Read Online Charlotte Louise Dolan by Three Lords for Lady Anne - Free Book Online

squarely. “Most women are weaker than most men, and most men are smarter than most women. And,” he added triumphantly, “the lesson you are trying to teach us today is to avoid absolutes, because no matter what the rule, there is always an exception.”
    Anne shook her head. “No, the lesson today is about judging other people. What is the correct word for judging someone before you know anything about that person?”
    The twins stared at her blankly.
    “I shall give you a clue. What is the prefix that means ‘before’?”
    “Pre-,” Anthony said quickly   “Pre-judge ...”
    “Prejudice,” Andrew blurted out triumphantly.
    “Exactly. And now I shall tell you an absolute rule to follow. Any time someone tells you that all of a group of people who share one characteristic also share all other characteristics, please be careful not to fall into the trap of believing them.”
    “Like when someone says all Americans are uncultured?” Anthony asked.
    “Exactly.” Anne nodded her approval.
    “Or all Jews are misers?” Andrew added.
    “Or all Gypsies will steal you blind?”
    The boys began to get into the spirit of the game.
    “Or all French soldiers are cowards?”
    “And all English soldiers are brave?”
    “Or all women are useless except when they are flat on their backs?”
    Anne’s hands stopped their automatic movements, and the snare she had been making dropped into her lap. She, who prided herself on being unshockable, was shocked to her core. Something of her emotions must have registered on her face, because Anthony added by way of explanation, “Uncle Bronson said that.”
    She was instantly so enraged that an adult, a grown man—a man purporting, moreover, to be a gentleman—should have said such a disgusting thing to an impressionable child, that for a moment she could not speak. Finally she managed to ask in a relatively calm, albeit wooden, tone of voice, “Your uncle said that to you?”
    The twins regarded each other solemnly, then with downcast eyes confessed, “Well, actually—”
    “He didn’t exactly know—”
    “That we were listening.”
    “We were—”
    “Eavesdropping.”
    “I see. And do you share your uncle’s opinion of women? Or can you perhaps think of other ways in which women are useful?”
    “Well, Mrs. Plimtree is useful. She tells the maids what to do.”
    “And the maids keep the rooms clean. More or less.”
    “And Mrs. Stevens cooks food for everyone in the house.”
    “And you teach us our lessons, even though some of them I’m not sure we want to learn.”
    “And Nanny Gooch has been taking care of you since you were babies. Do not forget her,” Anne pointed out.
    “No, she hasn’t.” This time it was the twins who looked shocked.
    “She hasn’t? Has she neglected you in some way?”
    “No, but Nanny Barlow took care of us when we were babies. But she went away after our parents died, and so Nanny Gooch came to live with us because a long time ago she was our mother’s nurse.”
    “And she is so old, she mostly takes naps in her rocking chair.”
    “But we don’t mind, because we are quite old enough to take care of ourselves.”
    “And we don’t really need a nanny anymore.”
    “I see,” Anne said. That would explain why the twins showed no particular affection for the woman who should have been like a mother to them. But nothing could explain away the totally prejudiced remark made by Lord Leatham.
    “Well, if you are about done with making your snares, I shall show you how to determine the proper place to set them.” It would be best to get the boys’ minds off such subjects as the usefulness of women, because if she did not, Anne was likely to expound on the proper punishment for a man who was so prejudiced, so stupid, so bigoted, so ...
    She could not think of a word bad enough to describe a man like Lord Leatham. She wondered what answer he would give if he were called upon to justify his very existence. It was too bad