"Has he left as much as fifty thousand?"
"Fifty thousand!" exclaimed Mrs. Oakley; "what are you thinking of?"
"It isn't much less, I am thinking. At any rate, you're a rich woman."
"I am comfortably provided for."
"I wish I was as comfortably provided for," said Mr. Huxter. "Seems to me your ideas have risen some, Jane, since you used to live with me, and bind shoes for a living. You and Ben wouldn't have been very comfortable, I reckon, if I hadn't helped you once upon a time."
"As to that," said Mrs. Oakley, "I worked for my board. It was no great favor on your part."
"At any rate, you thought yourself lucky to get a home. Now, things are changed considerably. You are a rich woman, and—well, I'm hard up."
"You always were shiftless, Ephraim," said Mrs. Oakley, who saw what her brother was coming to.
"Shiftless!" repeated Mr. Huxter, in an injured tone. "I don't know what you call shiftless. I've been a hard-working man; but luck's never been on my side."