"You look it, Ted; but cheer up. What's the matter?"
"Plus a publisher; minus a maid," she answered enigmatically.
"Explain yourself."
"I shouldn't think I needed to. The bare fact is sufficient."
"Yes; but I am dense."
"Well, you knew Hannah had given warning, and now Delia is going, and I expect to take to the kitchen for a space."
"Where's Patrick?"
"If that isn't man all over! Patrick is a treasure and good for almost everything in the line of work; but I never discovered that he could cook succulently. I should live through that crisis, William; but there is a worse one. Mr. Gilwyn is going to lecture here, next week, and he will expect us to entertain him."
"What of it? We can buy things."
"Yes, William, and we must also cook things. He has never been here, and much depends upon the impression I create on his inner man. My book will be ready to send in before long; and, if I give him dyspepsia in his stomach, it will surely mount to his brain and lead him to reject my magnum opus."