"Do you wish me to repeat the message?"
"I wish to know, sir, that I have been mistaken. I cannot believe that what I have been told is true."
"It is the evil of the ungodly that they cannot answer straight. Do you wish me to repeat the message?"
"Yes, sir."
"It is very simple. My intimation was to the effect that I cannot perform any service over the deceased woman."
"The prayers for the dead—" exclaimed the old man imploringly.
"Are not for her!" said the minister, finishing the sentence sternly.
At these dreadful words Felix started forward to Lily's side; the young girl was trembling, and he feared she was about to fall. Indeed she would have fallen, but for his helping hand. Inward fire possessed the soul of the Reverend Emanuel Creamwell at the action of his son and his wrath was expressed in his face. Felix saw it, but did not heed it; his lips were firmly set as he yielded Lily to her grandfather's arms, who, as he bent over her, murmured,
"I would have spared you the pain, my darling! But I thought that your helplessness and your innocent face would have pleaded for us."
Then he turned to the minister. "Why do you refuse to perform the last rites over the body of my daughter?"