"Permit me to ask you a question, mother."

"Speak, my girl; if I can answer I will."

"Do the reasons for this hatred affect you personally?"

"No, I am, in every way, innocent of the deeds with which we are reproached."

"Why we, mother?"

"Because, dear child, all the members of a family are so intimately connected, you know."

"I know it, mother."

"It is an unquestionable consequence of this that a deed laid at the door of one member of a family must be for all, and that if this action is shameful or guilty, all must submit to the shame of it, and bear its responsibility."

"That is true; thank you, mother, I understand you; now there only remains one point on which I am not well informed."

"To what do you allude?"