human
No estate! Why I thought Robert Carter was very well off. What has he done with his money, please?
gpt
We have just lived on it. We didn't know,
human
I never heard of such extravagance. 'A fool and his money are soon parted.'
gpt
We have got just exactly eighty-three dollars and fifty-nine cents in the bank. Father owns this house and a side of a mountain in Albemarle, and that is all.
human
Mercy, child! I can't believe it.
gpt
We have got to live somehow, and I believe we all feel that it would be very bad for Father to come back and find debts to be paid off. He has such a horror of debt that he has always paid the bills each month. What do you think we could do--something to make money, I mean? Father was in such a nervous state we could not consult him, and Mother, poor little Mother, of course she does not understand business at all.
human
Humph! I should say not! And what do you chits of girls know about it, either? Are you meaning to stay alone, all un-chaperoned, until this Yankee doctor thinks it is time to let your parents return? Just as like as not there is nothing the matter with your father but a touch of malaria.
gpt
We had not thought of a chaperone, as we have been so miserable about Father we could not think of ourselves. If we are going to make a living, we won't need chaperones, anyhow.
human
Make a living, indeed! You are to stay right here in your home and I will come stay with you, and you can curtail your expenses somewhat by dismissing one servant and giving up your car. Robert Carter is not the kind of man who would want his eighteen-year-old daughter and others even younger to go out into the world to make a living. He would rather die than have such a thing happen.
gpt
But we are not going to have him die, broke in Helen.
human
I thought just as you do, Cousin Lizzie, until I saw him this afternoon and realized how worried he has been. We are going to do something and there are to be no debts awaiting him, either. What do you think of boarders? Do you think we could get any?
gpt
Who on earth would board with us, here in Richmond? Everybody knows what a trifling lot we are. If we have boarders, it will have to be on the side of the mountain in Albemarle, said Nan, and as usual every one stopped to hear what she had to say.
human
Besides, a boarding house in summer shuts up shop in cities. Country board is the thing. Let's rent our house furnished for a year and go to the mountains.
gpt
But there are nothing but trees and rocks on the side of the mountain in Albemarle, objected Douglas;
human
No room for boarders in that, I know, as Father pointed it out to me once from the train when we were on our way to Wytheville. It had one room and maybe two. It must command a wonderful view. You could see it for miles and miles and when you get up there, there is no telling what you can see. It would make a great camp--Girls! Girls! Cousin Lizzie! Lewis! All of you! I've got a scheme! It just came to me!
gpt
Well, cough it up! We are just as anxious as can be to share your idea, or is it so big it got stuck on the way,
human
Let's have a boarding camp, with Cousin Lizzie to chaperone us! I know just lots of girls who would simply die to go, and Albemarle is close enough for week-enders to pour in on us.
gpt
Hurrah! Hurrah! And I bid to be man-of-all work! I know rafts of fellows who would want to come.
human
Yes, and let's call it Week End Camp, said Nan.
gpt
Week to be spelled W-E-A-K. What do you think of the plan, Cousin Lizzie? If you are to be chaperone, it seems to me you should be consulted the first thing.
human
Don't ask me, child. Things are moving too rapidly for me. We must go a little more slowly, and truly the old lady did look dazed indeed.
gpt
Well, Cousin Lizzie, it does sound crazy in a way, but do you know, I believe we could really do it and do it very well, said Douglas.
human
I consider Helen a genius to have thought of such a thing. I don't think the outlay need be very great, and surely the living would be cheap when once we get there.
gpt
But, my dear, at my age I could not begin to eat out of doors. I have not done such a thing since I can remember but once, and then I went with the United Daughters of the Confederacy on a picnic. The undertaker went ahead with chairs and tables so everything was done in decency and order.
human
Funeral baked meats!
gpt
I am going to have a short khaki suit with leggins coming way up,
human
Me, too,
gpt
Aunt Lizzie, I wish you would consent. It all depends on you. You could eat in the cabin and sleep in the cabin and not camp out at all. I could go up right away and build the camp. I'd just love to have something to do. Bill Tinsley, from Charlottesville, got shipped with me and I'm pretty sure he'd join me. You'd like Bill, he's so quaint. We are both of us great carpenters and could make a peach of a job of it. Do, please, Aunt Lizzie!