“Really, I could not say,” was the answer, somewhat wearily given, “but you may ask him.”
The gentleman, I could see, had a sovereign contempt for both me and my calling, and was impatient to see me gone; but that, of course, did not disturb me in the least.
I had the valet called in, and in reply to my question he gave me to understand very clearly that answering the door bell “was not his work,” but lay entirely between the footman and tablemaid.
“Supposing they were both out of the way, and you were near the door when the bell rang, would you not answer it by opening the door?”
“No, certainly not.”
He appeared to think me very simple to ask such a question.
“Then who would open the door?”
“I don’t know; somebody else—it wouldn’t be me; but they wouldn’t be both out of the way at once without leaving some one to attend the door.”
“Just so; and that one might be you. Now don’t interrupt, and try to carry your mind back five months, and to the 21st day of that month, while your master here lay ill, and tell me if you did not answer the door bell and take in a small parcel addressed to your master?”
“I wasn’t here five months ago, sir,” was the quick response; “I was serving in the north then.”