Dreams had died out of her. For the first time in her sheltered existence
she appreciated the grim reality of life. She was no longer sheltered,
secluded, one of the "fortunate class." Ways and means would occupy most of
her time henceforth. And it was not the privations she shrank from but
the contacts with the ugly facts of life; a side she had found extremely
picturesque in novels, but knew from, occasional glimpses to be merely
repulsive and demoralizing.
And of whom could she ask advice! She must make changes and make them
quickly. Four thousand dollars a year!...and taxes--besides the new income
tax--to be paid on the downtown property, the fiats, the land on which her
home stood, Ballinger House itself and all its contents.
She knew vaguely that many girls these days were given special training of
some sort even where their parents were well off; but more particularly
where the father was what is known as a high-salaried man; or even a
moderately successful professional or business man--all of whose expenses
arid incomes balanced too nicely for investments.
Not in her set! Joan, bored after her third season with dancing in winter
and "sitting round Alta" in summer, had asked permission to become a
trained nurse like Gora, or go into the decorating business, "any old
thing"; and Maria Abbott had simply stared at her in horror; even her
father had asked her angrily if she wished to disgrace him, advertise him
as unable to provide for his family.
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