But Pen laughed at her old-fashioned views, said that the bill was moderate, that everybody drank claret and champagne now, and, finally, the widow paid, feeling dimly that the expenses of her household were increasing considerably, and that her narrow income would scarce suffice to meet them.

But they were only occasional.

Pen merely came home for a few weeks at the vacation.

Laura and she might pinch when he was gone.

In the brief time he was with them, ought they not to make him happy?
Arthur's own allowances were liberal all this time; indeed, much more so than those of the sons of far more wealthy men.