The Argosy — page 163: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

149 WHAT OUR ADVERTISEMENT BROUGHT. EBORAH had an idea. She repeated that fact several times most provokingly before she would tell me what the idea was. We had just been going over our account-books for the twentieth time that week ; and had seen, more clearly than ever, that we must begin in earnest now to live on half as much as we had allowed ourselves during the life of our stepmother, whose jointure died with her. Well, the question was, and had been ever since the funeral, how were we to manage this? We had sold the pony-carriage and dismissed our manservant, but, even without those luxuries, we could not keep on the old country house in which so many rooms were unnecessary to us. Our old lawyer said, “ Let the house just as it is. I will find you a good tenant who will not spoil the furniture, and the rent will make your in- come sufficient.” Deborah grew hysterical at the idea, and I had some difficulty in bringing her round. Other friends gave other advice. “Sell all the house contains; you will be sure to have a good sale. Add the proceeds to your capital, and you can live very comfortably on the interest ; especially in such a place as—Dieppe, for instance.” The thought of this banishment from England was hard enough ; but that other thought! Sell the furniture which we had cherished for —well, never mind exactly how many years, for Deborah and I were not quite so young as we had been: the furniture whose polishing we had always ourselves personally superintended ; and which we ourselves veiled in holland every night. Sell the plate which was our great and natural source of pride; the plate we counted every night with unction before we entertained the thought of sleep; the plate which was the envy of our neighbours at every party we gave. Sell the furniture and plate! The proposal was a stab in our most tender part. We had talked over our affairs a great deal ; 1t was very cold weather, and sitting over the fire discussing a subject of such importance was not disagreeable, but we had arrived at no definite conclusion when Deborah so abruptly told me that she had an idea. When she was at last prevailed upon to explain, this was what it was: “Suppose we take a house in London large enough to do credit to the chief and best of our furniture, and receive a gentleman to board with us, giving him up One or two rooms. What he would pay us would make the rent as easy for us as if we took a pottering little house, which I’m sure would kill me. This would be an advantage in many ways, don’t you see ? We should have somebody in the house who would appreciate the plate and the comfort of our home, and we need not part with the things we are fond of. There, Lavinia, that’s my idea ; what do you think of it?” (CO) m 4