Mrs. Owen looked up in amazement, while Peggy, with less control, cried out:
“Such a price, and without quilting! Once it could have been bought for fifteen shillings.”
“’Tis very likely,” smiled the shopkeeper. “That must have been before the war. Prices are soaring on everything, and are like to go higher before falling.”
Mrs. Owen laid down the garment gravely.
“A coat and a hat,” she said. “What will be the cost of a very ordinary one of each?”
“They cannot be procured under two hundred pounds, madam.”
“And gauze for caps?”
“The common grade is twenty-four dollars a yard. The better quality fifty dollars.”
“Mother,” whispered Peggy, “why need thee buy the petticoat? We can weave cloth for it, and I can quilt it myself.”
“True, Peggy,” assented her mother. “I think we can manage about the petticoat, but a frock thou must have. A frock and some gloves.”