Emma, who knew that her father had not been above borrowing money for his experiments, looked greatly distressed for a moment, but Hermione, who had now taken her usual place as leader, said without attempting to disguise the tone of suspicion in her voice:
"Substantiate your claim and present your bill and we will try to pay it. We have still a few articles of furniture left."
Huckins, who had never looked more hypocritically insinuating or more diabolically alert, exclaimed,
"I can wait, I can wait."
But Hermione, with a grand air and a candid look, answered bitterly and at once:
"What we cannot do now we can never do. Our fortunes are not likely to increase in the future, so you had better put in your claim at once, if you really want your pay."
"You think so?" he began; and his eye, which had been bright before, now gleamed with the excitement of a fear allayed. "I——"
But just then the bell rang with a loud twang, and he desisted from finishing his sentence.
Emma went to the door and soon came back with a letter which she handed to Hermione.
"The man Jerry brought it," she explained, casting a meaning look at her sister.