“So they would. Haggerstone called it a Ricketty stratagem. No matter; we 're in ha! ha! ha! and he 's out. The pr-pr-proof of the pu-pu-pudding—”
“Will you excuse me, sir, if I say I must leave you?”
“Don't go, don't go; I've something very important to to tell you. And first, Zoe my sister Zoe wants to see you. The cook has been most im-im-impertinent to her. She says it was ginger she put in the maca-maca-roni, instead of P-P—Parmesan; all his truffles are only Piedmontese. That is n't all: don't be in such a h-hurry. They 've changed the wine, too. We had Ch-Ch-Chambertin yesterday, and they 've given us P-Pomard to-day. How is that to be borne?”
“I really see but one remedy for it, sir,” said Kate, scornfully.
“So Zoe said; that 's exactly her opinion. They must be sent away. Zoe knows a very ti-ti-tidy cook. He 's not a a top-sawyer, you know, but he can r-roast a bit of beef, and make a c-capital rice-pudding, and he 'll come for six dollars a month. Wouldn't that be a sa-saving? Zoe told him to c-call to-day, and speak to La-Lady Hester.”
“He will find that difficult, sir,” said Kate, dryly.
“And as for the b-butler, such a j-j-jackanapes I never saw; and Zoe would advise you to take little Pierrette, the fellow you see every day at the Pergola; he sells the tickets outside the door. He looks r-r-ragged enough now, but when he 's dressed—”
“You must see, sir,” interposed Kate, “that these are all details in which it would be both indelicate and impertinent for me to intrude an opinion about.”
“Not when you li-live in the house; not when you're dome-dome-domesticated with the family. We 're all in the same bo-boat now; and Zoe says somebody must steer it. Now Lizetta, Zoe's maid, would keep the k-keys herself.”
“Pray remember, sir, this is Lady Hester Onslow's house.”