'I do not suppose she can have much; my poor father died before he was in a position to save any considerable sum.'
'She has about five hundred pounds in Indian railway bonds, and a couple of hundred in a South American loan, and some three hundred in home railways—about fifteen to sixteen hundred pounds in all—that is to say, she had this a little while ago.'
'And has it still, no doubt.'
'No; you yourself told me she had met with losses.'
'She informed me that she had, but I cannot understand how this can have been. I doubt entirely that she met with losses.'
'But she allowed me to see her book, and she has sold out some stock—in fact, between two and three hundred pounds' worth. She did that almost immediately after my uncle's death.'
'But she has the money realized, I suppose.'
'Not at all. It is gone.'
'Gone!'
'She cannot and will not account for it to me, except by the vague explanation that she had a sudden and unexpected call upon her which she was forced to meet.'