“If I can induce your grandfather to make a deed of gift to me of his property before he dies, on condition of my supporting him the rest of his life, that will evade the law.”
“That will be a good idea. I shouldn’t wonder if Grant and his mother had to go to the poorhouse at last. He’d come down off his high horse then.”
“I hope not. Mrs. Tarbox can get employment as a housekeeper probably, and Grant ought to be able to support himself. Of course they must look out for themselves.”
Not long afterward, unfortunately for Mrs. Tarbox, her husband lost fifty dollars. He had sold a horse to a man in a neighboring town for an excessive price, and fifty dollars remained due on the purchase money. This the purchaser refused to pay, and as his property was all in his wife’s name, Seth Tarbox was unable to collect it, although, as may be imagined, he moved heaven and earth to accomplish it.
This made him feel very poor, and he determined to make it up by retrenchment in his personal expenses. Had the economy fallen upon himself he might have been justified, but as it occurred to him that by dismissing the woman who helped his wife on washing day he could save seventy-five cents a week, he was mean enough to make this proposal.
Mrs. Tarbox could hardly believe him in earnest, for she saw only too clearly at what he was aiming.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
MRS. BARTLETT’S LITTLE SCHEME.
“Do you mean that I am to get along without Nancy, Mr. Tarbox?” Mrs. Tarbox said quickly.
“I’ve met with losses, Mrs. T.,” replied Seth, “and I don’t feel as if I could afford to pay out seventy-five cents every Monday for work that might as well be done in the family.”
“Does that mean that you expect me to do it, Mr. Tarbox?”