t kind of a place is that--er--school, Miss Macklin?"

"You can imagine. It harbors the weak-minded, the vicious, and the
unfortunate runaway girls, thieves' consorts, and women of the
streets. It is, I think, a little like hell, if there really is such
a place, Captain Latham."

The poignancy of expression in her voice and words made the man
tremble. And yet she did not speak bitterly nor angrily. Her feeling
was beyond all passion. It was the expression of a soul that had
suffered everything and could no longer feel. That was just it,
Tunis told himself. It explained her attitude, even the tone of her
voice. She had endured and seen so much misery and heartache that
there seemed nothing left for her to experience.

"Can you bear to tell me what misfortune took you to that place?" he
asked gently, yet fighting down all the time that desire to roar
with rage.

"Why do you not say 'crime,' Captain Latham?" she asked in that same
low, strained voice.

"Because I know that crime and you could not be associated, Miss
Macklin," he said hoarsely.

At that she began suddenly to weep. Not aloud, but with her hands
pressed over her eyes and her shoulders, shaking with long,
shuddering sobs which betrayed how the horror of past thoughts and
experiences controlled her when once she gave way. Tunis Latham
could have behaved like a madman. That berserk rage that had seized
him in the restaurant welled up in his heart now. He gripped the
back of the bench till the slat cracked. But there was no opponent
here upon whom he could vent his violence that he longed to express.

"Don't cry! For God's sake, don't cry!" he whispered hoarsely. "I
know it was all a mistake. It must have been a mistake. How could
anybody have been so wicked, so utterly senseless, as to believe
you guilty of--of--what did they accuse you of?"

"Stealing," whispered the girl.

"'Stealing?' What nonsense!"

He put a wealth of disdain into the words. She sat up straighter.
She dropped her hands from her face and looked at him. Dark as it
was on the bench, he could see that her expression was one of
wonder.

"Do--do you really feel that way about it, Captain Latham?"

"It is ridiculous!" he acclaimed heartily.

She sighed. Her momentary animation fell and she spoke again:

"It did not seem ridiculous to the police or to the magistrate. I
worked in a store. A piece of sterling silverware disappeared. Other
pieces had previously been stolen. The poli