His first question was unfortunately worded.
"What are you going to do now, Katy, that gran'mom is gone?"
Katy looked at him sharply. She was not well; she was worried and unhappy; she found it easy to misunderstand.
"For my living, you mean?" said Katy, cruelly.
Uncle Edwin gazed, open-mouthed at his niece. He would have been ludicrous if he had not been so greatly distressed.
"Ach, Katy!" protested he, in bewilderment.
"What do you mean, then?"
Uncle Edwin had at that moment not the faintest idea of what he meant. He hesitated for an instant, then he stammered out an answer.
"I mean, Katy, when are you going to school?"
The room swam round before Katy's dull eyes. School! She was never going to school; she could not go to school. But a more acute anxiety threatened; the moment when she must give an account of her two hundred dollars was probably at hand. Katy's very heart stood still.