"My dear Charlotte, you are, I observe, as impatient as ever. My sole desire was to break the matter gently to you, in order, if possible, to save you any unnecessary pain." "Pain? What should pain me?" Yet her voice and her face were a little troubled as she spoke. "My dear Charlotte, I know your generous nature, and I know--or I can guess--how lavishly you have dealt with this boy. It has been my good fortune to meet him once or twice, or perhaps I should say to see him in the distance; for we move, as you are aware, in different spheres. I have seen the richness of his dress; I have observed that he never appears to be in want of money." "I don't do things by halves," said Miss Carlaw with a little touch of pride. "I said I would look after the boy, and I've done it. But what has all this to do with you--or with what you have to say?" "Everything, my dear sister, everything. I suppose--forgive the question, but it is necessary--I imagine he has a large personal income?" "He has," replied the old woman shortly. "A thousand a year." Mr. Robert Carlaw lifted his hands in amazement. "A thousand a year! Incredible! And even that does not satisfy him." "Not satisfy him! What do you mean?" "To put the matter plainly, my dear Charlotte, circumstances which I need not detail took me recently into a certain quarter of the city. I may state--not without a blush, for I'm still a gentleman--that my condition of life is such that I am compelled sometimes to resort to various shifts by which to raise money. You have not had to do that; fortune has been kinder to you than to others. In this case I had gone to visit a money-lender. Do I pain you?" "Go on," said Miss Carlaw quietly. She had backed away from him a little and was standing beside the fireplace, with one hand reaching up and resting on the high mantelshelf. "Imagine my surprise, my distress, when I met in such a place your nephew, Comethup Willis!" "Comethup at a money-lender's! Either you're mad or you think I am, brother Bob. Or have you suddenly gone blind, like your sister?" "Alas! my dear Charlotte, I was never more wide-awake in my life, and never did I speak in more sober earnestness. I said nothing to the young man at the time, but the money-lender being a friend, I carefully and cautiously questioned him. And then I discovered the whole disgraceful business." Mr. Robert Carlaw rose to his feet and began to pace excitedly about the room. "Keep still, man, keep still!" cried Miss Carlaw furiously, "and get on with your story."