Crashaw dimmed a little of the morning's radiance, but
behind them was the thought, "Martin must come to-day. It was like a
message his look last night." She even sang to herself as she
scrubbed at the silver.
They spent a domestic morning. Aunt Elizabeth did not go for her
walk, but instead stayed in the dining-room and, seated at the end
of the long dining-table, her head just appearing above the worn and
soiled green table-cloth, tried to discipline the week's household
accounts. She worked sucking one finger after another and poking her
pencil into her ears.
"One pound, three shillings--ham, ham, ham--?"
At one moment she invited the cook to assist her, and that lady,
crimson from the kitchen fire, bared arms akimbo, stated that she
was not only the most economical woman in London, but was also,
thanks to her upbringing, one of the most sober and virtuous, and if
Miss Cardinal had anything to say against--
Oh no! Aunt Elizabeth had nothing to say against, only this one
pound, three shillings--
Well, the cook couldn't help that; she wasn't one to let a penny out
of her fingers where it shouldn't go.
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