ooked at the enormous
sum-totals.

"To think of all that for flowers! Well, papa bought some of them, that's
a comfort; but I had no idea I had ordered so many myself. I think bills
are perfectly horrid! And here's my dressmaker's bill. Gracious, how
Madame LaFayette has gone up in her prices! I believe I'll make my own
clothes after this; but the market bills are the worst I don't see how we
_could_ have eaten all these things. Mancy must be a dreadful waster, but
it isn't fair to blame her; if that's where the trouble is, I ought to
have looked after it myself. Hello, Marian, is that you? I didn't hear
you come in. Do come here, I'm in the depths of despair!"

"What's the matter, Patsie? and what a furious lot of bills! You look
like a clearinghouse."

"Oh, Marian, it's perfectly fearful! Every bill is two or three times as
much as I thought it would be, and I'm so sorry, for I meant to be such a
thrifty housekeeper."

"Jiminetty Christmas!" exclaimed Marian, looking at some of the papers,
"I should think these bills _were_ big! Why, that's more than we pay a
month for groceries, and look at the size of our family."

"I know it," said Patty hopelessly. "I don't see how it happened."

"You are an extravagant little wretch, Patty, there's no doubt about it."

"I suppose I am; at least, I suppose I have been, but I'm not going to be
any more. I'm going to reform, suddenly and all at once and very
thoroughly! Now, you watch me. We're not going to have any more fancy
things, no more ice cream from Pacetti's. Why, that caterer's bill is
something fearful."

"And so you're going to starve poor Uncle Fred?"

"No, that wouldn't be fair, would it? The economy ought to fall entirely
on me. Well, I've decided to make my own clothes after this, anyway."

"Oh, Patty, what a goose you are! You couldn't make them to save your
neck, and after you made them you couldn't wear them."

"I could, too, Marian Elliott! Just you wait and see me make my summer
dresses. I'm going to sew all through vacation."

"All right," said Marian, "I'll come over and help you, but you can't
make any dresses this afternoon, so put away those old bills and get
ready for a sleigh ride. It's lovely out, and father said he'd call for
us here at four o'clock."

"All right, I will, if we can get back by six. I want to be here when
papa comes home."

"Yes, we'll be back by six. I expect Uncle Fred will shut you up in a
dark room and keep you on br