He might give her half, or even ten.

She'd be satisfied with ten.

He could soon make that up.
The negro hire came due ere long.

He must have forgotten that.
No, he had not; but with the negro hire came debts, thoughts of which gave him the old worn look his mother had observed.

Only ten dollars! It did seem hard to refuse, and if 'Lina went Hugh wished her to look well, for underneath his apparent harshness lurked a kind of pride in his dark sister, whose beauty was of the bold, dashing style.
"Take them," he said at last, counting out the ten with a half-regretful sigh.