VICAR. You would say me, if you had seen his face and heard his
voice this morning!

AUNTIE. God help us. God pity us!

VICAR. Amen . . .

Then, there's the child, too! That difficulty must be faced.

AUNTIE. Yes--no escape! We shall have to pay the whole debt,
William: I see that.

VICAR. Who knows! Perhaps the child will have to pay most, when
all is done.

AUNTIE. The innocent for the guilty--yes . . . Oh, William,
William, can you ever forgive me?

VICAR. There is much to forgive, both sides, Martha. My sin has
been greater than yours. You have only loved unworthily in
blindness: I have seen clearly and been a coward.

[Enter MARY from the garden.]

Mary! . . .

MARY. Let me speak, uncle. I have been thinking, out there in the
garden--thinking very hard: I've been trying to put things together
again and make them straight; but it's still very difficult. Only