They have visited Peg Bowen! They brought her a whole bunch of presents in hope of pacifying her so she would take the curse off Paddy the cat. Then they all ran away when she came to the door, which made me feel kind of bad for Peg Bowen, because having children run away from you has to be depressing.

Is Kilmeny of the Orchard worth reading, for all that it caused difficulty for the author? The title is so enticing.

I can't promise, of course, but I doubt I will hate Pat. I love Fanny Price, everyone else's least favorite Austen heroine; I have a high tolerance for shy, anxious, uncertain heroines who seem paralyzed by life. I'm also awfully fond of the narrator in Rebecca.