She had grappled with Isaac Pitman as with Apollyon and had not been worsted.

She could scarcely believe that in class she had taken down at the rate of ninety words a minute Mr.
Dayson's purposely difficult political speechifyings (which always contained the phrase 'capital punishment,' because 'capital punishment' was a famous grammalogue); but it was so, Mr.Dayson's watch proved it.
About half-way through the period of study, she had learnt from Mr.
Cannon, on one of his rare visits to her mother's, something about his long-matured scheme for a new local paper.

She had at once divined that he meant to offer her some kind of a situation in the enterprise, and she was right.

Gratitude filled her.

Mrs.Lessways, being one of your happy-go-lucky, broad-minded women, with an experimental disposition--a disposition to let things alone and see how they will turn out--had made little objection, though she was not encouraging.
Instantly the newspaper had become the chief article of Hilda's faith.
She accepted the idea of it as a nun accepts the sacred wafer, in ecstasy.