Since the story is told through Miss Meadows's perspective, the tone shifts as her attitude shifts. At first, the tone is despairing, as Miss Meadows grieves over her lost engagement and its societal implications. She frequently emphasizes how cold it is and narrates with dramatic agony (e.g., describing herself as metaphorically "bleeding to death, pierced to the heart"). Her use of exclamation points add to this exasperated anguish: "Staggering moment!", "Good Heavens, what could be more tragic than that lament!", "Broken off! Their engagement!" She also perpetuates a woeful, longing tone through her flashbacks to Basil's letter and their other memories together.
But after Miss Meadows's engagement is restored, the tone becomes cheerful and exuberant. She returns to her classroom "on the wings of hope, of love, of joy" and tells the girls to sing in a "warm, joyful, eager manner." The specific words she chooses convey a sense of glee, and whereas her previous phrases are dramatically woeful, her ending triads are dramatically elated.
