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“The bank would dishonor it.”

“All right, don’t worry. I’ll get rid of her somehow.”

She went swiftly back to her own room, and got out the roll of dirty notes which she had won at the races, and which she had luckily neglected to pay into the Savings Bank. With the money in her hand she returned to the kitchen. Pratt had already removed the two small baskets which Mrs. Pratt and Emily had brought up for their sojourn at the homestead, and now, having been paid, Mrs. Pratt herself departed.

Ann gave the children their breakfast, and sent them out to play; then took something for herself and Holmes on a tray to the smoking-room.

“I really don’t want anything to eat,” he protested.

“Well, I shan’t take anything if you don’t. Be sensible, Mr. Holmes. Didn’t Napoleon or some one say battles couldn’t be fought on empty stomachs? Life altogether seems more or less a battle, so if we’re not to be defeated we'd better eat.”

She managed to coax him to take an egg and some toast and to drink a cup of coffee.

“Now, will you be quite frank with me, and tell me the position?” she asked.

Apparently the bank would take over everything. He and the children would be practically penniless. But if he could settle the children somewhere for a month or two, he could probably get a job as manager of a sheep-station, or even as a shepherd—he would take anything—in the district.

“Isn’t there a school for little girls in Wairiri—kept by a Mrs. Marley, or some one?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t pay the fees.”

“Well, I can for the first three months.”