"Reverse that, my dear. Our family grew up on Ellen. She set the
culinary pace at home. Mother always let her have her own way, and
it may be she is a little spoiled."

"Do you know, Teddy, I wonder that, having had Ellen for so many
years, your mother was willing to give her up."

"Oh, I can explain that," Thaddeus answered. "I'm the youngest, you
know; the rest of the family were old enough to be weaned. Besides,
father was getting old, and he had a notion that the comforts of a
hotel were preferable to the discomforts of house-keeping. Father
likes to eat meals at all hours, and the annunciator system of hotel
life, by which you can summon anything in an instant, from a shower-
bath to a feast of terrapin, was rather pleasing to him. He was
always an admirer of the tales of the genii, and he regards the
electric button in a well-appointed hotel as the nearest approach to
the famous Aladdin lamp known to science. You press the button, and
your genii do the rest."

"But a hotel isn't home," said Bessie.

"A hotel isn't this home," answered Thaddeus. "Love in a cottage
for me; but, Bessie, perhaps you--perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea
for you to speak to Jane and Ellen this morning about their
differences. I am an hour late now."

Then Thaddeus kissed Bessie, and went down to business.

On Thaddeus's departure Bessie's cheerfulness also deserted her, and