But it wasn’t Nan. It was father, poring over a big sheet of paper scrawled full of tiny figures. Betty closed the door after her, crept quietly across the room, and descended precipitately upon the arm of her father’s chair.
“What in the world are you doing here all by yourself at this time of night, Father Wales?” she demanded gaily.
Mr. Wales looked up at her, still frowning absently, with a finger on his place among the figures. “Nothing, daughter; just looking over a contract that I wanted to do a little estimating on before to-morrow.”
“But it’s horribly late,” objected Betty. “Think how sleepy you’ll be in the morning.”
Mr. Wales smiled faintly. “Shall I? Well, run along to bed, so you won’t be sleepy too.” And he was back at his figures again.
Betty watched him for a minute, dropped a kiss on his puckered forehead, and slipped softly away without a word.
“He’s just awfully worried,” she reflected, as she went up-stairs. “Nan and mummy and Will don’t realize how changed he is, because they’ve been here right along. Why, in these three months he’s a different person!” She put the rose-colored satin dress carefully back in its cheese-cloth covering. “I wonder if we’re really going to be poor. Why, this may be the first and the last Paris gown I shall ever have! I know one thing. I’m going to talk to father, and make him tell me just how poor we are now. You can go ahead so much better when you understand things.”
But it was such a busy week, what with catching up the threads of the home life that had been dropped for so long, helping Nan off, and getting Dorothy started in school, that it slipped by without the talk that Betty had promised herself. On the evening of Nan’s departure, however, her opportunity came. Will had an engagement, mother was tired, and Dorothy very sleepy; so only Mr. Wales and Betty went with Nan to her train.
It was a fine September evening, and Betty craftily suggested that they walk home. The down-town streets were too noisy for serious conversation, but out on the avenue Betty plunged in at once.
“Father, you’re awfully worried. Please tell me why.”