'
'Yes, Mr. Underwood, but I am afraid that remainder has been made to
cover a good deal of which you do not know!'
Mrs. Underwood flushed, and would have started forward. Her husband
looked at her with a reassuring smile. My Lady, evidently angered at
their blindness, went on, 'It is a painful duty, Mr. Underwood,
especially in your present state; but I think it due to you, as the
father of a family, to state what I have learned.'
'Thank you. What is it?'
'Have you reckoned the number of times the chair has been hired?' and
as he shook his head, 'That alone would amount to more than a pound.
Besides which, your daughters have been provided with books and
music--fruit has been bought--all amiable ways of spending money, no
doubt; but the question is, how was it procured?'
'Indeed,' said Mr. Underwood, still pausing.
'And,' added the lady, 'the means can, I am afraid, be hardly
doubted, though possibly the boy may have done it in ignorance.
Indeed, one of his sisters allowed as much.'
'What did she allow, Lady Price?'
'That--that it was won at play, Mr. Underwood. You know Mr. Froggatt
gives his boy an absurd amount of pocket-money, and when she was
taxed with this, your daughter--Alda is her name, I believe--allowed
that--'
'Papa, Papa!' breathlessly broke out Cherry, who had been forgotten
on her little sofa all this time, but now dashed forward, stumping
impetuously with her crutch--'Papa, it's all Alda, how can she be so
horrid?'
'What is it, my dear?' said Mr.
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