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+A Great Change
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+"There's no doubt about it, we really must economize somehow!" sighed
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+Mrs. Woodward helplessly, with her housekeeping book in one hand, and
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+her bank pass-book in the other, and an array of bills spread out on the
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+table in front of her. "Children, do you hear what I say? The war will
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+make a great difference to our income, and we can't--simply _can't_--go
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+on living in exactly the old way. The sooner we all realize it the
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+better. I wish I knew where to begin."
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+
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+"Might knock off going to church, and save the money we give in
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+collections!" suggested Percy flippantly. "It must tot up to quite a
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+decent sum in the course of a year, not to mention pew rent!"
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+
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+His mother cast a reproachful glance at him.
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+"Now, Percy, _do_ be serious for once! You and Winona are quite old
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+enough to understand business matters. I must discuss them with
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+somebody. As I said before, we shall really have to economize somehow,
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+and the question is where to begin."
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+
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+"I saw some hints in a magazine the other day," volunteered Winona,
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+hunting among a pile of papers, and fishing up a copy of _The
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+Housewife's Journal_. "Here you are! There's a whole article on War
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+Economies. It says you can halve your expenses if you only try. It gives
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+ten different recipes. Number One, Dispense with Servants. Oh, goody! I
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+don't know how the house would get along without Maggie and Mary! Isn't
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+that rather stiff?"
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+
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+"It's impossible to be thought of for a moment! I should never dream of
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+dismissing maids who have lived with me for years. I've read that
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+article, and it may be practicable for other people, but certainly not
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+for us. Oh, dear! Some of my friends recommend me to remove to the town,
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+and others say 'Stay where you are, and keep poultry!'"
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+"We can't leave Highfield! We were all born here!" objected Winona
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+decisively.
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+
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+"And we tried keeping hens some time ago," said Percy. "They laid on an
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+average three-quarters of an egg a year each, as far as I remember."
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+
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+"I'm afraid we didn't know how to manage them," replied Mrs. Woodward
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+fretfully. "Percy, leave those papers alone! I didn't tell you to turn
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+them over. You're mixing them all up, tiresome boy! Don't touch them
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+again! It's no use trying to discuss business with you children! I shall
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+write and consult Aunt Harriet. Go away, both of you, now! I want to
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+have a quiet half-hour."
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+
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+Aunt Harriet stood to the Woodward family somewhat in the light of a
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+Delphic oracle. To apply to her was always the very last resource.
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+Matters must have reached a crisis, Winona thought, if they were
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+obliged to appeal to Aunt Harriet's judgment. She followed Percy into
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+the garden with a sober look on her face.
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+"You don't think mother would really leave Highfield?" she asked her
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+brother anxiously.
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+
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+"Bunkum!" replied that light-hearted youth. "We always have more or less
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+of a fuss when my school bills come in. It'll soon fizzle out again!
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+Don't you fret yourself. Things will jog on as they always have jogged
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+on. There'll be nothing done, you'll see. Come on and bowl for me,
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+that's a chubby one!"
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+
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+"But this time mother really seemed to be in earnest," said Winona
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+meditatively, as she helped to put up the stumps.
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+
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+Mrs. Woodward had been left a widow three years before this story opens.
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+She was a fair, fragile little woman, still pretty, and pathetically
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+helpless. She had been accustomed to lean upon her husband, and now, for
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+lack of firmer support, she leaned upon Winona. Winona was young to act
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+as prop, and though it flattered her sense of importance, it had put a
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+row of wrinkles on her girlish forehead. At fifteen she seemed much
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+older than Percy at sixteen. No one ever dreamt of taking Percy
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+seriously; he was one of those jolly, easy-going, happy-go-lucky,
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+unreliable people who saunter through life with no other aim than to
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+amuse themselves at all costs. To depend upon him was like trusting to a
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+boat without a bottom. Though nominally the eldest, he had little more
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+sense of responsibility than Ernie, the youngest. It was Winona who
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+shouldered the family burdens.
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+
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+The Woodwards had always lived at Highfield, and in their opinion it was
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+the most desirable residence in the whole of Rytonshire. The house was
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+old enough to be picturesque, but modern enough for comfort. Its quaint
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+gables, mullioned windows and Cromwellian porch were the joy of
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+photographers, while the old-fashioned hall, when the big log fire was
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+lighted, would be hard to beat for coziness. The schoolroom, on the
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+ground floor, had a separate side entrance on to the lawn, leading
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+through a small ante-room where boots and coats and cricket bats and
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+tennis rackets could be kept; the drawing-room had a luxurious ingle
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+nook with cushioned seats, and all the bedrooms but two had a southern
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+aspect. As for the big rambling garden, it was full of delightful
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+old-world flowers that came up year after year: daffodils and violets
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+and snow-flakes, and clumps of pinks, and orange lilies and Canterbury
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+bells, and tall Michaelmas daisies, and ribbon grass and royal Osmunda
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+fern, the sort of flowers that people used to pick in days gone by, put
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+a paper frill round, and call a nosegay or a posy. There was a lawn for
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+tennis and cricket, a pond planted with irises and bulrushes, and a wild
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+corner where crocuses and coltsfoot and golden aconite came up as they
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+liked in the spring time.
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+Winona loved this garden with somewhat the same attachment that a French
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+peasant bears for the soil upon which he has been reared. She rejoiced
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+in every yard of it. To go away and resign it to others would be
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+tragedy unspeakable. The fear that Aunt Harriet might recommend the
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+family to leave Highfield was sufficient to darken her horizon
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+indefinitely. That her mother had written to consult the oracle she was
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+well aware, for she had been sent to post the letter. She had an
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+instinctive apprehension that the answer would prove a turning-point in
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+her career.
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+For a day or two everything went on as usual. Mrs. Woodward did not
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+again allude to her difficulties, Percy had conveniently forgotten them,
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+and the younger children were not aware of their existence. Winona lived
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+with a black spot dancing before her mental eyes. It was continually
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+rising up and blotting out the sunshine. On the fourth morning appeared
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+a letter addressed in an old-fashioned slanting handwriting, and bearing
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+the Seaton post mark. Mrs. Woodward read it in silence, and left her
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+toast unfinished. Aunt Harriet's communications generally upset her for
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+the day.
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+
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+"Come here, Winona," she said agitatedly, after breakfast. "Oh, dear, I
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+wish I knew what to do! It's so very unexpected, but of course it would
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+be a splendid thing for you. If only I could consult somebody! I suppose
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+girls nowadays will have to learn to support themselves, and the war
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+will alter everything, but I'd always meant you to stop at home and look
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+after the little ones for me, and it's very--"
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+
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+"What does Aunt Harriet say, mother?" interrupted Winona, with a catch
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+in her throat.
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+
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+"She says a great deal, and I dare say she's right. Oh, this terrible
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+war! Things were so different when I was a girl! You might as well read
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+the letter for yourself, as it concerns you. I always think she's hard
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+on Percy, poor lad! I was afraid the children were too noisy the last
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+time she was here, but they wouldn't keep quiet. I'm sure I try to do my
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+best all round, and you know, Winona, how I said Aunt Harriet--"
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+
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+But Winona was already devouring the letter.
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+ "10 Abbey Close,
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+
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+ "Seaton,
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+ "August 26th.
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