turned, my mortal wound is this:
that I must leave to loneliness and unspeakable grief the great-souled
woman who has seen into the heart of my crime and yet has forgiven me.
All else of anguish or dread is swallowed up in this one over-mastering
sorrow. To her my heart's thanks are here given; to her my last word is
due. May she find in it all that her soul calls for in this hour of
supreme disaster: repentance equal to my sin, and a recognition of her
worth, which, late as it is for her comfort, may lead to her acceptance
of the consolation yet to be meted out to her from eternal sources."

That was all. The pen dropped from his hand and he sat inert, almost
pulseless, in the desolation of a despair known only to those who, at a
blow, have sunk from the height of public applause into the depths of
irretrievable ignominy.

The District Attorney, who was a man of more feeling than was usually
supposed, contemplated him in compassionate silence for a moment, then
gently--very gently for him--leaned forward and drew from under the
unresisting hands the scattered sheets which lay in disorder before him,
and passed them on to his stenographer.

"Read," said he; but immediately changed his mind and took them back. "I
will read them myself. Mr. Roberts, I must ask you to listen. It is right
for you to know exactly what you have written before you affix your
signature to it."

Mr. Roberts bowed mechanically, but he looked very weary.

The District Attorney began to read. It is a matter of doubt whether Mr.
Roberts so much as heard him. Yet the reading went on, and when the last
word was reached, the District Attorney, after a pause during which his
eye had consulted that of the Chief Inspector, remarked in a kindly tone
and yet with an emphasis impossible to disregard:

"I see that you have made no mention of Madame Duclos in this relation of
the cause and manner of her young daughter's death. Is it possible that
you are ignorant of the part she played in your affairs or the reasons
she had for the suicide with which she terminated her life?"

"I know nothing of the woman but that she was the mother of the girl
who----" he hesitated, then added with a gesture of despair, "fell under
my hand."

The District Attorney said nothing in reply, he simply waited. But no
denial or further admission came.

"She was a friend of Mrs. Taylor," suggested the Chief Inspector as the
silence grew somewhat oppressive.