tch clock with the horrified countenance, and took
therefrom a tea-caddy, which she set on the table with peculiar
emphasis. Tottie watched her with an expression of awe, for she had
seen her mother weeping frequently over that tea-caddy, and believed
that it must certainly contain something very dreadful.

"The preparations," said Mrs Gaff, as she searched her pocket for the
key of the box, "will depend on what I'm able to afford."

"You'll be able to afford a good deal, then, if all that's reported be
true, for I'm told ye've got ten thousand pounds."

"Is that the sum?" asked Mrs Gaff, still searching for the key, which,
like all other keys in like circumstances, seemed to have gone in for a
game of hide-and-seek; "I'm sure I ought to know, for the lawyer took
great pains to teach me that; ay, there ye are," (to the key); "found ye
at last. Now then, Haco, we'll have a look at the book and see."

To Tottie's surprise and no small disappointment, the only object that
came out of the mysterious tea-caddy was a small book, which Mrs Gaff,
however, seemed to look upon with respect, and to handle as if she
half-expected it would bite.

"There, that's my banker's book. You read off the figures, Haco, for I
can't. To be sure if I had wanted to know, Tottie could have told me,
but I haven't had the heart to look at it till to-day."

"Ten thousand, an' no mistake!" said Haco, looking at the figures with
intense gravity.

"Now, then, the question is," said Mrs Gaff, sitting down and again
seizing Tottie's head for stroking purposes, while she put the question
with deep solemnity--"the question is, how long will that last?"

Haco was a good deal puzzled. He bit his thumb nail, and knit his
shaggy brows for some time, and then said--

"Well, you know, that depends on how much you spend at a time. If you
go for to spend a thousand pounds a day, now, it'll just last ten days.
If you spend a thousand pounds a year, it'll last ten years. If you
spend a thousand pounds in ten years, it'll last a hundred years--d'ye
see? It all depends on the spendin'. But, then, Mrs Gaff," said the
skipper remonstratively, "you mustn't go for to live on the principal,
you know."

"What's the principal?" demanded Mrs Gaff.

"Why, the whole sum; the money _itself_, you know."

"D'ye suppose that I'm a born fool, Mr Barepoles, that I should try to
live on the money itself? I never heerd on anybody bilin' up money in a
kettle an'