I paused to let my words sink in. Of course she didn't believe me! Because Arthur had squandered a few hundreds on her, she thought he could produce thousands merely by pressing a bell; and, when she had sucked him dry, she expected Spenworth and Brackenbury to come forward. I _had_ to tell her how things really were... We should _all_ be poorer than we are by a divorce... Though she clearly did not believe me, she was impressed; she was thinking. In that class one doesn't think very much, apparently. I gathered that she could not go back to the stage; she had no position there and could only hope for work in the chorus... "Old Boy says it will be all right," she said, and I could see that she was exhausted by the rare exertion of thinking. Until you have heard your husband described as "Old Boy" by a half-naked chorus-girl who is slowly bleeding him to death, you have not realized how highly your self-restraint may be tested... "I don't suggest more than that it will be an effort," I said. "My dear young lady, I speak with some knowledge. You were married for a few months to a husband whom you hardly saw and who spent what money he had like water. I have kept house for more than thirty years on an income which you would not think large, but which is bigger than anything you can hope for. I know something of men and their ways and their extravagances and humours. It will be a great change, and I only hope that you will prove equal to it." I pointed--not unkindly--at the litter in her room. "I trust for your sake as well as his that you will learn habits of tidiness." "Is Old Boy a fusser?," she asked. I wish to be judged by results. If you tell me that the end has justified the means, I give you complete freedom to say that I spoke of Arthur as one might speak of a cook when one's name had been furnished as a reference. I gave him a character--for his next employer. No, indeed, he was not what the young woman could fairly call a "fusser", but all men of his age had contracted certain habits. He abominated untidiness and unpunctuality--the necessary fruit of his business-training; though generous, he had long been compelled to be _careful_ about money. I offered to shew her my books, but she said she didn't think she could understand them. And so on and so forth. He was very particular about his food, and in this respect Mrs. Templedown would have to be a veritable martinet--not only to the servants but to him.