carpet, when the old one was quite good enough. An' her last year's hat
could hev been made over as well as not. But, no, it would not do. She had
to hev another, which cost quite a penny, so I understand."

"An' Vivien Nelson's fur-lined coat, ma," chimed in Eudora, "I know it
didn't cost one cent less than seventy-five dollars!"

"These country people are so extravagant, ye know," returned her mother.
"They are allus tryin' to imitate their sufferiors. To think of Vivien
Nelson, a farmer's daughter, hevin' a fur-lined coat which cost almost as
much as Eudora's! It is really disgraceful! I'm sure her father could give
more to the Church than he does, an' yit he'll let us hear the brunt of
the burden."

"Guess he'll hev to bear mor'n ever now," replied her husband as he rose
from the table. "I'm done with the whole bizness, an' I'm mighty glad I
heven't paid fer the last year, an' don't intend to now."

As Farrington passed out of the dining-room into the store, his clerk, a
young man new to the business, was serving a middle-aged woman at the
counter.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Sturgis," the former was saying, "but we are entirely out
of it just now. We can order it for you, though, and have it in a few
days."

Farrington turned angrily upon his heel as these words fell upon his ears.

"What does she want?" he demanded.