“Saving money counts for as much as making it, in the long run,” said he. “Don’t forget that. And I am glad that you live in a place which has good public schools. Peter’s education must not be forgotten, nor should Victoria’s and Sophy’s. I shall not approve at all of any scheme which would interfere with their schooling. Don’t forget that, either.” CHAPTER IV. KATHERINE AS A FINANCIER. NEEDLESS to say, Mrs. Wentworth Ward disapproved absolutely of her nieces’ projects. The mere fact of their defiance of her authority was unheard of, and that they should dream of such impossible plans for their self-support she considered at first beneath her notice. The children could not be in earnest, she said, and she thought it was scarcely the time for jesting. When she was finally made to understand that the children were very much in earnest, she cancelled all her engagements for that afternoon and hurried to the Boston and Albany station. She must lose no time in informing them that they should never have her consent, and that they must at once give up any such absurd ideas as these undoubtedly were. Long were the arguments and futile were the discussions which ensued upon her arrival. She found that her brother’s children had inherited no small amount of the Starr determination, not to say obstinacy, and when they parted she was forced to acknowledge herself vanquished, for the time being at least. Mrs. Wentworth Ward comforted herself with the reflection, which she did not hesitate to put into words, that the time would come when they would grow weary of their efforts and be glad to yield and come to her for help. “And my home is still open to you,” she said as she took her departure. “Though you defy my authority and persist in your headstrong course, I shall never forget that you are my brother’s children. The time will come when you will remember this. Mark my words!” “Wouldn’t it be too dreadful if we did have to go to her for help, after all?” said Honor, as the train moved away. The three older girls had accompanied their aunt to the little station. “Wouldn’t she simply shriek at us, ‘I told you so!’” “She will never have the chance if I can prevent it,” returned Katherine. “Rather than go to Aunt Sophia for help after all that has been said this afternoon I would rather—I would rather scrub floors.” Which was Katherine’s favorite simile for the extreme of hard work, although the wildest flights of the imagination could scarcely picture her in such an employment. “I shall never give Aunt Sophia any such satisfaction as that,” she added, with decision. “I am perfectly astonished that she gave in at last,” remarked Victoria, as the three walked arm in arm across the lawn. “I really thought she would stick it out to the very end, and perhaps refuse to have anything more to do with us.”