Jessie was proud and pleased sure enough then! and, as time went on, and she grew to miss Charlie less, she would have been quite happy if she might but have written to her grandfather and grandmother, or could have had some tidings of them.
But month after month went by, and still the same suspense continued.
She did not even know if they were alive or dead.
Lodgers came and went, some pleasant, some very much the reverse; some kind, some exacting.

Jessie worked early and late at school and at home.

The school did not count for much in her life, and she made no real friends amongst the children.

Her earlier delicate training made her feel she was not one of them; their speech and manners jarred on her, and having lived most of her life with grown-ups, she had no knowledge of games, or play, nor any skill in either, and their tastes did not interest her, nor hers interest them.

She would far rather sit with Miss Patch, and talk or read to her, or be read to.