Manuel’s only regular visitor is a motorcycle-driving youth, the carousing “Sailor’s Son” of the title, who spends weekends with him.
Though Mrs. Cuthbertson is fully satisfied with Manuel’s performance and docile demeanor, she finds his companion disreputable and presumptuous.
The two young men eat their meals together in Manuel’s room and sleep in the same bed during the weekend visits.
When she discovers the youths in the hay loft engaging in sex, she orders The Kid off her property and gives Manuel one week's notice to depart.
When Marge is informed of the homosexual liaison, she attributes little importance to the fact, declaring she fully intends to marry the boy.
The revelation at the end does not depend on a trick of withheld knowledge for its shock, but derives from the actual opening up of the meaning of Manuel's conduct before the outraged eyes of his employer, Mrs. Cuthbertson.