I have honestly described it for what it was when I met with Miss Roseberry--a life without hope.

May you never know the temptation that tried me when the shell struck its victim in the French cottage! There she lay--dead! _Her_ name was untainted.

_Her_ future promised me the reward which had been denied to the honest efforts of a penitent woman.

My lost place in the world was offered back to me on the one condition that I stooped to win it by a fraud.

I had no prospect to look forward to; I had no friend near to advise me and to save me; the fairest years of my womanhood had been wasted in the vain struggle to recover my good name.