It came at a bad time, but I accepted it as a duty which it was my pleasure to perform so far as I was able.
Under these conditions we decided to give up our apartment and take up our residence with my parents. They, as also my sisters, were very fond of my wife and she of them, while I was always, from infancy, accused of being the pet of the family.
As the summer months progressed I realized that beyond a doubt the hard times were upon us. My customers were buying nothing and complaining there was not enough business doing to use up the stock of material they had on hand.
My savings of the first quarter of the year began to dwindle, and in those days I thought often with regret of my lost five thousand dollars.
My wife, always the same bright, cheerful, loving woman, encouraged me to keep up my spirits, and I did, for her sake as well as my own.
CHAPTER VII
THE COMING OF THE STORK.
By the first of November I had exhausted all my savings, and from then on knew that if my monthly earnings were insufficient to pay my expenses, I should have to resort to borrowing money to tide me over until better times.
A crisis was coming at home that demanded every effort of mine to have matters there pleasant and comfortable. Under no circumstances must my wife worry.
Thus I thought, but even yet I did not know the magnificent courage of the woman.