David returned to his chair and looked across with a mixture of hesitancy and determination.
"I have never spoken to you about my expulsion—my unbelief."
After a painful pause she answered.
"You must be aware that I have noticed your silence. Perhaps you do not realize how much I have regretted it."
"You know why I have not?"
She did not answer.
"I have been afraid. It's the only thing in the world I've ever been afraid of."
"Why should you have been?"
"I dreaded to know how you might feel. It has caused a difficulty with every one so far. It separated me from my friends among the Bible students. It separated me from my professors, my pastor. It has alienated my father and mother. I did not know how you would regard it."
"Have I not known it all the time? Has it made any difference?"