Lord Risborough died. But
there was a legacy in his will for Ewen Hooper which had given a
breathing space; and Connie had readily consented to pay a year's
maintenance in advance. Yet still the drawer of bills, on which Nora
kept anxious watch, was painfully full; and of late the perennial
difficulty of ready money had reappeared.

Mrs. Hooper declared she must have a new dress, if these invitations
were to be accepted.

"I don't want anything extravagant," she said fretfully. "But really
it's too bad of Nora to say that I could have my old blue one done up.
She never seems to care how her mother looks. If all this fuss is going
to be made about Constance and I am to take her out, I must be decent!"

The small underhung mouth shut obstinately. These musts of her mother's
and Alice's were Nora's terror. They always meant a new bill.

Alice said--"Of course! And especially when Constance dresses so
extravagantly!" she added bitterly. "One can't look like her
scullery-maid!"

Mrs. Hooper sighed. She glanced round her to see that the door was shut.

"That silly child, Nora, had quite a scene with Connie this morning,
because Connie offered to give her that pretty white dress in Brandon's
window. She told me Connie had insulted her. Such nonsense! Why
shouldn't Connie give her a dress--and you too? She has more money than
she knows how to spend."

Alice did not reply. She, too, wanted new dresses; she could hardly
endure the grace and costliness of Connie's garments, when she compared
them with her own; but there was something in her sad little soul also
that would not let her be beholden to Connie. Not without a
struggle, anyway.

"I don't want Connie to give me things either," she said sulkily. "She's
never been the least nice to me. She makes a pet of Nora, and the rest
of us might be doormats for all the notice she takes of us."

"Well, I don't know--she's quite civil," said Mrs. Hooper reflectively.
She added, after a minute--"It's extraordinary how the servants will do
anything for her!"

"Why, of course, she tips them!" cried Alice, indignantly. Mrs. Hooper
shrugged her shoulders. It was quite indifferent to her whether Connie
tipped them or not, so long as she gained by the result. And there was
no denying the fact that the house had never gone so smoothly as since
Connie's arrival. At the same time her conscience reminded her that
there was probably something else than "tipping" in the matter. For
ins