"Now, Mama, Papa, and sir," said Ramses, "please withdraw to the farthest corner and crouch down with your backs turned. It is as I feared; we will n… - Elizabeth Peters

I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.

"You don't sound like a librarian," she said.
"I'm on vacation," Jacqueline laughed. "Well, I supposed there is an image, isn't there? But stereotypes are awfully misleading. there are typical librarians, but not all librarians are typical. Any more than any other profession."

The cat required far less attendance than a human child, which is one of the reasons why spinster ladies prefer felines to babies.