‘What do you mean?’ she repeated. ‘What has papa been doing?’
‘Oh, nothing very criminal,’ he returned. ‘Only at a time like this one feels as if one’s money were a reproach. Italy’s in a bad way just now; the wheat crop failed last year, and that makes it inconvenient for people who live on macaroni.’
‘Do you mean the people really haven’t anything to eat?’
‘Not much.’
‘How terrible, Uncle Howard! Won’t the government do anything?’
‘The government is doing what it can. There was a riot in Florence last month, and they lowered the grain tax; King Humbert gave nine thousand lire to feed the people of Pisa a couple of weeks ago. You can do the same for some other city, if you want to play at being a princess.’
‘I thought you believed in finding them work instead giving them money.’
‘Oh, as a matter of principle, certainly. But you can’t have ’em dying on your door-step, you know.’
‘And to think we’re having a dinner to-night, when we’re not the slightest bit hungry!’
‘I’m afraid our dinner wouldn’t go far toward feeding the hungry in Italy.’