This was true. But it must be added that the result was largely due to the pinching economy which both he and his wife had practiced.
When Mr. Bickford woke up the next morning it was half-past five o'clock.
"Strange how I came to oversleep," he said. "I guess I must have been more tuckered out than I supposed. Well, the boy's had a longer nap than I meant he should. However, it's only for one mornin'."
Mr. Bickford did not linger over his toilet. Five minutes was rather an overstatement of the time.
He went to Kit's chamber, and, opening the door, went in as unceremoniously as his wife had done the night before.
A surprise awaited him.
There was no one in the bed.
"What! has the boy got up a'ready?" he asked himself, in a bewildered way. "He's better at gettin' up than I expected."
Looking about him, he discovered on a chair by the bedside the overalls, and upon them a note and a silver dollar.
"What's all that mean?" he asked himself.