His wife made no reply: her head was bent over the child.
“Now, let’s see,” went on her husband. “First of all there’s the rent. How much did you say we owe?”
“Four weeks. That’s the three weeks you were out and this week.”
“Four sixes is twenty-four; that’s one pound four,” said Easton as he wrote it down. “Next?”
“Grocer, twelve shillings.”
Easton looked up in astonishment.
“Twelve shillings. Why, didn’t you tell me only the other day that you’d paid up all we owed for groceries?”
“Don’t you remember we owed thirty-five shillings last spring? Well, I’ve been paying that bit by bit all the summer. I paid the last of it the week you finished your last job. Then you were out three weeks—up till last Friday—and as we had nothing in hand I had to get what we wanted without paying for it.”
“But do you mean to say it cost us three shillings a week for tea and sugar and butter?”
“It’s not only them. There’s been bacon and eggs and cheese and other things.”