We 'd better not make the flannels as hot as we did yesterday . '' Faith giggled over the remembrance . They had nearly scalded the skin off poor Aunt Martha 's back . Una sighed . Mary Vance would have known just what the precise temperature of flannels for a misery back should be . Mary knew everything . They knew nothing . And how could they learn , save by bitter experience for which , in this instance , unfortunate Aunt Martha had paid ? The preceding Monday Mr. Meredith had left for Nova Scotia to spend his short vacation , taking Jerry with him . On Wednesday Aunt Martha was suddenly seized with a recurring and mysterious ailment which she always called `` the misery , '' and which was tolerably certain to attack her at the most inconvenient times . She could not rise from her bed , any movement causing agony . A doctor she flatly refused to have . Faith and Una cooked the meals and waited on her . The less said about the meals the better -- yet they were not much worse than Aunt Martha 's had been . There were many women in the village who would have been glad to come and help , but Aunt Martha refused to let her plight be known . `` You must worry on till I kin git around , '' she groaned . `` Thank goodness , John is n't here . There 's a plenty o ' cold biled meat and bread and you kin try your hand at making porridge . '' The girls had tried their hand , but so far without much success . The first day it had been too thin .
The next day so thick that you could cut it XXXXX slices .
about at by for from in off on over with