"Less than half her private income by marriage settlement; that was all there was left, and five-eighths of it she would insist on making over to the men who advanced the ten thousand. She is paying them two-and-a-half per cent. on their money and attempting to live on a hundred and fifty a year!" 

 "I'll double it before long!" 

 "Then she'll pay them five." 

 "They shall have every farthing one day; and the other creditors, they shall have their twenty shillings in the pound if I live long enough. Now let me have the rest of those cuttings. I want to know just how we stand—and what they say." 

 Out came the pocket-book once more. They were an hour's run nearer town when Harry spoke again. 

 "May I keep them?" he said. 

 "Surely." 

 "Thank you. I take it the bank's all right—and thank God the other liabilities up there are not large. As to the flight with that ten thousand—I don't believe it yet. There has been foul play. You mark my words." 

 Lowndes looked out at the flying fields. 

 "Which of you saw him last?" continued Harry. 

 "Your mother, when he left for town." 

 "When was that?" 

 "The morning after Good Friday." 

 "When did he cross?" 

 "That night." 

 "Did he write to anybody?" 

 "Not that I know of." 

 "Not to my mother?" 

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