She glanced at Juliet as she spoke.
"My satisfaction in teaching at the high school has been destroyed for me," she continued. "I cannot forget what has happened, cannot lose my sense that the thought of it is in the minds of others. I feel, if I do not hear, what is being said."
An uncomfortable silence followed. Juliet's head was bent. She was quivering with pain and indignation. Her mother dared not look at her. Hannah went on in her cold, firm tones—
"Miss Tucker understands my feeling, and she approves of what I have done, although she is very sorry. She advises me to apply for the headmistress-ship of a school at Leeds. It is not exactly a high school, but worked on the same lines. I hope, with her recommendation, I may obtain it."
"You need not go away, Hannah," exclaimed Juliet, starting up impetuously. "I will go away. It is better I should. I never ought to have come home. I am only a disgrace to you all now."
"If you go, I go also," exclaimed Mrs. Tracy excitedly. "You shall not leave me again, Juliet."
"That can easily be managed," said Hannah coolly. "Should I get this school, there will be an opening for Salome too; for there are boarders, and I shall need her to take charge of the housekeeping. So you and Juliet could live together where you please. That would be quite to her mind, I imagine."
"Let it be so, then," exclaimed Mrs. Tracy vehemently. "I, for one, shall be very happy. But, Hannah, I must say I think you are acting wrongly. You ought to stand by your sister, now she is under such a cloud, and help to bring things right. If you give up your post and go away, people will think the case worse than it is. They will imagine there is indeed cause for shame—"
"So there is, mother," broke in Juliet, "cause enough for shame. I am a girl who has lost her character, and for such there is no help!"
"Don't speak like that, Juliet. You will break my heart!" cried her mother, with tears. "It is not so bad as that; but if your own sister turns against you, people will think—anything."