She laughed. ‘I did that,’ she said. ‘I did that, for a year. We all do—you might ask any of us. Your first year at Millbank, you see, is a frightful thing. You will swear to anything, then—you will swear to starve and take your family with you, rather than do another wicked deed and get sent back here. You will promise anything to anyone, you are that sorry. But only for the first year. After that, you ain’t sorry. You think of your crimes—you don’t think, “If I had not done that, I wouldn’t be here”, you think, “If I had only done that better . . .” You think of all the tremendous swindles
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