"I see. Well, Diggs, I can't tell you how sorry I am to have you go. You have been here for eight years. You are the best butler I've ever known--and the only one, I may as well add. I wish you the best of luck. Shake hands, Diggs. It may interest you to know that I look upon you as the best friend I've ever had. You are the only man I've known in the past ten years who has really treated me as an equal. You've done this, Diggs, knowing full well that by rights I am nothing more than a bookkeeper and never will be more than that, no matter how many millions I may possess. You have made it your business to live down to me, and so I am your debtor. Everybody else, from Mr. Force to the telegraph operator over in the railroad station, looks--but, why go into all this? You are going, and I wish you the best of luck. The same to Watson, too, if you please!" "I shall mention it to Watson, sir. He will be very much gratified." "And I may be able to throw quite a little business in your way, Diggs. We shall make it a point to buy our supplies from the firm of--is it to be Diggs & Watson? "No, sir. It is to be called the Covent Garden Consolidated Fruit Company, sir. There is another little matter I'd like to speak about, Mr. Bingle." Diggs was quite red in the face. "Ahem! I am also compelled to say that Melissa has given notice, sir." "Melissa! Impossible! Not MELISSA?" "Melissa Taylor, sir." "Why, she is the last one that I--" Words failed him. He looked quite helpless in the face of this staggering blow. "I 'ad a great deal of difficulty, sir, in persuading 'er to leave your employment. She was most determined about it at first, sir." "You--YOU, Diggs, persuaded her to leave? 'Pon my soul, that was rather a shabby thing to--" "Oh, I trust you won't look at it in the wrong way, sir," cried Diggs in distress. "Melissa 'as merely consented to become my wife, sire. No offence intended, I hassure you. No underhanded work on my--" "God bless my soul!" cried Mr. Bingle. "Melissa is going to marry you?" "Yes, sir. Next Thursday week, sir. And also, sir, I am obliged to announce that Miss Stokes, the first nurse-maid, is to become Mrs. Watson on the same day." Mr. Bingle sat down again. "My gracious!" "She also gives notice, sir, through me. Did I thank you, sir, for your generous offer to trade with us when we take over the business? I was that rattled, sir, I fear I forgot to--" "It is taken for granted, Diggs. And you--you all leave us on the fourteenth of July?" "If quite convenient, Mr. Bingle." "The anniversary of the fall of the Bastile," mused the distressed master of the house. "Oh, I hassure you, sir, that really had nothing to do with it," said Diggs. "Well, I suppose I shall have to train a new lot to take your places." "I would suggest that you advance Hughes to the place of butler. He is a very competent man."