“Oh, it is horrible,” and there was a fresh flood of tears.
“Are you sick? Mother says she is well and so is father.”
“It's all about Reggie.”
“Capt. Hornaby? Is he dead?”
“Worse. I wish he was. No, I don't mean that. But the disgrace.”
Maude was getting impatient. “What has he done? Married somebody else? But he never proposed to you, did he?”
Florence wiped away her tears. “No, not exactly. But we understood each other.”
“Well, I can't understand you. Why don't you tell me what he's done?”
“Well, you know that father loaned him some money when he lost his pocketbook in the pond.”
Maude sniffed. “I imagined he did—nobody told me so.”