id that you were clever with
your needle and could easily make up the lessons you had missed."

"I hope I can."

"Of course you can, my dear. You have only to exert yourself, and
everything will go as it should. And about your board. I have written to
Clay House, and they will take you in with their first vacancy. It is
always so crowded. You see, it is the best place for working-girls in
Boston for the money. You might have to share your room with some one
but I don't believe you would mind that. A single room is seven dollars
a week, but with another girl it costs only five dollars. You wouldn't
want to start in spending more than that, I presume. You agree with me?"

If Hertha was in disagreement she did not show it in her face, but
neither did she express approval of Miss Witherspoon's plans; she simply
allowed the lady to talk on.

And she did talk on. She told Hertha about Boston, its streets, its
public gardens, its library, its admirable educational facilities. Her
knowledge of the city was prodigious and she apparently was on the
boards of half its institutions. When she was through, for the time
being, with Boston, she turned to Hertha's personal affairs. It had been
arranged that the two should leave together in three days, going by
train to New York and on to Boston. Miss Witherspoon had definite ideas
of what Hertha would and would not need for the trip. She cautioned her
at present against buying any clothes beyond absolute necessities. There
would be time for that later. And from this she turned to the general
question of expenditure. "Two thousand dollars, you know, Hertha, is a
very small sum. You must not think of it in terms of principal but of
interest. At five per cent it means only a hundred dollars a year, or a
little less than nine dollars a month. Of course you cannot live on
that."

"No, of course not."

"And while I approve an immediate expenditure for education you will
need continually to remember that your little patrimony as far as
possible should be kept intact. If you touch the principal try to make
it up afterwards. It is a great comfort to have a bank account."

Miss Patty came in at this point, fresh and pretty from her nap, and
took the comfortable rocker near Hertha.

"What is Miss Witherspoon advising you now?" she asked, smiling.

"To be careful of my money," Hertha answered.

"A great mistake," the southern woman said, rocking lazily back and
forth. "I would advise yo