"I, as trustee, have just signed the documents. There is talk about this affair in town?"
"There is; a good deal. People cannot understand it."
"It came as a great shock and surprise to me when I heard it. It was that shock knocked me up in London."
"I thought it must have had something to do with it."
"It was the cause of it. Well, I am placed in a horribly awkward position. My mother is called upon to pay a large sum of money, say eight to ten thousand. Of course, we could easily manage that."
"Easily, I should think," said Aldridge, thinking with pride of the gallant stand the Bank had made in the late ruinous times.
"But," continued Grey, "if I paid the money now, I might be called upon to pay a similar or even a larger sum in six months, and again six months later, and I could not stand that kind of thing."
Aldridge shook his head and looked grave in confirmation of Grey's decision.
"The things must be sold," continued the banker. "When she has no property to pledge, no annuity to pawn, I can make a suitable allowance to her. The fact is, Aldridge, my poor mother has lost all her money in gambling on the Stock Exchange. Her name does not appear. She did it through some fellow in London. Now you see how there is nothing for it but to sell out. You see that clearly?"
"Nothing in the world could be plainer. A woman of her age!"