"Have the People done wrong?
Have you--have you been called elsewhere ?" At the last dread possibility her voice faltered.
But the Prophet stood cold and almost rigid.

At last, by an immense effort, he seemed to gather himself together for some tremendous end.
"Enid," he said, gravely, "I don't know how much you know of life, but I presume you know very little.

I presume that--and shall act on the presumption.

I shall not expect--even ask--any leniency of you.
"I came here this evening to tell you something that will alter your opinion of me so effectually that nothing hereafter can reinstate me in your mind." He spoke slowly and deliberately, without tremor or falter.
Whatever of struggle lay behind his words, it lay with the past.

It was evident as he stood there in the pretty, luxurious room, that he possessed a purpose, and that he held to it without thought of a retrograde step.
"I have come to make a confession," he said, quietly.