“I suppose we can get along as we have,” answered Mrs. Trafton. “With what you kindly pay Robert, and what he can pick up elsewhere, and the sewing I do, I think we can get along.”
“Do you own this cottage?” inquired the hermit.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you will have no rent to pay.”
“No, I don’t know how we could do that.”
The hermit looked thoughtful.
“I will see you again,” he said as he rose to go.
On the whole, Mrs. Trafton and Robert were likely to get along as well as before John Trafton’s death. Robert could use his uncle’s boat for fishing, selling what they did not require, while regularly every week two dollars came in from the hermit.
It was a great source of relief that no rent must be paid. The fisherman’s cabin and lot originally cost about five hundred dollars and the household furniture was of little value. The taxes were small and could easily be met. So there seemed nothing to prevent their living on in the same way as before.
Some time Robert hoped and expected to leave Cook’s Harbor. He was a smart, enterprising, ambitious boy, and he felt that he would like a more stirring life in a larger place.