You may have an income of your own some day, and I shall venture to advise you about that even if that beloved husband of yours is looking over your shoulder! I hope you won’t fall into the mistake, on account of the love and confidence you have in him, of putting it into the common purse for regular expenses. It doesn’t reflect at all on that confidence to keep your own accounts separate from his. The most devoted of husbands and wives often differ in their ideas of what they want to spend money for, and many a good and kind husband would soon begin to feel a right over his wife’s money if it went into the common purse, so long as he was spending it conscientiously in the way he thought would bring her the most comfort. In the first glamour you can imagine how a wife would enjoy the sacrifice of giving freely all her possessions into her husband’s care to control as he thought best, but later she might awaken to such a sense of the responsibility that the possession of money entails that she would feel that she ought to decide for herself how it should be spent. To make the change then would be likely to cause hurt feelings or even a misunderstanding. For a woman to keep her accounts separate need never interfere with her helping out at any time when she saw the need of it, and that would be a genuine pleasure. If there is anything else you want to talk over with me, now is the very best time to write, for _all_ my children are going off on visits and the house will seem so lonely that I shall be more glad than usual to devote some of my time to you. Very affectionately, with apologies to Tom for the last part of my letter, Your friend, _Jane Prince_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER III ⬩ SERVANTS YORK HARBOR, _August 10_. _Dear Penelope_: