“Tempted and friendless, self-abandoned to the evil impulse of the moment, this woman may have committed herself headlong to the act which she now vainly repents. She may long to make atonement, and may not know how to begin. All her energies may be crushed under the despair and horror of herself, out of which the truest repentance grows. Is such a woman as this all wicked, all vile? I deny it! She may have a noble nature; and she may show it nobly yet. Give her the opportunity she needs, and our poor fallen fellow-creature may take her place again among the best of us—honored, blameless, happy, once more!”
Mercy’s eyes, resting eagerly on him while he was speaking, dropped again despondingly when he had done.
“There is no such future as that,” she answered, “for the woman whom I am thinking of. She has lost her opportunity. She has done with hope.”
Julian gravely considered with himself for a moment.
“Let us understand each other,” he said. “She has committed an act of deception to the injury of another woman. Was that what you told me?”
“Yes.”
“And she has gained something to her own advantage by the act.”
“Yes.”
“Is she threatened with discovery?”
“She is safe from discovery—for the present, at least.”