"Well, of course, Mrs. Colwood's told me all you've been saying to her. And I don't say I'm surprised."
Diana opened her large eyes.
"Surprised at what?"
"Surprised--well!--surprised you didn't see your way all at once, and that kind of thing. I know I'd want to ask a lot of questions--shouldn't I, just! Why, that's what I expected. But, you see, my time in England's getting on. I've nothing to say to my people, and they bother my life out every mail."
"What did you really come to England for?" said Diana, in a low voice. Her attitude, curled up among the cushions of the sofa, gave her an almost childish air. Fanny, on the other hand, resplendent in her scarlet dress and high coiffure, might have been years older than her cousin. And any stranger watching the face in which the hardness of an "old campaigner" already strove with youth, would have thought her, and not Diana, the mistress of the house.
At Diana's question, Fanny's eyes flickered a moment.
"Oh, well, I had lots of things in my mind. But it was the money that mattered most."
"I see," murmured Diana.
Fanny fidgeted a little with one of the three bead necklaces which adorned her. Then she broke out:
"Look here, Diana, you've never been poor in your life, so you don't know what it's like being awfully hard up. But ever since father died, mother's had a frightful lot of trouble--all of us to keep, and the boys' schooling to pay, and next to nothing to do it on. Father left everything in a dreadful muddle. He never had a bit of sense--"