagine yourself choosing hardship as the better lot?”

“Yes, I can,” she answered, flushing over neck and brow.  They walked home very silently after that.  Felix struggling as a firm man struggles with a temptation, Esther struggling as a woman struggles with the yearning for some expression of love.

On the day of the election a mob of miners, primed with liquor by an unscrupulous agent of Transome’s, came into the town to hoot the Tory voters; and as the disturbance increased, Felix knowing that Mr. Lyon was away preaching went round to the minister’s house to reassure Esther.

“I am so thankful to see you,” she said eagerly.  He mentioned that the magistrates and constables were coming and that the town would be quieter.  His only fear was that drinking might inflame the mob again.

Again Felix told her of his renunciation of the ordinary hopes and ambitions of men, and at the same time tried to prove that he thought very highly of her.  He wanted her to know that her love was dear to him, and he felt that they must not marry—­to do so would be to ruin each other’s lives.