"Better feed her up pretty well 'til she gits the habit of staying here and mebby the rest who take boarders will be full," she said to herself.

"Time enough to go at skimpin' when she's settled, and busy, an' I get the whip hand." But in planning to get the "whip hand" Mrs.Holt reckoned without Kate.
She had been under the whip hand all her life.

Her dash to freedom had not been accomplished without both mental and physical hurt.

She was doing nothing but going over her past life minutely, and as she realized more fully with each review how barren and unlovely it had been, all the strength and fresh young pride in her arose in imperative demand for something better in the future.

She listened with interest to what George Holt said to her.