Tea itself suggested the first difficulty. They were always in the
habit of taking that meal, and indeed every other, in the kitchen. It
saved time, trouble, and fire, besides leaving the parlor always tidy
for callers, chiefly pupils' parents, and preventing these latter
from discovering that the three orphan daughters of Henry Leaf, Esq.,
solicitor, and sisters of Henry Leaf, Junior, Esq., also solicitor,
but whose sole mission in life seemed to have been to spend every
thing, make every body miserably, marry, and die, that these three
ladies did always wait upon themselves at meal-time, and did
sometimes breakfast without butter, and dine without meat. Now this
system would not do any longer.

"Besides, there is no need for it," said Hilary, cheerfully. "I am
sure we can well afford both to keep and to feed a servant, and to
have a fire in the parlor every day. Why not take our meals there,
and sit there regularly of evenings?"

"We must," added Selina, decidedly. "For my part, I couldn't eat, or
sew, or do any thing with that great hulking girl sitting starting
opposite, or standing; for how could we ask her to sit with us?
Already, what must she have thought of us--people who take tea in the
kitchen?"

"I do not think that matters," said the eldest sister, gently, after
a moment's silence. "Every body in the town knows who and what we
are, or might, if they chose to inquire. We cannot conceal our
poverty if we tried; and I don't think any body looks down upon us
for it. Not even since we began to keep school, which you thought was
such a terrible thing, Selina."