Then you'll be
mistress in the house, and I'll pay you for my dinner."
"What do you mean?" asked his wife, a little uneasy.
"What I say. Let's pretend that you keep a boarding-house and that I'm
your boarder. We'll only pretend it, of course."
"Very well! And what are you going to pay me?"
"Enough to prevent me from being under an obligation to you. It will
improve my position, too, for then I shall not feel that I am kept out
of kindness."
"Out of kindness?"
"Yes; you give me a dinner which is only half-cooked, and then you go
on repeating that you are my servant, that is to say, that you are
working yourself to death for me."
"What are you driving at?"
"Is three dollars a day enough for my board? Any boarding-house will
take me for two."
"Three dollars ought to be plenty."
"Very well! Let's say a thousand dollars per annum. Here's the money
in advance!"
He laid a bill on the table.
It was made out as follows:
Rent 500 dollars
Nurse's wages 100 "
Cook's wages 150 "
Wife's maintenance 500 "
Wife's pin money 500 "
Nurse's maintenance 300 "
Cook's maintenance 300 "
Children's maintenance 700 "
Children's clothes 500 "
Wood, light, assistance 500 "
4.
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