It was not sufficient to give her daughters the advantages she desired them to have, and she knew of but one way to increase it.

That way was through the policy-shops.

So she gave her whole mind to this business, with as much earnestness and self-absorption as a merchant gives himself to trade.

She had a dream-book, gotten up especially for policy buyers, and consulted it as regularly as a merchant does his price-current or a broker the sales of stock.

Every day she bet on some "row" or series of "rows," rarely venturing less than five dollars, and sometimes, when she felt more than usually confident, laying down a twenty-dollar bill, for the "hit" when made gave from fifty to two hundred dollars for each dollar put down, varying according to the nature of the combinations.