274 The Real Charlotte. 



singing. Having failed in this, she felt her religious duties 

 to be for the time suspended, and her thoughts strayed 

 afield over things in general, setthng down finally on a sub- 

 ject that had become more pressing than was pleasant. 



It is a truism of ancient standing that money brings no 

 cure for heartache, but it is also true that if the money were 

 not there the heartache would be harder to bear. Probably 

 if Francie had returned from Lismoyle to a smart house in 

 Merrion Square, with a carriage to drive in, and a rich rela- 

 tive ready to pay for new winter dresses, she would have 

 been less miserable over Mr. Hawkins' desertion than she 

 was at Albatross Villa; she certainly would not have felt 

 as unhappy as she did now, standing up with the shrill sing- 

 ing clamouring in her ears, while she tried in different ways 

 to answer the question of how she was to pay for the dresses 

 that she had bought to take to Lismoyle. Twenty-five 

 pounds a year does not go far when more than half of it 

 is expended upon board and lodging, and a whole quarter 

 has been anticipated to pay for a summer visit, and Lam- 

 bert's prophecy that she would find herself in the county 

 court some day, seemed not unlikely to come true. In her 

 pocket was a letter from a Dublin shop, containing more 

 than a hint of legal proceedings ; and even if she were able 

 to pay them a temporising two pounds in a month, there 

 still would remain five pounds due, and she would not have 

 a farthing left to go on with. Everything was at its darkest 

 for her. Her hardy, supple nature was dispirited beyond 

 its power of reaction, and now and then the remembrance 

 of the Sundays of last summer caught her, till the pain 

 came in her throat, and the gaslight spread into shaking 

 stars. 



The service went on, and Francie rose and knelt 

 mechanically with the rest of the congregation. She was 

 not irreligious, and even the name of scepticism was scarcely 

 understood by her, but she did not consider that religion 

 was applicable to love affairs and bills ; her mind was too 

 young and shapeless for anything but a healthy, negligent 

 belief in what she had been taught, and it did not enter into 

 her head to utilise religion as a last resource, when every- 

 thing else had turned out a failure. She regarded it with 

 respect, and believed that most people grew good when they 



