"Where's Miss Curtis now? Is she coming down for Christmas?"
"No. She's gone to Ruth—to Indiana."
"Well, she's a nice sort of a woman, for a school-teacher." Emily saw the cynical smile that came about Martha's mouth.
"You bet she is!" she replied, enthusiastically. "But you ought to see the doctor. Dad, she'd show you a thing or two."
"That's what I like about Miss Curtis. You can trust her to mind her own business. You feel safe with her."
"Don't you, though? You can trust her absolutely, couldn't you, dad? You could always be sure she'd be upright, couldn't you?"
Upright was a strange adjective. Bob looked up to see if Martha had begun spoofing him again. She looked innocent, but he changed the subject. Martha looked knowingly across at her mother. Emily wanted to spank her.
Later in the evening again she experienced the same desire. She came into the sitting room to hear Martha cajoling over the 'phone the most conventional, conservative, disapproving woman who ever eyed bobbed hair and short skirts maliciously. "But we want you so, Mrs. Mason. Everybody says there's no one who can get as much work done in one afternoon as you." And on she talked, till she hung up the 'phone triumphantly.
"Martha, why in the world did you invite her here?" Emily asked.
Martha winked at her naughtily. "I just asked her because she's so extra holy!" she answered, and she laughed. She had the upper hand of life now, that girl!