"What do you mean exactly?"
Pence smiled in a ghastly manner. "Can you not guess," said he, touching the linen rag round his head. "The blow I received when I fell on the fender has changed my feelings towards you."
"But how can a blow do that?" asked Bella, relieved but puzzled.
"I cannot say," faltered Pence, resting his aching head on one thin hand. "I really cannot say; my brain won't think just now."
"Then don't think and don't talk," said Bella, kindly placing a plump cushion at his back. "Rest quietly and I'll make you a cup of tea."
"You give me good for evil," said the preacher, flushing painfully.
"No, no!" replied the girl hastily, and remembering her share in his trouble. "You did me great honour in asking me to be your wife, though you were a trifle difficult in some ways. But now——"
"It is all gone; it is all gone. I assure you it is all gone!"
"What is all gone?"
"All my love for you; all my desire; all my mad infatuation. I like you as a friend, Miss Faith—I shall always like you as a friend—but I can never, never worship you again in the way I did."