Then in a flash everything came out. “If it wasn’t absolutely necessary to retrench when we talked things over, it certainly is now,” father began abruptly; “my New York broker has disappeared. It seems he’s been on the wrong side of the market lately, and to help himself out he’s been borrowing the securities that his customers had left on deposit with him. That means that a good many thousands of my money have gone, with practically no hope of recovery. I’d been holding that stock as a last reserve. I’m afraid this spells ruin.” Father pushed back his plate, and got up from the table.
“Please don’t go, father,” begged little Dorothy solemnly, catching at his coat tails. “Are we going to be really and truly poor? Because if we aren’t going to have enough to eat by and by, we ought not to waste to-night’s dinner, that’s all cooked.”
Mr. Wales laughed in spite of himself; and then, because Maggie was coming back with the salad, he sat down again, and somehow, between silence and conversation about the weather, dinner was finished.
Afterward Betty got Will and Dorothy down in the furthest corner of the lawn with the gray kitten, so that mother and father, up on the piazza, could talk things over and come to an understanding.
“Tell me, Betty, are we going to be really and truly poor?” little Dorothy demanded. But when Betty kissed her and said no, not really hungry and ragged, she was quite ready to forget all about it and devote herself to teaching the gray kitten to climb trees. That left Will and Betty free to discuss the family crisis.
“I shall take that job Cousin Joe West offered me out at his shops,” Will declared. “He’s awfully fussy, and father says he works his men to death. That’s why I didn’t go last June. Father thought he could certainly get me something better by fall, but nothing has turned up yet, and if I go with Joe that will be one thing off father’s mind.”
Betty sighed. “It’s so easy to be poor if you’re a boy. You’ll be earning your own living——”
“I suppose a fellow can live on what I’ll earn, if he has to,” interrupted Will, making a wry face.
“And I shall have to spend father’s money just as usual, only not so much of it. Oh, dear, I wish I was bright enough to teach, like Nan!”
“A penny saved is a penny earned,” quoted Will sagely. “Nan will never save a penny, that’s one thing sure. I say, didn’t we promise the Benson girls that we’d be over to-night?”