We Found Her Presence Too Great A
Burden, Particularly As She Could Not Prepare The Simplest Meal, And
So Invited Her To Return To Her Elegant Home.
Then came the two
women - the mother to Mrs. Todd, the daughter to me - who were insulted
because they were expected to occupy servant's rooms, and could not
"eat with the family" - so Mrs. Todd and I gave them cordial
invitations to depart.
Then came my Russian treasure - a splendid cook,
but who could not be taught that a breakfast or dinner an hour late
mattered to a regimental adjutant, and wondered why guard mounting
could not be held back while she prepared an early breakfast for Faye.
After a struggle of two months she was passed on. A tall, angular
woman with dull red hair drawn up tight and twisted in a knot as hard
as her head, was my next trial. She was the wife of a gambler of the
lowest type, but that I did not know while she was here.
One day I told her to do something that she objected to, and with her
hands clinched tight she came up close as if to strike me. I stood
still, of course, and quietly said, "You mustn't strike me." She
looked like a fury and screamed, "I will if I want to!" She was inches
taller than I, but I said, "If you do, I will have you locked in the
guardhouse." She became very white, and fairly hissed at me, "You
can't do that - I ain't a soldier." I told her, "No, if you were a
soldier you would soon be taught to behave yourself," and I continued,
"you are in an army post, however, and if you do me violence I will
certainly call the guard." Before I turned to go from the room I
looked up at her and said, "Now I expect you to do what I have told
you to do." I fully expected a strike on my head before I got very
far, but she controlled herself.
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