There was great discussion upon this point, and for days the newcomer
went unchristened. Apparently he had never had a name before, for
although they tried every title by which a dog could possibly be known,
he failed to respond, and only smiled roguishly at their efforts, for he
was a happy-hearted dog with a most cheerful smile. Nothing that was
suggested satisfied the critical Peter. Finally Honor said, “He will just
have to go without a name. He will have to be known as the Starr dog.”
“Or the dog Starr,” said Victoria, quickly. “Do you see? The dog-star! By
the way, what is the name of the dog-star. Let us look it up in the
Encyclopædia.”
They did so, and found that it was “Sirius,” and also that Sirius was the
brightest of the fixed stars.
“And this is the brightest of these Starrs,” cried Victoria, as she
hugged the long-suffering but none the less fortunate animal. “Do, Peter,
name him Sirius!”
And for a wonder Peter consented; and although “Sirius” was a difficult
name to call when one was in a hurry, for instance, it was such an
appropriate title that no one objected.
In the meantime the month of November drew to a close, and on the first
day of December the amount of mail for the family at Glen Arden was
unusually large. There was the grocer’s bill, and the butcher’s bill, and
there were other household accounts; but in addition to these there was
the one from the school-furniture store in Boston. It was addressed to
Honor, and with an exclamation of dismay she glanced at the amount.
Fifty-five dollars and eighty cents!
“Oh, Katherine!” she said, looking at her sister, and letting the bill
fall into her lap.
“What is the matter?” asked Katherine. “You look as if you had seen a
ghost.”
“I have,” said Honor, solemnly. “This is the bill for the schoolroom
furniture.”
“Well, you expected it, didn’t you? How much is it?”
“Fifty-five dollars and eighty cents!”
“I am sure that isn’t very much,” returned Katherine, easily. “Scarcely
more than fifty dollars.”
“But we haven’t got it. How are we going to pay for it, and why did you
get all these things?” groaned Honor, as she looked at the items. “Five
dollars for the globe, and we could easily have done without it, or used
a little cheap one. Five dollars for the blackboard! And all this for
copy-books and blank-books! You ought never to have bought them, and if
you did, you oughtn’t to have had them charged. And have you begun to
make any money with your typewriter yet?”
Katherine did not reply.
“Have you even learned to use it yet? Have you done _anything_ with it?
The money you spent on that typewriter might just as well have been
thrown into the river. Katherine, Katherine, how could you do it! I
verily believe we shall have to apply to Aunt Sophia for help.”
Katherine sprang from her seat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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