Christie, you can never know how bitter hard it is to outlive a sin
like mine, and struggle up again from such a fall. It clings to me;
it won't be shaken off or buried out of sight. No sooner do I find a
safe place like this, and try to forget the past, than some one
reads my secret in my face and hunts me down. It seems very cruel,
very hard, yet it is my punishment, so I try to bear it, and begin
again. What hurts me now more than all the rest, what breaks my
heart, is that I deceived you. I never meant to do it. I did not
seek you, did I? I tried to be cold and stiff; never asked for love,
though starving for it, till you came to me, so kind, so generous,
so dear,--how could I help it? Oh, how could I help it then?"
Christie had watched Rachel while she spoke, and spoke to her alone;
her heart yearned toward this one friend, for she still loved her,
and, loving, she believed in her.
"I don't reproach you, dear: I don't despise or desert you, and
though I'm grieved and disappointed, I'll stand by you still,
because you need me more than ever now, and I want to prove that I
am a true friend. Mrs. King, please forgive and let poor Rachel stay
here, safe among us."
"Miss Devon, I'm surprised at you! By no means; it would be the
ruin of my establishment; not a girl would remain, and the character
of my rooms would be lost for ever," replied Mrs.
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