words; she waited a moment, and recovered herself. "It's too late
to dwell on these things now," she said, resignedly. "Society can
subscribe to reclaim me; but Society can't take me back. You see
me here in a place of trust--patiently, humbly, doing all the
good I can. It doesn't matter! Here, or elsewhere, what I _am_
can never alter what I _was_. For three years past all that a
sincerely penitent woman can do I have done. It doesn't matter!
Once let my past story be known, and the shadow of it covers me;
the kindest people shrink."

She waited again. Would a word of sympathy come to comfort her
from the other woman's lips? No! Miss Roseberry was shocked; Miss
Roseberry was confused. "I am very sorry for you," was all that
Miss Roseberry could say.

"Everybody is sorry for me," answered the nurse, as patiently as
ever; "everybody is kind to me. But the lost place is not to be
regained. I can't get back! I can't get back?" she cried, with a
passionate outburst of despair--checked instantly the moment it
had escaped her. "Shall I tell you what my experience has been?"
she resumed. "Will you hear the story of Magdalen--in modern
times?"

Grace drew back a step; Mercy instantly understood her.

"I am going to tell you nothing that you need shrink from
hearing," she said. "A lady in your position would not understand
the trials and the struggles that I have passed through. My story
shall begin at the Refuge. The matron sent me out to service with
the character that I had honestly earned--the character of a