He was wondering why she was so much more taking than her elder, and far more beautiful, sister, when she emerged from some undisclosed reverie, and disconcerted him by demanding: “Are we ruined, Adam?”

“Oh, I trust it won’t be as bad as that!”

“I had better tell you at once,” interrupted Lydia, “that although I have always set my face resolutely against Education, which I very soon perceived would be of no use to me whatsoever, I am not at all stupid! Why, even Charlotte has known that we stood on the brink of disaster for years, and no one could say that her understanding is superior! And also, Adam, I am turned seventeen, besides having a great deal of worldly knowledge, and I mean to help you, if I can, so pray don’t speak in that nothing-to-do-with-you voice!”

“I beg pardon!” he apologized hastily.

“Is it ruin?”

“Something uncomfortably like it, I’m afraid.”

“I thought so. Mama has been saying for weeks that she expects at any moment to find herself without a roof over her head.”

“It won’t be as bad as that,” he assured her. “She will have her jointure — do you know what that is?”

“Yes, but she says it is a paltry sum, and that we shall be obliged to subsist on black-puddings — and that, Adam, will never do for Mama!”

“She exaggerates. I hope she will be able to live in tolerable comfort. She will have about eight hundred pounds a year — not a fortune, but at least an independence. With a little economy — ”

“Mama,” stated Lydia, “has never studied economy.”