In all, more than a half million dollars was spent before the end of the year 1851.

Then, swiftly and without warning, there came the end.
One morning, almost a year after her return to Washington, Josephine St.Auban sat in her apartments, looking at a long document inscribed in a fine, foreign hand.

It was the report of the agent of her estates in Prance and Hungary.

As she read it the lines blurred before her eyes.

It demanded an effort even of her superb courage fairly to face and meet the meaning.