Aline laughed at her perplexed look. “Yes, to seize the furniture in payment of debt.”
The main financial facts having been stated, Aline came to detail. These were the weekly books from the various tradesmen. She showed a typical week's expenditure.
“What about the fishmonger?” asked Norma, noting an obvious omission.
“Fish is too expensive to have regularly,” Aline explained, “and so I don't have an account. When I buy any, I pay for it at once, in the shop.”
“When you buy it?”
“Why, yes. You'll find it much better to go and choose things for yourself than let them call for orders. Then you can get exactly what you want, instead of what suits the tradesman's convenience. You see, I go to the butcher and look round, and say 'I want a piece of that joint,' and of course he does as he's told. It seems horrid to any one not accustomed to it to go into a butcher's shop, I know; but really it's not unpleasant, and it's quite amusing.”
“But why should n't your housekeeper do the marketing?”
“Oh, she does sometimes,” Aline admitted; “but Hannah is n't a good buyer. She can't judge meat and things, you know, and she is apt to be wasteful over vegetables.”
“You don't bring the—the meat and things—home with you in a basket, do you?” asked Norma, with a nervous laugh.
Jimmie, interested in his sketch, had not listened to the conversation, which had been carried on in a low tone. The last words, however, pitched higher, caught his ear. He jumped to his feet.