"It is a pity," was his reply, "that being the case, that Miss Aylmer should have got the Scholarship, for whether she got it or not, being your niece, she would of course have been well educated.  The Scholarship money would have done more good to a poorer girl"--and here Sir John had quickly to suppress a sigh, for was he not thinking of Kitty--Kitty, who had never looked sweeter than during this evening of defeat, who had never, never been nearer to his heart?