I looked thoughtfully from one to another, as with children’s appetites they became absorbed in one of the chief events of the day.

“Well,” said my wife, querulously, “how are you getting on with your problem?”

“Take this extra bit of steak and I’ll tell you after the children are asleep,” I said.

“I can’t eat another mouthful,” she exclaimed, pushing back her almost untasted supper.  “Broiling the steak was enough for me.”

“You are quite tired out, dear,” I said, very gently.

Her face softened immediately at my tone and tears came into her eyes.

“I don’t know what is the matter with me,” she faltered.  “I am so nervous some days that I feel as if I should fly to pieces.  I do try to be patient, but I know I’m growing cross!”

“Oh now, mamma,” spoke up warm-hearted Merton; “the idea of your being cross.”

“She is cross,” Bobsey cried; “she boxed my ears this very day.”

“And you deserved it,” was Merton’s retort.  “It’s a pity they are not boxed oftener.”

“Yes, Robert, I did,” continued my wife, sorrowfully.  “Bobsey ran away four times, and vexed me beyond endurance, that is, such endurance as I have left, which doesn’t seem to be very much.”

“I understand, dear,” I said.  “You are a part of my problem, and you must help me solve it.”  Then I changed the subject decidedly, and soon brought sunshine to our clouded household.  Children’s minds are easily diverted; and my wife, whom a few sharp words would have greatly irritated, was soothed, and her curiosity awakened as to the subject of my thoughts.

CHAPTER II

I STATE THE CASE

I pondered deeply while my wife and Winnie cleared away the dishes and put Bobsey into his little crib.  I felt that the time for a decided change had come, and that it should be made before the evils of our lot brought sharp and real trouble.

How should I care for my household?  If I had been living on a far frontier among hostile Indians I should have known better how to protect them.  I could build a house of heavy logs and keep my wife and children always near me while at work.  But it seemed to me that Melissa Daggett and her kin with their flashy papers, and the influence of the street for Merton and Bobsey, involved more danger to my little band than all the scalping Modocs that ever whooped.  The children could not step outside the door without danger of meeting some one who would do them harm.  It is the curse of crowded city life that there is so little of a natural and attractive sort for a child to do, and so much of evil close at hand.

My wife asked me humorously for the news.  She saw that I was not reading my paper, and my frowning brow and firm lips proved my problem was not of a trifling nature.  She suspected nothing more, however, than that I was thinking of taking rooms in some better locality, and she was wondering how I could do it, for she knew that my income now left but a small surplus above expenses.