_] Mother!
MRS. HUNTER. I don't believe it!
RUTH. [_To_ MASON.] My good friend, do you mean that literally--that my
brother died without leaving _any_ money behind him?
MRS. HUNTER. For his wife and family?
MASON. I mean just that.
RUTH. But how?
MRS. HUNTER. Yes, _tell us the details_--every one of them! You can't
imagine the shock this is to me!
MASON. Hunter sent for me two days before he died, and told me things
had gone badly with him last year, but it seemed impossible to retrench
his expenses.
RUTH. _Are you listening, Florence?_
MRS. HUNTER. Yes, of course I am; your brother was a very extravagant
man!
MASON. This year, with his third daughter coming out, there was need of
more money than ever. He was harassed nearly to death with financial
worries. [RUTH _begins to cry softly._ MRS. HUNTER _gets angrier and
angrier._] And finally, in sheer desperation, and trusting to the advice
of the Storrings, he risked everything he had with them in the
Consolidated Copper. The day after, he was taken ill. You know what
happened. The Storrings, Hunter, and others were ruined absolutely; the
next day Hunter died.
RUTH. Poor George! Why didn't he come to me; he must have known that
everything I had was his!
MASON.
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