Carbuncle would pay him her bill,
but how would it be with her if Mrs. Carbuncle did not pay the bill? And
as for her present to Lucinda--which was to have been a present, and
regarded by the future Lady Tewett as a voluntary offering of good will
and affection--she was altogether averse to having, it disposed of in this
fashion. And yet she did not like to make an enemy of Mrs. Carbuncle.
"I never was so poor in my life before, not since I was married," said
Lizzie.
"You can't be poor, dear Lady Eustace."
"They took my money out of my desk, you know--ever so much."
"Forty-three pounds," said Mrs. Carbuncle, who was, of course, well
instructed in all the details of the robbery.
"And I don't suppose you can guess what the autumn cost me at Portray. The
bills are only coming in now, and really they sometimes so frighten me
that I don't know what I shall do. Indeed I haven't got the money to
spare."
"You'll have every penny of it back in six weeks," said Mrs. Carbuncle,
upon whose face a glow of anger was settling down. She quite intended to
make herself very disagreeable to her "dear Lady Eustace" or her "dear
Lizzie" if she did not get what she wanted; and she knew very well how to
do it.
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