"
"Are there no other relations?" asked Miss Garth. "Is there no hope from
any one else?"
"There are no other relations with Michael Vanstone's claim," said the
lawyer. "There are no grandfathers or grandmothers of the dead child (on
the side of either of the parents) now alive. It was not likely there
should be, considering the ages of Mr. and Mrs. Vanstone when they died.
But it is a misfortune to be reasonably lamented that no other uncles or
aunts survive. There are cousins alive; a son and two daughters of that
elder sister of Mr. Vanstone's, who married Archdeacon Bartram, and who
died, as I told you, some years since. But their interest is superseded
by the interest of the nearer blood. No, Miss Garth, we must look
facts as they are resolutely in the face. Mr. Vanstone's daughters are
Nobody's Children; and the law leaves them helpless at their uncle's
mercy."
"A cruel law, Mr. Pendril--a cruel law in a Christian country."
"Cruel as it is, Miss Garth, it stands excused by a shocking peculiarity
in this case. I am far from defending the law of England as it affects
illegitimate offspring. On the contrary, I think it a disgrace to the
nation.
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