Tales of the Cloister
begun to think that I know her a little—that I perhaps understand her. It may be that we have not studied her carefully enough to find the soft spot that must be in her."
She hesitated a moment. At her last words the eyebrows of Mercedes' class teacher rose on a very human impulse, but she quickly controlled them. It was Saint Ernesta who was speaking, and who continued now, a little brokenly.
"I agree with you that some notice should be taken of this child's act—or her evident association with it. But it should be done in an unusual way. The situation is novel. It should be met in an effective fashion. I have a suggestion with which I hope you will agree. Let me act as proxy for my little friend. Let her go to the entertainment; let me remain away. Let her understand that I am taking the punishment for her—that I will continue to take it from now on until she publicly confesses or denies her share in this affair of the tower. If she can be made to realize the spirit in which I am doing this, and I think she will, for she is very clever, we may touch her wayward little heart."
She sank wearily into her chair. She had spoken more than in years in defence of the small outlaw who had put herself beyond the
246
