Page:Girls of Central High on the Stage.djvu/124

114 He wants his house for another tenant; he has as good as said so. And do come and see Mrs. Prentice's little cottage. It is a love."

Even after she had seen it, however, Mrs. Morse was doubtful. She shrank from the change.

"And think of the expense of moving," she declared.

"But the two dollars less we pay a month will soon pay for that," said Jess, eagerly.

"Well—er—perhaps," admitted her mother, doubtfully.

Jess had to do it all, however. She had to attend to every detail of the change. Fortunately her mother received a check of some size and the daughter obtained a part of it for current expenses. She hired a truckman, packed most of their possessions after school hours, and saw to the setting up of their goods and chattels in the new home.

There were several tons of furnace coal in the cellar of the new home. In the old cottage there had been no heater. Mrs. Prentice told Jess that she could pay for the coal a little at a time, and the girl gladly availed herself of this advantage.

For the winter promised to be a severe one. Since frost had set in in earnest there had been no let-up. Jess and her mother moved during