"Mortgage the house again," he replied. "It hasn't been easy, for money is tight, but I think I'll be able to get enough to just about carry us through the year. At home, I mean," he added. "And the office?" "Shut down," he said. She turned on him fiercely. "You won't do that!" "What else can I do?" "Turn all those girls away?" she cried. At her tone his look grew troubled. "How can I help myself, Deborah? If I kept open it would cost me over five hundred a week to run. Have I five hundred dollars a week to lose?" "But I tell you it won't last!" she cried, and again the baffled, driven expression swept over her expressive face. "Can't you see this is only a panic--and keep going somehow? Can't you see what it means to the tenements? Hundreds of thousands are out of work! They're being turned off every day, every hour--employers all over are losing their heads! And City Hall is as mad as the rest! They've decided already down there to retrench!" He turned with a quick jerk of his head: "Are they cutting you down?" She set her teeth: "Yes, they are. But the work in my schools is going on--every bit of it is--for every child! I'm going to find a way," she said. And he felt a thrill of compassion. "I'm sorry to hear it," he muttered. "You needn't be." She paused a moment, smiled and went on in a quieter voice: "Don't think I'm blind--I'm sensible--I see you can't lose five hundred a week. But why not try what other employers, quite a few, have decided to do? Call your people together, explain how it is, and ask them to choose a committee to help you find which ones need jobs the most. Keep all you can--on part time, of course--but at least pay them something, carry them through. You'll lose money by it, I haven't a doubt. But you've already found you can mortgage the house, and remember besides that I shall be here. I'm not going to marry now"--her father looked at her quickly--"and of course I'll expect to do my share toward meeting the expenses. Moreover, I know we can cut down." "Retrench," said Roger grimly. "Turn off the servants instead of the clerks." "No, only one of them, Martha upstairs--and she is to be married. We'll keep the cook and the waitress. Edith will have to give up her nurse--and it will be hard on her, of course--but she'll have to realize this is war," Deborah said sharply. "Besides," she urged, "it's not going to last. Business everywhere will pick up--in a few weeks or months at most. The war _can't_ go on--it's too horribly big!" She broke off and anxiously looked at him. Her father was still frowning.