It was a question that she had no right to put. Richard answered it, however. "At present, not any. To-morrow I shall give Rane a cheque for two hundred pounds. Time was, madam, when I thought my sister would have gone from us with twenty thousand." "We are not speaking of what was, but of what is," said madam, an unpleasant sneer on her face. "Mr. North--to hear him speak--cannot spare the two hundred." "Quite true; Mr. North has it not to spare," said Richard. "It is I who give it to my sister. Drained though we constantly are for money, I could not, for very shame, suffer Bessy to go to her husband quite penniless." "She has not gone penniless," retorted madam, brazening the thing out. "I hear the Hall has been dismantled for her." "Oh, mother!" interposed Arthur in a rush of pain. "Hold your tongue; it is no affair of _yours_," spoke Mrs. North. "A cartload of furniture has gone out of the Hall." "Bessy's own," said Richard. "It was her mother's; and we have always considered it Bessy's. A few trifling mahogany things, madam, that you have never condescended to take notice of, and that never, in point of fact, have belonged to you. They have gone with Bessy, poor girl; and I trust Rane will make her a happier home than she has had here." "I trust they will both be miserable," flashed madam. Equable in temper though Richard North was, there are limits to endurance; he found his anger rising, and quitted the room abruptly. Arthur Bohun went limping after him: in any season of emotion, he was undeniably lame. "I would beg your pardon for her, Dick, in all entreaty," he whispered, putting his arm within Richard's, "but that my tongue is held by shame and humiliation. It was an awful misfortune for you all when your father married her." "We can only make the best of it, Arthur," was the kindly answer. "It was neither your fault nor mine." "Where is the good old pater?" "Hiding somewhere. Not a doubt of it." "Let us go and find him, Dick. He may be the better for having us with him to-day. If she was not my mother--and upon my word and honour, Richard, I sometimes think she is not--I'd strap on my armour and do brave battle for him."