Susannah became the mistress of the children's school.

Smith was a good economist; although he helped the needy, nothing that his converts could pay for was given to them for nothing.

Hence it was that Susannah's private purse was well filled with tuition fees.
She had already in mind what she would do with this money; she would write to the booksellers in Boston who fulfilled Ephraim's orders, and obtain from them some of the books whose names she remembered to have seen on his shelves.

She knew nothing of their contents, she hardly knew whether she wanted them more for the sake of their contents or for their familiar appearance, but she thought that if she did not understand them when reading, she could write to Ephraim and ask for an explanation.

She could not think of any other excuse for writing to him again.