“Of course! I should have very much enjoyed the fresh air to-night; but you did not invite me.”
“I’m sorry. But I’ve paid the penalty of my negligence; from henceforth you must never leave me.”
“What dress do you intend to wear to-morrow night?”
“The one I have worn all along.”
“It’s as shabby as if you’d been digging in it. But the morning may bring you another.”
“I hope it may not be very heavy, in case I should have to depend on my heels again.”
CHAPTER XXIV
AT THE SEBBERENS’
The Sebberens were people who indulged greatly in private theatricals and other sorts of entertainment. With the amateur they included the professional, and in between the acts, songs and recitations were contributed by the latter.
Mr. Sebberen had been engaged in pork, and had made enough money thereby to make the pig respected—as an investment, anyway. He married a waitress in a restaurant, who was neither more nor less charming and handsome than most of her class. She had ambitions, and was young.
But for ten long years they had no children, and never a scrap of the pig was wasted. And those ten years were years of increase. Then to put spirit to an ambition somewhat sordid, a little daughter was born. Both parents were beside themselves with joy. It is not everyone who can manage so much, after breeding nothing but gold or pork, and so they felt. It’s a common thing to be a mother after a lapse of one year, but after ten! they grew proud on the strength of it.