"What is it?" she whispered.
Mrs. Ardagh was silent for a moment. She blinked her heavy eyelids to stop the tears from falling on her wasted cheeks. At length she said,
"William Foster has done more evil."
Catherine did not speak. Her heart beat irregularly, and then seemed to stop, and then beat with unnatural force again.
"Catherine," her mother continued, "Jenny is utterly lost."
"No, mother, no!" Catherine said. "I will go to her. Let me go. I will rescue her. I will make her see——"
"Hush—you can't. She is dead and she died in shame."
She paused. Catherine did not speak.
"And now," Mrs. Ardagh continued feebly, "that man is spreading the net for others. Do you know, Catherine, I often pray for him?"
"Do you, mother?"