Page:Fletcher--Where Highways Cross.djvu/73

 during the interval. Elisabeth and Mally returned home together, Mally full of quaint remarks as to her master's learning and the bad behaviour of the children on the benches, Elisabeth silent and thoughtful. When Hepworth came home later in the evening he found Elisabeth laying his supper-table in the parlour. He sat down and watched her, and thought that he still perceived some signs in her face of the eagerness she had shown during the sermon in the afternoon. Presently the table preparations were completed, but Elisabeth lingered. She looked doubtfully at her master.

"I should like to ask you something, sir," she said diffidently. "It's been on my mind ever since this afternoon."

"What is it?" asked Hepworth.

"Do you believe all that you said this afternoon," she asked, regarding him with curiosity plainly shown in her eyes and face. "All of it?"

Hepworth looked at her and wondered.