They had finished at L6 5s.

Mrs.Henry Leek had lost over L1,000 in about half-a-day.
"They've always brought me in L150 a year," she insisted, as though she had been saying: "It's always been Christmas Day on the 25th of December, and of course it will be the same this year." "It doesn't look as if they'd bring you in anything this time," said he.
"Oh, but Henry!" she protested.
Beer had failed! That was the truth of it.

Beer had failed.

Who would have guessed that beer could fail in England?
The wisest, the most prudent men in Lombard Street had put their trust in beer, as the last grand bulwark of the nation; and even beer had failed.

The foundations of England's greatness were, if not gone, going.