Page:Richard Marsh--The goddess a demon.djvu/66

54 I am certain now, that that child—she's little more than a child in years, and, at present, she's as helpless as any child could be—has had, of her own initiative, no hand or finger in this matter; she is as innocent, and as blameless, as you or I. She has suffered, but she has not sinned."

"I hope so, I am sure."

"Your hope is on a safe foundation. There is one thing which you might do—keep your own counsel. Don't tell all the world that you have a visitor; and, in particular, tell no one how that visitor came to you."

"I'd rather she never had come. I—I'm beginning to wish that I'd never taken her in."

"Don't say that, Mrs. Peddar. You will find that it was not the worst action of your life when you took that young girl, when she had just escaped, by the very skin of her teeth, unless I am mistaken—from things unspeakable, from the very gates of hell, under the shadow of your wing."

Mrs. Peddar shook her head and she sighed.

"Poor thing! Whatever happens, and I tremble when I think of what may be going to happen to her and to us, and to every one—poor young thing!"