"Thank you very much- I'll do the best I can to help you, though I must say I'm not one for domestic chores." Or, at least, she started to say that, for she yawned about half-way through her sentence.
Elanor wondered how it was that the inn keeper could tell about her state of finances so quickly. After all, she wasn't dressed so poorly. Perhaps her reputation had spread, though. One day, as she was sitting a bookstore, she had overheard a woman talking to her friend about that 'queer Elanor Greenthumb'. She had said exactly this:
"This is what I've heard about that Elanor Greenthumb- ever since the girl's father disappeared, her family has been pretty short on money," The woman had whispered. "While her mother was alive, Elanor was pretty good about saving it- but now she spends most of it on books, and whatever else she has left is spent on clothing and food."
Strange how fast reputations spread, Elanor mused as she climbed up the stairs sleepily. They seem to spread faster than people, nowadays.
[ December 27, 2002: Message edited by: Merri ]
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Knowledge is just opinion that you trust enough to act upon.
-Children of the Mind, by Orson Scott Card.
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