"And then," interrupted Lucy, "some Lapland children may read about Rosamond's gallop down the Black Lane; and some little people in China may be pleased at finding that she was fond of gold and silver fish. Well, this does not seem very surprising when one thinks how many people in America and in the East Indies know all about Rosamond already." "I should like to be now sending my silks as far as our good books will travel in time," observed Mr. Culver. "And so you will, I suppose, papa, if so many people will wear silks as you seemed to think just now." "Your brothers may, after me; or their sons and grandsons, after them," replied Mr. Culver; "but it takes a long time for people to learn to exchange freely and fairly against each other, when they have been taught to be mutually jealous, and to fancy that if one party gains by the exchange, the other must be a loser." "But many more do buy silk than some time ago, papa." "Yes, indeed," observed nurse; "when maid-servants begin, it is a pretty good sign that silk is growing common." "Then you will grow rich, papa. I should like you to grow rich." Her father told her that a beginning was made by his having ceased to grow poor. When smuggling should have ceased, and there should have been time for the English manufacture to improve as the French had done, he hoped he might be more in the way of growing rich than he had ever yet been. Meanwhile, the more people wore silks, be they servant-maids or the dames of New Zealand, the better for him; and for them, if they felt more complacent in silk attire than in the woollen petticoats and mantles of matting which their respective ancestors wore. "The Bremes dance beautifully in their blue Gros-de-Naples frocks," Lucy observed. "Better than you in your white, my dear? Well, if all the world is to wear more silk, it is time you and your sisters were beginning,--I suppose you think. Hey, Lucy?" Nurse was in possession of the young ladies ideas on this subject, and took the present opportunity of putting her master in possession of them likewise, together with her own. "Well, nurse, I have no wish that my children should go on being envious of the Bremes a moment longer than is necessary. So, silk frocks they shall have. I shall send you in half a piece from the warehouse, which will do very well. If you find a few blemishes in the warp, you can cut them out in the making, I dare say; and, but for them, the fabric is perfectly good."