After this , Meg had Mr. Scott to dinner by special invitation , and served him up a pleasant feast without a cooked wife for the first course , on which occasion she was so gay and gracious , and made everything go off so charmingly , that Mr. Scott told John he was a lucky fellow , and shook his head over the hardships of bachelorhood all the way home . In the autumn , new trials and experiences came to Meg . Sallie Moffat renewed her friendship , was always running out for a dish of gossip at the little house , or inviting ` that poor dear ' to come in and spend the day at the big house . It was pleasant , for in dull weather Meg often felt lonely . All were busy at home , John absent till night , and nothing to do but sew , or read , or potter about . So it naturally fell out that Meg got into the way of gadding and gossiping with her friend . Seeing Sallie 's pretty things made her long for such , and pity herself because she had not got them . Sallie was very kind , and often offered her the coveted trifles , but Meg declined them , knowing that John would n't like it , and then this foolish little woman went and did what John disliked even worse . She knew her husband 's income , and she loved to feel that he trusted her , not only with his happiness , but what some men seem to value more -- his money . She knew where it was , was free to take what she liked , and all he asked was that she should keep account of every penny , pay bills once a month , and remember that she was a poor man 's wife . Till now she had done well , been prudent and exact , kept her little account books neatly , and showed them to him monthly without fear . But that autumn the serpent got into Meg 's paradise , and tempted her like many a modern Eve , not with apples , but with dress . Meg did n't like to be pitied and made to feel poor . It irritated her , but she was ashamed to confess it , and now and then she tried to console herself by buying something pretty , so that Sallie need n't think she had to economize . She always felt wicked after it , for the pretty things were seldom necessaries , but then they cost so little , it was n't worth worrying about , so the trifles increased unconsciously , and in the shopping excursions she was no longer a passive looker-on . But the trifles cost more than one would imagine , and when she cast up her accounts at the end of the month the sum total rather scared her . John was busy that month and left the bills to her , the next month he was absent , but the third he had a grand quarterly settling up , and Meg never forgot it . A few days before she had done a dreadful thing , and it weighed upon her conscience . Sallie had been buying silks , and Meg longed for a new one , just a handsome light one for parties , her black silk was so common , and thin things for evening wear were only proper for girls . Aunt March usually gave the sisters a present of twenty-five dollars apiece at New Year 's .
That was only a XXXXX to wait , and here was a lovely violet silk going at a bargain , and she had the money , if she only dared to take it .
Meg Moffat Sallie bachelorhood looker-on month monthly night quarterly trifles