er the main points, one by one, using the same untechnical
simplicity of language which George's men of business had employed with
herself. The facts could be stated broadly but comprehensively. When all
was settled the Eveleth estate would have disappeared. Diane would
possess her small inheritance, which was a thing apart. Mrs. Eveleth
would have a few jewels and other minor personal belongings, but nothing
more. The very completeness of the story rendered it easy in the
telling, though the largeness of the facts made it impossible for Diane
to take them in. It was an almost unreasonable tax on credulity to
attempt to think of the tall, fragile woman sitting before her, with
luxurious nurture in every pose of the figure, in every habit of the
mind, as penniless. It was trying to account for daylight without a sun.

"It can't be!" Diane cried, when she had done her best to weigh the
facts just placed before her.

Mrs. Eveleth shook her head, the glimmering smile fixed on her lips as
on a mask.

"It is so, dear, I'm afraid. We must do our best to get used to it."

"I shall never get used to it," Diane cried, springing to her
feet--"never, never!"

"It will be hard for you to do without all you've had--when you've had
so much--but--"

"Oh, it isn't that," Diane broke in, fiercely. "It isn't for me. I can
do well enough. It's for you."

"Don't worry about me, dear. I can work."

The words were spoken in a matter-of-fact tone, but Diane recoiled at
them as at a sword-thrust.

"You can--what?"

It was the last touch, not only of the horror of the situation, but of
its ludicrous irony.

"I can work, dear," Mrs. Eveleth repeated, with the poignant
tranquillity that smote Diane more cruelly than grief. "There are many
things I could do--"

"Oh, don't!" Diane wailed, with pleading gestures of the hands. "Oh,
don't! I can't bear it. Don't say such things. They kill me. There must
be some mistake. All that money can't have gone. Even if it was only a
few hundred thousand francs, it would be something. I will not believe
it. It's too soon to judge. I've heard it took a long time to settle up
estates. How can they have done it yet?"

"They haven't. They've only seen its possibilities--and
impossibilities."

"I will never believe it," Diane burst out again. "I will see those men.
I will tell them. I am positive that it cannot be. Such injustice would
not be permitted. There must be laws--there must be something--t