"I suppose so, and something would come to you too; but I do not understand these matters. It is dreadful how mean and mercenary this terrible need for money makes one."
"You want it very much, mother? There is trouble in your voice; tell me what it is."
"There is no special pressure, dear, just now; but unless I am more successful with my pen I greatly fear I shall get into debt before I can liberate myself from that house. Yet if I do, what will become of Ada and the boys?" She paused to cough.
Katherine was silent; the tone of her mother's voice told more than her words. "But," resumed Mrs. Liddell, "all is not black. The Dalston Weekly has taken my short story, and given me ten pounds for it. However, you must take the bad with the good; my poor three-decker has come back on my hands."
Katherine uttered a low exclamation. "I did hope they would have taken it! and what miserable pay for that bright, pretty story! Mother, I cannot believe that the novel will fail. Do, do try Santley & Son! I have always heard they were such nice people. Try—promise me you will."
"Dear Katie, I will do whatever you ask me; but—but I confess I feel as if Hope, who has always befriended me, had turned her back at last. I am so dreadfully tired! I feel as if I was never to rest. Oh for a couple of years of peace before I go hence, and a certainty that you would not want!"
"Do not fear for me," cried Katherine, pressing her mother to her and covering her pale cheeks with kisses. "For myself I fear nothing, but for you, I greatly fear you are unwell; you breathe shortly; your hands are feverish. Do not let hope go. A few weeks and my uncle will be stronger, or he may be invigorated by feeling he has killed out the other old man, and then I will go back to you and help you, whatever happens. I won't stay here to act compound interest. My own darling mother, keep up your heart."
"I am ashamed of myself," said Mrs. Liddell, in an unsteady voice. "I ought not to have grieved your young heart with my depression, for I have been depressed."
"Why not? What is the good of youth and strength if it is not to uphold those who have already had more than their share of life's burdens?"
"I assure you this outpouring has relieved me greatly; I shall return like a giant refreshed," said Mrs. Liddell, rallying gallantly; "and you may depend on my trying the fortune of my poor novel once more, with Santley & Son. Now tell me how your domestic management prospers."