"
"It is the safer place of the two, Cousin Bessie, don't you think so?"
"Well, if I did not think it, Amey, my life would hardly be worth
living," she answered with a quiet emphasis.
"Why? You don't think you will always be down, do you?" I asked
timidly, plunging a cup and saucer into the boiling water.
"I don't know; we were better off once, in one way, but it is a long
time ago," she answered, taking a large white apron from a peg beside
her in the wall, and offering it to me, "Put this over your dress,
child, and take off your pretty rings," she put in parenthetically,
and then went on--
"Robert was a man of wealth when we married, we had a fine house with
servants and horses and every such luxury--while the money was there
he lavished it upon us: but he lost heavily one year, there was a bank
failure first, and a series of smaller misfortunes followed quickly in
its wake. We had to sacrifice house and horses, and all, and come down
the ladder to our present station. The children found it hard in the
beginning, but they have come to look upon it now, nearly as their
father and I do."
"But you are not poor, cousin Bessie," I interrupted, as I dried a
plate briskly with my linen cloth.
"No: not poor exactly: but we must be careful and economical for
awhile, until Zita and Louis are educated: we will make every
sacrifice that is necessary to grant them a thorough education. When
they are rich in knowledge they won't mind how empty their purses are;
they will feel themselves equal to the best in the land.
Pages:
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249