That interview was very helpful to George Holland in making up his mind on the subject of the new Church.  He resigned his pastorate, greatly to the regret of the churchwardens; though no expression of such regret was ever heard from the bishop.

But then a bishop is supposed to have his feeling thoroughly under control.

This happened three weeks after the death of Stephen Linton, and during these weeks Herbert Courtland had never once asked to see Ella Linton.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

MARRIAGE IS THE PICTURESQUE GATEWAY LEADING TO A COMMONPLACE ESTATE.

So soon as Phyllis Ayrton had returned home, she got a letter from Herbert Courtland, asking her if she would be good enough to grant him an interview.  She replied at once that it would please her very much to see him on the following afternoon—­she was going to Scotland with her father in a week, if Parliament had risen by that time.

He came to her.  She was alone in the drawing room where she had always received him previously.

The servant had scarcely left the room before he had told her he had come to tell her that he loved her—­to ask her if he might hope to have some of her love in return.

He had not seated himself, nor had she.  They remained standing together in the middle of the room.  He had not even retained her hand.

“Why have you come to me—­to me?” she asked him.  Her face was pale and her lips, when he had been speaking to her, were firmly set.

“I have come to you, not because I am worthy of the priceless gift of your love,” said he, “but because you have taught me not merely to love you—­you have taught me what love itself is.  You have saved my soul.”

“No, no! do not say that; it pains me,” she cried.

“I cannot but say it; it is the truth.  You have saved me from a degradation such as you could not understand.  Great God! how should I feel to-day if you had not come forward to save me?”

He walked away from her.  He stood with his back turned to her, looking out of the window.

She remained where he had left her.  She did not speak.  Why should she speak?

He suddenly faced her once again.  The expression upon his face astonished her.  She had never before seen a man so completely in the power of a strong emotion.  She saw him making the attempt to speak, but not succeeding for some time.  Her heart was full of pity for him.

“You—­you cannot understand,” he managed to say.  “You cannot understand, and I cannot, I dare not, try to explain anything of the peril from which you snatched me.  You know nothing of the baseness, the cruelty, of a man who allows himself to be swayed by his own passions.  But you saved me—­you saved me!”

“I thank God for that,” she said slowly.  “But you must not come to me to ask me for my love.  It is not to me you should come.  It is for her who was ready to sacrifice everything for you.  You must go to her when the time comes, not now—­she has not recovered from her shock.”