She was Nellie, Mrs.Burton, whose husband had been drowned while sealing when the twins were twelve months old.

Mrs.
Burton had come home to live then, and keep house for her father, so that Katherine might go to Montreal to finish her education.
"Did you see Father as you came through the store ?" Mrs.Burton asked, as she rapidly spread the dinner on the table in the centre of the room, while Katherine joined in the frolic that was going on with the twins and the dog.
"No, he was not there," Katherine answered.
"He wants you to go up to the second portage with him this afternoon.

Another boat got in this morning with some mails on board, and there are stores to be taken for Astor M'Kree," said Mrs.Burton.
"That will be lovely!" cried Katherine, giving Lotta a toss up in the air, after which Beth had to be treated in a similar fashion to prevent jealousy.

"I am simply yearning to be outside in the sunshine and the cold.

I have been wishing all the morning that I were a man; then I could go off hunting, trapping, or even lumbering, and so breathe fresh air all day long." Mrs.Burton smiled.