Variation #165920B in which Martha, a widow, makes one of those marriages de convenance to guide and guard over the only son of Jonathan Thornway and after the usual spitfire repartee -- they settle down to more serious things: a skating disaster in which the youngster is almost killed, a night raid in the pantry and an attack in the icehouse and of course -- love. . . . Do you take this book. . . for better or for worse. . . or more likely for the talcum powder commodity that it is.