CHAPTER III. WAYS AND MEANS.
O 'tis not joy and 'tis not bliss,
Only it is precisely this
That keeps us all alive.
A. H. Clough.
"So you are really, really going to do it, Gerty?"
"Yes, really, Con."
It was the day before the sale, and the two girls, Gertrude Lorimer and Constance Devonshire were walking round the garden together for the last time. It had been a day of farewells. Only an hour ago the unfortunate Fan had rolled off to Lancaster Gate in a brougham belonging to the house of Pratt. Lucy was now steaming on her way to the north with Mr. Russel; and upstairs Phyllis was packing her boxes before setting out for Queen's Gate with Constance and her sister.