She fell back again upon what others do. I had made no progress in dispossessing her of the idea that the wrong of another mitigated her own.
"The command reads, 'Thou shalt not steal.' If the men that keep those large stores steal, you are not responsible for it. It is only for what you do that you will be called to give an account."
"Line upon line," I thought. "I hope you will never come in here again."
"I never mean to," and she nodded her head as much as to say, I'll be bright enough to avoid that.
"I hope you will never again do the things that brought you here."
"I shall, ma'am. For every day I'm in here, I'll have five dollars out of 'em."
She did not say this so vauntingly as she had made the assertion at first. Still there was the spirit of retaliation, of revenge, upon some one for her punishment.
"In doing that, who do you think you will spite?"
She stopped to think a moment. The question had taken her at unawares.
"I don't know. Them that put me here."