I've ackshally got to talk to the 'orses and the cat to keep my powers of speech from leaving me." Life seemed very dull and dreary to all the household, except, perhaps, to Mrs.Pike and Dr.Trenire.

The latter was too busy just then to realize the changes going on in his home; while Mrs.Pike was fully occupied with all that lay at her hand to do.
Anna's presence did not add at all to the liveliness of the house.
She was shy and nervous.

Of Dan she was, or pretended to be, quite afraid, and if she happened to have blossomed into talk during his absence, she would stop the moment he appeared--a habit which annoyed him extremely.

To Betty, who was to have been her special companion, she showed no desire to attach herself, but to Kitty she clung in a most embarrassing fashion, monopolizing her in a way that Kitty found most irksome, and made Betty furious, for hitherto Kitty had been Betty's whenever Betty needed her.

Now she was rarely to be found without Anna.
But Kitty, along with the others, never felt that she could trust Anna; and they could not throw off the feeling that they had a spy in their midst.
And, worst of all, the beautiful summer days glided away unappreciated, and there were many bitter groans over what might have been had they been alone.