The letter was dispatched. It was decided--and wisely decided, as
the result proved--to say nothing to Sydney until the answer was
received. Randal's correspondent wrote back with as little delay
as possible. He had made every inquiry without success. Not a
trace of the boy had been found, or (in the opinion of the
police) was likely to be found. The one event that had happened,
since the appearance of the paragraph in the New York journal,
was the confinement of James Bellbridge in an asylum, as a madman
under restraint without hope of recovery.


Chapter VI.


Sydney Teaches.


Mrs. Presty had not very seriously exaggerated the truth, when
she described her much-indulged granddaughter as "a child who had
never been accustomed to wait for anything since the day when she
was born."

Governesses in general would have found it no easy matter to
produce a favorable impression on Kitty, and to exert the
necessary authority in instructing her, at the same time. Spoiled
children (whatever moralists may say to the contrary) are
companionable and affectionate children, for the most
part--except when they encounter the unfortunate persons employed
to introduce them to useful knowledge. Mr. and Mrs. Linley
(guiltily conscious of having been too fond of their only child