MS-UoR-1227-7-11-1

[0345] secretarial work of some kind, he said. [0346] And who will look after
the garden? said his wife. [0347] The life of the Saposcats was full of
axioms, of which one at least established the criminal absurdity
of a garden without roses and with his ^{[place = margin left] its} paths and lawns uncared
for. [0348] I might perhaps grow vegetables, he said. [0349] They cost less
to buy, said his wife. [0350] Sapo marvelled at these conversations.

[0351] Think of the price of manure, said his mother. [0352] And in the silence
which followed Mr Saposcat applied his mind, with the earnestness
he brought to everything he did, to the high price of manure
which prevented him from suu ^{[place = overwritten] p}porting his family in greater ci ^{[place = overwritten] o}mfort,
while his wife made ready to accuse herself, in her turn, of not
doing all she might. [0353] But she was easily persuaded that she could ^{[place = margin left] not}
do more without exposing herself to the risk of dying prematurely ^{[place = margin left] before her time}.

[0354] Think of the doctor's fees we save, said Mr Saposcat. [0355] And the
chemist's bills, said his wife. [0356] Nothing remained but to envisage
a smaller house. [0357] But we are cramped as we are ^{[place = supralinear] it is}, said Mrs Saposcat.
[0358] And it was an understood thing that they would be more so with
every passing year until the day came when, the departure of
the first-born compensating the arrival of the new-born, a kind of
equilibrium would be attained. [0359] Then little by little the house
would empty.

[0360] And at last they would be all alone, with their
memories. [0361] It would be time enough then to move. [0362] He would be
pensioned off, she at her last gasp. [0363] They would take a cottage in
the country where, having no further need of manure, they could
afford to buy it in cartloads. [0364] And their children, grateful for
the sacrifices made on their behalf, would come to their assist-
ance. [0365] It was in this atmosphere of unbridled dream that these