You don't earn enough for your support, my dear.'

'Oh, well!' broke from the girl. 'Of course, if you grudge us our food
and lodging--'

'Don't be so quick-tempered. You know very well I am far from grudging
you anything, dear. But I only meant to say that Jasper does earn
something, you know.'

'It's a disgraceful thing that he doesn't earn as much as he needs. We
are sacrificed to him, as we always have been. Why should we be pinching
and stinting to keep him in idleness?'

'But you really can't call it idleness, Maud. He is studying his
profession.'

'Pray call it trade; he prefers it. How do I know that he's studying
anything? What does he mean by "studying"? And to hear him speak
scornfully of his friend Mr Reardon, who seems to work hard all through
the year! It's disgusting, mother. At this rate he will never earn his
own living. Who hasn't seen or heard of such men? If we had another
hundred a year, I would say nothing. But we can't live on what he leaves
us, and I'm not going to let you try. I shall tell Jasper plainly that
he's got to work for his own support.'

Another silence, and a longer one. Mrs Milvain furtively wiped a tear
from her cheek.

'It seems very cruel to refuse,' she said at length, 'when another year
may give him the opportunity he's waiting for.'

'Opportunity? What does he mean by his opportunity?'

'He says that it always comes, if a man knows how to wait.'

'And the people who support him may starve meanwhile! Now just think
a bit, mother. Suppose anything were to happen to you, what becomes of
Dora and me? And what becomes of Jasper, too? It's the truest kindness
to him to compel him to earn a living. He gets more and more incapable
of it.'

'You can't say that, Maud. He earns a little more each year. But for
that, I should have my doubts. He has made thirty pounds already this
year, and he only made about twenty-five the whole of last. We must
be fair to him, you know. I can't help feeling that he knows what he's
about. And if he does succeed, he'll pay us all back.'

Maud began to gnaw her fingers, a disagreeable habit she had in privacy.

'Then why doesn't he live more economically?'

'I really don't see how he can live on less than a hundred and fifty a
year. London, you know--'

'The cheapest place in the world.'

'Nonsense, Maud!'

'But I know what I'm saying. I've read quite enough about such things.
He might live very well indeed on thirty shillings a week,