"
"Mara, I am almost tempted to believe that you regret--"
"Aunty, you must fix your mind on the only question to be considered. What
are we to do? You know our money is almost gone."
Mrs. Hunter's only response was to stare blankly at her niece. She could
economize and be content with very little as long as her habitual trains
of thought were not interrupted and she could maintain her proud
seclusion. Accustomed to remote plantation life, she knew little of the
ways of the modern world, and much less of the methods by which a woman
could obtain a livelihood from it. To the very degree that she had lived
in the memories and traditions of the past, she had unfitted herself to
understand the conditions of present life or to cope with its
requirements. Now she was practically helpless. "We can't go and reveal
our situation to our friends," she began hesitatingly.
"Certainly not," said Mara, "for most of them have all they can do to
sustain themselves, and I would rather starve than live on the charity of
those on whom we have no claim."
"We might take less expensive rooms."
"What good would that do, Aunty? If we can't earn anything, five dollars
will be as hard to raise as ten."
"Oh, to think that people of the very best blood in the State, who once
had scores of slaves to work for them, should be so wronged, robbed and
reduced!"
Mara heaved a long, weary sigh, and Clancy's words would repeat themselves
again and again.
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