"If we had been told, we could have cut
down."
"I don't agree with you!" Edith rejoined. "I have already done that myself!
I've done nothing else!"
"Have the servants been paid?" her sister asked.
"No, they haven't-"
"Since when?"
"Three months!"
Roger got up and walked the room. Deborah tried to speak quietly:
"I can't quite see where the money has gone."
"Can't you? Then look at my check book." And Edith produced it with a
glare. Her sister turned over a few of the stubs.
"What's this item?"
"Where?"
"Here. A hundred and twenty-two dollars."
"The dentist," Edith answered. "Not extravagant, is it--for five children?"
"I see," said Deborah. "And this?"
"Bedding," was Edith's sharp response. "A mattress and more blankets. I
found there weren't half enough in the house."
"You burned John's, didn't you?"
"Naturally!"
All at once both grew ashamed.
"Let's be sensible," Deborah said. "We must do something, Edith--and we
can't till we're certain where we stand."
"Very well--"
They went on more calmly and took up the items one by one. Deborah finished
and was silent.
"Well, father, what's to be done?" she asked.
"I don't know," he answered shortly.
"Somehow or other," Deborah said, "we've got to cut our expenses down."
"I'm afraid that's impossible," Edith rejoined. "I've already cut as much
as I can."
"So did I, in my school," said her sister.
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