been imperilled, and all her hopes for this world
destroyed,--that he must be told of his mother's guilt and shame. Let
him be told, and then let him leave her while his anguish and the
feeling of his shame were hot upon him. Should she be still a free
woman when this trial was over she would move herself away at once,
and then let him be told. But still it would be well--well for his
sake, that his mother should not be found guilty by the law. It was
still worth her while to struggle. The world was very hard to her,
bruising her to the very soul at every turn, allowing her no hope,
offering to her no drop of cool water in her thirst. But still for
him there was some future career; and that career perhaps need not be
blotted by the public notice of his mother's guilt. She would still
fight against her foes,--still show to that court, and to the world
that would then gaze at her, a front on which guilt should not seem
to have laid its hideous, defacing hand.

There was much that was wonderful about this woman. While she was
with those who regarded her with kindness she could be so soft and
womanly; and then, when alone, she could be so stern and hard! And
it may be said that she felt but little pity for herself. Though she
recognised the extent of her misery, she did not complain of it. Even
in her inmost thoughts her plaint was this,--that he, her son, should
be doomed to suffer so deeply for her sin! Sometimes she would utter
to that other mother a word of wailing, in that he would not be soft
to her; but even in that she did not mean to complain of him. She
knew in her heart of hearts that she had no right to expect such
softness. She knew that it was better that it should be as it now
was. Had he stayed with her from morn till evening, speaking kind
words to her, how could she have failed to tell him? In sickness it
may irk us because we are not allowed to take the cool drink that
would be grateful; but what man in his senses would willingly swallow
that by which his very life would be endangered? It was thus she
thought of her son, and what his love might have been to her.

Yes; she would still bear up, as she had borne up at that other
trial. She would dress herself with care, and go down into the court
with a smooth brow. Men, as they looked at her, should not at once
say, "Behold the face of a guilty woman!" There was still a chance
in the battle, though the odds were so tremendously against her. It
might be t