"And you're only a clerk yourself," said Sarah.
"And I don't think there's a boarding-house in the town that would have a table like mine for the money," said his mother, with spirit, and with the air of having considered the subject.
Jenny thought for a minute or two, rapidly; then she shook her head. "Too much outlay," she objected, "and the result too uncertain."
"Everything is uncertain in this world," sighed Mrs. Liddon, disappointed and discouraged. "Then what do you propose yourself, my dear? A school?"
Jenny shook her head again. "The place is literally stiff with them," she replied. "And, even if there were room for us, we are not qualified."
"Let us have a four-roomed cottage," said Sarah, "and keep ourselves to ourselves; have no servant, and take in sewing or type-writing."
"We should be insolvent in a couple of years or so," her sister replied, "and we should cripple Joey."
"As to that," said Joey, "I'm not afraid. I want to take care of you, and I ought. I am the only man in the family, and women have no business to work and slave while they have a man to do for them."
"My poor boy! On a hundred and thirty pounds a year!"
"It won't always be a hundred and thirty."