"
Merle, of course, never presented any flowers again. She brought a book
to school one day that she had heard Miss Mitchell express a wish to look
at, and, after lingering about in the classroom, plucked up courage to
interrupt her idol, who was correcting exercises, and offer the loan of
it.
The mistress, with her finger held to mark her place, looked up and shook
her head.
"I've really no time for reading, thanks! At present my days are full
from morning till night."
As direct means failed Merle turned to indirect. She wrote anonymous
poems and popped them in the letter-box, hoping, however, that her
writing might be recognised. Whether Miss Mitchell read them or not is
uncertain; she made no mention at any rate of their receipt, and probably
dropped them in the waste-paper basket. Merle would have been far more
grieved over these repulses had there not been a counter interest at
home. At the beginning of November Dr. and Mrs. Ramsay left the north
altogether and came to settle at Durracombe.
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