Mrs. Dew had the extremely deferent manner of the well-trained servant who has "lived in good families." To Mr. Wycherly this manner was immensely soothing, coming as it did after his long experience of the dictatorial and somewhat familiar bearing of the Scottish servants at Remote. Mrs. Dew "knew her place" and kept to it rigidly, and Edmund found her rather unapproachable. Anything like reserve in his intercourse with his fellow-creatures was abhorrent to Edmund, and he pursued Mrs. Dew with questions as to her past, her present, and her future, getting, however, but small satisfaction for his pains.
"Have you any children, Mrs. Dew?" he demanded one day, when he had sought her in the kitchen for social purposes.
"No, sir, not of my own."
"Any grandchildren?"
"Certainly not, sir."
"No one belonging to you at all?"
"Of course, sir, I 'ave my relations, same as other folks."
"What sort of relations?"
"Well, for one, sir, I have a niece."
"Big or little?"