But it is in the nature of this particular subject that the discussion of it is apt to recur. Esther kept silence for some time, possessing herself in patience as well as she could. Nothing more was said about Christopher by anybody, and things went their old train, minus peaches, to be sure, and also minus pears and plums and nuts and apples, articles which Esther at least missed, whether her father did or not. Then fish began to be missing.
'I thought, Miss Esther, dear,' said Mrs. Barker when this failure in the menu was mentioned to her,—'I thought maybe the colonel wouldn't mind if he had a good soup, and the fish ain't so nourishin', they say, as the meat of the land creatures. Is it because they drinks so much water, Miss Esther?'
'But I think papa does not like to go without his fish.'
'Then he must have it, mum, to be sure; but I'm sure I don't just rightly know how to procure it. It must be done, however.'
The housekeeper's face looked doubtful, notwithstanding her words of assurance, and a vague fear seized her young mistress.
'Do not get anything you have not money to pay for, at any rate!' she said impressively.
'Well, mum, and there it is!' cried the housekeeper. 'There is things as cannot be dispensed with, in no gentleman's house. I thought maybe fish needn't be counted among them things, but now it seems it must. I may as well confess, Miss Esther; that last barrel o' flour ain't been paid for yet.'
'Not paid for!' cried Esther in horror. 'How came that?'
'Well, mum, just that I hadn't the money. And bread must be had.'
'Not if it cannot be paid for! I would rather starve, if it comes to that. You might have got a lesser quantity.'