Part 3 (2/2)
”Yes, m' dear; heard every word; you were saying you'd bought Bess a lace wedding dress, and that Miss Tripp says they're very much worn,”
replied her husband, fixing on a stamp with a sounding thump of his big fist. ”Glad to hear it. Well, I'll have to be moving now. Good-bye, m'
dear; home to dinner if I can; if not----”
”If you could let me have two hundred and fifty dollars, Richard,” said Mrs. North rather faintly, ”we'll try to manage with that for the present.”
”Well, now, Lizzie, when it comes to your wanting anything I always get it for you--if I can; and you know that; but I sent off cheques to Frank and Elliot this morning, and I'm what you'd call strapped.”
”Couldn't you collect----”
The doctor kissed his wife cheerfully. ”How can I, wifey, when folks leave their doctor's bills till the last cent's paid to everybody else?
Don't know as I blame 'em; it's hard enough to be sick without having to pay out money for it; now, isn't it?”
”Oh, d.i.c.k; if that isn't just like you! But I--I've thought of a way.”
”Good! What is it?”
”We might--borrow some money on the house. Other people do, and----”
”Mortgage our house for wedding finery? I guess you're joking, Lizzie.
At any rate, I'll call it a joke and let it pa.s.s! Good-bye!” The quick slam of the office door put a conclusive finish to the doctor's words, and his wife went back to her work on one of Elizabeth's elaborate garments with a heavy heart.
”What did Richard say?” Grandma Carroll wanted to know, when the girl had gone into another room to be fitted.
”He said he couldn't possibly let me have anything more just now,” said Richard's wife with a shade of reserve in her voice. ”You know, mother, people are so slow in paying their bills. The doctor has any amount outstanding if he could only get it.”
”Such folks had ought to be made to pay before they get 'ary a pill or a powder, same 's they do for what made 'em sick. They'd find money for the doctor quick enough once they had a right sharp pain from over-eating,” was grandma's trenchant opinion. ”But I expected he'd say that all along, and I wanted to give you this for Lizzie.”
She slipped a little roll of bills into her daughter's lap. ”Don't say anything to the child about it,” she whispered, nodding her kind old head; ”it would worry her. Besides I don't approve of the amount of money she's putting into perishable things. I meant to buy her a real good clock or a nice solid piece of furniture; but if she'd rather have lace frills that'll fall to pieces in the washtub, I'm willing she should learn by experience, same 's we've had to do before her.”
Mrs. North's eyes were moist and s.h.i.+ning. ”It's what you've been putting by for years, mother,” she whispered, ”for----”
”Hus.h.!.+” said grandma. ”I guess when it comes right down to it I'm full as foolish as Lizzie. Once I set foot in the golden streets I know I sha'n't mind whether I leave a marble monument in the cemetery or not; and you don't need to either, daughter. Now remember!”
Upon this hushed conversation entered Elizabeth in a flutter of excitement and rosy pleasure over a letter which the postman had just handed her. ”It is from Evelyn Tripp,” she said, ”and she wants me to come to Boston and stay a week with her; she says she will help me pick out all my dresses, and I'd better have my wedding dress and my going-away gown made there, anyway. Isn't that lovely?”
Then, as she met her mother's dubious gaze, ”You know Malvina Bennett hasn't a particle of style; and we don't know anything about the best places to buy things in Boston; or the dressmakers, or anything.”
”I've shopped in Boston for years,” said Mrs. North, with a show of firmness, ”and I'm sure everything at Cooper's gives perfect satisfaction.”
”Oh, _Cooper's_?” laughed the girl. ”Why, mother, _dear_, n.o.body goes to Cooper's nowadays. It's just for country people from out of town.”
”What are we, I'd like to know?” Grandma Carroll wanted to know, with a humorous twinkle in her shrewd eyes. ”I shouldn't wonder if you'd better do your shopping with your mother, Lizzie; her judgment would likely be quite as good as that Tipp girl's, and more in a line with what you can afford. You should remember that Samuel isn't a rich man, and you'll need good, substantial dresses that'll last. I remember I had a blue Russell-cord poplin when I was married that I wore for _fifteen years_; then I made it over for your mother, and she looked as pretty as a pink in it for two more; then she outgrew it and I gave it away; but the cloth in it was as good as new. A dress like that _pays_!”
Elizabeth laughed somewhat impatiently. ”I've heard about that wonderful poplin ever since I can remember,” she said. ”I wonder you didn't save it for me. But I don't want to buy any dresses that will last for fifteen years. I'm sure Sam can buy me more dresses when I want them. I may go to Boston; mayn't I, mother?”
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