The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-08-19
The Accounts of Clara.


which she counts aloud and on her fin
gers. The table is strewn with sheets
/ OF paper; she has q school arithmetic
in front of her and an account book.
and SIX make forty-five and
eight fifty-three, and then the seventy
eight I had over after dividing by that
thirtyfve (she throws down TIE
pencil in despair. and getting up from
| the table presses both her hands to her
forehead.
'Oh, these figures, I always have had
a horror of figures 1t was pre-
sentiment, 1 am sure. At school I
hated adding uD, and l never tried to
either; I never opened an arithmetic If
1 could help it.
after we had been married about SIX
| months, though. Jack said TO me one
morning: I have about $500 that I
want 10 put out. I shah have to see
about it, It seems there is a good af-
fair Just now IN China: their loan at
" on, Jackr I exclaimed, 'Chinai Do
you mean you would have to go to
| Gilman
Jack roared with laughter at my dis
tress, but he was in reality greatly fat
tered, I know
do just as you like said, feeling
rather mortified; you never take my
| opinion seriously, and besides I do not
know in the least what you mean with
your 3 per cent-three what?
He took the trouble TO explain but he
still looked amused.
GA hundred pounds that I should
give. and then at the end of the year
they would give me three
THE fragrant injustice of such a pro-
| ceeding scandalized me.
" You would give them a hundred
pounds and they would give you three
poundsr 1 interrupted. Thank you, and
you call that good thing, You would
| certainly do better to keep your five
| hundred pounds.
''The more 1 argued the mere Jack
laughed; it was perfectly ridiculous. He
only stopped every now and then TO kiss
me and to tell me that ] was the most
charming wife in the whole world. But
for the next six months he never at
tempted to talk to me about figures and
money matters.
AT the end Of that time one day when
I was rocking little JacQueline TO sleep
my husband came in the room and put
on my lap an eXercise-book with a green
cover this very one (pickng up the ac-
cOunt-book on the table,, and making a
very grand little speech he began to
tell me that now as mistress of the
house and mother of a family I must
begin to keep an account of our ex-
penses and try to put by some money
for our little girl.
1t was all in vain that pleaded nat
ural incapacity. Jack persisted, and it
was finally decided that every month
he should put into the little drawer of
my writing table a certain sum Ct don't
know how much he said, for 1 never
took any notice, and that I should use
from that just as much as I liked, but
l must undertake to write down in the
wretched account-book my expenses, and
then once month just add them up.
THE two first months of this new ar
rangement I had great success-a perfect
triumph, in fact. I had not spent all the
money; there was some left in the draw
er at the end of each month and this
was to be put by for little Jacqueline
To-day is the end of the third mouth,
and l found this morning that 1 had
only seven-pence-halfpenny and on adj
ding up my expenses in the green book
it certainly seemed to me that / had
spent rather a large sum a hun
dred pounds 1t was altogether. I felt
sure Jack would grumble figures
are so alarming when once they are ad-
ded up.
During luncheon I was as pleasant as
could possibly be, hoping that my hus-
band would take it all in good part, and
as l passed him the radishes l put on
my most irresistible smile as l said,
Jack, do you know I have not saved
farthing this month; just imagine it,
have spent a hundred pounds
Jack dropped the radishes onto his
plate and looked at me as though he
were thunderstruck
"a hundred r,oI1dcf
hundred pounds? No. you are joking
Not at ALL 1 said. speaking playful
ly, in order to give him time to re-
cover. L mean hundred pounds. It
seems large sum to me, but l cannot
help it, and the figures are all there,
you can see for yourself
But, Clara, my dear child, what fool
ish, mad expense have you been running
into without even telling me?'
This accusation made me indignant.
and 1 answered. angrily: NO mad ex-
pense at all that l know of. l have
bought myself a hat and a few other
little things for Jacqueliner
My husbands face turned red, and he
spoke in a hard tone: Clara If you
have let yourself be persuaded into any
thing foolish you might at least be
frank enough to own it. 1 must insist
on your explaining clearly the meaning
Of this unheard of extravaganza
1 will not have you accuse me of
deceitfulness, l exclaimed, and as TO
explaining clearly it seems 10 me l have
already done So.
AS you like, but what l have to say
about this matter Is that our simple way
Of living does not justify your spending
money in this eXtravagant manner. The
only thing left for me to suppose is that
you have been giving some grand recep-
tons TO which l have not been inviteI,
and that YOU have ordered dresses
That's quite enough, thank you I
said in a perfect fury Of concentrated
rage and Indignation.
Suddenly Jack threw his serviette
down on the table
Clara, l cannot understand the child
ish way in which you are acting. Why
should You want 10 hide taings from me
like this? II I am TO pay your debts l
must know
My debtsY exclaimed. What
debts, If you please?'
Well the seventy pounds that you
owe, and which 1 have not by me at
present"
But I don't owe seventy pounds.
have not asked you for any money. and
do not owe farthing. I have paid
Tor everything I have bought
But how nave you paid-whaJ money
have you used?7
Why. the money you put in the
drawer at the beginning OF TIE month. o,
course.
The money put in the draxeri
Have You managed 70 pay hundred
pounds with thai? ! put thirty pounds
IL the drawer
We sat and gazed at each other IN
wonder
Wei. ny book IS there. and you csn
see f5r yourself said a. las- I id
ded ii % four times, and ana csrJa;a
i IS 2 .lnarea n-unas. an1 7 anam