"I couldn't go. Miss Rose came just as I was getting ready, and of course I had to stay with her."
"Oh, the new teacher! I saw a young woman in black standing in the background as I came in; was that her?" said Miss Jo, who did not always choose to be confined to the rules of severe grammar.
"Yes," said Mrs. Marsh; "and what do you think, Miss Blake, if she wasn't up this morning before six o'clock? Betsy Ann always rises at six, and when she was rolling up the blind Miss Rose came down-stairs already dressed, and has been out in the garden ever since. Betsy Ann says she was weeding the flowers most of the time."
"She's a little thing, isn't she?" said Miss Jo; "and so delicate-looking! I don't believe she'll ever be able to manage them big rough girls in the school. What's her other name besides Miss Rose?"
"I don't know. She looks as if she had seen trouble," said Mrs. Marsh, pensively.
"Who is she in mourning for?"
"I don't know. I didn't like to ask, and she doesn't talk much herself."
"Where did she come from? Montreal, wasn't it?"
"I forget. Natty knows. Natty was here last night before she went up to McGregor's. She said she would come back this morning, and go with Miss Rose to the school. Here's Charley at last." Miss Jo faced round, and confronted that young gentleman sauntering in.
"Well, Sleeping Beauty, you've got up now, have you?" was her salute. "How do you feel after all you danced last night?"