and the messenger appeared.

"You can not intend, sir, to examine the girl here," said John.

"And why not?"

"Before so many--and all of us men save one. Surely the matron----"

The canon rose to his feet again. "My young brother is naturally
sensitive, my lord, but I assure him his delicate feelings are wasted on
a girl like this. He forgets that the shame lies in the girl's sin, not
in her just and necessary punishment."

"Bring her in," said the chairman. The matron whispered to the messenger,
and he left the room.

"Pardon me, sir," said John Storm; "if it is your expectation that I
should question the nurse on her sin, as the canon says, I can not do
so."

"Can not?"

"Well, I will not."

"And is that your idea of your duty as a chaplain?"

"It is the matron's duty, not the chaplain's, to----"

"The matron! The matron! This is your parish, sir--your parish. A great
public institution is in danger of a disgraceful scandal, and you who are
responsible for its spiritual welfare--really, gentlemen----"

Again the canon rose with a conciliatory smile.

"I think I understand my young friend," he said, "and your lordship and
the hoard will appreciate his feelings, however you may disapprove of his
judgment. What generous heart can not sympathize with the sensitive
spirit of the youthful clergyman who shrinks from the spectacle of guilt
and shame in a young and perhaps beautiful woman? But if it will relieve
your lordship from an embarrassing position, I am myself willing----"

"Thank you," said the chairman; and then the girl was brought into the
room in charge of Sister Allworthy.

She was holding her head down and trying to cover her face with her
hands.

"Your name, girl?" said the canon.

"Mary Elizabeth Love," she faltered.

"You are aware, Mary Elizabeth Love, that our excellent and indulgent
matron" (here he bowed to a stout lady who sat in the open space) "has
been put to the painful duty of reporting you for suspension, which is
equivalent to your immediate discharge. Now, I can not hold out a hope
that the board will not ratify her recommendation, but it may perhaps
qualify the terms of your 'character' if you can show these gentlemen
that the unhappy lapse from good conduct which brings you to this
position of shame and disgrace is due in any measure to irregularities
practised perhaps within this hospital, or to the temptations of any one
connected with it."

The girl began to cry.