Miriam looked ready for battle, while even mild little Anne glared resentfully at the rude newcomer.

Grace hesitated, opened her mouth as though about to speak, then without saying a word sat down in the vacant place and began to rearrange the sheets of her letter.
"I'll finish this some other time, girls," she said briefly.
"Oh, you needn't mind me," calmly remarked the stranger.

"I don't mind listening to letters.

That is if they've got anything in them besides 'I write these few lines to tell you that I am well and hope you are the same.' That sort of stuff makes me sick.

Goodness knows, I suppose that's the kind I'll have handed to me all year.