I don't know what he thought would happen to us; I suppose he thought we should be too extravagant.

It's father's theory that we are always running up bills, whereas a little observation would show him that we wear the same old _rags_ FOR MONTHS.
But father has no observation; he has nothing but theories.

Mother and I, however, have, fortunately, a great deal of _practice_, and we succeeded in making him understand that we wouldn't budge from Paris, and that we would rather be chopped into small pieces than cross that dreadful ocean again.

So, at last, he decided to go back alone, and to leave us here for three months.

But, to show you how fussy he is, he refused to let us stay at the hotel, and insisted that we should go into a _family_.