g to be minute, he had become
mysterious, and, to the same end, the impartial distribution through all
parts of the letter of capitals, commas and full stops, had also tended.
There was a large sheet closely written, and out of the whole but two
clear ideas could be gathered! Mr More of the parish school was dead,
and they were to have a new master, and that Mrs Smith had changed her
mind, and he was not to be at Saughless for the winter after all.

There were other troubles too, that Janet had to bear alone. The cold,
that served to brace the others, chilled her to the bone. Unaccustomed
to any greater variation of temperature than might be very well met by
the putting on or taking off of her plaid, the bitter cold of the New
England winter, as she went out and in about her work, was felt keenly
by her. She could not resist it, nor guard herself against it.
Stove-heat was unbearable to her. An hour spent in Mrs Snow's hot room
often made her unfit for anything for hours after; and sleigh-riding,
which never failed to excite the children to the highest spirits, was as
fatal to her comfort as the pitching of the "Steadfast" had been. To
say that she was disappointed with herself in view of all this, is, by
no means, saying enough. She was angry at her folly, and called herself
"silly body" and "useless body," striving with all her might to throw
the burden from her.

Then, again, with only a few exceptions, she did not like the people.
They were, in her opinion, at the same time, extravagant and penurious,
proud and mean, ignorant, yet wise "above what is written,"
self-satisfied and curious. The fact was, her ideas of things in
general were disarranged by the state of affairs in Merleville. She
never could make out "who was somebody and who was naebody;" and what
made the matter more mysterious, they did not seem to know themselves.

Mrs Judge Merle had made her first visit to the minister's in company
with the wife of the village blacksmith, and if there was a lady between
them Mrs Page evidently believed it to be herself. Mrs Merle was a
nice motherly body, that sat on her seat and behaved herself, while Mrs
Page went hither and thither, opening doors and spying fairlies,
speiring about things she had no concern with, like an ill-bred woman as
she is; and passing her remarks on the minister and the preaching, as if
she were a judge. Both of them had invited her to visit them very
kindly, no doubt; but Jan