He doesn't like ladies.

I know he doesn't.

He always runs away from them.

But they don't run away from him! Listen.
As I said before, quite a lot of them call here to see Aunt Jane, and they come lots of times evenings and late afternoons, and I know now why they do it.

They come then because they think Father'll be at home at that time; and they want to see him.
I know it now, but I never thought of it till the other day when I heard our hired girl, Susie, talking about it with Bridget, the Smalls' hired girl, over the fence when I was weeding the garden one day.