This excessive frugality may have been the reason why Mrs. Deacon Gridley was always so shabbily dressed. The poor woman had not had a new bonnet for five years, as every lady in the parish well knew.
“Ministers have some expenses that other people don't,” persisted Grant.
“What kind of expenses, I'd like to know?”
“They have to buy books and magazines, and entertain missionaries, and hire teams to go on exchanges.”
“That's something,” admitted the deacon. “Maybe it amounts to twenty or thirty dollars a year.”
“More likely a hundred,” said Grant.
“That would be awful extravagant sinful waste. If I was a minister, I'd be more keerful.”
“Well, Deacon Gridley, I don't want to argue with you. I came to see if you hadn't collected some money for father. Mr. Tudor has sent in his bill, and he wants to be paid.”
“How much is it?”
“Sixty-seven dollars and thirty-four cents.”