"Are we pinching it before Aunt Elizabeth comes?"

a) What does 'it' refer to here?

b) How does Vicky conclude that her parents are 'pinching it'?

c) Mention the two reasons that Mrs. Slater gives for her action.

d) What does it reveal about the difference between the attitude of the elders and that of Vicky?

a) “It” refers to the bureau that was grandfather’s room.

b) When Victoria was told by her father that he and his mother were shifting the bureau downstairs, she concluded that her parents are “pinching it” because everything that was in grandfather’s room had to be equally divided amongst the two sisters.

c) Mrs. Slater wanted the bureau for her husband Henry because he always liked it. Moreover, she felt it was okay to have this kind of mentality.

d) The elders instead of mourning the death were busy dividing grandfather’s things. Victoria, on the other hand, had wisdom beyond her years. She immediately understood the meaning of their actions. She didnot like her parents shifting the bureau.