s a _t_ or an _l_ or an
_i_? was that a _b_ or a _d_? This was a cruel revenge on Lizzie's
part; for the sender of the letter was completely at her mercy. The
schoolmaster's name being tabooed in her presence, he was unable to
explain that the writing was not his own; and as for deciding between
the _t_'s and _l_'s, he could not do it. Eventually he would be
directed to put the letter into the box. They would do their best with
it, Lizzie said, but in a voice that suggested how little hope she had
of her efforts to decipher it proving successful.

There was an opinion among some of the people that the letter should
not be stamped by the sender. The proper thing to do was to drop a
penny for the stamp into the box along with the letter, and then Lizzie
would see that it was all right. Lizzie's acquaintance with the
handwriting of every person in the place who could write gave her a
great advantage. You would perhaps drop into her shop some day to make
a purchase, when she would calmly produce a letter you had posted
several days before. In explanation she would tell you that you had
not put a stamp on it, or that she suspected there was money in it, or
that you had addressed it to the wrong place. I remember an old man, a
relative of my own, who happened for once in his life to have several
letters to post at one time. The circumstance was so out of the common
that he considered it only reasonable to make Lizzie a small present.

Perhaps the postmistress was belled; but if she did not "steam" the
letters and confide their titbits to favoured friends of her own sex,
it is difficult to see how all the gossip got out. The schoolmaster
once played an unmanly trick on her, with the view of catching her in
the act. He was a bachelor who had long been given up by all the maids
in the town. One day, however, he wrote a letter to an imaginary lady
in the county-town, asking her to be his, and going into full
particulars about his income, his age, and his prospects. A male
friend in the secret, at the other end, was to reply, in a lady's
handwriting, accepting him, and also giving personal particulars. The
first letter was written; and an answer arrived in due course--two
days, the schoolmaster said, after date. No other person knew of this
scheme for the undoing of the postmistress, yet in a very short time
the schoolmaster's coming marriage was the talk of Thrums. Everybody
became suddenly aware of the lady's n