She was slight, she was graceful, her waving brown hair was as naturally luxuriant as that of a girl, her complexion was smooth and fair, her pretty features were unchanged, she dressed with good taste, and, though secretly proud of her youthful looks, was never so foolish as to adopt kittenish airs to match. Her manner was quiet, gracious, appealing; a little air of pathos enveloped her like a mist; on strangers she made the impression of a lovely creature who had known suffering. Everybody was kind to Mrs Gifford, and she in return had never been known to utter an unkind word. She had been born with the faculty of loving everybody a little, and no one very much, which--if one comes to think of it--is the most powerful of all factors towards securing an easy life, since it secures the owner from the possibility of keen personal suffering. At the present moment Mrs Gifford did, however, look really perturbed, for, after shutting her eyes to a disagreeable fact, and keeping them shut with much resolution and--it must be added--ease, for many years past, she was now driven to face the truth, and to break it to her daughter into the bargain. "But I don't understand!" Claire repeated blankly. "How _can_ the money be gone? We have spent no more this year than for years past. I should think we have spent less. I haven't been extravagant a bit. You offered me a new hat only last week, and I said I could do without--" "Yes, yes, of course. It's quite true, _cherie_, you have been most good. But, you see, ours has not been a case of an income that goes on year after year--it never was, even from the beginning. There was not enough. And you _did_ have a good education, didn't you? I spared nothing on it. It's folly to stint on a girl's education.--It was one of the best schools in Paris." "It was, mother; but we are not talking about schools. Do let us get to the bottom of this horrid muddle! If it isn't a case of `income,' what can it be? I'm ignorant about money, for you have always managed business matters, but I can't see what else we can have been living upon?" Mrs Gifford crinkled her delicate brows, and adopted an air of plaintive self-defence. "I'm sure it's as great a shock to me as it is to you; but, under the circumstances, I do think I managed very well. It was only nine thousand pounds at the beginning, and I've made it last over thirteen years, _with_ your education! And since we've been here, for the last three years, I've given you a good time, and taken you to everything that was going on. Naturally it all costs. Naturally money can't last for ever..." The blood flooded the girl's face. Now at last she _did_ understand, and the knowledge filled her with awe. "Mother! Do you mean that we have been living all this time on _capital_?" Mrs Gifford shrugged her shoulders, and extended her hands in an attitude typically French.