Pride and Prudence CHAPTER 14.
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A whole year went by without any fellowship existing between Mrs. Este and her sister. The passage of that time produced little or no change in the feelings of the latter. Tried and afflicted as she had been — still her proud and selfish spirit was unbroken. The confirmation of what she had at first learned in regard to the good fortune of Mrs. Este, only tended to embitter her feelings against her. In her mind, the fact of her having invested all the money she had received in interest-paying securities, for the purpose of setting up her sons in business at some future time, instead of giving a portion of it to her, in order to improve her external condition in the present — showed her to be mean, selfish, and altogether unnatural. Steadily keeping out from her mind, all kind and generous thoughts, she continued to nourish the worst of feelings. Of course, she was unhappy. And, of course, her children, living under the shadow of her gloomy spirit, were unhappy also.
Jane went frequently to see her aunt. Every interview with her refreshed her spirits, and strengthened her good purposes. Still, she drooped at times, and often felt discouraged. Her burdens had become heavier. In spite of all that she and her brother could say, her mother, shortly after the removal of Mrs. Este into a larger and better house — insistedupon their moving also. An increase of George's salary to five hundred dollars, caused her to urge the matter in a way that admitted of no refusal. A larger and better house, for which the rent of one hundred and sixty dollars had to be paid, was rented, and into this they removed.
Both George and his sister were conscious that the expense to which they would now be subjected, would be greater than their income. It was not so much the bare increase of rent which made the great difference. A better house would cause their mother to want better furniture. The consequence would be, constant opposition to her, or the certain incurrence of debt, which it would be out of their power to pay. Up to the time of their going into their new house, they had been able to do without a servant. But now Mrs. Ashton insisted upon having a servant, and her wishes had to be complied with.
The difficulty of paying the first quarter's rent more than confirmed all the fears of George Ashton. From that time, he began to have a troubled look. This was noticed by Mrs. Este. The cause she soon learned, not by any open statement made to her by the young man, but from admissions which she drew from him. At first her regard for, and sympathy with, her greatly changed nephew and niece, made her think about coming to their assistance, and helping them in a financial way to bear up. But this, she at once perceived, would not do. It would only encourage her sister to new acts of extravagance.
A better course, she saw, would be to let them go on, and manage their affairs entirely unaided. The difficulties and embarrassments into which they would certainly fall, sooner or later, would teach, she hoped, a lesson to Mrs. Ashton, not soon to be forgotten.
At the end of the second quarter, instead of having forty dollars in hand to pay the rent, only twenty dollars could be raised.
"This is quarter day," George said, looking into his mother's face while eating, or endeavoring to eat his breakfast, on the morning of the day on which the bill of rent was due.
"It is?"
"Yes. And we haven't more than half enough money to meet the rent."
"Mr. Langston will have to wait, then."
"But that won't help us much. If he should wait for half the coming quarter for what is now due, his next rent will only be called for the quicker."
"Let him wait for that also."
George shook his head and sat silent. He tried to finish his breakfast, but he could not eat. The food was tasteless, and the organs of swallowing refused to conspire in the act of transmitting it to the stomach.
"Couldn't you get a month's advance of salary?" suggested Jane.
"Yes, of course he could," spoke up Mrs. Ashton.
"I could, no doubt," returned George. "But I would rather not ask the favor. I never have asked a dollar yet before it was earned, and I don't wish to now. Mr. Thompson is a little peculiar in some things. If I were to get an advance, even of only a month's wages, it would affect my standing with him, I am sure."
"All nonsense!" broke in Mrs. Ashton.
"No, mother — it is not mere nonsense. I have been with Mr. Thompson long enough to satisfy me, that any deviation in a clerk from the regular order of doing things, awakenssuspicion in his mind. Especially does he dislike being called upon to pay any portion of a salary before it is due. One young man lost his situation from this very cause, since I have been in the store. He drew his money always a little in advance. This made Mr. Thompson suspicious of him. He got it into his head, I believe, that the young man wasextravagant, or spent his money in a still more improper manner. But this was not so — the young man had a mother and sister to support, and this heavy expense took the whole of his income, even before it was due. At last, Mr. Thompson made an excuse to fire him."
"But how do you know it was for that?"
"He hinted as much to the head clerk."
"Then, I say, he is an unfeeling brute!" Mrs. Ashton said, with much indignation.
"He is not so bad as that, mother," returned George in a calm voice. "But he is sometimes hasty in his conclusions, and was so in this case. He might judge as erroneously in mine."
"But it will be easy enough to explain, and put all right."
"I could explain, it is true. But that would not put all right. He would ask me too many questions, the end of which would be a conviction on his part, that our rent was too high, and that my salary would continue to be insufficient to meet the expense to which I was subjected. And as a prudent man, somewhat inclined to be suspicious, he might be impressed with the fear, that as my income was too small for my expenses — that I might be tempted to increase it myself, by pilfering from him."
"O no, George, he couldn't think that!" Jane said, speaking quickly. "He could not think that of you."
"I would rather, Jane, not lay myself liable to such a suspicion. It would break down my spirits, and, perhaps, stain my reputation. No — no — I must not run this risk."
"How, then, is the rent to be paid?" asked Mrs. Ashton.
"I cannot tell," George replied, despondingly. "But one thing is certain. I would rather brave the landlord's angry demand for his rent, than Mr. Thompson's suspicion. I could bear up against the former, but the latter would break down my spirits — would make me seem guilty of all that was suggested against me."
"All a mere notion," Mrs. Ashton said, impatiently.
To this, George made no reply. In a little while he rose from the table and went away to the store.
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