n the gas.
The next thing you will be saying that Bridget is a luxury, and that
I ought to pay thirty per cent. on her! Probably I ought to pay a
duty on Bobberts! I don't think it is fair that I should pay on
everything. I will not pay ten per cent. on the gas bill.
Everything seems to come the same day."

"Laura!" exclaimed Mr. Fenelby, with sudden joy, "you don't have to
pay on the gas bill this month! I wonder I hadn't thought of it.
That gas bill is for gas used before the tariff was adopted! And now
that you know about it, you will expect to pay next month."

"I shall warn Bridget again about using so much in the range," said
Laura. "We shall have to economize very carefully, Tom. I can see
that. The tariff is going to make our living very expensive."

They had reached the house, and had lingered a minute on the porch,
and now they went inside, for they heard the dinner-bell tinkle.

"You had better drop eight cents in the bank before you forget it,"
said Mrs. Fenelby.

"Eight cents?" inquired Tom, quite at a loss to remember what he was
to pay eight cents for.

"Eight cents," repeated his wife. "For the candy. It is eighty cents
a pound, isn't it? But it is a luxury, isn't it? That would be
twenty-four cents!"

"Yes, twenty-four cents," said Tom, smiling. "Twenty-four cents; but
I don't pay it. You pay it."

"_I_ pay it!" cried Mrs. Fenelby. "The idea! I didn't buy the candy.
I didn't even ask you to buy it, Tom, although I am very glad to
have it, and you are a dear to bring it to me. But you are the one
to pay for it. You bought it."

"My dear," said Mr. Fenelby, "whoever brings a thing into the house
pays the duty on it. I gave you the box of candy when we were a full
block from the house, and you accepted it, and it was your property
after that, and you brought it into the house, and you must pay the
duty on it."

For a moment Mrs. Fenelby was inclined to be hurt, and then she
laughed.

"What is it?" her husband asked, as he seated himself at his end of
the table, and unfolded his napkin.

"I'll pay the twenty-four cents; but please don't bring me any more
candy," she said. "I can't afford presents. But that wasn't what I
was laughing about. I just happened to think of Will and Kitty. Will
they have to pay duty on their trunks and all the things they have
in them? Kitty has the most _luxurious_ dresses, and luxuries pay
thirty per cent. If she will have to pay on them perhaps I had
better te