"Father, don't be unhappy. We shall manage—somehow. Things will not be so bad as you expect—perhaps."
"Things could not be worse! It means—ruin," groaned the Colonel. "I—I shall never hold up my head again."
She stole a little closer to him.
"It isn't quite a new trouble, is it? All the autumn, haven't you been expecting—something of the kind?"
An inarticulate sound came in answer.
"Looking forward to a trouble is sometimes worse than bearing it when it really comes. Don't you think so?"
Another indefinite sound, more like a groan than anything else.
"Won't you tell me how it has happened?"
The Colonel shook himself roughly, and stood up.
"My dear, I can't be bothered. Only let me alone."