There were many who had not testified , but every eye in the building followed the pastor 's accusing glance to the Bell pew . Mollie crimsoned with shame . Mrs. Bell cowered visibly . Although everybody looked thus at David Bell , nobody now expected him to testify . When he rose to his feet , a murmur of surprise passed over the audience , followed by a silence so complete as to be terrible . To David Bell it seemed to possess the awe of final judgment . Twice he opened his lips , and tried vainly to speak . The third time he succeeded ; but his voice sounded strangely in his own ears . He gripped the back of the pew before him with his knotty hands , and fixed his eyes unseeingly on the Christian Endeavor pledge that hung over the heads of the choir . `` Brethren and sisters , '' he said hoarsely , `` before I can say a word of Christian testimony here to-night I 've got something to confess . It 's been lying hard and heavy on my conscience ever since these meetings begun . As long as I kept silence about it I could n't get up and bear witness for Christ . Many of you have expected me to do it . Maybe I 've been a stumbling block to some of you . This season of revival has brought no blessing to me because of my sin , which I repented of , but tried to conceal . There has been a spiritual darkness over me . `` Friends and neighbors , I have always been held by you as an honest man . It was the shame of having you know I was not which has kept me back from open confession and testimony . Just afore these meetings commenced I come home from town one night and found that somebody had passed a counterfeit ten-dollar bill on me . Then Satan entered into me and possessed me .
When Mrs. Rachel Lynde come next day , collecting XXXXX foreign missions , I give her that ten dollar bill .
To about as at before by for from of since