"I have four," said Brainard, interrupting me.
"Four?"
"Yes. We have a cook and chambermaid."
"Oh! Mrs. Tyler has but one domestic."
"My wife wasn't brought up to be a household drudge," said Brainard, contemptuously.
"Your house has ten rooms in it, I believe?" said I, avoiding a reply to his last remark.
"It has."
"But why should you pay rent for ten rooms, when you have use for only five or six? Is not that a waste of money that might be applied to a better purpose?"
"Oh, I like a large house," said my friend, tossing his head, and putting on an air of dignity and consequence. "A hundred dollars difference in rent is a small matter compared with the increase of comfort it brings."
"But the expense doesn't stop with the additional rent," said I.