n given to her in settlement of the coal bill. "It was the
morning the cat got lost in the oven, and all of us searching the house
over because of the piteous mews of it. It crept in, Sylvia, when the
door was open, after the bacon came out, and Sarah pushed it to as she
passed, so the poor creature had a fine Turkish bath of it before we
found her. Did I not pay the bill, after all? I suppose I was short of
money for something else. It's wonderful the way it slips away when you
are keeping house!"

Jack sighed and took up another paper from the table.

"There's another here. I know I gave you ten shillings to settle this
ironmonger fellow. Eight and threepence! It's ridiculous running on
bills for little sums like this."

"I paid it! I paid it!" cried Bridgie triumphantly. "I distinctly
remember, because there is such a funny little man in the shop who says,
`What is your next pleasure, madam?' when you buy a box of tacks. I
remember distinctly going in and paying something."

"Very well, then, you must have the receipt. Where have you put the
receipt?"

Bridgie looked vaguely round the room, turned out the contents of her
writing-pad, peeped into a drawer under the table, searched the bottom
of the stocking-basket, the pocket of her dress, then stroked her chin
meditatively, and said--

"Perhaps I was paying for something else! I remember now that I _did_
buy a saucepan."

Jack sighed again, and paced up and down the floor, but he showed no
signs of anger or even surprise, and his voice was quite apologetic as
he said--

"I'm afraid you will have to be more methodical, dear, if we stay on in
this house. We shall never know how we stand if bills keep coming in
when we think they are settled. We had better hold a cabinet council
and decide how much we can afford to spend in housekeeping and other
departments, and cut our coat according to our cloth. It will be
difficult after the way things went on at Knock, but it's our only
chance. I tried to put down my private expenses this afternoon, and was
horrified to find how heavy they were."

Bridgie cast an admiring glance upon him, and turned to Sylvia with an
air of pride.

"Isn't he splendid, now, at his age, talking like an old man for wisdom
and prudence! You may well say things are different from what they were
at home, for there, if the worst came to the worst, you could always
fall back on the pigs and the vegetables that grew for nothi