‘Oh! yes, forgive me,’ she replied, as she rose and set a chair for her visitor at the opposite side of the little room.
‘Are you very much surprised to see me here, Rhoda?’ he commenced.
‘Yes! very! It is so unexpected. I don’t know what mother will say,’ replied the girl, in an uncertain tone.
‘I hope I may be able to relieve her mind. But you haven’t looked at me, Rhoda.’
She raised her eyes then, and gave a little exclamation of surprise.
‘Oh! what is changed in you? What have you done to yourself? You look so different!’
‘Cannot you see? I am in plain clothes.’
She recognised the alteration then. He wore a rough suit of grey tweed, such as gentlemen sport in the country, with a coloured tie, and a round hat.
‘You have discarded your cassock! What does this mean? Have you—can you really have left the Church?’
‘I have indeed, Rhoda! Whatever my friends or enemies may think of my determination, I have resolved to follow the dictates of my own conscience, and be accountable to no one for my actions except God.’