“Humph!” said she, tossing her head impatiently. “We 're not here for a question in ethics; it is to the very lowly task of examining the house accounts I would invite your attention. Matters cannot go on as they do now, if we mean to keep a roof over us.” “But I have always supposed we were doing pretty well, Dinah. You know we never promised ourselves to gain a fortune by this venture; the very utmost we ever hoped for was to help us along,--to aid us to make both ends meet at the end of the year And as Darby tells me--” “Oh, Darby tells you! What a reliable authority to quote from! Oh, don't groan so heavily! I forgot myself. I would n't for the world impeach such fidelity or honesty as his.” “Be reasonable, sister Dinah,--do be reasonable; and if there is anything to lay to his charge--” “You 'll hear the case, I suppose,” cried she, in a voice high-pitched in passion. “You 'll sit up there, like one of your favorite judges, and call on Dinah Barrington against Cassan; and perhaps when the cause is concluded we shall reverse our places, and _I_ become the defendant! But if this is your intention, brother Barrington, give me a little time. I beg I may have a little time.” Now, this was a very favorite request of Miss Barring-ton's, and she usually made it in the tone of a martyr; but truth obliges us to own that never was a demand less justifiable. Not a three-decker of the Channel fleet was readier for a broadside than herself. She was always at quarters and with a port-fire burning. Barrington did not answer this appeal; he never moved,--he scarcely appeared to breathe, so guarded was he lest his most unintentional gesture should be the subject of comment. “When you have recovered from your stupefaction,” said she, calmly, “will you look over that line of figures, and then give a glance at this total? After that I will ask you what fortune could stand it.” “This looks formidable, indeed,” said he, poring over the page through his spectacles. “It is worse, Peter. It _is_ formidable.” “After all, Dinah, this is expenditure. Now for the incomings!” “I suspect you 'll have to ask your prime minister for _them_. Perhaps he may vouchsafe to tell you how many twenty-pound notes have gone to America, who it was that consigned a cargo of new potatoes to Liverpool, and what amount he invested in yarn at the last fair of Graigue? and when you have learned these facts, you will know all you are ever likely to know of your _profits!_” I have no means of conveying the intense scorn with which she uttered the last word of this speech. “And he told me--not a week back--that we were going on famously!” “Why wouldn't he? I 'd like to hear what else he could say. Famously, indeed, for _him_ with a strong balance in the savings-bank, and a gold watch--yes, Peter, a gold watch--in his pocket. This is no delusion, nor illusion, or whatever you call it, of mine, but a fact,--a downright fact.”