She loved my mother, who might be losing a son; she loved my crippled foster-sister; for _their_ sakes, not for mine--a traitor's--did she yield to another, a heavenly impulse, that of saving me from the consequences of my own folly.

Was _that_ a crime, citizens?
When you are ailing, do not your mothers, sisters, wives tend you?
when you are seriously ill, would they not give their heart's blood to save you?
and when, in the dark hours of your lives, some deed which you would not openly avow before the world overweights your soul with its burden of remorse, is it not again your womenkind who come to you, with tender words and soothing voices, trying to ease your aching conscience, bringing solace, comfort, and peace?
And so it was with the accused, citizens.

She had seen my crime, and longed to punish it; she saw those who had befriended her in sorrow, and she tried to ease their pain by taking _my_ guilt upon her shoulders.

She has suffered for the noble lie, which she had told on my behalf, as no woman has ever been made to suffer before.

She has stood, white and innocent as your new-born children, in the pillory of infamy.