has no tact!'

"Now, ladies," continued No. 4, "what do you think of that by way of
a speech from a cook? And I assure you that a medical man's wife, to
whom I mentioned in the course of the evening what Cook had said
about dissolved bones, told me that her husband had only laughed, and
said Cook was quite right. So she hired the woman that night
herself, and I have been told in confidence since--you'll not repeat
it, therefore, of course, ladies?"

"Of course not!" came from all sides.

"Well, then, I was told that, before the year was out, the family
hadn't a knife that would cut anything, they were so cankered with
rust. So much for education and learning to read, as you justly
observed, ma'am, before!"

When the emotions produced by this tale had a little subsided, No. 7
was called upon for his experience of maids.

No. 7, with the turban on his head, and a fine red necklace round his
throat, said he took very little notice of the maids, but that he
once had had a very tiresome little boy in buttons, who was extremely
fond of sugar, and always carried the sugar-shaker in his pocket, and
ate up the sugar that was in it, and when it was empty, filled it up
with magnesia.

"But ONCE," he added, "ladies, he actually put some soda in. It was
at a party, and we had our first rhubarb tart for the season, and the
company sprinkled it all over with the soda and began to eat, but