"You were to bring the account-books."
"I have them, you see. Was the old thief in a good humour?"
"Jeremiah, I was listening outside his room, and I heard him limping up and down, muttering to himself. I didn't catch what he was saying, but he was in a desperate temper. Yet when he rang his bell, and I answered it, he was sitting at the writing-table, with the sweetest smile on his face, and his voice was like honey. 'Take this to the telegraph office,' he said, giving me the message; and he asked me how you were getting on, and whether you were saving money, and whether I had saved any. I told him I had a little—"
"How much?" asked Jeremiah, interrupting her.
"I didn't tell him that, Jeremiah."
"Of course you didn't; but I want to know."
"I have got more than a hundred pounds, Jeremiah."
"So—you've been saving up secretly, unbeknown to me!"
"It was done for your good, Jeremiah; it is all for you. Women are not as strong as men, nor as bold and venturesome, but they see further sometimes. 'Perhaps,' I thought to myself, 'one day Jeremiah may want a little help; there may be something he wishes to do and is just a little short. Then I will give him my savings, and he will praise me for my prudence and foresight."
"I praise you now, mother," said Jeremiah. "Can you lay your hands on the money? Is it in your room?"