she’s not fit for it, is she?”
“No, she needs to exercise those legs of hers. Do they do gymnasium or dancing at her school?”
“Not really,” said Olivia. “Just a little ballroom dancing once a week and physical exercises between classes, you know the sort of thing.”
The doctor turned to George.
“Would your finances run to sending her to a dancing school or a gymnasium? It would have to be a good one where they knew what they were doing.”
George cleared his throat. He hated that kind of question, partly because he was a very proud father who wanted to give his children every advantage, and who, except when he was asked direct questions by doctors, tried to pretend he did give them most advantages.
“I don’t think I could manage it just now. My father left me a bit, and Olivia will come into quite a lot some day, but just now we’re mainly dependent on the shop, and November’s a bit of an off-season. You see, my brother William…” His voice tailed away.
The doctor, who knew about the shop, felt sorry and filled in the pause by saying “Quite.” Then suddenly he had an idea.
“I’ll tell you what. How about skating? The manager of the rink is a patient of mine. I’ll have a word with him about Harriet. I’m sure he’d let her in for nothing. There’d be the business of the boots and skates, but I believe you can hire those.”
Alec nodded.
“You can. I think skating’s a good idea. If you can get your friend to give her a pass we’ll manage the boots and skates.”
The doctor got up.
“Good. Well, I’ve got to go and see the manager of the rink tomorrow; I’ll have a word with him; if he says yes I’ll arrange to pick Harriet up and drop her off and introduce her to him. It’s no distance, she could have a lot of fun there, plenty of kids, I imagine, go, it’s a big, airy place and she can tumble about on the ice and in no time we’ll see an improvement in those leg muscles.”
George showed the doctor to the door. While he was out of the room Olivia said in a whisper:
“Alec, whatever made you say it would be all right about the skates and boots? What do you suppose they cost?”
Toby answered.
“We know what it cost because we went that time Uncle William packed that goose by mistake. They’re two shillings a session.”
Olivia never lost her air of calm, but she did turn surprised eyes on Alec. He was usually the sensible, reliable one of the family, not at all the sort of person to say they could manage two shillings a day when he knew perfectly well they would be hard put to it to find threepence a day. Alec gave her a reassuring smile.
“It’s all right. I’ll find it, there’s a lot of delivering and stuff will want doing round Christmas and in the meantime I saw a notice in old Pulton’s window. He wants a boy for a paper round.”
Olivia flushed. It seemed to her a miserable thing that Harriet’s skates and boots had to be earned by her brother instead of by her father and mother.
“I wonder if I could get something to do? I see advertisements for people wanted, but they always seem to be wanted at the same time as I’m wanted here.”
Alec laughed.
“Don’t be silly, Mother, you know as well as I do you couldn’t do any more than you do.”
Toby had been scowling into space; now he leant across to Alec.
“How much do you suppose boots and skates cost? If a profit can be made on hiring out a pair of boots and skates at two shillings a session, how much would it cost to buy a second-hand pair outright?”
Alec was doodling on his blotting paper.
“With what?”
At that moment George came back.
“Nice fellow Phillipson, he says this skating will be just the thing for Harriet. It’s this skates’ and boots’ money that’s worrying me. Do you suppose we could do any good if we opened a needlework section, Olivia?”
He was greeted by horrified sounds from Olivia, Alec and Toby. Olivia got up and put her arms round his neck.
“I adore you, George, but you are an unpractical old idiot. You haven’t yet educated the public to come to you for trout, and be prepared at the same time to buy a bag of half-rotten apples, so how do you think you’re going to lure them on to supposing they would also like six dusters and an overall?”
Alec looked up from his doodling.
“What sort of needlework did you mean, Dad?”
George looked worried.
“Certainly not dusters and overalls. I seem to remember my grandmother doing some very charming things, fire-screens I believe they were.”
Olivia laughed.
“I’m not much of a needlewoman, and I can promise you even if I were to start today it would be two years before you would have even one fire-screen, so I think you can count the needlework department out.”
Alec put a bundle of newspapers under the arm of the figure he was doodling.
“It’s all right, Dad, I’m going to tide us over to start with by a newspaper round. Old Pulton wants somebody.”
Toby had been doing some figures on paper.
“If a newspaper boy is paid two shillings an hour, reckoning one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening daily for six days, with one hour on Sunday at double time, how long would it take him to earn second-hand boots and skates at a cost of five pounds?”
Alec said:
“If a boy and a half worked an hour and a half for a skate and a half…”
Olivia saw Toby felt fun was being made of a serious subject.
“I’m afraid,Toby, you’re going to grow up to be a financier, one of those people who goes in for big business with a capital ‘B’.”
Alec finished his drawing.
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing, we could do with some money in our family. If you were thinking, Toby, I might get Mr Pulton to advance five pounds for my services, it wouldn’t work because I might get ill or something and you’re too young to be allowed to do it.”
“That’s right, darling,” Olivia agreed. “It wouldn’t be practical anyway to buy boots because Harriet’s growing, and probably the moment Alec had bought her the boots they’d be too small. Feet grow terribly fast at her age, especially when you’ve been ill. I wonder if she’s awake?”
George got up.
“I’ll go and see. If she
