They stared at one another for a moment and then she looked away. She kept her eyes averted when she spoke.
"I've been a bad woman. I want to repent."
"Thank God! thank God! He has heard our prayers."
He turned to the two men.
"Leave me alone with her. Tell Mrs Davidson that our prayers have been answered."
They went out and closed the door behind them.
"Gee whizz," said the trader.
That night Dr Macphail could not get to sleep till late, and when he heard the missionary come upstairs he looked at his watch. It was two o'clock. But even then he did not go to bed at once, for through the wooden partition that separated their rooms he heard him praying aloud, till he himself, exhausted, fell asleep.
When he saw him next morning he was surprised at his appearance. He was paler than ever, tired, but his eyes shone with an inhuman fire. It looked as though he were filled with an overwhelming joy.
"I want you to go down presently and see Sadie," he said. "I can't hope that her body is better, but her soul—her soul is transformed."