Christian Christiansson could not trust himself to reply, for the Bishop's praise added a new bitterness to his remorse, so he stooped over the old man's hand and kissed it.
The Bishop was pleased and touched. "How charming he is! How perfectly charming!" he said, as he put on his overcoat in the porch. "He reminds me of some one I've met somewhere."
"Me, too," said the Rector.
"Those beautiful manners, that captivating smile, and that voice that goes through and through you!"
"Does he resemble--or is it only because we have been talking at table----"
"You mean poor young----"
"Yes."
"Ah me!" said the Bishop as he opened the door. "What brave things he might have done if Heaven had willed it!"
"He might have been another Christian Christiansson by this time," said the Rector.
"Poor Stephen!" said the Bishop.