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.

"What would you, _ma chere_? Interest is so ridiculously low. They
offered me three per cent. Four was considered high. How could we have
lived on less than three hundred a year? Your school bills came to
nearly as much, and I had to live, too, and keep you in the holidays. I
did what I thought was the best. We should both have been miserable in
cheap pensions, stinting ourselves of everything we liked. The money
has made us happy for thirteen years."

Claire rose from her seat and walked over to the window. The road into
which she looked was wide and handsome, lined with a double row of
trees. The sun shone on the high white houses with the green
_jalousies_, which stood _vis-a-vis_ with the Pension. Along the
cobble-stoned path a dog was dragging a milk-cart, the gleaming brass
cans clanking from side to side; through the open window came the faint
indescribable scent which distinguishes a continental from a British
city. Claire stared with unseeing eyes, her heart beating with heavy
thuds. She conjured up the image of a man's face--a strong kindly
face--a face which might well make the sunshine of some woman's life,
but which made no appeal to her own heart. She set her lips, and two
bright spots of colour showed suddenly in her cheeks. So smooth and
uneventful had been her life that this was the first time that she had
found herself face to face with serious difficulty, and, after the first
shock of realisation, her spirit rose to meet it. She straightened her
shoulders as if throwing off a weight, and her heart cried valiantly,
"It's my own life, and I will _not_ be forced! There must be some other
way.