"
Nina gasped, "I don't understand! You don't have to think of such a
thing as the expense of keeping warm, do you?"
"Indeed we do. Fuel is a very serious item."
"But, you have plenty of money, surely. I thought living
abroad--especially in Italy--was cheap."
"I did have a bigger income than now--one does not get as good a rate of
interest as one used." She colored a little at the false inference and
dwelt with more emphasis on the next sentence.
"When we go to Rome we spend much more money; we have all the rooms open
there, and we have a great number of servants--in short we live like
princes." She smiled brightly. "But you see in order to do that we have
to live quietly and save during the rest of the year."
Nina looked perplexed. "That sounds very queer," she said. "I should
think you would even things up and be more comfortable all the time."
"Then we would have nothing. It would be additional expenditure on
things that don't matter, and no money left for things that do. Opening
these rooms, for instance, would not greatly add to our pleasure. After
all, we can only sit in one room at a time. To have many guests and
motors and horses for hunting, and to have big shooting parties--all
that is an expense not to be thought of. It amuses us more to go to
Rome, so we prefer to save for nine months in order to live well the
other three.
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