language apart from its curses and violent epithets he was not equal to the amenities of ordinary conversation.
He had an uncanny knowledge of all that went on under his roof. He took great care of his girls and men knew it was not safe to flirt with them. The newspaper committee had had hard work to persuade him to take Valerie, but they did not guess his real reason for hesitancy, which was that he was almost certain she would not be comfortable. It solved the problem a little to have the priest on one side of her and Bob on the other. Otherwise he would have felt bound to leave empty the rooms next her. But at the end of a week he was easy in his mind. He knew she smoked cigarettes in her room, that she had twice ordered ale with her lunch, that Father Ryan called her a remarkable woman, that she gave no trouble, and that already his servants adored her.
