“But I couldn’t finance it,” he concluded gloomily. “I’m no good at the money business. If a man owed me fifty dollars—there are several who do!—I’d never get it unless he volunteered to pay. That’s the reason I enjoy my ‘cases’ so much. If anyone forced me to accept money I would decamp. I have no financial ability.”
“Neither had Pestalozzi,” Kate reminded him.
“To be sure he hadn’t,” he mused. “But that’s why he failed.”
“But he didn’t have a manager.”
“Neither have I.”
“Let me take the post?”
For the first time Mrs. Levering saw some sense in their talk. A secret admiration for the daughter’s astuteness almost showed in her face.
“Just you let Keyser manage for you, Mr. Blynn,” the mother nodded her head significantly. “She runs this house—and everybody in it. When it comes to money Keyser can do wonders on nothing.”
“I can believe it,” laughed Blynn. “Pennsylvania-German thrift is notorious. But how could you ‘manage’? We haven’t a red cent.”
“Let us see,” Kate searched among her sewing things for paper and pencil. “What is your income outside of your salary at Holden?”