Martier took a deep breath and told her about what had happened with the police. She didn't leave out any pieces, and in the middle of it tears she had tried to hold back began to fall.

Sister Mary gripped her hand. "What you feel right now—that feeling as if you are less, that you are less important, that you have fewer feelings, that you have fewer rights—well, that's what that policeman wants you to feel. Then it makes him feel as if he has more."

Martier ...