"Why, Therese Beaubien! As rich as they are, to give only five cents a Sunday! Well, I would be ashamed."
"I don't think they are so very rich, Marion," said Therese; "Kitty has only a dollar a month of pocket-money, besides the six dollars a year she gets from her uncle in New York, which she keeps for Christmas. I think if she gives away so much of her income, she does pretty well, don't you?"
"I didn't think of that," said Marion; "but her mother might give her more!"
"Yes, but then it would not be her contribution, you see, and now it is."
"It is miserable to be obliged to calculate so closely, anyhow," said Marion, impatiently. "I do hate to think about every cent I spend. Uncle Duncan visited a gentleman in Scotland who has a million dollars a year."
"Oh, Marion!"
"Yes, he has, and more than that."
"It must be very nice," said Therese. "But, Marion, I don't call you poor. What would you do if you had to work for seventy-five cents a week, as I do?"
"I wouldn't live at all," said Marion.
"Yes, but you would have to, whether you liked it or not," said Therese, shrewdly. "People are not asked whether they will live or not. They are set down in their lot and left to make the best of it."