come?

MASON. Mrs. Hunter, there is no income.

MRS. HUNTER. [_Quietly, not at all grasping what he means._] No income!
How is our money--

MASON. I am sorry to say there is _no_ money.

MRS. HUNTER. [_Echoes weakly._] No money?

MASON. Not a penny!

MRS. HUNTER. [_Realizing now what he means, cries out in a loud, hard,
amazed voice._] What!

BLANCHE. [_With her hand on her shoulder._] Mother!

MRS. HUNTER. I don't believe it!

RUTH. [_To_ MASON.] My good friend, do you mean that literally--that my
brother died without leaving _any_ money behind him?

MRS. HUNTER. For his wife and family?

MASON. I mean just that.

RUTH. But how?

MRS. HUNTER. Yes, _tell us the details_--every one of them! You can't
imagine the shock this is to me!

MASON. Hunter sent for me two days before he died, and told me things
had gone badly with him last year, but it seemed impossible to retrench
his expenses.

RUTH. _Are you listening, Florence?_

MRS. HUNTER. Yes, of course I am; your brother was a very extravagant
man!

MASON. This year, with his third daughter coming out, there was need of
more money than ever. He was harassed nearly to death with financial
worries. [RUTH _begins to cry softly._ MRS. HUNTER _gets angrier and
angrier._] And finally, in sheer desperation, and trusting to the advice
of the Storrings, he risked everything he had with them in the
Consolidated Copper. The day after, he was taken ill. You know what
happened. The Storrings, Hunter, and others were ruined absolutely; the
next day Hunter died.

RUTH. Poor George! Why didn't he come to me; he must have known that
everything I had was his!

MASON. He was too ill when the final blow came to realize it.

MRS. HUNTER. [_Angry._] But his _life insurance_,--there was a big
policy in my name.

MASON. He had been obliged to let that lapse.

MRS. HUNTER. You mean I haven't even my _life_ insurance?

MASON. As I said, there is nothing, except this house, and that is--

MRS. HUNTER. [_Rises indignantly and almost screams in angry
hysterics._] _Mortgaged_, I presume! Oh, it's insulting! It's an
indignity. It's--it's--Oh, well, it's just like my husband, there!

BLANCHE. Mother!

[RUTH _rises, and, taking_ MASON'S _arm, leads him aside._

MRS. HUNTER. [_To_ BLANCHE.] Oh, don't talk to me now! You always
preferred your father, and now you're punished for it! He has wilfully
left your mother and sisters paupers!

BLANCHE. How can you speak like