THE VISIT OF THE WASHERMAN. 
that there is neither coffee nor bread. “All done.’’ 
“All done! How is this?” “Why, master know 
very well, this is Friday ; and forget : send that old 
mother the washerman’s wife to eat bread, and drink 
coffee. All done, finish ; and think master do it on 
purpose to have some funny talk, and so, make coffee 
very hot, too hot for amma’s mouth, and she take 
plenty long time to drink. Then, when say, ‘ No 
time to drink this hot coffee,’ Isay, ‘Take this 
bread,’ for master see, that old woman too much 
fond of bread, and if it had not been for that coffee 
and* bread, then master could not have laughed and 
talked with the girl so long, in the verandah.” And 
the boy drew himself; up, looked grave, and said, 
“ Master know very well.” But master said, very testily, 
“Do you mean to insinuate any improprieties on my 
part?” The prompt reply was, “Everything master 
do must be quite proper j it is impossible for our mas- 
ter even to think anything wrong. Master is wise and 
very considerate. Quite understand how master think 
not proper to send that pretty woman in the kitchen 
to drink coffee, amongst the men servants.” The 
boy then retired to his own premises, where he and 
the kitchen coolie entered into a long talk about 
master, the washerman, and his wives. The boy, who 
had only been newly engaged, was always anxious for 
information on every point about master, and com- 
menced to “ pump ” the kitchen coolie, who was an 
old hand at the house. Says he, “ I cannot under- 
stand this at all, why our mrsster, who is a very 
young man, should be so partial to old, very old 
•women. Now there was that ugly wretch, whom he 
actually sent into kitchen, to have bread and coffee, 
and kept the young one standing in the verandah, 
talking to her, of course, about the clothes,^ and never 
asked her to take anything at all ! I think master 
is very angry when any women come into the veran- 
dah to speak, for if I happen to be cleaning the house 
inside, and of course looking out of the window, he 
always says something very angry, and sends me away. 
I don’t understand master at all.” When the kitchen 
coolie heard this he suddenly jumped up, seized hold 
of an axe, rushed out of the kitchen, and commenced 
vigorously an assault upon the trunk of a tree, in 
order to cut some firewood, but the hacking and hew- 
ing upon that timber log did not produce a sound 
loud enough to conceal bis laughter. It was the 
first and last time that that kitchen coolie was ever 
known to have laughed, and he never could be pre- 
vailed to tell what the subject of bis thoughts was 
that caused that laughter, only, several times, when 
the boy was speaking to him on the subject, he said 
