He lay in that spare room, his troubles over, and the minister could see the face as he opened the Bible and arranged his different notices on the side of the desk as he had been in the habit of doing for ten years.
The service that morning contained a new element.

No one could remember when Henry Maxwell had preached in the morning without notes.

As a matter of fact he had done so occasionally when he first entered the ministry, but for a long time he had carefully written every word of his morning sermon, and nearly always his evening discourses as well.

It cannot be said that his sermon this morning was striking or impressive.

He talked with considerable hesitation.
It was evident that some great idea struggled in his thought for utterance, but it was not expressed in the theme he had chosen for his preaching.