Jack assumed a momentary air of distress. Then he drew a long sigh of relief as he remarked, “Well, I know she’s experienced. You said no others need apply!”
The hammock’s motion stopped, and Barbara lay ominously silent for a minute. Then the pent-up feeling of the past week burst forth in her reply:—
“John Grafton, I don’t know one earthly thing about that girl! She’s done farm-work all her life. She doesn’t know how to cook. She never heard of rice or celery. She never has seen a refrigerator! She’s afraid of the gas-stove. She wouldn’t know what I meant if I asked her about references. She can’t do anything but milk. She isn’t one single thing that I advertised for, or hoped for, or wanted! But maybe she can learn. And I’m so tired, and hot, and discouraged, and I’ve spoiled so many things!”
And for once in his life Jack understood, and forbore.
“I’ve seen a good many kinds of imbecility in my life,” said Jack, a week later. “But never one to equal hers.
She is willing, she is active,
She is sober, she is kind,
But she never looks attractive,