Both systems resolved into a single clear picture, and she walked the two of them through at Walter at his desk. Nathaniel leaning against the wall because he never sat when there was somewhere to lean and showed them exactly where the money had been disappearing between the gaps of their two incompatible systems. When she finished, the room was quiet. Walter put on his reading spectacles and looked at the summary for a very long time. $340, he said finally. Per year on average, she said some years less.
1,870 Was worse. I know what 1870 was, Walter said. He took the spectacles off. He looked at Nathaniel. Your mother would have found this in a week.
Probably, Nathaniel said. Walter looked at the summary again. Then he looked at Amelia. "What do you want for this?" he asked. She blinked.
"I beg your pardon," he said. "You've spent 4 weeks on this." "What do you want?" "You don't owe me. I owe you 8 weeks of work at minimum," he said flatly. "I won't take charity from a woman who has less than I do," Miss Whitaker. "Name a number." She named a number.
It was fair and she knew it. He named a number 30% higher without blinking. That's too much. She said it's what the work was worth. He said, "Don't argue with me about accounting.
You'll lose." She almost laughed. She caught it in time. But she saw Nathaniel over his father's shoulder, not catching it at all. He grinned quick and warm. The expression gone in a second, but absolutely real.
While it was there, she accepted Walter's number. On the way out, Walter stopped her at the door of the study. "Miss Whitaker," he said. She turned. He was looking at the floor in the particular way of a man whose next sentence was costing him something.
"He's a good man," Walter said. "My son, he's difficult and he talks too much and he's been arguing with me since he was 4 years old." "But he's a good man," he paused. "I'm telling you because I think you know how to listen to things that are actually being said." She held us quietly. He is. Walter nodded once, said nothing further, and walked back to his desk.