lence.

"_What_? Impossible! None? Then why write? A lawyer's letter costs
six and eightpence. There must be a reason. Mary--I insist!"

Mary lifted her colourless eyes, and looked her mother in the face.

"Miss Brewster left me no legacy. She left me her principal.
Everything she had. I shall have five hundred a year."

"God bless my soul!" cried the Major loudly. Teresa flushed scarlet
over face and neck, and stared with distended eyes.

"Oh, _Mary_! I'm glad! How ripping."

"Ripping, indeed. Is that the best word you can find for your sister's
good fortune?" Mrs Mallison raised her eyes in ecstatic rejoicing to
the electric light ornament which decorated the centre of the ceiling.
"Thank God that I have lived to see this day! I told papa when we chose
her as godmother that it might be for the child's benefit. Not likely
to marry, and a settled income. We thought of your welfare, Mary, in
your long clothes and see the result. And I made a point of inviting
her once a year. She was devoted to you as a child--you remember the
pink corals? but of late with her ill-health we have fallen apart, and
she seemed indifferent. Nothing, even on your birthdays. Well! Well!
what news! What thankfulness. All things work together. Five--
hundred--a--year!" Her large body expanded in beatific realisation.
"Five hundred--pounds. It's marvellous how much a few hundreds mean
after necessities have been provided. As I have said a hundred times--
after a thousand, every hundred does the work of two... What about a
brougham? We have always needed a second carriage. Papa and I are
getting too old to drive in the open in winter, and Teresa goes out so
much at night. It would be only the initial expense, for Johnson could
do the work. He might need a new livery. And the little conservatory
opening out of the drawing-room... That has been a long-felt want. So
cheerful,--and you could look after the plants, dear. Such agreeable
work! ... Five hundred,--about forty pounds a month, ten pounds a week,
nearly thirty shillings a day. My dear, what riches! Quite a little
millionaire... So apropos too, with a wedding in prospect. It would
have been a strain out of a regular income, and one hesitates to break
in on capital. Perhaps your rich sister will give you your trousseau,
Teresa, who knows! Indeed I feel sure she will wish it. It doesn't
seem suitable for one sister to have so much, and the other n