Mildred drew her hand away from me and crossed herself, saying beneath her breath:
"Oh Mother of my God!"
I felt more humbled than I had ever been before, but after a while I said:
"Now you see why I can never go back. And you will save me, will you not?"
There was silence for some moments. Mildred had drawn back in her chair as if an evil spirit had passed between us But at length she said:
"It is not for me to judge you, Mary. But the gentlemen will come up soon to know if you are the Mary O'Neill whom I knew at the Sacred Heart, and what am I to say to them?"
"Say no," I cried. "Why shouldn't you? They'll never know anything to the contrary. Nobody will know."
"Nobody?"
I knew what Mildred meant, and in my shame and confusion I tried to excuse myself by telling her who the other woman was.
"It is Alma," I said.