35 Sport and Life. 



the drawing-room. I told him next time she came, he was to take 

 her round the back way, and I would interview her in the kitchen. 

 A few days later I overheard him telling a lady, who had come 

 to call, that she was to go round to the back door, that I always 

 saw women in the kitchen. My appearance on the scene put a 

 stop to this ungracious reception, and when I asked him after- 

 wards if he could not see the difference between the two women, 

 he replied, "that he thought 'vegetable lady' and other woman all 

 same ; all go round to back door," and that only men were to be 

 admitted by the front door. He became a fairly reliable plain 

 cook and a good housemaid in a few months, but he always 

 remained too shy to become a satisfactory parlourmaid. At first 

 he would deposit all the dishes that he brought from the kitchen 

 on the hall table, announce their being there by a loud knock on 

 the dining-room door, and before one could open it he had taken 

 refuge in the kitchen. It was some time before he would remove 

 the plates and wait at table, and if one had a guest of whom he 

 felt in awe, he would return to his original methods, or, at best, 

 put the whole trayful of things on the sideboard, and make his 

 exit rapidly, not heeding any remonstrances from me or the boss. 

 One of his performances almost rivalled that of the hero of a now 

 classical story. The mistress of this Chinaman is said to have 

 shown her man how to make a cake ; taking six eggs for this, 

 she broke them one by one, in the orthodox manner, into a cup, 

 and then pouring each into a basin. The third she came to was 

 bad, so she threw it away, the like fate befell number four, and 

 two more were taken to replace them. Next time the Chinaman 

 was told to make a cake, he also took six eggs, the third and the 

 fourth he threw away, although they were perfectly fresh, and he 

 replaced them, as the mistress had done, from the egg basket from 

 the store-room. Charlie's act was similar. One day I undertook 

 to show him how to bake, and I had got as far as ten minutes' 

 kneading of the dough out of the thirty required, when I suddenly 

 remembered that my last bread had not been successful, because 

 the oven had not heated properly. As this was probably owing 



