None of you would lift a finger to help me get away to Normal, how was I to know that you would take any interest in finding me a school while I was gone?
I thought it was all up to me, so I applied for the school in Walden, got it, and signed the contract to teach it.

It is a better school, at higher wages.

I thought you would teach here--I can't break my contract.

Father is furious and has ordered me out of the house.
So there you are, or rather here I am." "Well, it isn't much of a joke," said Nancy Ellen, thinking intently.
What she might have said had they been alone, Kate always wondered.
What she did say while her betrothed looked at her with indignant eyes was possibly another matter.

It proved to be merely: "Oh, Kate, I am so sorry!" "So am I," said Kate.