She turned to Mrs. Janney:
"If I had had the least idea of what was going to be done here, I would have tried to get to you and have thrown myself on your mercy. But I was completely unsuspecting and unprepared, and with Mr. Whitney as the judge, representing the law, I did not dare to tell the truth, I had to lie.
"As you saw, I lied as well as I could, puzzled at first, not knowing what you were getting at, to what point it was all leading. Then, when you caught me with the tapped message, I saw—I guessed how circumstances had woven a net about me. I realized there was nothing to be done but let you believe it, let you do what you wanted with me. You couldn't make me speak, and if I could stay silent till Florry was in Europe, hidden, lost in the chaos of a country at war, it would be all right."
She swept their faces with a glance, half pleading, half triumphant.
"She is there now—this morning Mr. Price had a cable from her. I have told this to Mr. Whitney as well as the rest because I have thought—shut up in O'Malley's flat I had much time for thinking things out straight and clear—that after my explanation, no one would want, no one would dare, to bring that unfortunate girl back here to face a criminal charge. She has had her lesson, she will never forget it, the man she wounded is back on the force as good as ever. No human being with a conscience and a heart—" she looked at Whitney—"and you have both—could want to make her pay more bitterly than she has. She is safe, under intelligent supervision. She can work, be useful, where her youth and strength and enthusiasm are needed. I did not trust you before, Mr. Whitney, but I do now and I know that my trust is not misplaced."
A murmur, a concerted sound of agreement, came from her listeners. Whitney, pushing his chair back from the desk, said gravely:
"You can rest assured, Miss Maitland, that the matter will die here with us to-day. As you say, your sister has had her punishment. She will stay in France of course?"
"Yes, make her home there, I think. When Mr. Price is free he is to go over and marry her. He intends to sell his business out and offer his services to the French government."
There was a moment of silence, then Mrs. Janney spoke, clearing her throat, her face flushed with feeling:
"As you've said, Miss Maitland, none of this would have happened if you'd seen fit to come to me. But it's no use going over that now—we've all made mistakes and we're all sorry. What we—the Janneys—want to do is to be fair, to be just, and now—if it is not too late—to make amends. The only way you can show your willingness to forget and forgive, is to come back at once to Grasslands and take things up where you left them."