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" 'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.

? ? ? ? 
" 'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'

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" 'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would be.'

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" 'One child -- one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again.

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"I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was joking.

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" 'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single child?'

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" 'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he cried.


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