'Do you think I stole the ring, then?'
'No; not for a moment. I believe you.' I hurriedly thought over what was the next best thing to say, so as to do justice to those who, however mistaken in their way of treating her especial case, had meant to benefit her, and at the same time be true to her. I saw what they had apparently failed to see—she could be touched.
'Then how have I been to blame, Miss?'
'It is a private undertaking, is it not, Nancy; almost entirely supported by one lady, although managed by a committee?'
'Yes, Miss; and the committee is managed by Mrs Gower. They all do what she tells 'em; though if they knew'——
'And costs a great deal of money; does it not? I think that I have heard this lady subscribes between fifteen and eighteen hundred a year to it.'
'Yes, Miss; I suppose she do. They say Mrs Gower the matron has two hundred a year besides lots of perquisites,' replied Nancy, a little surprised at what appeared to her the irrelevancy of the question.
'And this lady spends all that in the hope of benefiting her fellow-women! How much she must feel for them—nay, how much she must love them, Nancy! Think of feeling so much love for women who have done wrong as to spend all that upon the bare chance of benefiting them! In spite of their want of gratitude too!'
There was a new startled look in Nancy's eyes, as she murmured in a low voice: 'I never thought of that—I never thought about her caring.'
'But she must, you know; and it must be a great grief and disappointment to her to feel that all she does is in vain. It is, you say?'