“How much does all this amount to?” inquired Mrs. Carter, with prompt energy. “Does any one know?”
“Indeed! indeed! we all know too well. Every cent, as it ran up, has been counted over and over again,” said gentle Ruth. “As to the interest, I have something toward that, and might have earned more and more, if they would only have given me time; but now——”
The poor girl stopped short; tears were crowding on her speech with such bitter force, that she clasped both hands over her face, and sobbed aloud.
“There! there! None of that! It is all nonsense, you know. What is the amount? That is the question before the American people.”
Eva, with her eyes seeking the floor, told the sum, in a shrill whisper; for now, when the amount was demanded, it seemed enormous, and her lips gave it forth with a spasm.
This miserable sound had scarcely left her throat, when the little parlor was filled with mellow laughter, which seemed to mock and overpower Ruthy’s sobs, and her sister’s anguish.
“What, only that!”
“Only that!” exclaimed Eva, kindling with astonishment. “It is more than enough to turn us all out of house and home!”
“But, my child, the lots are worth three times the money. You have no idea how property has risen since the war.”
“I don’t know, and if I did, what good would it do without a dollar in hand?”