to accuse me of being in six
places at once, and of being incapable of sitting still for five minutes
consecutively; so it was simply endurance to live that long, long
day--nothing to read, no piano on which to play hymns, too wet to walk,
none with whom to converse, no possibility of sleeping, as in an
endeavour to kill a little of the time I had gone to bed early and got up
late. There was nothing but to sit still, tormented by maddening regret.
I pictured what would he transpiring at Caddagat now; what we had done
this time last week, and so on, till the thing became an agony to me.

Among my duties before school I was to set the table, make all the beds,
dust and sweep, and "do" the girls' hair. After school I had to mend
clothes, sew, set the table again, take a turn at nursing the baby, and
on washing-day iron. This sounds a lot, but in reality was nothing, and
did not half occupy my time. Setting the table was a mere sinecure, as
there was nothing much to put on it; and the only ironing was a few
articles outside my own, as Mr M'Swat and Peter did not wear white
shirts, and patronised paper collars. Mrs M'Swat did the washing and a
little scrubbing, also boiled the beef and baked the bread, which formed
our unvaried menu week in and week out. Most peasant mothers with a
family of nine have no time for idleness, but Mrs M'Swat managed things
so that she spent most of the day rolling on her frowsy bed playing with
her dirty infant, which was as fat and good-tempered as herself.

On Monday morning I marshalled my five scholars (Lizer, aged fourteen;
Jimmy, twelve; Tommy, Sarah, and Rose Jane, younger) in a little back
skillion, which was set apart as a schoolroom and store for flour and
rock-salt. Like all the house, it was built of slabs, which, erected
while green, and on account Of the heat, had shrunk until many of the
cracks were sufficiently wide to insert one's arm. On Monday--after the
rain--the wind, which disturbed us through them, was piercingly cold, but
as the week advanced summer and drought regained their pitiless sway, and
we were often sunburnt by the rough gusts which filled the room with such
clouds of dust and grit that we were forced to cover our heads until it
passed.

A policeman came on Tuesday to take some returns, and to him I entrusted
the posting of my letters, and then eagerly waited for the reply which
was to give me glorious release.

The nearest post-office was eight miles dis