Page:Traits and Trials.pdf/236

230 "That is what I say to myself, and to him too, but he won't let me talk about it."

She then went on to explain that her son, for she herself could neither write nor read, had been in the habit of keeping the accounts of her little business, and that, without his assistance, it was impossible for her to get on at all.

The thought instantly darted into Fanny's head could she not supply his place? She had felt for some time that what her mother paid was a very inadequate return for the trouble which, in spite of her personal efforts, they gave, and for the comfort which they enjoyed. Here was an opportunity of amply acquitting the obligation, she was a good accountant at school; for, by reason of the necessity of order in their own arrangement, she had of late rather improved than otherwise. Mrs. Wilmot's shop was nominally to sell grocery, but it sold almost everything else: the old woman, whose activity and obligingness were proverbial, attended to her customers herself, and of an evening her son regulated the