"Yes," said Dorothy, "they _ought_ to go to school--but--well, I may as
well tell thee the truth! There's very little to do it with. We've had
a poor summer. I suppose I've managed badly, and mother has been sick a
good while."

"You've forgotten about the pond-rent, Dorothy."

"No," she said, with a quick flush; "I hadn't forgotten it; but I
couldn't _ask_ thee for it!"

"I spoke to your father about monthly payments; but he said better
leave it to accumulate for emergencies. Shouldn't you call this an
'emergency,' Dorothy?"

"But does thee think we ought to ask rent for a pond that has all
leaked away?"

"Oh, there's pond enough left, and I've used it a dozen times over this
summer! I would be ashamed to tell you, Dorothy, how my horn has been
exalted in your father's absence. However, retribution has overtaken me
at last; I'm responsible, you know, for all the damage last night. It
was in the agreement that I should keep up the dams."

"Oh!" said Dorothy; "is thee sure?"

Evesham laughed.

"If your father were like any other man, Dorothy, he'd make me 'sure,'
when he gets home! I will defend myself to this extent: I've patched
and propped them all summer, after every rain, and tried to provide for
the fall storms; but there's a flaw in the original plan--"

"Thee said that once before," said Dorothy. "I wish thee wouldn't say
it again."

"Why not?"

"Because I love those old mill-dams! I've trotted over them ever since
I could walk alone!"

"You shall trot over them still! We will make them as strong as the
everlasting hills. They shall outlast our time, Dorothy."

"Well, about the rent," said Dorothy. "I'm afraid it will not take us
through the winter, unless there is something I can do. Mother couldn't
possibly be moved now, and if she could, it will be months before the
house is fit to live in. But we cannot stay here in comfort, unless thy
mother will let me make up in some way. Mother will not need me all the
time, and I know thy mother hires women to spin."

"She'll let you do all you like, if it will make you any happier. But
you don't know how much money is coming to you. Come, let us look over
the figures."

He lowered the lid of the black mahogany secretary, placed a chair for
Dorothy, and opened a great ledger before her, bending down, with one
hand on the back of the chair, the other turning the leaves of the
ledger. Considering the index, and the position of the letter B in the
alpha