There was a murmur of applause here which warmed the imposing-looking butler's heart, and he continued-- "Your sentiments do you the greatest of credit, Mrs Downes; but you are too tender." "I can't help it, Mr Robbins," said the lady pathetically. "And I'm sure no one wishes that you should, Mrs Downes, for I say it boldly so that all may hear,--except the two lady's maids who have left the hall,--that a better cook, and a kinder fellow-servant never came into a house." Another murmur of applause, and the cook sighed, shed two more tears, and felt, to use her own words, afterward expressed, "all of a fluster." "Mr Robbins," she began. "I beg your pardon, madam, I have not finished," said the butler, smiling. "I only wished to observe, and I must say it even if I give offence to your delicate susceptibilities, madam, that that furren papist fellow with the organ haunts Portland Place like a regular demon, smiling at weak woman, and taking of her captive, when it's well known what lives the poor creatures live out Saffron Hill way. I should feel as I was not doing my duty toward my fellow creatures if I didn't protest against such a man having any encouragement here." "Hear, hear," said the footman again. "Some impudent person once observed," continued the butler, "that when a footman married he took a room in a mews for his wife, and furnished it with a tub and a looking-glass." "Haw, haw, haw!" laughed the buttons. "Henry, be silent, or you will have to leave the room," said the butler, sternly. "A tub and a looking-glass, I repeat," he added, as he looked round, "so that his wife might try to get her living by washing, and see herself starve." A murmur of approval rose here from every one but the footman, who looked aggrieved, and kicked Henry beneath the table. "But what I say is this," continued the butler, "the pore girl who lets herself be deluded into marrying one of those lazy rony organ men may have the looking-glass, for Italians is a vain nation; but from what I know of 'em, the pore wives will never have the tub, let alone the soap." The butler smiled, and there was a burst of laughter, which ceased as the cook took up the defence. "Maybe," she said, "but what I say is this, as I've said before, I can feel for a woman in love, for I have a heart of my own." It was self-evident, for that heart was thoroughly doing its work of pumping the vital current so energetically, that the blood flushed the lady's cheeks, rose into her forehead, and was beginning to suffuse her eyes, which looked angry, when a loud peal at the front door bell acted as a check to the discussion, Joseph going off to answer the summons as all arose, and the butler, to finish the debate, exclaimed-- "Mark my words, no good won't come of it if that man's allowed to haunt this house, and--Well, of all the impudence! there he is again. I shall have to call her ladyship's attention to the fact."