"Oh! I am so glad you enjoyed going," she said, with evident relief.
"I did not intend to convey that impression; you infer more than my words warrant. I was thinking of other and quite irrelevant matters, and to be frank, really did not listen to the sermon. Do you attend church from a conviction that penance conduces to a sanitary improvement of the soul?"
"Penance? I do not exactly understand you, sir."
"I certainly have never seen you weep so bitterly; not even when I ruthlessly tore you from the kind sheltering arms of Mother Aloysius and Sister Angela. You appeared quite heartbroken. Was it contrition for your manifold transgressions?"
"Oh no, sir!"
"You are resolved not to appoint me your confessor?"
"Mr. Palma——" her voice faltered.
"Well, go on."
"I was very much distressed; it made my heart ache."
"So I perceived. But was it the bare church, or the minister, or my ward's sensitive conscience?"