“Um! Do you mean now?”
“Oh, the sooner the better.”
“If your mother asks for my advice——I can speak to you quite candidly, darling. To put things right at Upworthy means, in one word—money.”
“Mother knows that, and she says that her means are diminishing.”
“Heavy taxation—likely to be heavier. It would be quite impracticable to put things right out of income.”
“Oh, dear!”
“Don’t look so miserable! Improvements are investments. I borrow money for my improvements—everybody does; and your mother must do the same.”
“She won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because she is terrified of debt; because, I believe, she promised my father not to encumber the property.”