"On the contrary," said the secretary, "that is precisely the kind of
child this house is intended for."
But when I went on to say that I assumed they still observed the wish of
the founder that no questions of any kind should be asked about a
child's birth or parentage, he said no, they had altered all that. Then
he proceeded to explain that before a child could be received the mother
must now go before a committee of gentlemen to satisfy them of her
previous good character, and that the father of her baby had deserted
both of them.
More than that, he told me that on being received the child was
immediately re-registered and given a new name, in order that it might
be cut off from the sin of its parents and the contamination of their
shame.
It would be impossible for me to describe the feelings with which I
listened to the secretary while he said all this, with the cast-metal
face of a man who was utterly unconscious of the enormity of the crime
he was describing.
"Before a committee of gentlemen?" I asked.
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