"I cannot go. I should like it very much; but I really cannot go.
Please, mamma, write at once, and refuse it."
"Nonsense, child! When a man in Mr. Kirkpatrick's position comes
forward to offer a favour, it does not do to decline it without
giving a sufficient reason. So kind of him as it is, too!"
"Suppose you offer to go instead of me?" proposed Cynthia.
"No, no! that won't do," said Mr. Gibson, decidedly. "You can't
transfer invitations in that way. But, really, this excuse about your
clothes does appear to be very trivial, Cynthia, if you have no other
reason to give."
"It is a real, true reason to me," said Cynthia, looking up at him
as she spoke. "You must let me judge for myself. It would not do
to go there in a state of shabbiness, for even in Doughty Street,
I remember, my aunt was very particular about dress; and now that
Margaret and Helen are grown up, and they visit so much,--pray don't
say anything more about it, for I know it would not do."
"What have you done with all your money, I wonder?" said Mrs. Gibson.
"You've twenty pounds a year, thanks to Mr. Gibson and me; and I'm
sure you haven't spent more than ten."
"I hadn't many things when I came back from France," said Cynthia, in
a low voice, and evidently troubled by all this questioning. "Pray
let it be decided at once; I can't go, and there's an end of it." She
got up, and left the room rather suddenly.
"I don't understand it at all," said Mrs. Gibson. "Do you, Molly?"
"No. I know she doesn't like spending money on her dress, and is very
careful." Molly said this much, and then was afraid she had made
mischief.
"But then she must have got the money somewhere. It always has struck
me that if you have not extravagant habits, and do not live up to
your income, you must have a certain sum to lay by at the end of the
year. Have I not often said so, Mr. Gibson?"
"Probably."
"Well, then, apply the same reasoning to Cynthia's case; and then, I
ask, what has become of the money?"
"I cannot tell," said Molly, seeing that she was appealed to. "She
may have given it away to some one who wants it."
Mr. Gibson put down his newspaper.
"It's very clear that she has neither got the dress nor the money
necessary for this London visit, and that she doesn't want any more
inquiries to be made on the subject. She likes mysteries, in fact,
and I detest them. Still, I think it's a desirable thing for her to
keep up the acquaintance, or friendship, or whatever it is to be
called, with her father's family; and I shall gladly give her ten
pounds; and if that's not enough, why, either you must help her out,
or she must do without some superfluous article of dress or another."