The stables had been full of horses, there was a great turmoil and
come-and-go of horses and of dealers and grooms. Then the kitchen was
full of servants. But of late things had declined. The old man had
married a second time, to retrieve his fortunes. Now he was dead and
everything was gone to the dogs, there was nothing but debt and
threatening.
For months, Mabel had been servantless in the big house, keeping the home
together in penury for her ineffectual brothers. She had kept house for
ten years. But previously, it was with unstinted means. Then, however
brutal and coarse everything was, the sense of money had kept her proud,
confident. The men might be foul-mouthed, the women in the kitchen might
have bad reputations, her brothers might have illegitimate children. But
so long as there was money, the girl felt herself established, and
brutally proud, reserved.
No company came to the house, save dealers and coarse men. Mabel had no
associates of her own sex, after her sister went away. But she did not
mind. She went regularly to church, she attended to her father. And she
lived in the memory of her mother, who had died when she was fourteen,
and whom she had loved. She had loved her father, too, in a different
way, depending upon him, and feeling secure in him, until at the age of
fifty-four he married again. And then she had set hard against him. Now
he had died and left them all hopelessly in debt.
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