CHAPTER I

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.

I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.

The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama in the drawing-room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. Me, she had dispensed from joining the group; saying, "She regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance; but that until she heard from Bessie, and could discover by her own observation, that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner--something lighter, franker, more natural, as it were--she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children."

"What does Bessie say I have done?" I asked.

"Jane, I don't like cavillers or questioners; besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent."

1. Was anyone around their mother?
2. Who?
3. In the kitchen?
4. Where then?
5. What position was she in?
6. Were her kids fighting?
7. What had they done earlier?
8. Was there verdant foliage?
9. How long had they wandered?
10. Who ate earlier when alone?
11. Was it nice out?
12. What couldn't they do because of that?
13. Did this disappoint the narrator?
14. How did they feel about it?
15. Why?
16. Any other reasons?
17. Was the narrator the strongest of the bunch?
18. Was she allowed the be around the other kids' mother?
19. What did she need to do to be allowed to be there?
20. What does the mother dislike?

Provide a numbered list of answers.
1. Yes
2. Eliza, John, and Georgiana
3. No
4. in the drawing-room
5. Reclined on a sofa
6. No
7. unknown
8. No
9. an hour
10. Mrs. Reed
11. Not now, no
12. Take a walk
13. No
14. They were glad
15. They never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons
16. The chidings of Bessie, the nurse
17. No, the opposite.
18. No
19. Show that she was endeavouring to be have a better disposition
20. cavillers or questioners