as the embodiment of that shame and remorse which overwhelm fallen womanhood before the heart is hardened and the face made brazen by years of vice.  Patiently and kindly the judge drew from her faltering lips some pitiful story, and then he talked to her in low, impressive tones, that seemed to go straight to her despairing soul.  A kind, firm, protecting hand might then have led her back to a life of virtue, for such had been her bitter foretastes of the fruits of sin that surely she would have gladly turned from them, could the chance have been given to her.  The judge mercifully remitted her punishment, and gave her freedom.  Who received her, as she turned her face toward the staring throng that intervened between her and the street?  Some large-hearted woman, bent on rescuing an erring sister?  Some agent of one of the many costly charities of the city?  No, in bitter shame, no.  Only the vile madam who traded on the price of her body and soul, and who, with vulture-like eyes, had watched the scene.  She only had stood ready to pay the fine, if one had been imposed according to the letter of the law.  She only received the weak and friendless creature, from whom she held as pledges all her small personal effects, and to whom she promised immediate shelter from the intolerable stare that follows such victims of society.  The girl’s weak, pretty face, and soft, white hands were but too true an index to her infirm will and character, and, although fluttering and reluctant, she again fell helpless into the talons of the harpy.  Hapless girl! you will probably stand at this bar again, and full sentence will then be given against you.  The judge frowned heavily as he saw the result of his clemency, and then, as if it were an old story, he turned to the next culprit.  Mildred had been much encouraged as she watched the issue of the two cases just described; but as her eyes followed the girl wistfully toward the door of freedom she encountered the cold, malignant gaze of the man who had charge of her department at the shop, and who she instinctively felt was the cause of her shameful and dangerous position.  By his side sat the two women who had searched her and the leading foreman of the store.  Sick and faint from apprehension, she turned imploringly toward Roger, who was regarding the floor-walker with such vindictive sternness that she felt the wretch’s hour of reckoning would soon come, whatever might be her fate.  This added to her trouble, for she feared that she was involving Roger in danger.

No time was given for thoughts on such side issues, for the prisoner preceding her in the line was sentenced, after a trial of three minutes—­a summary proceeding that was not hope-inspiring.