Ballet Shoes

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is even more successful than they hoped, and Pauline and Petrova perform in matinees every day over Christmas. This generates more money for both of them, and Pauline asks Nana if the sisters might keep two shillings each week as spending money. Pauline wants to go to the theater to see shows, and Petrova wants to buy books. Nana opposes the idea, but Sylvia is on Pauline’s side. Her one condition is that Pauline and Petrova, who had wanted to put 10 shillings of their extra money toward the household, instead save that money for their futures. However, Pauline objects, saying that she would feel guilty and couldn’t take the two shillings for her own spending if she saved 10 for her future.

Sylvia cares more that the girls have plenty saved for adulthood. Pauline thinks for a moment and then says, “I’m not putting any more in the post office. […] I’ve just had my fourteenth birthday. The law lets me work. I don’t need a license” (179). She adds that she would like to give that money directly to Sylvia to help with the house. She’ll put everything that she usually has to save toward helping the family and wants only a small weekly allowance for herself and her sisters.