"Well, my husband likes a good custard pudding as much as anything," said Janet.
"Shouldn't wonder if he does. Maybe he'd like a turkey supper, and salmon for breakfast, as much as anything, too," said Mrs. Simmons.
Janet did not perceive the satire. "I haven't got him salmon for a good while past," she said. "It seems to cost a lot."
"There's a good many gentlefolk who don't touch salmon from year's end to year's end, without they come across it in a friend's house," said Mrs. Simmons. "And there's a good many more who are mighty sparing of eggs in puddings, because of the expense. Why, dear me, when I was cook in Mrs. Mason's family,—and a real out-and-out lady was Mrs. Mason, though she wasn't rich,—if I says to her, 'Why shouldn't we have a baked custard pudding, mum, for a change?' knowing she liked it uncommon; 'Why, Simmons,' says she, 'that'll take three or four eggs to make it big enough for us all, and you don't think I can afford four eggs to one pudding, do you?' says she. She was wonderful careful about her expenses always, and that's how it was her husband got along as well as he did, I make no doubt."
"Well, I never thought gentlefolks had to count the price of eggs in a pudding," said Janet.
"There's often a deal more calculating of expenses in a gentleman's kitchen than there is in a cottage kitchen," said Mrs. Simmons. "And I'll tell you the reason why, if you like. The reason why is because a gentleman commonly counts himself called upon to lay by for a rainy day, and to provide for his children after he's dead, and a working man too often don't count himself called upon to do anything of the sort. There'd be a deal less poverty and distress in the country, if once our men could be got to look ahead, and if their wives could be got to see that saving is a twin-duty to spending."
"I never thought about that," said Janet. "Jem works steady, and he mostly brings home enough."
"And how if he was to be taken ill, or if he was to fall and break his leg, or if work was to stop?" asked Mrs. Simmons.
"Well, I don't know. I suppose things would come right somehow," said Janet.
"I shouldn't wonder if they were to go a good way wrong first," said Mrs. Simmons.