ew minutes."

"I am just going into church."

"Can't I say a word to you before you go in?"

And seeing how greatly agitated she was, he took her into the parlour,
and she told him that though she trusted him implicitly she could not
consult him on this particular question except in the confessional.

"I shall be hearing confessions after Mass."

If the priest told her she must withdraw her money from Ned, her
marriage was a broken one. It was she who had brought Ned into
politics; she had often spoken of her money in order to induce him to
go into politics, and now it was her money that was forcing her to
betray him. She had not thought of confession in her present difficulty
as a betrayal, but it was one, and a needless one; Father Brennan could
only tell her to withdraw her money; yet she must consult the
priest--nothing else would satisfy her. She lacked courage: his advice
would give her courage. But when she had told Ned that she could give
him no more money, she would have to tell him she was acting on the
priest's advice, for she could not go on living with him and not tell
him everything. A secret would poison her life, and she had no
difficulty in imagining how she would remember it; she could see it
stopping her suddenly as she crossed the room when she was thinking of
something quite different. The hardest confession of all would be to
tell Ned that she had consulted the priest, and she did not think he
would ever love her again. But what matter, so long as she was not weak
and contemptible in the eyes of God. That is what she had to think of.
The love of one's husband is of this world and temporary, but the love
of God is for all eternity. All things are in the will of God. It was
God that had sent her into Ned's room. She had been compelled, and now
she was compelled again. It was God that had sent her to the priest;
she was a mere puppet in the hands of God, and she prayed that she
might be reconciled to His will, only daring to implore His mercy with
one "Our Father" and one "Hail Mary." Further imploration would be out
of place, she must not insist too much. God was all wisdom, and would
know if the love of her husband might be spared to her, and she hoped
she would be reconciled to His will even if her child should be taken
from her.

There were two penitents before her. One a woman, faded by time and
deformed by work. From the black dress, come down to her through a
succession of owners and now