“But that will be my share. If by devoting time to my housekeeping, I can make Harry’s money go half as far again as it would otherwise do, I shall do as much as if I earned half as much as he.”
And so during that year of boarding and leisure, Molly had attended cooking-classes, with a married friend, and had gone home with her and they had practiced together. She had read, too, everything she could find about housekeeping, and Harry laughed, sometimes, till the tears ran down his cheeks at what he called her “paper housekeeping.”
Yet her pictures of that ideal home they were to have were very alluring to him too, and this particular morning, when their boarding-house life had lasted just one year, her words had taken deeper hold than ever before. That evening he returned with a very mysterious look on his face.
“What is the matter, Harry?” asked Molly, merrily. “What plot are you brewing?”
“How would you like to pass a winter in the country?”
“I shouldn’t mind. Why do you ask?”
“Because we can put your longed-for experiment to the test. John Winfield is going to take his wife to Europe on the first of September, and wants to let his cottage furnished for the bare rent he pays: $20 per month.”
“Oh, Harry! and we will take it? It is such a cozy little place.”
“Yes, dear, I think we may venture on this experiment. If it happens that we tire of housekeeping in a few months, we shall not be burdened with furniture that we don’t want, and if you are as happy as you think, we can take a little house and furnish it.”
Mrs. Bishop looked the joy she felt, and all that evening they were discussing plans and prospects.