they were when compared with the wealth of the man who was to become her
husband in six weeks! Let her marry him, and not pay them, and he
probably would never be the wiser. They would get themselves paid almost
without his knowledge, perhaps altogether without his hearing of them.
But yet she feared him, knowing him to be greedy about money; and, to
give her such merit as was due to her, she felt the meanness of going to
her husband with debts on her shoulder. She had five thousand pounds of
her own; but the very settlement which gave her a noble dower, and which
made the marriage so brilliant, made over this small sum in its entirety
to her lord. She had been wrong not to tell the lawyer of her trouble
when he had brought the paper for her to sign; but she had not told him.
If Sir Hugh Clavering had been her own brother there would have been no
difficulty, but he was only her brother-in-law, and she feared to speak
to him. Her sister, however, knew that there were debts, and on that
subject she was not afraid to speak to Hermione.

"Hermy," said she, "what am I to do about this money that I owe? I got a
bill from Colclugh's this morning."

"Just because he knows you're going to be married; that's all."

"But how am I to pay him?"

"Take no notice of it till next spring. I don't know what else you can
do. You'll be sure to have money when you come back from the Continent."

"You couldn't lend it me; could you?"

"Who? I? Did you ever know me have any money in hand since I was
married? I have the name of an allowance, but it is always spent before