Before the captain went to India he insured his life for L1000, and after his death Mrs.Mainwaring lived very placidly on her small pension, and for any wants which she required over and above what the pension could supply she drew upon the L1000.
She did not care, as a more sensible woman would have done, to invest this little sum as so much capital; no, she preferred to let it lie in the bank, and to draw upon it from time to time, as necessity arose.
She had no business friends to advise her, for the few acquaintances she made at Rosebury knew nothing whatever of the value of money.

Like many another woman who has been brought up in affluence, neither had Mrs.Mainwaring the faintest idea of how fast a small sum like L1,000 can dwindle.

She felt comfortable during the latter years of her life at the knowledge that she had a good balance in the bank.

It never occurred to her as a possibility that she who was still fairly young could die suddenly and without warning.

This event, however, took place, and the girls were practically unprovided for.
Mrs.Mainwaring had never really worked for her children, but a mother who had worked hard for them, and toiled, and exerted all her strength to provide adequately for their future, might not perhaps have been loved so well.