"A little tea and a chop!...

For three months!...
Matilda!" It seemed plain, however, that this was the only way out.

But standing over the remains of the last genuine meal she expected to taste until the summer's end, her brow began slowly to clear.
"Matilda," she said after a moment, in a rebuking tone, "I'm surprised you did not see the solution to this!" "Is there one, ma'am?
What is it ?" "You are so fixed in the habit of sending your orders to the tradespeople that your mind cannot conceive of any other procedure.
You are to go out in person, at night, if you like, to shops where you are not known, pay cash for whatever you want, and carry your purchases home with you.

It is really extremely simple." "Why, of course, ma'am," meekly agreed Matilda.
With the specter of famine thus banished, confidence, good humor, and the luxurious expectancy of a reposeful summer returned to Mrs.De Peyster.

Soon she was being further diverted by the mild excitement of being dressed in one of Matilda's sober housekeeper gowns, the twin of the dress Matilda now wore, for her evening ride with William.