It was hardly possible that mistress and maids would stay together long,
especially as Mrs. Tracy, when a little more assured, and a little less
in awe of her servants, began to show a disposition to know by personal
observation what was going on in the kitchen, and to hint broadly that
there was too much waste here and expenditure there, and quite too much
company at all hours of the day.

'She didn't propose to keep a boarding-house,' she said, 'or to support
families outside, and the old woman who came so often to the basement
door with a big basket under her cloak must discontinue her calls.'

Then there occurred one of those Hibernian cyclones which sweep
everything before them, and which in this instance swept Mrs. Tracy out
of the kitchen for the time being, and the cook out of the house. Her
self-respect, she said, would not allow her to stay with a woman who
knew just how much coal was burned, how much butter was used, and how
much bread was thrown away, and who objected to giving a bite now and
then to a poor old woman, who, poor as she was, had never yet been
helped by the poor-master, or gone to a soup-house like my lady!

Martha's departure was followed by that of Sarah, and then Mrs. Tracy
was alone, and for a few days enjoyed herself immensely, doing her own
work, cooking her own dinner, and eating it when and where she liked--in
the kitchen mostly, as that kept the flies from the dining-room, and
saved her many steps, for Dolly was beginning to find that there was a
vast difference between keeping a house with six rooms and one with
twenty or more.

Her husband urged her to try a new servant, saying there was no