tablecloth; but, unfortunately, he began by laying the cloth itself
slantwise; consequently, I find myself with my back to one corner of
the room and my face to another, and cannot get rid of the feeling
that everything on the table is slightly the worse for liquor. And
the Butler is in despair. What on earth, he thinks, can be wrong
now? He evidently gives it up, and so do I.

I have already treated of the Boy, and to devote another chapter to
the Butler may seem like making a distinction where there is no
difference; but there is in reality a radical difference between the
two offices, which is this, that your Boy looks after you, whereas
your Butler looks after the other servants, and you look after him;
at least, I hope you do. From this it follows that the Boy
flourishes only in the free atmosphere of bachelordom. If master
marries, the Boy sometimes becomes a Butler, but I have generally
seen that the change was fatal to him. He feels a share at first in
master's happiness on the auspicious occasion, and begins to fit on
his new dignity. He provides himself with a more magnificent
cumberbund, enlarges the border of gold thread on his puggree, and
furbishes up his English that he may converse pleasantly with mem
saheb. He orders about the other servants with a fuller voice than
before, and when anyone calls for a chair, he no longer brings one
himself, but commands the hamal to do so. He feels supremely happy!
Alas! before the mem saheb has been many weeks in the house, the
change of air begins to disagree with him--not with his body, but
with his spirit, and though he may bear up against it for a time, he
sooner or later asks leave to go to his country. His new mistress is
nothing loth to be rid of him, nor master either, for even his
countenance is changed; and so the Butler's brief reign comes to an
end, and he departs, deploring the unhappy match his master has made.