"If you please. Papa is somewhat fastidious; but he could not object to
my going there; and its being so very near our own house would be a
great point of--"

"Constance!" interrupted a voice at this juncture. "Is Mr. Yorke
there?"

"He is here, mamma," replied Constance, walking forward to Mrs.
Channing, Mr. Yorke attending her.

"I thought I heard you enter," she said, as Mr. Yorke took her hand.
"Mr. Channing will be pleased to see you, if you will come in and chat
with him. The children have told you the tidings. It is a great blow to
their prospects."

"But they seem determined to bear it bravely," he answered, in a hearty
tone. "You may be proud to have such children, Mrs. Channing."

"Not proud," she softly said. "Thankful!"

"True. I am obliged to you for correcting me," was the clergyman's
ingenuous answer, as he walked, with Mrs. Channing, across the hall.
Constance halted, for Judith came out of the kitchen, and spoke in a
whisper.

"And what's the right and the wrong of it, Miss Constance? _Is_ the
money gone?"

"Gone entirely, Judith. Gone for good."