But how
_do_ people--"
"You and I must do what is to be done, if possible without distressing
him," he said; "your father is not so young as he once was. If you have
bought things for which your allowance will not pay, although"--he
hesitated a moment, "--the situation is--ah--trying to Mrs. Whitney. I
suppose her half of the common stock is secure?"
"Her half!"
"Has she been leaning upon your slender purse?" he asked not unkindly.
"Why--she saves money by me and I increase her social importance. Of
course she had furniture, but it was old and--and--"
I could not find the words to explain to a man my horror of ugliness. He
wouldn't have understood.
"Well, well, it makes no difference now. I must arrange matters for you,
and I think you will agree, upon reflection, that the first step must be
to give up whatever we can."
"But, Uncle--" I tried to speak calmly, to show him the situation--"Mrs.
Whitney is a Van Dam, and they befriended me when--why, they would never
forgive me; it would be ruin. And even from the practical standpoint--you
wouldn't like to have your lawbooks sold, would you? Well, people have
introduced me--and pretty furniture and pretty clothes and not to have any
scandal or any talk--oh, you can see!"
"In the light of reports that reach me," said the Judge, "I might suppose
that you"--he hesitated a moment, then continued, in an attempt at a
bantering manner, "that you refer to your luxuries as preliminary to--ah--
matrimony, which is said to be the only gainful occupation that my sex
leaves almost exclusively to yours, and in which fine clothing is
undoubtedly an adjuvant.
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