“Where am I to get one? I can pay decent wages if I could get a decent woman. D’ye think I like old hags?”
“Will I do?” said Valancy.
[CHAPTER XV]
“Let us be calm,” said Uncle Benjamin. “Let us be perfectly calm.”
“Calm!” Mrs. Frederick wrung her hands. “How can I be calm—how could anybody be calm under such a disgrace as this?”
“Why in the world did you let her go?” asked Uncle James.
“Let her! How could I stop her, James? It seems she packed the big valise and sent it away with Roaring Abel when he went home after supper, while Christine and I were out in the kitchen. Then Doss herself came down with her little satchel, dressed in her green serge suit. I felt a terrible premonition. I can’t tell you how it was, but I seemed to know that Doss was going to do something dreadful.”
“It’s a pity you couldn’t have had your premonition a little sooner,” said Uncle Benjamin drily.
“I said, ‘Doss, where are you going?’ and she said, ‘I am going to look for my Blue Castle.’”
“Wouldn’t you think that would convince Marsh that her mind is affected?” interjected Uncle James.