For not only was the dower-house in an untenantable state, but the weather was very much against them.

The gray weather, the gloomy sky, the monotonous rains, the melting snow, the spiteful east wind,--by all this enmity of the elements, as well as by the enmity in the household, the poor bereaved lady was saddened and controlled.
The wretched conversation was followed by a most unhappy silence.

Both hearts were brooding over their slights and wrongs.

Day by day Charlotte's life had grown harder to bear.

Sophia's little flaunts and dissents, her astonishments and corrections, were almost as cruel as the open hatred of Julius, his silence, his lowering brows, and insolence of proprietorship.