Her role in the Dunstable household seemed to Meadows to be that of "shock absorber." She took all the small rubs and jars on her own shoulders, so that Lady Dunstable might escape them.

If the fish did not arrive from Edinburgh, if the motor broke down, if a gun failed, or a guest set up influenza, it was always Miss Field who came to the rescue.

She had devices for every emergency.

It was generally supposed that she had no money, and that the Dunstables made her residence with them worth while.

But if so, she had none of the ways of the poor relation.