"Then your religion is stronger than your love?"
It was. His Puritanism was ingrained with his very being. "My love is stronger on account of my religion," he said, warmly. "Can you not understand that reverence for God and a pure system of faith heighten and do not lessen one's moral obligation toward one's fellow creatures?"
"It has a reasonable sound," she said, wistfully, "but I do not understand fully about these things. Will you teach me?"
There was a flash of worshipful affection in the granite-coloured eyes behind his glasses. He enwrapped her in one ardent look, then, in subdued, glad eagerness, he launched himself on an explanation of the various tenets of his faith.
Not a word was lost on her. In a silence varied only by a brief occasional question, she walked slowly by his side over the lonely road, until finally they turned and retraced their steps toward the town.
He escorted her to his own door, then he left her, and she thoughtfully went in, and telling Mrs. Prymmer that her son had gone to the hotel to meet some mill official, she abstractedly partook of dainties urged on her by her staunch friend and admirer, Captain White.
"Will you please tell me when you are going to have your prayers this evening?" she said to him after supper.
He gave her a brief "Certainly," then, sitting down opposite Mrs. Prymmer, he devoted himself to summing up accounts in a note-book.
At ten o'clock he ran up-stairs and knocked at Derrice's door.
"Coming," she replied, and made haste to descend with him.