In their name and in mine, sir, I thank you.
"I forget how long it was after the bright day when you comforted
and sustained us that the war broke out between France and
Germany. But I can never forget the evening when the matron sent
for me into her own room and said, 'My dear, your life here is a
wasted life. If you have courage enough left to try it, I can
give you another chance.'
"I passed through a month of probation in a London hospital. A
week after that I wore the red cross of the Geneva Convention--I
was appointed nurse in a French ambulance. When you first saw me,
Mr. Holmcroft, I still had my nurse's dress on, hidden from you
and from everybody under a gray cloak.
"You know what the next event was; you know how I entered this
house.
"I have not tried to make the worst of my trials and troubles in
telling you what my life has been. I have honestly described it
for what it was when I met with Miss Roseberry--a life without
hope. May you never know the temptation that tried me when the
shell struck its victim in the French cottage! There she
lay--dead! _Her_ name was untainted. _Her_ future promised me the
reward which had been denied to the honest efforts of a penitent
woman.
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