[N.B.--I
think I can see a rather bewildered expression on the countenances of
Mesdames Doddles and Toddles as I am prattling on in this easy bantering
way.]
4. The head kitchen-maid wishes to stay for two years, and improve
herself under the man-cook, and having of course sucked the brains (as
the phrase is) from under the chefs nightcap, then the head kitchen-maid
wishes to go.
And upon my word, Mrs. Toddles, mum, I will go and fetch the cab for
her. The cab? Why not her ladyship's own carriage and pair, and the head
coachman to drive away the head kitchen-maid? You see she stipulates for
everything--the time to come; the time to stay; the family she will
be with; and as soon as she has improved herself enough, of course the
upper kitchen-maid will step into the carriage and drive off.
Well, upon my word and conscience, if things are coming to THIS pass,
Mrs. Toddles and Mrs. Doddles, mum, I think I will go up stairs and get
a basin and a sponge, and then down stairs and get some hot water; and
then I will go and scrub that chalk-mark off my own door with my own
hands.
It is wiped off, I declare! After ever so many weeks! Who has done it?
It was just a little round-about mark, you know, and it was there
for days and weeks, before I ever thought it would be the text of a
Roundabout Paper.
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