“Oh!” Fanny turned away inconsequently. Then she faced her aunt again. “You couldn’t possibly live well on twenty dollars a week, could you?”
“No; not possibly,” Helen replied, with a smile.
“I don’t see how so many people can afford to get married,” said Fanny ruefully.
XVI
When Douglas Briggs returned to the library he wore the cheerful look of the man who has just accomplished a difficult task. “Well, I got those fellows off at last,” he said.
“Who were they, Uncle Doug?”
Briggs smiled grimly. “They were gentlemen who are commonly known as heelers. And they called to let me know that I hadn’t been quite generous enough to them.”
Fanny looked mystified. Her eyes blinked. “How generous?”
“I hadn’t secured enough places for their friends—jobs.”