Would you mind asking mamma if that's true ?" the affectionate little creature said, anxiously.

"You see, I can't help talking of Syd, I'm so fond of her; and I do miss her so dreadfully every now and then; and I'm afraid--oh, dear, dear, I'm afraid I shall never see her again!" She let her rod drop on the pier, and put her little hands over her face and burst out crying.
Shocked and distressed, good Mr.Sarrazin kissed her, and consoled her, and told another excusable lie.
"Try to be comforted, Kitty; I'm sure you will see her again." His conscience reproached him as he held out that false hope.

It could never be! The one unpardonable sin, in the judgment of fallible human creatures like herself, was the sin that Sydney Westerfield had committed.

Is there something wrong in human nature?
or something wrong in human laws?
All that is best and noblest in us feels the influence of love--and the rules of society declare that an accident of position shall decide whether love is a virtue or a crime.
These thoughts were in the lawyer's mind.

They troubled him and disheartened him: it was a relief rather than an interruption when he felt Kitty's hand on his arm.