Suppose she finally decided on taking this course, what was to become of her when she found herself in England again?
There was no alternative open but to apply once more to her friend the matron.

There was nothing for her to do but to return to the Refuge! The Refuge! The matron! What past association with these two was now presenting itself uninvited, and taking the foremost place in her mind?
Of whom was she now thinking, in that strange place, and at that crisis in her life?
Of the man whose words had found their way to her heart, whose influence had strengthened and comforted her, in the chapel of the Refuge.

One of the finest passages in his sermon had been especially devoted by Julian Gray to warning the congregation whom he addressed against the degrading influences of falsehood and deceit.

The terms in which he had appealed to the miserable women round him--terms of sympathy and encouragement never addressed to them before--came back to Mercy Merrick as if she had heard them an hour since.

She turned deadly pale as they now pleaded with her once more.