Helen smiled wanly. She wondered what he meant by simple meals, for he was, as a rule, very particular what he had to eat and how it was cooked. She realized that such a move would result in simply making her a drudge, under very uncomfortable conditions, for the summer; she would lose a good maid, and be in no way refreshed on her return to town.
"I think it would be very unwise," she gravely returned; "such an outing as that would have no rest or attraction for me; besides, I had planned to work diligently at my music during the next three months, to prepare for the winter."
John was not at all pleased with this decided rejection of his proposition, as a protracted and sullen silence plainly indicated.
"Well, I am not willing to swelter in the hot city during the next three months, if you are," heat length burst forth, "and I want a change."
"Oh, John, you ought to stay right here, and go to work for your family," said his wife, with a note of appeal in her tremulous tones. "We have hardly money enough left to pay our bills until fall, as it is."
"I tell you I will not!" he said crossly, adding: "You can, of course, do as you choose. If you and Dorothy will not go with me, I'll turn Bohemian, take my kit along, and make sketches for work when I return."
Helen knew it would be useless to oppose him, so said no more. All the same, judging from the past, she had little faith that his sketching would amount to much, and so when June opened she saw him depart with a heavy heart.
She received brief letters from him from time to time; but he told her very little of what he was doing. His chief desire seemed to be to let her know where her letters and remittances would reach him.
He returned in September, to find his wife and child blooming and happy. It was evident that they had enjoyed the summer far better than he, for he appeared jaded and spiritless, while he had very little to produce as material for the coming winter's work—a few rough sketches, carelessly done, were all he had to show.
Helen, however, had worked to good purpose. Her voice was in splendid condition. She had added several choice selections to her repertoire; while Dorothy showed marked improvement upon the piano, and had learned to accompany her mother very effectively in some of her simpler songs. But it had not been all work and no play with them. They went out somewhere every fine day. They had little picnics to the park; they had sails upon the bay, sometimes visiting a popular resort; and once an old friend of Helen's asked them, for a week, to her summer home, a few miles out of the city. Dorothy was perfectly satisfied, even though most of her school friends were away, and once remarked to a friend who called upon them: "Mamma and I do have just the nicest times together; it's great fun to go about with her."