and ask His pardon for the past and strength and grace to live a new
life in Christ for the future."

"I have prayed that He would pardon me, but oh, mother, how can I hope,
how can I believe? He is so great, so holy."

"By taking Him at His word. If I told you anything, Kate, do you think
it would be honouring me to say, 'You are so good, mother, I can't
believe half you say?' Yet this is the way you are speaking of God; He
says, 'Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out,' and 'Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners.' Mind, Kate, it was Jesus
Christ, not the sinner's repentance, the tears he shed, the grief he
felt, but Jesus Christ, who died 'the Just for the unjust.'"

After this talk with her mother Kate grew more calm and less unhappy.
The prospect of going home, however, so different from what Kate had
anticipated that return would be, was anything but pleasant now.

"Oh, mother, how can I meet Miss Eldon again?' she whispered one day.

"It will be hard for you, I know, but you must bear it, Kate, as part,
at least, of the punishment of your sins. Sorrow and shame must follow
sin, and though God forgives us He does not--cannot take away the
consequences of them. They are bitter enough to you and poor Marion,
too, for situations and character are both lost, and it is not easy
work to regain a good character when once it has been lost."

Kate's future was, of course, a great anxiety to her mother, especially
after they got home and Kate grew stronger. News of her disgrace had
somehow got wind in the village and many of her former schoolfellows
shunned her, especially Esther, who said she had her own character to
take care of.

Gentle, brave, Mary Green, now the trusted servant of Lady Hazeldean,
however, contrived to see her old schoolfellow as often as she could;
and Miss Eldon, convinced of her repentance, offered at last to receive
her as kitchenmaid in her own house--a situation Kate would have
despised before, but which she was very grateful to get now. She also
asked the lady to help her cousin if she could, and at her request a
friend took Marion into her service, where for the first time she had
the opportunity of learning those truths Kate had been taught before
she went to London. Marion profited by what she was taught, and she
and Kate both became useful and honoured women, loved and respected by
all who knew them, and few remembered now that they had once been in
priso