“Then later on I can go every day if it seems to be profitable. He also suggests that I begin right away, and offers to go into town with me and help me select my vehicle, if you approve. Mr. Dolloway says it will ruin me; that I’ve ‘undertook more’n a common man’d lay out ter do, anyhow;’ but I assured the old gentleman that I did not consider myself a ‘common man’ by any means, but that I was my mother’s son and meant to be worthy of my parentage.”
“Motherkin, that flattery is intended to wheedle the price of the ‘express wagon’ out of your pocket!” cried Beatrice, again, divining at once the thought of her mother’s mind.
Not that “wheedling” had any connection with the anxiety of the widow, but that she reflected, with grave doubts of its wisdom, how deeply she was dipping into their small sinking fund. She looked up smilingly, but asked seriously enough, “How much will that cost?”
“From thirty to forty dollars.”
“It will take you many days to get back that much money, even if the experiment proves a success. The houses are very scattered, and most of the people about us either very wealthy or very poor,—mill-workers and farm-employees, Miss Brook told me. How can either class need such service?”
Roland’s countenance fell. He felt the wide difference between the caution of maturity and the impulse of youth, and already foresaw that he would be obliged to relinquish his plan, for the want of that “paltry sum.” But he hated to give up, and offered a suggestion: “I’m sure, since he proposed it, that Mr. Brook will lend me the money.”
Mrs. Beckwith’s answer was swift and decided: “Dismiss that notion at once. With my consent my children shall never run into debt. What we have of our own, what we can earn, that we may use; but the moment we begin to use other people’s funds, that moment we not only sacrifice our own dignity but our freedom. Mr. Brook is a rich man. I do not doubt that he would give you outright the cart you wish; but you must be as honorable as he. Poverty need make no difference that way, thank God. We have sometimes gone pretty hungry, but we have never owed anybody yet. If you think I seem niggardly about the little left of our ‘insurance money,’ it is because I dare not reduce our rainy-day stock by any further great amount. However, I will myself see Mr. Brook in the morning and talk the matter over with him. I have no desire to be over-prudent, but there are some questions I should like to ask. Now, Beatrice, if you are ‘dried,’ please open the piano. It is high time a band of toilers went to rest.”
The devotions of the little family were very simple, and the mother always led them. It was mostly a service of song, and sent each heart away into the silence of the night the better and happier for its sweetness. This time, despite the resolution that it should not last long, it was prolonged, indeed, until brought to a sudden terminus by Robert going to sleep in an upright position at his mother’s elbow, and losing his balance, falling headlong against the piano keys with a discordant crash!
“Finale! Positively the last appearance, and therefore the last accident, for the day of ‘Mr. Humpty-Dump’!” cried Roland, and unceremoniously picked up his small brother and started stairwards with him.
“Ain’t asleep! Sleep ’self! Lemme ’lone! I want—I want a bee—a chick—a—a—h-e-n—”