a lady as any in the land. If I'd happened to live in Grand Rapids at the time, I'd most likely of lived out with your grandmother, an' been an old family servant in your house like I was at Mrs. Granville's, an' I certainly would of nursed you if I'd had the chanct. It was just a case o' happenso, my _not_ havin' it. The right kind o' folks here in New York is mighty squeamish about strangers. They want recommendations--they want 'em because they want to be sure the ones they engage is O.K. That's all recommendations is for, ain't it? Now I knew the minit I clapped eye to you, that, as I say, you was as grand a lady as any in the land, an' that bein' the case, what was the use o' frettin' because I hadn't more than your sayso to prove it. But if I'd pulled a long face to Mrs. Sherman, an' told her, hesitatin'-like an' nervous, about--well, about what took place that night, she, not havin' much experience of human nature (only the other kind that's more common here in New York City), she'd have hemmed, an' hawed, an' thought she'd better not try it, seein' Radcliffe is such an angel-child an' not to be trained except by a A-I Lady." "But the truth," persisted Claire. "I tell the truth," Mrs. Slawson returned with quiet dignity. "I only don't waste time on trifles." "It is not wasting time on trifles to be exact and accurate. An architect planning a house must make every little detail _true_, else when the house goes up, it won't stand." "Don't he have to reckon nothin' on the _give_ or _not-give_ of the things he's dealin' with?" demanded Martha. "I'm only a ignorant woman, an' I ask for information. When you're dress-makin' you have to allow for the seams, an' when you're makin'--well, other things, you have to do the same thing, only spelled a little different--you have to allow for the _seems_. Most folks don't do it, an' that's where a lot o' trouble comes in, or so it appears to me." Claire twisted her ring in silence, gazing down at it the while as if the operation was, of all others, the most important and absorbing. "We may not agree, Martha dear," she said at last, "but anyway I know you're good, good, _good_, and I wouldn't hurt your feelings for the world." "Shoor! I know you wouldn't! An' they ain't hurt. Not in the least. You got one kinder conscience an' I got another, that's all. Consciences is like hats. One that suits one party would make another look like a guy. You got to have your own style. You got to know what's best for you, an' then _stick to it_!" "And you won't object if I tell Mr. Ronald?" "Objeck? Certainly not! Tell'm anything you like. _I_ always was fond o' Mr. Ronald myself. I never thought he was as hard an' stern with a body as some thinks. Some thinks he's as hard as nails, but--" "O, I'm _sure_ he's not," cried Claire with unexpected loyalty. "His manner may seem a little cold and proud sometimes, but I know he's very kind and generous."