For Pat was not quite sure, in her own mind, just what Aunt Pen might think of the borrowed coat and Celia's furs!
By countless little signs Aunt Pen knew that her girls had something on their minds! Hurrying down to dinner she had caught a glimpse, as she had passed Pat's door, of her own coat and Celia's furs thrown on Pat's bed; the girls had been unusually silent during the evening meal and she had twice intercepted an appealing glance from Renée to Pat which had drawn a nod of assurance from Pat in answer! Pat's room work the next morning had been sadly careless and her Latin recitation had found her abstracted! Aunt Pen was too sensible to force a confidence--she was sure that it was only a matter of a little time before Pat would bring to her anything that troubled!
So she was not surprised when after the morning's work was over Pat came to her door.
"Renée and I want to talk to you, Aunt Pen!" she said so seriously that for a moment Penelope was startled.
The two stood before her, Pat with her hands clasped behind her as she had often seen her father stand.
"You see it's like this, Aunt Pen--Renée and I have got to earn some money to buy our uniforms! We can't just use allowances! It's about six dollars and a half apiece! We can't knit well enough to sell things and Peggy Lee worked in a grocery store, but it was where her mother traded and they were nice about it! But we--can't--find--any work!"
"Then you've tried?"
Pat colored. "Yes--we tried yesterday!" Without going too much into detail and carefully giving their experience as much dignity as possible, she recounted the efforts of the afternoon before to find employment. Aunt Pen was suddenly seized with a violent coughing fit which left her tearful!
"I hope you're not laughing," Pat ended with some wrath in her voice. "I'm sure we're old enough to earn money--boys do at our age! And I am not in the least discouraged!"
"That is right, Pat," cried Aunt Pen admiringly. "But perhaps you have not gone about it the right way! Let's sit down now and go over the whole thing!"