"It's easy for you to talk," muttered Maggie finally. "Your life has been different from mine. What do you know of trouble?"
"A great deal," said Faith quickly. "If I did not I could not feel as I do. Why, it is through my own experience that I have come to feel this sympathy for others."
"But you don't understand," said the woman more bitterly. "By 'trouble' I do not mean just hard luck and poverty."
"I think I do understand, Maggie," said Faith, more softly. "And I can still say sincerely that I am very sorry for you. I believe that you have been more sinned against than any of us realize."
"I have, indeed!" cried Miss Brady, sharply. Her lips twitched convulsively and tears trembled on her lashes.
"Then God will surely pity you," cried Faith, almost cheerily. "He will understand the length and breadth of your temptation, Maggie, as well as the injustice which you have suffered."
The poor girl gazed at Faith a moment and then burst out crying.
"Oh, I have been wronged most fearfully," she whispered between her sobs. "And I could not help it. I could bear the agony no longer!"
As she spoke she thrust her hand into the bosom of her dress. In another second she had drawn forth a crumpled paper.
"Read it!" she said hoarsely, holding it out toward Mr. Denton. "Read it, and tell me if you blame me for doing as I did, and after you have read it say again that you will help me!"