the sweets of sin, long ago. Her youth, and all
of her that he remembered, had been left behind by the hurrying years.
Only one thing was clear, she was in trouble and she wanted his help.
He would succour her if he could.

"Come in," he said to her kindly; and she followed him into the empty
dining-room. He closed the shutters, and placed the candle on the
window-sill. Then he fetched the only two chairs out of his bedroom. He
placed one for her, and sat in the other himself.

"Now, Rachel," he said in a kind voice, "what can I do for you?"

Rachel tried to speak, but sobs choked her. Kellson sat and watched
her, trying to imagine the course of the change in her appearance
through the nineteen years. Where had her beauty gone to--the clear
yellow of her cheeks, through which the red seemed to burn, making them
look like ripe nectarines. Where was her graciously curved bosom? Ah!
"Where are the snows of yester-year?"

"Oh, Sir," she said at length, "I have come to you about my son whom
you punished today."

Kellson now for the first time remembered that the surname she had
given him was the same as that of the prisoner whom he had so severely
sentenced. He could now decipher the suggestion in the eyes, which had
so puzzled him.

"Was that your son?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir. I know he is bad, and it is his conduct that has made an old
woman of me. But I thought you might do something for him. I do not
mind about the two years' imprisonment--that may do him good--but the
thirty-six lashes."

"Oh, Sir, his skin has always been so tender, ever since he was a
little baby. It is quite white and soft under his shirt. For the love
of God, do not flog him. I did not know he was to be tried to-day, or I
would have come before. When I heard you were coming I felt sure he
would have had mercy."

"My poor woman," said Kellson, his heart pierced by Rachel's agony,
"what can I do? I have no power to alter the sentence. He had been
convicted so often before that I felt bound to punish him severely."

"I know. I know he deserves it, but for the love of God, take off the
lashes. Oh, Sir, you cannot flog him. Bad as he is, I love him best of
all my children, and all the others are good."

"What can I do?" said Kellson, deeply distressed. "The sentence is
passed. I have no power to change it."

"Oh, Sir, do you not understand--must I tell you? I thought you would
have known."

"What do you mean?"

Rachel again burst into vi