Out beside the front door was a rather dingy sign that said “Boarders Wanted.”  His deduction after reading the sign was that the person who wanted the boarders was Aunt Clara’s mother.  She was like Aunt Clara in that she was dark and small, but in nothing else.  She did not wear pretty dresses nor laugh nor address baby talk to “Boo’ful.”  She was very old and not nice to look at, Bean thought; and an uneasy woman, not knowing how to be quiet.  Mostly she worked in the kitchen, after a hasty morning tour of the house to “do” the rooms.  Bean was much surprised to learn that her name, too, was Clara.  She did not look at all like any one whose name would be Clara.

And presently there was to be a house even more magnificent than this, where they would all live together and where, so they jested, the old Clara wouldn’t know what to do, because there would be nothing to do.  The house would be ready just as soon as Boo’ful made his “next turn,” and that was so near in time that there was already a fascinating picture of the lines of the house, white lines on blue paper, over which Boo’ful and Aunt Clara spent many an evening in loving dispute.  It seemed that you could change the house by merely changing those lines.  Sometimes they put a curve into the main stairway or doubled the area of stained-glass window in the music-room; sometimes it was a mere detail of alteration in the butler’s pantry, or the coachman’s room over the stable.  The old Clara displayed no interest in these details.  She seemed to be content to go on wanting boarders.

This was not, as he saw it, an unlovely want.  It surrounded her with gay companions at meal-time; they were “like one big family,” as one of the number would frequently observe.  He was the one that most often set them all to laughing by his talk like that of a German who speaks English imperfectly, which he didn’t have to do at all.  It was only make-believe, but very funny.

After this joyous group and his Aunt Clara, who really came first, his preference in humans was for a lady who lived two doors away.  If you rang her bell she might be one of three persons.  It depended on what you were looking for.  She might be the manicure and chiropodist whose sign was displayed; she might be Madam Wanda, the world-renowned clairvoyant, sittings from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., Advice on Love, Marriage and Business; sign also displayed; or she might be merely Mrs. Jackson, with a choice front room for a single gentleman, as declared by the third sign.  In any case she was a smiling, plump lady with a capable blue eye and abundant dark hair that was smooth and shiny.

It was in company with his uncle that he first made her acquaintance.  His uncle knew all that one need know about Love and Marriage, but it seemed that his knowledge of Business could be extended.  There were times when only the gifts of a world-renowned clairvoyant could enable one to say what May wheat was going to do.