At once the girl rises and follows the probation officer into an adjoining room.

If she is what she appears, young in evil, if she has a story which rings true, a story of poverty and misfortune, rather than of depravity, she goes not back to the prisoners' bench.

When her turn at judgment comes Miss Miner stands beside her, and in a low voice meant only for the judge, she tells the facts.

The girl weeps as she listens.

To hear one's troubles told is sometimes more terrible than to endure them.
Court adjourns at three in the morning, and this girl, with the others--if others have been claimed by the probation officer--goes out into the empty street, under the light of the tall tower, whose clock has begun all over again its monotonous race toward midnight.