is another way. My uncles own their house and store. They have been
thinking of selling their property to pay their debts. I should hate to
have them sell, and I don't believe it is necessary. I have been
talking with Judge Baxter over at Ostable--I stopped there on my way to
Boston--and he suggested that they might mortgage and raise money that
way. It could be done, couldn't it? Mortgages are a kind of business I
don't know anything about. They sound horrid."

"Sometimes they are. Miss Lathrop, if I were you I shouldn't sell or
mortgage yet. I am inclined to believe, judging by this balance sheet
and what you say, that you have a chance to pull Hamilton and Company
out of the fire, and I'm very sure you can do it if anyone can. Are you
going to be in the city for a day or two? Good! Then will you let me
consider this whole matter until--say--Thursday? By that time I shall
have made up my mind and may have something to say which will be worth
while. Can you come in Thursday afternoon at two? And will you? Very
well. Oh, don't thank me! I haven't done anything yet. Perhaps I shall
not be able to, but we shall hope for the best."

Mary went straight to Mrs. Wyeth's home on Pinckney Street and once
more occupied her pleasant room on the third floor. In spite of her
determination not to care she could not help feeling a little pang as
she walked by the Misses Cabot's school and remembered that she would
never again enjoy the privileges and advantages of that exclusive
institution. She wondered how the girls, her classmates, had felt and
spoken when they heard the news that she had left them and returned
to Cape Cod and storekeeping. Some would sneer and laugh--she knew
that--and some might be a little sorry. But they would all forget her,
of course. Doubtless, most of them had forgotten her already.