"Would you?" he replied. "You might not like it."
"Is it the same as you apply to the heathen?"
"Not exactly."
Her eyes lowered before his, and she was seized with a sudden anxiety to direct the conversation into a fresh channel.
"Sit down, Mr. Alderbury, and tell me more about your converts," she said hastily.
"Very well, I will defer the conversion till a more suitable time and talk—of marriage."
Again she was startled. She glanced at him as he dropped into the seat he had vacated so abruptly. His self-possession was in no way disturbed.
"Marriage!" she repeated as the colour mounted.
He revelled in her sweet confusion; but had mercy.
"Yes; the marriage of one of my converts. A young man in the agricultural settlement wants to marry the daughter of a distant relative. The girl is still a heathen. Of course I had to say no, and counsel patience. We don't allow mixed marriages. I left him rather sad, as he knows the girl and is attached to her. Being pariahs they have been allowed to see something of each other."