His elder sister shook her head. She was not so sure about that.
In the narrow and exclusive circle in which she had been brought up, she knew nothing of the trials and struggles of the poor, and so Arthur's daring experiment of bringing home food that only poor people ate was somewhat of a shock to her notions of propriety, even though it was for the cats and he had been able to save a shilling for her by the transaction.
Of course she had heard at the time of her father's death that very little of their property was left, but she thought that, having given up the old home and sold most of the furniture except what had been required to furnish her mother's room, the trouble was at an end, and they could have all they needed for life, with one servant in the cottage, without thought or stint.
But the bringing of this vulgar fried fish into the house seemed like bringing an element of unrest to the two sisters.
The next morning Molly was awake very early, and she soon found that her sister, who slept in an adjoining bed, was also wakeful.
"Did Arthur tell you that the fishmonger as good as asked him for the money before he served him with the fish last night?" she asked.
"No, dear; but I should not wonder, for other trades-people have asked me lately to settle their bills. I cannot understand it, for I know Papa used to let them run for a year, or even longer."
There was silence for a minute or two, and then Molly said: "I have been thinking it would be better to let Arthur go to Brading's; he said last night it was downright dishonest to owe money that we cannot pay, and yet object to him going to earn some to help us. Don't you think we had better let him try what he can do at this shop?" said Molly wistfully.
The fact was, Arthur had managed to get hold of his younger sister before she went to bed, and had poured out all his trouble to her.
"I dawdled along," he said, "for nearly half-way to the fish shop thinking about Mamma and her cats, until it seemed to me that we were nothing to her, and that she could not judge fairly what was good for us.