“My poor, dear girl! have I forgotten it? How long is it due?”
“It won’t be due for a fortnight, sir; but I thought, under the circumstances, that you might—I mean that you would be so kind—”
“You shall have a cheque immediately. Let me see—your salary is thirty pounds a year, that means seven pounds ten a quarter. I will write you a cheque for the amount; you can cash it at the bank. Get a pretty cool-looking cotton, my dear Miss Carlton—something with rosebuds on it: you are—so like a rosebud yourself.”
“One minute please, sir. I cannot get the sort of dress I want at Harroway. I must go to Rocheford to make my purchase and I think it would be a good opportunity to get the girls’ dresses for the seaside at the same time.”
“Oh dear, dear, dear!” said Mr Amberley. “Haven’t they got enough dresses from last year?”
“Oh, no!” said Brenda, shaking her head. “They are growing so quickly; you quite forget that.”
“I only know that my funds are very low and that there are a great many sick people in the parish,” said the rector.
“Still your children must be clothed,” said Brenda, putting on a severe air. “You have taken lodgings for them at the sea, and I can’t walk about with girls who are not presentable. I would rather, painful as it seems, resign my post—though of course I don’t really mean to do it, but—”
The rector looked really terrified.
“You must not neglect my poor orphans! What would my children do without you? But what is necessary? What do you think each will require?”