“But are you not working too hard, Helen?”
“I, working hard! It is only a pleasure for me to sing. I am very lucky in being paid for what I would rather do than not. It is different with poor Martha. She doesn’t earn more than four dollars a week, and has to sit at her sewing from morning till night. I wish I could do something to help her. She looks so tired and pale all the time.”
“God has favored you, my child, in bestowing upon you so choice a gift. I hope you do not fail to thank him for this goodness.”
“Never, papa. I thank him every night.”
“How much money have you left, papa?” she inquired, after a pause.
“I don’t know exactly how much. I had better give it to you to help pay our daily expenses.”
“There are one hundred and twenty dollars,” said Helen, counting it. “Then we shall need one hundred and eighty to make up the balance of the sum mentioned in the note.”
“Surely, I cannot have expended that sum,” said Mr. Ford, with a perplexed look. “If I could see Mr. Sharp?”
“I will go and see him, papa.”
“Perhaps it will be best.”