Oh, dear, dear! I was certain I had half-a-crown in my purse.

Well, to be sure, I forgot that Dove took it with him when he went out to his work this morning.

Please, Miss Mainwaring, will you accept one and sixpence on account, and we'll settle the rest in an hour or two.
There, miss, that's quite comfortable." Yes, the arrangement was certainly quite comfortable for Mrs.Dove, who could score out the half-crown debt from her slate, and quite stare when Primrose ventured to ask her for the odd shilling still owing.
Still, incredible as it may sound, Mrs.Dove considered herself a strictly honest woman.

Perhaps, had the girls only to deal with her they might have struggled on, badly, it is true, but still after a fashion.

But, alas and alas! if Mrs.Dove considered herself honest, Mr.Dove did not pretend to lay claim to this very excellent quality.
Poor Primrose little guessed that that lost five-pound note, which had given her such trouble, and which had almost brought gray hairs to her bright yellow head, had been really taken by Dove, who had come up to the attics when the girls were away, had quietly taken the hinges off Primrose's trunk at the back, had lifted the lid, and had helped himself neatly and deftly to that solitary note! When the girls discovered their loss no one had been more indignant than Dove.