o our expenses; and there are no additions to my
income. You know now as much as I can tell you.'

The discussion was ended, and left Esther chilled and depressed. The
fact itself could be borne, she thought, if it were looked square in
the face, and met in the right spirit. As it was, she felt involved in
a mesh of uncertainty. The rent,--she knew how much that was,--no such
great matter; how much Buonaparte's keep amounted to she had no idea.
She would find out. But how to save even a very few hundred dollars,
even one or two hundred, by retrenchment of the daily expenses, Esther
did not see. Better, she thought, make some great change, cut off some
larger item of the household living, and so cover the deficit at once,
than spare a partridge here and a pound of meat there. That was a kind
of petty and vexing care which revolted her. Far better dispense with
Buonaparte at once, and go into town with the cabbages. It will be seen
that Esther as yet was not possessed of that which we call knowledge of
the world. It did not occur to her that the neighbourhood of the
cabbages would hurt her, though it might hurt her fastidious taste. It
would not hurt _her_, Esther thought; and what did the rest matter?
Anything but this pinching and sparing penny by penny. But if she drove
into town with the cabbages, that would only dispose of Buonaparte; the
other item--the rent--would remain unaccounted for. How should that be
made up?

Esther pondered, brooded, tired herself with thinking. She could not
talk to Barker about it, and there was no one else. Once more she felt
a little lonely and a good deal helpless, though energies were strong
within her to act, if she had known how to act. She mounted the stairs
to her room with an unusual slow step, and shut her door, but she had
brought her trouble in with her. Esther went to her window to look out,
as we all are so apt to do when some trouble seems too big for the
house to hold. There is a vague counsel-taking with nature, to which
one is impelled at such times; or is it sympathy-seeking? The sweet
October afternoon had passed into as sweet an evening, the hazy
stillness was unchanged, and through the haze the silver rays of a half
moon high in the heavens came with the tenderest touch and the most
gracious softness upon all earthly things. There was a vapourous
glitter on the water of the broad river, a dewy or hazy veil on the
land; the scene could not be imagined more witching f