There was no answer.
“Tell me,” he went on, “is the person whom she has injured still living?”
“Yes.”
“If the person is still living, she may atone for the wrong. The time may come when this sinner, too, may win our pardon and deserve our respect.”
“Could you respect her?” Mercy asked, sadly. “Can such a mind as yours understand what she has gone through?”
A smile, kind and momentary, brightened his attentive face.
“You forget my melancholy experience,” he answered. “Young as I am, I have seen more than most men of women who have sinned and suffered. Even after the little that you have told me, I think I can put myself in her place. I can well understand, for instance, that she may have been tempted beyond human resistance. Am I right?”
“You are right.”
“She may have had nobody near at the time to advise her, to warn her, to save her. Is that true?”
“It is true.”