"A dollar and a half, I think, won't be too much. It has taken me four days."
"You ought to charge more, mother. Think of a dollar and a half for four days' work! Why, it won't half pay you," said Paul, indignantly.
"I don't dare charge more, Paul, or the Framleys will give me no more work. I was recommended to her by her friend, Miss Cutler, as one who would work cheap, and in the only interview I had with her she impressed this upon me as a matter of great importance."
"Is she poor? Does she need to grind you down to such low prices?"
"No; she lives in an elegant house on Wabash avenue, and she is always dressed in the most costly style. No doubt she has plenty of money at command."
"Then she can't be a lady," said Paul, decidedly.
"She certainly thinks herself so," said Mrs. Palmer. "Her father is a man once poor, and still uneducated, who made a good deal of money during the war, and is now ambitious to live in style."
"Shoddy!" said Paul, contemptuously. "That explains it."
"Nevertheless I am glad to obtain work from them, Paul."
"Provided they will pay a reasonable price. You had better let me charge two dollars, mother."