"But America doesn't belong to us," I interrupted.
She closed her eyes in intense boredom, but I was not to be snubbed.
"What do you call useful?"
"Gettin' bailiffs out of a house when they thinks they's settled in."
"Oh!" I said.
"I've got two lots out."
"Was it at the Tompkinses'?" I whispered.
"Tompkinses was as respectable as you, mum," she said, mildly indignant.
"Oh, I beg your—I mean the Tompkinses' pardon."
"They had salmon—lots of it."