There was the horror of all horrors, the close prison which seemed to stifle her whole soul.

The only chink through which a breath of air seemed to come, and keep her heart alive, was the hope that somehow, somewhere, she might find that belt, and restore it without her mother's knowledge.
But more--the first of September was come and gone; the bill for five-and-twenty pounds was due, and was not met.

Grace, choking down her honest pride, went off to the grocer, and, with tears which he could not resist, persuaded him to renew the bill for one month more; and now that month was all but past, and yet there was no money.

Eight or ten people who owed Mrs.Harvey money had died of the cholera.

Some, of course, had left no effects; and all hope of their working out their debts was gone.
Some had left money behind them: but it was still in the lawyer's hands, some of it at sea, some on mortgage, some in houses which must be sold; till their affairs were wound up--( a sadly slow affair when a country attorney has a poor man's unprofitable business to transact)--nothing could come in to Mrs.Harvey.To and fro she went with knitted brow and heavy heart; and brought home again only promises, as she had done a hundred times before.