Page:Girls of Central High on the Stage.djvu/79

Rh "Oh, Mother!" repeated Jess. "What a splendid chance!"

"Why, Josephine, not so very splendid," said her mother, slowly. "He only guarantees me five dollars weekly. That is not much."

"It will feed us—if we are careful," gasped Jess.

"Goodness, Josephine! What a horribly practical child you are getting to be. I don't know what the girls of to-day are coming to. Now, that would never have appealed to me when I was your age. I never knew how papa and mamma got food for us."

Jess might have told her that conditions had not changed much since her girlhood!

"But five dollars regularly will help us a whole lot, Mother," she urged.

"And it will necessitate my going out considerably—and appearing at receptions and places. Really—I have refused a number of invitations because of my wardrobe. My excuse of 'work' is not always strictly true," sighed Mrs. Morse.

"But do, do try it, Mother!" cried Jess.

"Well," said the lady, "it may do no harm. And it may be an opening for something better. But, really, nobody must know that I am a mere society reporter on the Centerport Courier."