Margaret knew and could tell nothing, and Mr. Collinge said, "Mrs. Livesey is scarcely likely to know more of her mother's affairs than you who have lived so near her. I think, indeed, that Mrs. Allison told no one but myself exactly how her affairs stood. The funeral expenses will be amply met without any sale, as the deceased was a member of two burial clubs. Beside, she had saved money, and this and the furniture are dealt with in the will to which I alluded. Its contents will be made known when the other members of the family are present."
So Mrs. Bradford had to control her impatience as best she might. In the meanwhile, she took up her abode under the same roof with Margaret, who was only too glad of the extra companionship, there being beside herself and her baby, only a young girl sleeping at the cottage. The widow's other daughters had visited her from time to time, but did not remain, as they lived at no great distance.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
HOW MRS. ALLISON MADE AMENDS.
MRS. BRADFORD passed the interval between her mother's death and funeral in what Margaret called "a continual worritting." She was ever harping on the money question, and wondering who would get the best share, or if it would be "divided equal"; whether there was much or little, and who would have the furniture, of which she knew Mrs. Allison had the disposal. She professed to be surprised that Margaret seemed so little moved by what excited herself so much.
"You take things very easy, Margaret," she said. "If you knew just what was coming, you couldn't put yourself less about."
"I don't know, then," replied Margaret. "And more than that, I don't trouble. Whatever mother had was her own, to do as she liked with, and whoever gets it, you'll not hear me say she's done wrong. As to you, Ann, it is always the money and not mother that is in your mind and on your tongue. You could not trouble yourself less, if her that's lying upstairs was a stranger, and naught akin to you, instead of your own mother. Please never to say another word to me about the money, or I shall be vexing you, and I don't want, 'specially at a time like this."
Mrs. Bradford was nothing if not prudent, and she took Margaret's hint, but thought the more.
By Mr. Collinge's orders, decent mourning was ordered for each of the sisters, so that, after all, as Ann remarked, Margaret's having ordered a coloured bonnet did not matter so much, though "it would have come in for second best if it had been black."
It was not deemed necessary for Adam Livesey to journey all the way from Millborough to be at the funeral, and as to the children's "black," it was to stay until their mother's return.