After a Shadow and Other Stories by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
page 48 of 178 (26%)
page 48 of 178 (26%)
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"If you spend three shillings a day, you will spend that sum in a
year. Figures are inexorable." Hoffman sat down again in troubled surprise, saying, "Have you got to the end?" "Not yet," replied his companion. "Very well. Go on." "I often notice you with candies, or other confections; and you are, sometimes, quite free in sharing them with your friends. Burnt almonds, sugar almonds, Jim Crow's candied fruits, macaroons, etc. These are not to be had for nothing; and besides their cost they are a positive injury to the stomach. You, of course, know to what extent you indulge this weakness of appetite. Shall we say that it costs an average of ten cents a day?" "Add fruit, in and out of season, and call it fifteen cents," replied Hoffman. "Very well. For three hundred days this will give another large sum--forty-five dollars?" "Anything more?" said Hoffman in a subdued, helpless kind of way, like one lying prostrate from a sudden blow. "I've seen you driving out occasionally; sometimes on Sunday. And, by the way, I think you generally take an excursion on Sunday. over |
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