cely spoke, except to ask him whether he took cream and sugar in
his tea. When she handed his cup to him, she said, very low, "Will you
taste it, and see if it is right?"

He was so conscious of the tremor of her voice and hand that he made
haste to reassure her, sipping his tea with much politeness of manner;
as he did so, she said, suddenly, and with compelling loudness, "Is
it--agreeable?"

John Fenn, startled, looked at her over the rim of his cup. "Very;
very indeed," he said, quickly. But he instantly drank some water. "It
is, perhaps, a little strong," he said, blinking. Then, having
qualified his politeness for conscience' sake, he drank all the bitter
tea for human kindness' sake--for evidently Miss Philippa had taken
pains to give him what he might like. After that she did not speak,
but her face grew very rosy while she sat in silence listening to her
father and their guest. Henry Roberts forgot to eat, in the passion of
his theological arguments, but as supper proceeded he found his
antagonist less alert than usual; the minister defended his own
doctrines instead of attacking those of his host; he even admitted, a
little listlessly, that if the Power fell upon him, if he himself spoke
in a strange tongue, then perhaps he would believe--"that is, if I
could be sure I was not out of my mind at the time," he qualified,
dully. Philippa took no part in the discussion; it would not have been
thought becoming in her to do so; but indeed, she hardly heard what the
two men were saying. She helped old Hannah carry away the dishes, and
then sat down by the table and drew the lamp near her so that she could
sew; she sat there smiling a little, dimpling even, and looking down at
her seam; she did not notice that John Fenn was being worsted, or that
once he failed altogether to reply, and sat in unprotesting silence
under Henry Roberts's rapt remembrances. A curious blackness had
settled under his eyes, and twice he passed his hand across his lips.

"They are numb," he said, in surprised apology to his host. A moment
later he shivered violently, beads of sweat burst out on his forehead,
and the color swept from his face. He started up, staring wildly about
him; he tried to speak, but his words stumbled into incoherent
babbling. It was all so sudden, his rising, then falling back into his
chair, then slipping sidewise and crumpling up upon the floor, all the
while stammering unmeaning words--that Henry Roberts sat