Her look--so anxious and tender--held, enveloped her companion.
"Are they in debt ?" said Diana, slowly.
"Terribly.

They seem to be going to break up their home." "Did she tell you all about it ?" Mrs.Colwood hesitated.
"A great deal more than I wanted to know!" she said, at last, as though the words broke from her.
Diana thought a little.
"I wonder--whether that was--what she came home for ?" Mrs.Colwood moved uneasily.
"I suppose if you are in those straits you don't really think of anything else--though you may wish to." "Did she tell you how much they want ?" said Diana, quickly.
"She named a thousand pounds!" Muriel might have been describing her own embarrassments, so scarlet had she become.
"A thousand pounds!" cried Diana, in amazement.

"But then why--why--does she have so many frocks--and play cards for money--and bet on races ?" She threw her arms round Mrs.Colwood's knees impetuously.
Muriel's small hand smoothed back the girl's hair, timidly yet eagerly.
"I suppose that's the way they've been brought up." "A thousand pounds! And does she expect me to provide it ?" "I am afraid--she hopes it." "But I haven't got it!" cried Diana, sitting down on the floor.

"I've spent more than I ought on this place; I'm overdrawn; I ought to be economical for a long time.

You know, Muriel, I'm not really rich." Mrs.Colwood colored deeper than ever.