dly, "tell me just how much of it should be
charged up to George and me."

"I haven't the remotest idea. You see, I was above keeping books. What are
you trying to get at? A way to square up with me? Well, my dear, you can't
do that, you know. You don't owe me anything. Whatever I spent on you, I
spent cheerfully, gladly, and without an idea of ever receiving a penny in
the shape of recompense. That's the way with a mother, Anne. No matter
what she may do for her children, no matter how much she may sacrifice for
them, she does it without a single thought for herself. That is the best
part of being a mother. A wife may demand returns from her husband, but a
mother never thinks of asking anything of her children. I am sure that
even worse mothers than I will tell you the same. We never ask for
anything in return but a little selfish pleasure in knowing that we have
borne children that are invariably better than the children that any other
mother may have brought into the world. No, you owe me nothing, Anne. Put
it out of your mind."

Anne listened in amazement. "But if you are hard-up, mother dear, and on
account of the money you were obliged to spend on us--because we were both
spoiled and selfish--why, it is only right and just that your children, if
they can afford to do so, should be allowed to turn the tables on you. It
shouldn't be so one-sided, this little selfish pleasure that you mention.
I am rich. I have a great deal more than I need. I have nearly a hundred
thousand a year. You--"

"Has any one warned you not to talk too freely about it in these days of
income tax collectors?" broke in her mother, with a faint smile.

"Pooh! Simmy attends to that for me. I don't understand a thing about it.
Now, see here, mother, I insist that it is my right,--not my duty, but my
right--to help you out of the hole. You would do it for me. You've done it
for George, time and again. How much do you need?"

Mrs. Tresslyn regarded her daughter thoughtfully. "Back of all this, I
suppose, is the thought that it was I who made a rich girl of you. You
feel that it is only right that you should share the spoils with your
partner, not with your mother."

"Once and for all, mother, let me remind you that I do not blame you for
making a rich woman of me. I did not have to do it, you know. I am not the
sort that can be driven or coerced. I made my own calculations and I took
my own chances. You were my support but not my _commander_.