“Why, Lucy, you silly child,” said Royal; “it’s nothing to cry for. It will make no difference.”
“Why, I haven’t had my allowance,” said Lucy, “for a great many weeks.”
“No matter,” replied Royal; “father can put it all down together; it will make no difference.” So Royal opened Lucy’s book, and explained to Lucy how it would be.
“You see,” said he, “that when father put down the allowance before, it was July 15th. Now, he can calculate, very easily, how many weeks it is since then, till now, and so he can tell how much more allowance he must put down. I can almost calculate it myself.”
Lucy did not answer, but looked upon the date in her account-book, which Royal pointed at with his finger, trying to understand how it was.
“You see,” continued Royal, “that is the advantage of having an account-book. It keeps the reckoning. As soon as you get an account-book, and have the things put down, you may forget as much as you please.”
Lucy carried the account-book to her father that evening; and she found that it was as Royal had predicted. There was no difficulty at all in ascertaining the amount of the allowance due, by calculating from the date of the first entry. Lucy got her father to make the calculation, and enter the amount due up to that time; and then she went to put her book away, with a feeling of great relief and satisfaction. She turned round, however, after she had gone a few steps towards the door, and said,—
“You are not going to let me have the money, I suppose?”
“No,” said her father; “I keep the money for you,—until you want to buy something with it.”
Nothing more was said about Lucy’s account-book for some days. At length, however, one evening, as Lucy was playing upon the cricket near the sofa, where her father was sitting, she came to him, and said,—