In this story, Mrs. Caball, the "grand dame" of a society family, mistakes Lady Carlotta for the governess she has come to meet at the train station. The Lady does nothing to correct her error. On being asked where her luggage is, she reponds that "Someone lost it." One of Lady Carlotta's very excellent rules was "The absent are always to blame."

Lady Carlotta throws aside her own plans and becomes a very interesting governess, not at all what the family expected. She tells them that she wil teach history on the "Scartz-Mettaclume Method", to make children understand history by "acting it out themselves". When her first lesson involves the abduction of the Sabine women, it leads to some very amusing results - at least for Lady Carlotta.