But nevertheless she sighed a little, for though she admired the resolute way in which these two young things set to work to make the best of their altered life, yet she could not help feeling that they scarcely realized how long and tedious must be the process of slowly economizing on a narrow income until the burden which they had taken on their shoulders could at length be removed. Even to try to pay off debts which must be reckoned by thousands out of precarious earnings which would be counted by slow and toilsome units, seemed to her hopeless. Her kind, gentle nature was without that fiber of dauntless resolution which strengthened the characters of the two Norwegians. She did not understand that the very difficulty of the task incited them to make the attempt, nerved them for the struggle, and stimulated them to that wonderful energy of patience which overcomes everything.
As for Sigrid, she was now in her element. A true woman, she delighted in the thought of having rooms of her own to furnish and arrange. She thought of them by day, she dreamed of them by night; she pored over store lists and furniture catalogues, and amused them all by her comments.
“Beds are ruinously dear,” she said, after making elaborate calculations. “We must have three really comfortable ones since we mean to work hard all day, and they must certainly be new; the three of them with all their belongings will not leave very much out of twelve pounds, I fear. But then as to chairs and tables they might well be second-hand, and we wont go in for a single luxury; it will look rather bare, but then there will be less trouble about cleaning and dusting.”
“You will become such a domestic character that we shant know you,” said Frithiof, laughing. “What do you think we can possibly furnish the rooms on?”
“Wait a moment and I’ll add up my list,” she said cheerfully. “I never knew before how many things there were in a house that one can’t do well without. Now that must surely be all. No, I have forgotten brushes and brooms and such things. Now then for the adding up. You check me, Cecil, for fear I make it too little—this is a terrible moment.”
“Twenty-eight pounds,” exclaimed both girls in a breath.
“You can surely never do it on that?” said Cecil.
“It seems a great deal to me,” said Sigrid; “still, I have more than that over from uncle’s fifty-pound check, even after Doctor Morris is paid. No, on the whole, I think we need not worry, but may spend as much as that with a clear conscience. The thing I am anxious about is my weekly bill. Look here, we must somehow manage to live on one hundred and forty-five pounds a year, that will leave five pounds in case of illness or any great need. For charity it leaves nothing, but we can’t give while we are in debt. Two pounds fifteen shillings a week for three of us! Why, poor people live on far less.”
“But then you are accustomed to such a different way of living,” said Cecil.
“That’s true. But still, I think it can somehow be done. You must still go on with your sixpenny dinners, Frithiof, for it will fit in better. Then as you and Swanhild will be out all day and I am out for a great part of the year in the afternoon, I think our coals will last well, only one fire for part of the day will surely not ruin us.”