"I thought you enjoyed climbing."
"Not to-day. Clodagh, you'll think me a horrid nuisance, but it's about that money——"
She paused as she said the word, and involuntarily her quick glance passed once more over the papers on the table.
For a second Clodagh remained silent; then she spoke, a little slowly—a little haltingly.
"Oh yes—the money," she said.
Lady Frances looked at her shrewdly.
"Yes, you remember on Tuesday—when you borrowed that sixty pounds to pay old Lady Shrawle—I said I could wait for everything till August."
"Yes—oh yes!"
"Well, I've had a horrid drop since then—yesterday, in fact."
For a moment longer, Clodagh sat staring aimlessly at the papers in front of her; then she raised her head and looked at her companion. Her face was a little pale, but her eyes and lips looked almost scornfully unconcerned.