"
"I shall be very glad to contribute half a crown, very glad indeed," said
Mrs. Stossen, digging that coin out of the depths of a receptacle which
formed a detached outwork of her toilet.
"Claude is a long way ahead of me at present," continued Matilda, taking
no notice of the suggested offering; "you see, he's only eleven, and has
golden hair, and those are enormous advantages when you're on the
collecting job. Only the other day a Russian lady gave him ten
shillings. Russians understand the art of giving far better than we do.
I expect Claude will net quite twenty-five shillings this afternoon;
he'll have the field to himself, and he'll be able to do the pale,
fragile, not-long-for-this-world business to perfection after his
raspberry trifle experience. Yes, he'll be _quite_ two pounds ahead of
me by now."
With much probing and plucking and many regretful murmurs the beleaguered
ladies managed to produce seven-and-sixpence between them.
"I am afraid this is all we've got," said Mrs. Stossen.
Matilda showed no sign of coming down either to the earth or to their
figure.
"I could not do violence to my conscience for anything less than ten
shillings," she announced stiffly.
Mother and daughter muttered certain remarks under their breath, in which
the word "beast" was prominent, and probably had no reference to Tarquin.
"I find I _have_ got another half-crown," said Mrs. Stossen in a shaking
voice; "here you are. Now please fetch some one quickly.
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