"Oh, Gladys!" she said. "I am grieved for you. Poor mamma! What will she do? How was it?"
"Paralysis, the telegram says," replied Gladys; "but we know hardly anything. That was what mamma had feared. Here is the telegram."
And she spread it open before Aldyth, who read—
"Stanton Bros., bankrupt. Robert Stanton died yesterday, shock producing paralysis."
"Oh, how terrible!" said Aldyth. "How terrible the news seems, coming in these few cold words! What a shock for mamma! How did she bear it?"
"She almost fainted, and then she went into hysterics," said Gladys, with unconscious dryness; "but she is quieter now. Mamma says that things have been going wrong in the business for some time, and that papa said that if it came to bankruptcy, we must lose everything. She says she believes we have not a penny."
"Do not let that trouble you," said Aldyth, kindly; "your greatest loss can never be made up to you, but as far as the money goes, I have enough for us all. Oh, I am glad now that uncle made me rich."
And at that moment, Aldyth experienced the utmost satisfaction her fortune had brought her.
"I should have thought you would have been glad before this," said Gladys, "and you won't want a lot of poor relatives hanging on you."
"I should be much poorer if I had not the relatives," said Aldyth. "Where is Nelly?"