My poor husband used to have a pet
proverb--he was interested in politics, my dear, and some of his sayings
were a trifle grotesque but very much to the point. He used to say that
one could get rid of more flies with molasses than with a club. And I
think he was right. Now let me consider. Let's look the situation right
in the face. Of course your guardian, as a companion, as an associate
for us, for our kind of people, is, to be quite frank, impossible."
"Yes. Yes, I'm sure he is."
"Yes. But he IS your guardian. Therefore, we can't get rid of him
with--well, with a club. He must be endured and made as endurable as
possible. And it certainly will not do to offend him."
"Steve says we must do what he calls freezing him out--make him feel
that we do not want him here."
"Hum! Well, Stephen is a nice boy--Malcolm adores him--but he isn't a
diplomat. If we should--what is it?--freeze out your uncle--"
"Please call him something else."
"Well, we'll call him the encumbrance on the estate; that's legal,
I believe, and expresses it nicely. If we should freeze out the
encumbrance, we MIGHT freeze him to his village, and he MIGHT insist on
your going with him, which wouldn't do at ALL, my dear. For one thing,
Malcolm would probably insist on going, also, and I, for one, don't
yearn for rural simplicity.
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