The younger man went on, still flushing.
"She often sends you messages which I don't deliver. She has never forgotten that illness you nursed me through five years ago."
Father Algarcife shook his head slightly, his eyes on the flames that played among the coals.
"She must not exaggerate that," he answered.
Ellerslie opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking. His shyness had overcome him.
For a time they were silent, and then Father Algarcife looked up.
"John," he said.
"Yes?"
"If—if things should ever occur to—to shake your faith in me, you will always remember that I tried to do my best by the parish—that I tried to serve it as faithfully as Father Speares would have done?"
Ellerslie started.