"But we feel that—that—we feel, I may say, that those we leave behind us in the home will not desert their master and missus; that they will do their duty by us, as we have done ours by them."
"True, true! Oh, indeed!" deep-mouthed from Mr. Harrison.
"Thank you, Mr. Harrison. We, me and Mrs. Lite, shall not forget that."
An inclination from the groom of the chambers.
"Others," proceeded the Emperor, in a loud and aspen-like voice, "others will come after us. Others will take our places. So it must ever be—bear up, Henrietta, my love, bear up!—so, I say, it must be. Things is—are like that in this world. Never a one can deny it. Do your duty by them!"
"No, no, Perry! Oh no, no!" from the now sodden Empress.
"Hush, my dear! Do your duty one and all in those places into which they have been pleased to call you." Here the Emperor gingerly approached the wording of the catechism. "Do it, I say, but don't be put upon."
Loud murmurs of assent, more especially from those engaged in the kitchen department of the establishment.
"Don't be put upon. Don't be slaves."