Joan snatched her hand away, she spoke bitterly: "All Seabourne knew and you knew, it seems; I see—only Milly and I were kept in the dark!"

"Don't be angry. What was the good of making you unhappy before it was absolutely necessary; surely you know soon enough as it is?"

"But I don't understand, Elizabeth; do you realize what this means to you and me?"

"You mean that now you have no money you can't go to Cambridge?"

"Yes, Cambridge, but above all the flat. I was thinking of our plans for our life together."

"Go up and change and then we'll talk," said Elizabeth quietly. "You're wet through."

Joan obeyed.

3

"And now," Elizabeth began, when Joan, wrapped in a dressing-gown, had sunk into a chair. "Let's thrash this thing out from clue to earring. How much has he left you?"

"Twenty-five pounds a year each."