Slipping the tray from her knees to the little bamboo table at the side of the bed, Miss Breeze wrapped the eiderdown round her, and scuttled across and opened the door. She kissed her guest and they both went back into the warm bedroom; for the fire in the little drawing-room would not be lit until just before Miss Breeze got up, and lying in bed in the morning was her one self-indulgence.
"My dear, take your hat off and sit down in the comfortable chair. Whatever has brought you here at this hour?"
"Trouble," answered Mrs. Walbridge simply, doing as she was told. "I want you to do something for me, Caroline, it's a favour. I've very little time, so I can't explain. I must have some money."
"Money!" Miss Breeze had known Mrs. Walbridge for many years, but she had never suspected that her friend had money troubles.
"Yes, I must have some at once, and I want you to—to pawn these for me."
Opening her bag, she took out a little old case into which she had crowded her two or three old-fashioned diamond rings, and two pairs of earrings, one of seed pearls, the other of pale sapphires clumsily set in diamond chips and thick gold.
Caroline Breeze had never been inside a pawnshop in her life, but she did not protest against the horrid errand.
"I'll get up at once and go," she said. "What do you think they ought to give me?"
Mrs. Walbridge, who was very pale, and whose eyes looked larger and more sunken than ever, shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I haven't the slightest idea," she said.