It'd be no use tryin' to learn him nothin', seein' he's so
odd--seventy-odd--an' his habits like to be fixed. Then, there's the
Farrands. But the girls goes to Miss Spenny's school, an' the son's at
Columbia. It might upset their plans, if I was to suggest their givin'
up where they're at, an' havin' you. Then there's the Grays, an' the
Granvilles, an' the Thornes. Addin' 'em all together for childern,
they'd come to about half a child a pair. Talk about your race suicide!
They say they 'can't afford to have childern.' You can take it from me,
it's the poor people are rich nowadays. _We_ can afford to have
childern, all right, all right. Then there's Mrs. Sherman--She's got one
boy, but he--Radcliffe Sherman--well, he's a limb! A reg'lar young
villain. You couldn't manage _him_. Only Lord Ronald can manage
Radcliffe Sherman, an' he--"

"Lord Ronald?" questioned Claire, when Mrs. Slawson's meditation
threatened to become static.

"Why, he's Mrs. Sherman's brother, Mr. Frank Ronald, an' no real lord
could be handsomer-lookin', or grander-behavin', or richer than him.
Mrs. Sherman is a widder, or a divorcy, or somethin' stylish like that.
Anyhow, I worked for her this eight years an' more--almost ever since
Radcliffe was born, an' I ain't seen hide nor hair o' any Mr. Sherman
yet, an' they never speak o' him, so I guess he was either too good or
too bad to mention. Mr. Frank an' his mother lives with Mrs. Sherman,
an' what Mr. Frank says _goes_. His word is law. She thinks the world
of'm, an' well she may, for he's a thorerbred. The way he treats me, for
instants. You'd think I was the grandest lady in the land. He never sees
me but it's, 'How d'do, Martha?' or, 'How's the childern an' Mr. Slawson
these days?' He certainly has got grand ways with'm, Mr. Frank has. An'
yet, he's never free. You wouldn't dare make bold with'm. His eyes has