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Authors: Grace Livingston Hill
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distress.
"Well, but she can get it somewhere, surely. Tell her I must have it. I'll pay it back with interest as soon as the term is over. You're sure she hasn't gone to order the suit and charge it somewhere?"
"Yes, I'm sure, Stephen. We haven't any charge accounts anywhere anymore. They won't let us charge anything because we can't pay our back bills. And Mother doesn't know anywhere to borrow a cent. We've been having an awful time. I think they ought to have let you know long ago, but Mother didn't want you bothered while you are studying so hard. But, Steve, dear, we haven't any money to send you. Not any ."
"But listen, kid"--Steve's tone was a bit lofty and annoyed--"I'd pay it back in a few days, and I'm in a hole ."
"So are we!" said Phyllis with a sob in her voice.
"But not like this, sister. Listen. I'm supposed to take a girl to a dance tonight, and my only good trousers have given out. I've tried to mend them, but they look something terrible."
Phyllis was silent an instant trying to keep the sob out of her voice.
"No, not like that!" she burst forth bitterly. "We're not thinking of taking a girl to a dance, but--" She choked on the words. "Stephen Challenger, do you know that we almost got put out on the street last night because we couldn't pay last month's rent? Do you know that Lissa and I had nothing to eat yesterday all day long till eight o'clock at night, and Mother nothing but a cup of weak tea and she fainted dead away twice after she got back from the hospital? Hasn't anybody told you that the bank where all Father's ready money was kept failed two months ago, and the bank where he kept a couple of bonds in a safe-deposit box has closed its doors and we can't get them, and we're absolutely up against it? If it hadn't been for a kind butcher last night who gave Bob a beefsteak, we'd have starved or died of weakness; and if it hadn't been for that same butcher who paid our rent, Mother and all of us would have been turned out on the street in the rain last night after a tirade of the most insulting language I ever heard a woman utter! Steve, I've just got back from selling everything we have that's out of storage, except our beds and a few necessities, to get money enough to feed us tonight. Now, do you understand why Mother can't get you a new suit or send you money?"
Phyllis had poured forth the truth in a torrent, and now she paused for breath, and the poor self-centered boy at the other end of the wire fairly gasped, for he loved his family.
"Gosh!" he said limply when she let him speak. "Gosh! No, I didn't know that. How was I to know? Nobody gave me even a hint! I oughtta been told. Gosh! I'll come right home t'night."
"Mercy, no you won't! I don't know where we'd put you if you did. We're moving just as soon as we can find a room, one room to hold us all. You stay where you are. At least you've got a bed and something to eat, which is more than we're likely to have. You stay and take your girl to a dance and have a good time. Wear your old clothes! Wear patched trousers! Anything! Or wear your pajamas! But for pity's sake, don't ask Mother for any money now! Oh, I'm sorry to talk so, Steve, but--it's been--awful!"
"You poor kid! Gosh, I'm sorry. Gosh, I've got to do something. How about Dad? Does he know?"
"No, he doesn't know, and don't you write to him about it, either. He's better, and the doctor says we can take him into the country to rest for a year in about ten days or two weeks. You don't know any fine country place that's going a begging, do you? That's about killed Mother, for she doesn't know where we can find a place for him. If only Uncle Timothy were alive now, or if all Father's friends hadn't gone to Europe for their sabbatic year, we might hope for something. But there, Steve, don't you worry. You just graduate and come home, and then everything will be all right. But Mother's main anxiety is for you not to be worried till your college course is over, and now I suppose
"Well, but she can get it somewhere, surely. Tell her I must have it. I'll pay it back with interest as soon as the term is over. You're sure she hasn't gone to order the suit and charge it somewhere?"
"Yes, I'm sure, Stephen. We haven't any charge accounts anywhere anymore. They won't let us charge anything because we can't pay our back bills. And Mother doesn't know anywhere to borrow a cent. We've been having an awful time. I think they ought to have let you know long ago, but Mother didn't want you bothered while you are studying so hard. But, Steve, dear, we haven't any money to send you. Not any ."
"But listen, kid"--Steve's tone was a bit lofty and annoyed--"I'd pay it back in a few days, and I'm in a hole ."
"So are we!" said Phyllis with a sob in her voice.
"But not like this, sister. Listen. I'm supposed to take a girl to a dance tonight, and my only good trousers have given out. I've tried to mend them, but they look something terrible."
Phyllis was silent an instant trying to keep the sob out of her voice.
"No, not like that!" she burst forth bitterly. "We're not thinking of taking a girl to a dance, but--" She choked on the words. "Stephen Challenger, do you know that we almost got put out on the street last night because we couldn't pay last month's rent? Do you know that Lissa and I had nothing to eat yesterday all day long till eight o'clock at night, and Mother nothing but a cup of weak tea and she fainted dead away twice after she got back from the hospital? Hasn't anybody told you that the bank where all Father's ready money was kept failed two months ago, and the bank where he kept a couple of bonds in a safe-deposit box has closed its doors and we can't get them, and we're absolutely up against it? If it hadn't been for a kind butcher last night who gave Bob a beefsteak, we'd have starved or died of weakness; and if it hadn't been for that same butcher who paid our rent, Mother and all of us would have been turned out on the street in the rain last night after a tirade of the most insulting language I ever heard a woman utter! Steve, I've just got back from selling everything we have that's out of storage, except our beds and a few necessities, to get money enough to feed us tonight. Now, do you understand why Mother can't get you a new suit or send you money?"
Phyllis had poured forth the truth in a torrent, and now she paused for breath, and the poor self-centered boy at the other end of the wire fairly gasped, for he loved his family.
"Gosh!" he said limply when she let him speak. "Gosh! No, I didn't know that. How was I to know? Nobody gave me even a hint! I oughtta been told. Gosh! I'll come right home t'night."
"Mercy, no you won't! I don't know where we'd put you if you did. We're moving just as soon as we can find a room, one room to hold us all. You stay where you are. At least you've got a bed and something to eat, which is more than we're likely to have. You stay and take your girl to a dance and have a good time. Wear your old clothes! Wear patched trousers! Anything! Or wear your pajamas! But for pity's sake, don't ask Mother for any money now! Oh, I'm sorry to talk so, Steve, but--it's been--awful!"
"You poor kid! Gosh, I'm sorry. Gosh, I've got to do something. How about Dad? Does he know?"
"No, he doesn't know, and don't you write to him about it, either. He's better, and the doctor says we can take him into the country to rest for a year in about ten days or two weeks. You don't know any fine country place that's going a begging, do you? That's about killed Mother, for she doesn't know where we can find a place for him. If only Uncle Timothy were alive now, or if all Father's friends hadn't gone to Europe for their sabbatic year, we might hope for something. But there, Steve, don't you worry. You just graduate and come home, and then everything will be all right. But Mother's main anxiety is for you not to be worried till your college course is over, and now I suppose
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