Either the act was no sin, and her preceptors were all deceivers; or it was indeed a sin in the eyes of God, but He refrained from stern justice for high reasons of His own.

It was not a searching experiment she had made.

She was bitterly disappointed, and perhaps that was meant as her punishment: God refused to give her a reply.

She intended no sin for the sake of sin; so, being still in doubt, she tied her handkerchief around her wrist.

Her eyes stared more than ever,--this was the child with the staring eyes,--but that was the only sign she gave of a consciousness suddenly expanded, of a self-consciousness intensified.
When she went back into the house, she gazed with a new curiosity at her mother, at her grandmother, dozing in their chairs.