Pier, minstrels, Punch and Judy,
bathing, buns, ices, canes, fruit, chairs, row-boats, concerts, toffee,
photographs, char-a-bancs: any of these expenditures was likely to
happen whenever they went forth for a simple stroll. One might think
that strolls were gratis, that the air was free! Error! If he had had
the courage he would have left his purse in the house as Ruth invariably
did. But men are moral cowards.
He had calculated thus:--Return fare, four shillings a week. Agreed
terms at boarding-house, twenty-five shillings a week. Total expenses
per week, twenty-nine shillings,--say thirty!
On the first day he spent fourteen shillings on nothing whatever--which
was at the rate of five pounds a week of supplementary estimates! On the
second day he spent nineteen shillings on nothing whatever, and Ruth
insisted on his having tea with herself and Nellie at their
boarding-house; for which of course he had to pay, while his own tea was
wasting next door. So the figures ran on, jumping up each day.
Mercifully, when Sunday dawned the open wound in his pocket was
temporarily stanched. Ruth wished him to come in for tea again.
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