"Not selling it," he corrected.
"I don't understand any of it," she answered, "but it is impossible for us to leave Lyndwood."
"It is impossible for us to keep it. Believe me, my lady, I have considered it all. If I had seen any means to help myself I should not be here to-night."
"But Marius!" cried the Countess miserably. "Marius to come home to this—Marius penniless!"
The Earl's lids flickered a little.
"There are chances for Marius."
The Countess rose with a movement of impatience.
"It is bitterly unfair on him. He has been brought up to wealth; he was as ignorant as I that the money you squandered was all we had."
Rose Lyndwood flushed.
"We have all been thriftless and careless, my lady," he said. "I the most of any, and if I could have done anything to avert this——"