"What then?" her sisters asked, laughing.
"Then it must be respectable for them to be old, sometimes."
"Respectable! Not very pleasant, when they are to be set alongside of things as new and nice as they can be. I like to be as good as anybody, for my part."
"Mamma," said Matilda, "do you know there is a great hole in the door mat?"
"It is worn out a great deal too soon," said Mrs. Englefield; "I shall tell Mr. Hard that his goods do not last; to be sure, you children do kick it to pieces with the snow."
"But, mamma, I should think you might get another, and let that one go to the kitchen."
"And then, wouldn't you like me to buy a new hall cloth? there is very nearly a hole in that."
"Oh yes, mamma!"
"I cannot do it, children. I am not as rich as your Aunt Candy. You must be contented to let things be as they are."
The girls seemed to take it as a grave fact, to judge by their faces.