"You have worked pretty well for two hours," said Mr. Rutledge, as for a moment I leaned my head on my hand. "I am afraid you are tired."
"Not in the least," I said bravely, looking up.
"Then get your bonnet and come out with me. It is too fine a day to stay in the house."
As I followed him through the hall, Mrs. Roberts encountered us at the dining-room door. Her greeting to me was stiffer than ever. To Mr. Rutledge she said:
"If you can spare the time, sir, you would oblige me very much by looking over the 'household expenses' this morning; Dorothy has got her account with the grocer in a great snarl, and hasn't done much better with the butcher, and I can't make them all come out right."
"My good friend," said Mr. Rutledge, "if you had appealed to me any other time, I might have helped you, but I have been doing quite as much this morning as I think prudent; to-morrow I will attend to the books."
"I am sorry," said Mrs. Roberts, uneasily; "but to-day is the day the grocer brings in his account, and I don't like those sort of people to suppose there's any irregularity in the accounts we keep. They're always ready enough to take advantage."
"Couldn't I help you, Mrs. Roberts?" I asked. "I should be very willing to."
She gave me a look which plainly said, "You help me!" but she merely answered:
"Thank you, Miss, but Mr. Rutledge understands the books better than any one; and if he felt able"——