Mrs. Roberts looked at her. “You must be a wonderful Christian,” she said. She had been thinking a lot about religion, and it had come much closer to the surface for her. Then she added, “If you’re some other faith, you know what I mean.”
Mrs. Burke was genuinely touched. For a bare moment she considered the idea of quietly leaving and letting compassion help the poor woman beside her. Then she remembered, and she could not be that generous. She wanted to, but she couldn’t.
Mrs. Roberts folded her hands in her lap and looked at them. “There’s something I very much want to know,” she said. “I have no right to ask. I’m sorry, forget what I said.”
Mrs. Burke had steeled herself a few moments before. She understood what the question might be, and what the answer might mean to the woman who had the courage to ask it. “What do you want to know?” She put it calmly and factually.
Mrs. Roberts made a supreme effort. “I know that my son is a murderer,” she said, forcing the loathsome words from her lips. Then she dropped her head quite suddenly. “I want to know if he is anything else.”
Mrs. Burke knew it would bring pain, but it vindicated her position and the temptation was too strong. Slowly she nodded. “Yes,” she said.
Mrs. Roberts looked her directly in the face for the first time. “If that is so,” she said, “then perhaps we should see the governor together. And we will both ask…..She broke down into tears totally beyond her control.
The clemency secretary came into the room. Mrs. Burke saw him and knew who he was. “I think the decision has already been made,” she said, “but, yes, let’s go in together.” Because her God wanted her to, she held out her hand and laid it on Mrs. Robert’s arm.
By their wish, they went in together. As they entered the room the governor rose. Seeing the two women together was a nasty shock; too late the clemency secretary tried to signal a warning.
“Please sit down,” the governor said. “Which of you is Mrs. Roberts?”
The lady named lifted her hand just enough to be seen.
“You have met this other lady?”
“Yes, I have. We have been talking, and we decided to come together.”
For a moment or two the governor did not know how to go on; there was no precedent for the situation. If only Maggie…!
The clemency secretary was about to speak when Mrs. Roberts anticipated him by a second or two. “Governor,” she said, “I know you have the power to spare my son. You can commute his sentence to life in prison. Before I ask you to do that, I have a question.”
“Please,” the governor said.
She found the courage to look up. “I happened to meet Mrs. Burke. I learned that she is a very wonderful woman. I know we can never be friends, but… I think you understand.”
“Indeed I do,” the governor confirmed.
“My question is this: Did my son do… terrible things… besides the murder?” She turned quickly to Mrs. Burke. “Please forgive me,” she added.
Mrs. Burke only nodded, waiting for the governor to speak.
“Yes, Mrs. Roberts, I’m very much afraid he did.” That made it a little easier to announce the decision.
“Then,” Mrs. Roberts said, “I won’t ask you for mercy. I know now that I bore a monster, and it’s best if I never see him again. If I never have to worry that some day…”
The governor looked at the other woman. “Mrs. Burke?”
The mother of the slain girl composed herself. “I came to ask you — not to intervene. Instead I would like to ask you to do what you think best.”
The governor turned back to Mrs. Roberts. “Then you are not asking me to commute?”
Very slowly, and with great effort, Mrs. Roberts shook her head. “I can’t now,” she said.
The clemency secretary was about to speak, but the governor silenced him with a slightly raised hand. “Then let it be as you wish.”
Mrs. Roberts looked up, tearfully. “Yes,” she barely whispered. “God is all merciful, so let Him…
The governor got up and came around the desk. It was not an easy time, but at least there was no need to tell this utterly miserable, but completely courageous, woman that her appeal for clemency had been denied. Neither of the women would ever know what the terrible pictures in the folder showed. It had been safely removed before the women had been admitted to the office.
The governor stood before both of the women and spoke with complete sincerity. “Thank you for coming. I’m very glad that you did. And, believe me, I understand and admire both of you. As you know, I’m a mother myself.”
The clemency secretary showed them out.