"But you let 'em run wild. I've seen it all along. I was a talkin' to Miss Porter about it; and says I, 'Now, I'll do one good deed;' and the Lord knows it's needed."
Everybody listened. Joe from the outside made a pretence of picking his ears open with the handle of a broken saucepan.
"Florence is getting to be a big girl, and it's high time she learned something. As I was a sayin' to Miss Porter, 'I want just such a girl; and it will be the making of Florence Kenneth to fall into good hands.'"
"But you don't mean"—and Granny paused, aghast.
"I mean to make the child useful in her day and generation. It'll be a good place for her."
Mrs. Van Wyck nodded her head until the bows and streamers flew in every direction.
Granny opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"What do you want of her, Mrs. Van Wyck?"
Charlie peeped out from between the legs of the table to hear, her mouth wide open lest she should lose a word.