And she had plans of her own, not connected with these. She
broached them to her uncle, and they surprised and delighted him,
although he would not give his consent to them entirely.
"You mustn't think," she said, "that, because I have been willing to
live on your money since mine went, that I mean to continue doing it. I
don't. I've been thinking a great deal, and I realize that I must earn
my own way just as soon as I can. I'm not fitted for anything now; but
I can be and I shall. I've thought perhaps I might learn stenography
or--or something like that. Girls do."
He looked at her serious face and choked back his laugh.
"Why, yes," he admitted, "they do, that's a fact. About four hundred
thousand of 'em do, and four hundred thousand more try to and then try
to make business men think that they have. I heard Sylvester sputterin'
about a couple in his office t'other day; said they was no good and not
worth the seven dollars a week he paid 'em."
"Seven dollars a WEEK!" she repeated.
"Yes. Course some make three times that and more; but they're the
experienced ones, the good ones. And there's heaps that don't. What
makes you so sot on earnin' a livin', Caroline? Ain't you satisfied with
the kind I'm tryin' to give you?"
She regarded him reproachfully.
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