"If it should be pleasant to-morrow, and you should sleep well to-night, I think you will be able to do so," replied Mrs. Pomeroy. "If not, you will be obliged to trust to my judgment."
"But I want to get something for you, too," said Kitty anxiously; "and I don't see how I shall manage it."
Mrs. Pomeroy smiled. "You might ask Miss Gilbert or Mr. Fletcher to select something for you," said she. "You know you have great confidence in Mr. Fletcher's taste."
"I do hope I can go," said Kitty, but she coughed as she spoke and put her hand to her side, as though it hurt her very much. Even after the fit of coughing was over, she seemed to breathe with pain and difficulty.
"You must have taken cold yesterday," said Mrs. Pomeroy, "and I do not see how you could have done so, for you were very warm when you came in."
Kitty colored. "I got cold this morning, aunt. I went out directly after breakfast to look for my money, before I told you that I had lost it. I could not help hoping that I should find it."
"That was very naughty, Kitty," said Mrs. Pomeroy, looking seriously displeased. "You know. I positively forbade your going out without especial permission."
"I know it," replied Kitty through her tears; "but I did want to find it so much."
"You see how one wrong doing leads to another," Mrs. Pomeroy continued. "First you were disobedient about the money, which was the cause of your losing it, and then you were tempted to another act of disobedience to conceal the first. You might have been led still farther. If you had found what you lost, and I had asked you how you took cold, you might have been tempted to tell a lie about it. If you had told me of your loss the moment you discovered it, the bill might very possibly have been found. But do not cry, my dear," she added, kindly, "you will make your cough worse, and I want you to sleep to-night. The girls will be very much disappointed if you are unable to be down to-morrow evening."
But it was by no means easy for Kitty to compose herself. Her conscience was almost morbidly tender, and this little act of disobedience gave her more pain than Delia Mason had ever felt for all her sins put together. Moreover, she had taken a severe cold, and both these causes together produced such a degree of fever, that Mrs. Pomeroy became seriously alarmed. She was very ill all night, and even delirious at times, and the morning made it plain that she would be not only unable to participate in the festivities of the day, but even to sit up at all.