"I did not ask you to."
"You and I alone know that, Mr. Johnson. No one else does. If I choose to confess the truth to the congregation you will be exonerated; if I say you accepted my help wittingly and willingly, there is nothing for you to do but to amend your position by saying that I am to marry you."
"Miss Arnott, you place me in a most difficult position."
"Be just. I also show you the way out of it."
"A way I cannot--I dare not take," said the minister, desperately.
Then the woman's passion got the better of her. She rose, furious. "Yet you dare to slight me--you reject my love which has saved you from disgrace! Oh, I know well that you loved Bithiah--that wretched heathen creature! But she is dead. And I am glad that she is dead, for now there can be no hope for your mad passion. You must forget her. You must marry me. You shall marry me!"
"I will not!" said Johnson, rising in his turn, and speaking every word distinctly. "You overstep the bounds of modesty, Miss Arnott. I do not love you. I never could love you. My heart is buried in the grave of Tera."
The woman turned pale, and sank back into her chair.
"Then is all my wickedness in vain," she moaned.
"What do you mean?" asked the minister. He was struck by the peculiarity of the phrase.