"You never touched that, I'll bet a hat." Vandover did not answer; he brought in the pail of water, and soaping his scrubbing brush, went down again on his hands and knees, washing the paint on the baseboard where the burnisher's wife indicated.

The two women stood by, looking on and directing his movements.

The little boy watched everything, never speaking a word, slowly eating his bread and butter.

Streaks of butter and bread clung to his cheeks, stretching from the corners of his mouth to his ears.
"I don't see how you come to overlook that," said the burnisher's wife to Vandover.

"That's the dirtiest baseboard I ever saw.