George has bought stock and all sorts of
things at the sale to-day and here is his account; three hundred and
seventy-two pounds he makes it, but I make it four hundred and twenty,
and hang me if I can find out which is right. It is most important
that these accounts should be kept straight. Most important, and I
cannot get this stupid fellow to do it."
Ida took the sheet of paper and added it up, with the result that she
discovered both totals to be wrong. Harold, watching her, wondered at
the nerve of a woman who, after going through such a scene as that
which had just occurred, could deliberately add up long rows of badly-
written figures.
And this money which her father was expending so cheerfully was part
of the price for which she had bound herself.
With a sigh he rose, said good-night, and went home with feelings
almost too mixed to admit of accurate description. He had taken a
great step in his life, and to a certain extent that step had
succeeded. He had not altogether built his hopes upon sand, for from
what Ida had said, and still more from what she had tacitly admitted,
it was necessarily clear to him that she did more or less regard him
as a man would wish to be regarded by a woman whom he dearly loved.
This was a great deal, more indeed than he had dared to believe, but
then, as is usually the case in this imperfect world, where things but
too often seem to be carefully arranged at sixes and sevens, came the
other side of the shield.
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