“Well, my lady, I have heard strange things in my time. The first thing I learned in my career was that there was one law of hygiene for ladies and another for servants. I once heard a lady say that to keep well one ought to go out at least twice a day. But the same lady would have considered her butler or her housemaid impudent and unreasonable, had they asked to go out once a day. The same thing is true as regards stimulants. I have known many ladies, young and old, who said they had to have hock at lunch, port at dinner; their doctors prescribed it, and they believed it to be indispensable to their general health. But, had the footman or kitchen-maid said they must have claret at lunch, Moselle at supper; or had the housemaid hinted that a glass of sherry would be acceptable after turning out a room, I declare their mistress would have put them down as confirmed drunkards, and would have warned her friends against any servant who asked for beer money. I beg pardon, my lord, but are you sure you do not mind my plain speaking?” “No, my good man, we want to hear the truth, for we never heard you tell us anything but fibs before.” “You are very funny, my lord, but you have hit it right. Yes, we told fibs, big lies even. But telling the truth never paid. This was the first commandment of the servants’ catechism. In our very first situation we became familiar with a system of deceit. Still, you know yourselves how particular you were about servants always speaking the truth! I often wondered how the upper classes would have behaved had they been in our places? I don’t think they would have done very differently under the circumstances. We have all the same perception of injustice, we all feel its sting, and as kicking against it does not help us, compromise is the only course left us. Do you not compromise more or less with your conscience, when your god, Society, sets out rules that are too stringent? We are all men, my lord, although the Duchess of Southdown thought the contrary. I heard her say one day that she would have preferred a man for a lady’s maid, as they were more punctual and less talkative; and as to the sex, that did not matter—‘a servant was not a man!’ You can’t think what a funny impression it makes on one to hear such things.” “Then you do not believe, Temple, that masters ever could have inspired loyalty in their servants?” inquired Sinclair.