hat fateful morning
when Bertram had summoned her to his aid. Nora stayed two days. During
her reign the entire Strata echoed to banged doors, dropped china, and
slammed furniture. At her departure the Henshaws' possessions were less
by four cups, two saucers, one plate, one salad bowl, two cut glass
tumblers, and a teapot--the latter William's choicest bit of Lowestoft.

Olga came next. Olga was a Treasure. She was low-voiced, gentle-eyed,
and a good cook. She stayed a week. By that time the growing frequency
of the disappearance of sundry small articles of value and convenience
led to Billy's making a reluctant search of Olga's room--and to Olga's
departure; for the room was, indeed, a treasure house, the Treasure
having gathered unto itself other treasures.

Following Olga came a period of what Bertram called "one night stands,"
so frequently were the dramatis personae below stairs changed.
Gretchen drank. Christine knew only four words of English: salt,
good-by, no, and yes; and Billy found need occasionally of using other
words. Mary was impertinent and lazy. Jennie could not even boil a
potato properly, much less cook a dinner. Sarah (colored) was willing
and pleasant, but insufferably untidy. Bridget was neatness itself, but
she had no conception of the value of time. Her meals were always from
thirty to sixty minutes late, and half-cooked at that. Vera sang--when
she wasn't whistling--and as she was generally off the key, and
always off the tune, her almost frantic mistress dismissed her before
twenty-four hours had passed. Then came Mary Ellen.

Mary Ellen began well. She was neat, capable, and obliging; but it
did not take her long to discover just how much--and how little--her
mistress really knew of practical housekeeping. Matters and things were
very different then. Mary Ellen became argumentative, impertinent, and
domineering. She openly shirked her work, when it pleased her so to do,
and demanded perquisites and privileges so insolently that even William
asked Billy one day whether Mary Ellen or Billy herself were the
mistress of the Strata: and Bertram, with mock humility, inquired how
_soon_ Mary Ellen would be wanting the house. Billy, in weary despair,
submitted to this bullying for almost a week; then, in a sudden
accession of outraged dignity that left Mary Ellen gasping with
surprise, she told the girl to go.

And thus the days passed. The maids came and the maids went, and, to
Billy, each one