She groped with her hands before her face and cleared the mist away. "It is nothing," she said. "I am—strong."
"I hope," said Pease, "that you will let Mr. Mather and me assume your father's trust."
"Tell me this," Judith requested, trying to command her voice. "We have no property at all—none at all. But there is that debt to Mr. Ellis. What is my liability to him?"
"Nothing whatever," Pease replied.
"I do not understand," she said. "I—I am responsible. If the debt were small, I should wish to earn the money to pay it. And though it is large, I think I ought to try to do the same."
"Impossible!" cried Pease. Judith listened while he protested and explained, but the matter became no clearer. Her own great fault had brought all this about: the debt was hers. She tried to make him comprehend.
"I——" she said, and faltered. "There are things you do not know."
"Judith," began Mather, "first let me understand, Mr. Ellis broke with your father?"
"And with me," she added simply.