"Oh, he will get it all right, people are so good to him. Poor, dear Mr Hancock——"
She stopped suddenly.
"Yes, yes."
"He said we weren't to tell."
She spoke in a secretive voice which greatly inflamed her companion's curiosity.
"You might tell me, but don't if you don't want to."
"Yes," said Fanny. "I don't think it matters now that you are friends with us, and we're all the same family. Father's dividends had not come in, and he lent us the money to pay the bills."
"What bills?"
"The butcher's bill, and Stokes the baker's bill, and the milk bill, and some others."
"Hancock lent you the money to pay your bills?" cried Charles, feeling like a person in a dream.