"

"How much, Florry, are you going to pay me per week?" now exclaimed Mrs.
Aylmer. "I wish I could take you, my dear, darling child, for nothing;
but the fact is, I cannot, and if I could Sukey would not allow it.
Sukey says that a greater stint she will not bear, and twelve pounds ten
a quarter cannot be made to go farther than we two poor women make it
go, Florence. Do you think you could rise to the sum of fifteen
shillings a week if I give you meat every day?"

"Of course, Mummy, of course."

"And I must and will pay a pound a week," said Kitty; "why, it is
cheap--so cheap that father will be more than astonished, and the place
is so lovely, and I am enjoying it greatly. Can you put me up and give
me what food I require for a pound a week, Mrs. Aylmer?"

"It will be riches," said Mrs. Aylmer, with tears in her eyes. "The fact
is, I can feed you both comfortably for ten shillings a piece, and the
rest will be clear profit: fifteen shillings over for clear profit. Why,
I won't know myself. I might be able to buy some new clothes; for I
declare, my dears, I am shabby, having turned and turned and contrived
and contrived until my clothes are past wearing. Your aunt has not sent
me a box of her cast-offs for over a year, and I think it is extremely
unkind of her."

"But you have not told me yet where you slept last night, dear Mrs.
Aylmer," said Kitty.

"Well, dear, if you must know, I slept here in this room. I slept on the
dining-table. I borrowed some extra pillows from a neighbour, or,
rather, Sukey borrowed them for me, for it would never do for my friends
to suppose that I have not got abundance of pillows in my own house. I
have had quite a luxurious night, my dear girls; so pray don't trouble
about me."

Kitty looked somewhat inclined to cry, but Florence burst out laughing.
She jumped up, went to her mother, and put her arms round her neck.

"You dear little Mummy," she said; "you are too comical for anything."

"There is no doubt whatever," replied Mrs. Aylmer, in answer to this
caress, "that God Almighty makes us each in the most useful shape and
form. Now, you are big, Florence, and could never manage on a table, but
a little woman like me--why, it comes in most handy. Everything is
arranged for the best, and so I always say." Here she glanced around her
with her black eyes full of merriment, and certainly she looked as
happy, notwithstanding her uncomfortable bed, as woman could look.

"I though