I made remarks to our landlady which caused her to throw up her hands and exclaim that I was astonishing.

She would always add a mysterious word or two in the hearing of my nursemaid or any friend of hers who looked into my room to see me.

After my father had got me forward with instructions on the piano, and exercises in early English history and the book of the Peerage, I became the wonder of the house.

I was put up on a stool to play 'In my Cottage near a Wood,' or 'Cherry Ripe,' and then, to show the range of my accomplishments, I was asked, 'And who married the Dowager Duchess of Dewlap ?' and I answered, 'John Gregg Wetherall, Esquire, and disgraced the family.' Then they asked me how I accounted for her behaviour.
'It was because the Duke married a dairymaid,' I replied, always tossing up my chin at that.

My father had concocted the questions and prepared me for the responses, but the effect was striking, both upon his visitors and the landlady's.