“We are so dreadfully poor, and we are so dreadfully in debt.”
“But why you alone? What can you do?”
“I can do a good deal. I have been very lucky. I love my work too, and I make money by it, so it is natural. Mamma, of course, would think it terrible, degrading even; but I can’t agree with mamma’s point of view; I think it is quite wrong. I see nothing terrible or degrading.”
“No; nothing terrible or degrading, I grant you.”
“You think I am right, don’t you?”
“Yes; quite right, dear, quite right.”
Odd paused before adding: “It is the incongruity that is shocking.”
“The incongruity?” Hilda’s voice was vague.
“Between your life and theirs; yes.”
“Oh, you don’t understand. I love my work; it is my pleasure. Besides, they don’t know; they don’t realize the necessity either.”