`` I 'll try to , '' gasped Anne , choking back a wild desire to laugh . `` I know by experience that it 's very unpleasant to have one 's name SPELLED wrong and I suppose it must be even worse to have it pronounced wrong . '' `` Certainly it is . And Clarice Almira also informed me that you call my son Jacob . '' `` He told me his name was Jacob , '' protested Anne . `` I might well have expected that , '' said Mrs. H. B. Donnell , in a tone which implied that gratitude in children was not to be looked for in this degenerate age . `` That boy has such plebeian tastes , Miss Shirley . When he was born I wanted to call him St. Clair ... it sounds SO aristocratic , does n't it ? But his father insisted he should be called Jacob after his uncle . I yielded , because Uncle Jacob was a rich old bachelor . And what do you think , Miss Shirley ? When our innocent boy was five years old Uncle Jacob actually went and got married and now he has three boys of his own . Did you ever hear of such ingratitude ? The moment the invitation to the wedding ... for he had the impertinence to send us an invitation , Miss Shirley ... came to the house I said , ` No more Jacobs for me , thank you . ' From that day I called my son St. Clair and St. Clair I am determined he shall be called . His father obstinately continues to call him Jacob , and the boy himself has a perfectly unaccountable preference for the vulgar name . But St. Clair he is and St. Clair he shall remain . You will kindly remember this , Miss Shirley , will you not ? THANK you . I told Clarice Almira that I was sure it was only a misunderstanding and that a word would set it right .
Donnell ... accent on the last syllable ... and St. XXXXX ... on no account Jacob .
Almira Anne Clair Donnell Jacob Shirley choking day impertinence right