“I’ve stopped being expectant since I’ve heard the news,” put in Will. “She’s brought back money. How’s that, dad, for one of the Wales family?”
“Well, there weren’t any emergencies,” Betty explained earnestly. “So of course I could save my emergency fund.”
“Seeing something that she wants in a store-window is Nan’s definition of an emergency,” declared Will.
“What’s yours?” retorted Nan. “Besides, haven’t I turned over a new leaf this month, and isn’t it this very next week that I’m to begin earning my own bread and butter and jam?”
“What do you mean, Nan?” demanded Betty in amazement.
“Oh, your college course and your trip abroad have bankrupted father,” laughed Nan; and then, seeing Betty’s expression of genuine distress, “No, dear, only we are an expensive family and hopelessly extravagant, as Will says, and times are bad. Anyway I’m tired of rushing around, studying and traveling and amusing myself. So when two of the girls in my class, who have a school in Boston, offered me a job, I jumped at it. Don’t you think I’m likely to make a stunning school-ma’am?”
“Of course,” Betty assured her promptly. “You’re so bright. But I thought you hated Boston, and you always said that Ethel was so silly to drudge at teaching when she didn’t need to.”
“But can’t I change my mind?” asked Nan gaily.
“I suppose so.” Betty looked in a puzzled way around the family group. “Only——”
“Only dinner is ready,” suggested mother again; and all through the meal the talk was about Betty’s voyage home, with its exciting storm, and her visit to Harding, with Georgia’s gargoyle party and Mary Brooks’s absurd methods of housekeeping as main features of interest. The minute dinner was over the smallest sister caught Betty around the waist, and whispered something in her ear.