My liking for her began while she was trying to tell me of the night she spent by the girl's bedside, the night before her departure with her unprepossessing relative.

That Mrs.Fyne found means to comfort the child I doubt very much.

She had not the genius for the task of undoing that which the hate of an infuriated woman had planned so well.
You will tell me perhaps that children's impressions are not durable.
That's true enough.

But here, child is only a manner of speaking.

The girl was within a few days of her sixteenth birthday; she was old enough to be matured by the shock.