“Victoria!” exclaimed her sisters together. “We are coming down pretty low, if we can’t have dessert,” said Katherine. “What are you thinking of?” “Only of saving money; and a lamp on the supper table would be cheaper than candles,” said Vic, as she took up the basket and left the room. “Come, Sophy. You carry the pitcher of milk. Don’t spill it, child.” “I don’t know where Vic gets those scrimpy ideas,” said Katherine, when they had gone. “She actually said again to-day that she thought we could do without salad, that the sweet oil for the dressing was so expensive; and when we went to Boston together the other day, she insisted upon walking all the way from the station to Aunt Sophia’s, just to save five cents! She was perfectly horrified at my getting those embroidered handkerchiefs, and yet they were so cheap. It is a perfect bore to have her so.” Honor said nothing. She thought that Victoria went to an extreme, perhaps; but it was better for the family purse than Katherine’s course, and the suggestion about the candles contained a good deal of common sense. A lamp would do just as well, and candles were expensive; but then they made the table look so much prettier. How provoking it was, thought Honor, to be obliged to do without so small and simple a luxury as candles on the supper-table! With an air of resignation, she rose and lighted a lamp, which she placed upon the table. Then she blew out the candles, and removed them to the mantelpiece. “Oh, Honor!” cried Katherine. “Why do you do that? You are getting to be as bad as Vic herself. You might at least leave them on the table unlighted.” “For the mere show of them?” said Honor. “Never! and Vic is right. Candles are expensive. I wonder if there is anything else we can give up.” And she looked about with a gesture of despair. “Sugar in our tea, I suppose,” said Katherine, with what she considered fine sarcasm, “or even tea itself. Perhaps you would like to do without forks. We can sell the silver, for instance. For my part, I shall never give in to this stingy spirit that is taking possession of the rest of you. I am sure we are not as poor as all that, and we are certainly making money.” Honor made no reply. When Katherine talked in this strain, it was useless to argue with her, and presently Victoria and Sophy returned, and they took their places at the table. Dave Carney spent some time with Peter in the barn, and when he left, he promised to return the next day, and see how the dog was progressing. When Peter asked him where he lived, he returned an evasive answer. The two boys, so differently placed in the world, found that they had much in common. Dave knew almost as much as Peter did about the ways of animals and birds, and was deeply interested in all that his new friend had to say upon the subject, besides recounting many of his own experiences in the woods.