“What—what is this?” I stammered.

“It’s eightpence. Can’t you see? And it’s all we have in the world!”

I remember that I turned it over mechanically, and giggled. I knew nothing of money matters. I had never had the spending of a sovereign in my life.

I was aware that Emma was extravagant, that she never could resist what she called “a bargain,” never could keep money in her pocket. It was quite one of her favorite jokes to exclaim, “Bang goes another five-pound note!”

I had participated in this jest with smiling equanimity, and the supreme confi[17]dence of youth: I believed that my stepmother, and only relative, had an ample supply of money somewhere. But—eightpence!

[17]

I stared at the two coppers and the little bit of silver in dismayed silence.

“Take off your hat, Gwen,” continued Emma, impetuously, “and listen to me. I’m not fit to be trusted with money—never was; I can’t keep it. ‘Sufficient unto the day,’ has always been my motto. You, I can see, are prudent; you are good at figures, old beyond your years. I suppose you take after your mother’s people, for your father was nearly as—as—extravagant and heedless as myself. Now I’m going to lay my affairs before you—place everything in your hands, and let you manage all our money.”

“Eightpence!” I repeated half under my breath.

[18]

[18]

“You know, we never saved a penny. I had a few hundreds of pounds from our auction, and I’ve spent that. A short life, and—a—a merry one!” looking at me with her pretty sapphire-colored eyes drowned in tears. “We have had a good time, have we not? And I was certain that the dear old Jam-Jam, who was so fond of your father—and, indeed, with every reason—would give us a handsome pension. But I have had a horrible letter by the mail just in. The Jam-Jam, who has been ailing for months—the new doctor did not understand his constitution—is dead. I am truly sorry.” A fresh burst of tears.

“Was all this grief for the Jam?” I asked myself, and stood confounded.

“My dear, we are paupers,” she sobbed. “Mr. Watkins, the agent, says that the new rajah, the nephew, a detestable creature, [19]who I know never could endure me, will only give a hundred and thirty 

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